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Thursday, March 2, 2017

Marketing Research to Bookmark for Your Next Blog Post

If you thought your research days were over when you graduated from high school or college, think again. If you create any kind of content as part of your role, your arguments should be well-supported with data.

Why is research so important? It makes your claims credible, your content authoritative, and helps you earn more social shares and backlinks.

In fact, an analysis of over one million articles from Moz and BuzzSumo revealed that research-backed content generates more shares and more backlinks than other content types.

The thing is, finding the research to cite is tough sometimes. The original source data can be hard to track down and citations might be incorrect or missing, among other issues.

For all of you content creators, bloggers, SEOs, and market researchers, we feel your pain. So we put together a comprehensive list of sources with original research data about all things marketing. Bookmark this blog post to have ideas handy for where to go when you need a stat to support your claim, or if you’re looking for great sources to learn about forthcoming trends in the marketing world.

19 Marketing Research Websites to Bookmark

1) Nielsen

Nielsen specializes in consumer media research on topics like TV, internet, social media, and app user behaviors. Whether you write blog posts about social media behavior or report to your team about trends, Nielsen is a great place to start your research. It frequently publishes new data in its Insights section marketers might find useful to cite, such as:

Yearly Nielsen Social Media Report, which readers can access for free after sharing their contact information.
A New Megaphone: Social Media Gives Consumers a Chance to be Heard on What They Watch

Source: Nielsen

2) Bloomberg News

Bloomberg News publishes business stories and data on a variety of topics, including global technology and digital media news. Bloomberg breaks a lot of technology and marketing news stories, which makes it a great resource for covering newsjacks, creating timelines, or simply keeping up with what’s new in digital media. Here are examples of Bloomberg content you might cite:

3) Gallup

Research organization Gallup conducts public opinion polls about business and technology, among a variety of other topics. Recent, original survey results provide excellent data to cite, and Gallup provides meaningful insights in addition to the raw survey data. Below are surveys it conducted about brand marketing:

4) Pew Research Center

The Pew Research Center conducts nonpartisan surveys and research on trends and habits among internet and technology consumers. Another source for poll results, Pew publishes lots of valuable information you can cite. Make sure you cite properly -- instead of “100% of Americans use social media,” phrase survey data as “100% of Americans surveyed use social media.” You might find these Pew survey results useful:

The Modern News Consumer
Yearly Social Media Update

Source: Pew Research Center

5) Ipsos

Ipsos conducts market research and analysis of a variety of global audiences and their consumption behaviors. Research from Ipsos is great to cite to provide global data instead of data only from your home country. Here are two of its latest reports that intrigued us:

6) Content Marketing Institute & MarketingProfs

Every year, Content Marketing Institute (CMI) and MarketingProfs conduct massive surveys of B2B and B2C marketers in North America and distill the findings into reports full of original, useful data about how marketers do their jobs in the current year. We cite these surveys, and we think you should too:

Source: Content Marketing Institute

7) Ahrefs Blog

Ahrefs offers SEO marketing tools and a blog that includes original research and analysis. If you’re in the business of search engine marketing or linkbuilding, Ahrefs is a must-bookmark. Here are a couple of fascinating studies on the blog we recommend:

8) Fractl

Marketing agency Fractl publishes interesting research about growth and content marketing strategies, including linkbuilding, writing, and social media. We love that Fractl visualizes research results in infographic format, too. Check out some of its latest studies here:

$fractl_graphic_example.png$

Source: Fractl

9) WordStream

WordStream provides online advertising software and tools, and the brand publishes helpful marketing advice and original research on its blog. WordStream constantly evaluates and analyzes its own practices and publishes its findings, which is highly useful whether you write about online advertising or do it yourself. You can cite WordStream’s SEO data from studies like these:

10) eMarketer

Market research company eMarketer publishes research data about all things digital media -- from social media, content marketing, SEO, and mobile device use. It publishes research data from markets around the world, so it’s a highly comprehensive resource to cite. It also publishes lots of projections for the future of different industries, which is useful information whether you’re publishing an external blog post or reporting internally. Read a couple surveys and estimates below:

11) comScore

Marketing and advertising research company comScore produces data and insights into media and technology trends. Lots of its research focuses on consumer habits and market research in regions around the world. Additionally, comScore produces content in written, visual, and audio formats for its followers who want to consume data in different ways. Here are a couple new studies we recommend:

12) Siege Media

Siege is a content and SEO-focused marketing agency and publishes fantastic advice, case studies, and original research on its blog. Its research takes a closer look at the science and data behind common content marketing strategies, which are useful whether you create content or want to learn how to do it better. Here are two of Siege’s “closer look” research articles:

Source: Siege Media

13) Social Media Examiner

Michael Stelzner’s Social Media Examiner publishes tons of content about how to do social media, and how to do it well. Once yearly, he publishes the results of a social media marketing survey of over 5,000 marketers, which offers valuable insights into how your peers and competitors run social. Check out the free report below:

Social Media Marketing Industry Report, which readers can access for free after sharing their contact information.

14) TrackMaven

Marketing analytics company TrackMaven publishes lots of actionable research data about its own practices and those of other content marketers. Its research does a great job of answering the tough questions not all marketers have the answers to -- questions like “why aren’t my efforts driving results?” Here are some of TrackMaven’s latest research results:

Blogging Report: How to Drive Results from Your Company Blog
The Content Marketing Paradox Revisited, which readers can access for free after sharing their contact information.

15) dscout

Mobile research and analysis platform dscout publishes fascinating research about how people interact with mobile devices and apps. From user experience to how excessively we use our mobile devices, dscout’s research covers it all -- check out some of its insights here:

16) Chute

Chute helps brands publish user-generated content (UGC), and its research dives into UGC on different social media platforms and how consumers use and create content about the brands they interact with. One of its biggest initiatives analyzes branded hashtags on Instagram so brands can see how people interact with them on social media. Check out Chute’s database of Instagram hashtags and other research below:

Source: Chute

17) Contently

Content marketing platform Contently publishes blog posts, webinars, and research about how to create organic and ad content consumers will actually engage with. Its analysis goes beyond organic content marketing and dives into newer trends, such as native advertising and content distribution, as in the examples below:

18) BuzzSumo

BuzzSumo’s social analytics software helps users see what content is shared and linked to most frequently, and its research about how to get shared and go viral is a must-read for any marketer.

19) HubSpot

You may already be familiar with what we do here at HubSpot, but just in case: We’re an inbound marketing and sales platform. We publish free, original marketing, sales, and business technology data, and we’ve rounded up a list of go-to marketing statistics for easy sharing and reference, both of which are linked below:

Source: HubSpot

Get Searching

We’ve taken some of the legwork out of the research process for you here, but make sure to always do your due diligence. Fact-check all data points you find, make sure your sources are reliable and credible, and cite your stats properly. For the latest free research on all things marketing, subscribe to get the latest reports and surveys from HubSpot Research.

What’s your go-to source for research data? Share with us in the comments below.

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What is Ad Tech and Why Should Agencies Care?

Emerging technologies always encourage scrutiny and critical analysis, and ad tech is no different.

This discipline has been around for a few years, but it's only recently caught the attention of savvy ad tech agencies. In the era of big data, they've recognized having ad tech company relationships makes them more powerful and attractive to clients.

The age of social media has forced agencies to investigate innovative ways to interact with relevant users, rather than relying on typical broadcast or digital media buys. And the advantages for agencies investing in ad tech are plentiful: 74% of marketers want to work with ad agencies who know how to make use of ad tech.

But there's still one issue: many young ad agencies are still trying to figure out what exactly ad tech is -- and how they can best use it to their advantage.

What is Ad Tech? And Why Should You Care?

The first step to leveraging ad tech is understanding exactly what it is. Ad tech (short for advertising technology) is the umbrella term for the software and tools that help agencies and brands target, deliver, and analyze their digital advertising efforts.

If you've ever scratched your head at the terms "programmatic" or "omnichannel," you've likely already heard a little about what ad tech does (though you may not have even realized it). Programmatic advertising, for instance, buys target audiences instead of time slots: Think about buying ad space that reaches a particular demographic wherever it is instead of buying a prime time TV spot and hoping the right people are watching.

Omnichannel marketing reaches target consumers across all channels -- mobile, video, desktop, and more -- within the context of how they've interacted with a brand (those first seeing an ad will receive a different message from those who have engaged with that brand a number of times). Omnichannel and programmatic aren’t the only two tools within ad tech, but they are two of the most revolutionary.

That said, ad tech is designed to help advertisers make better use of their budgets. Ad tech methodologies deliver the right content at the right time to the right consumers, so there's less wasteful spending.

Elephants and Ad Tech: A Story

Imagine being asked to wash an elephant’s ears while conserving water. You could always bathe the whole elephant -- you would definitely get his ears clean, but you'd use much more water than you need to, so that method doesn’t make much sense.

To save your resources, you could concentrate on the head instead, using less water but still more than you’d like. Or you could figure out a way to use just enough water to scrub those ears and make him the happiest pachyderm in the herd.

Now, take this analogy and put it in the context of online ad placements.

The traditional method of pushing advertisements to web users involves a broad-brush approach, much like showering the whole elephant just to get to its ears. Remember that publishers are not based on ad networks, they're based on content. Advertisements slipped alongside content that may or may not have relevancy for the viewer forces exposure. This method can work, but it can be inefficient, annoying, and wasteful. It's still not the best use of an agency’s resources.

Today, ad tech methods supported by influential data allow agencies to make wiser placements that effectively position advertisements when and where they are needed most. This helps reduce wasted efforts and gets ads to users at critical touch points, meaning it’s helpful for both brands and consumers.

Instead of the standard sort of placement buys, ad agencies can integrate their ads using high-level data and technology. It's a logical next step toward seamless integration and high-impact, value-added placements. And it's redefining how agency planning and strategy teams look at media.

Ad Tech Traction and Benefits

Ad tech has plenty of moving parts, which means there are countless opportunities for agencies to set themselves apart. The diversity of ad tech data allows for more granular and relevant targeting and integration. It also necessitates leaning upon trusted ad tech solutions and platforms to get the most out of every ad campaign.

One major effect for agencies and their clients is noticeable improvement in prospect interactions. Thanks to ad tech, brands can now connect all advertising channels. This means saying goodbye to clunky, unnatural advertising that irritates users and frustrates agencies and their clients. Instead, cross-platform uniformity ensures brands are reaching users consistently and logically.

Ad tech has also allowed retargeting to enjoy growing popularity -- so much that it represents about 90% of all advertising costs. In other words, it's not going away.

The problem is that it can be too intrusive, which leads to reduced effectiveness. By taking advantage of RTB options fueled by ad tech data, agencies can drill down and target only those audiences most likely to convert, without badgering those who aren’t.

Connecting the Dots Between Ad Tech Companies and Agencies

Knowing that they need each other to thrive, agencies and ad tech companies are on a joint mission to figure out how to forge long-lasting relationships. Deeper connections tend to occur naturally through regular communications, realistic expectations, and thoughtful customization.

Communication

Touching base regularly and working transparently between both parties is essential. There can no longer be a "set it and forget it" attitude in the online ad industry.

With new integrations between data, tech, and content, there needs to be consistent party involvement from start to finish. To this end, media publishers are having more discussions with their agency partners about content and other creative efforts than ever before. That makes it imperative for ad tech organizations and agencies to have an "open door" policy.

Expectations

Quick turnarounds are another key factor to keep an eye on in the relationship between agencies and ad tech pros. Everyone wants rapid turnarounds, but sometimes things can get lost when too much is happening at one time, and sometimes quality is compromised.

Do you want something mediocre that's finished tomorrow or something impressive you have at the end of the week? You likely want the latter. Project management helps smooth out the flow between ad tech and agencies and ensures more successful campaigns.

Customization

Imagine you're a consumer who just saw a mobile ad that piqued your interest. When you go to browse on your laptop, you see the same ad. Then you see the same next time you’re on YouTube, then again before your next Hulu binge session. Seeing the exact same content becomes annoying, and your interest inevitably lowers.

That said, there can't be a repurposing of content and strategy across all channels -- that’s a dinosaur-era approach destined to backfire. Agencies and brands are realizing that they need to customize creative for each channel and integration. It’s no longer acceptable to have a mentality of "matched luggage" when it comes to media. Agencies can work hand-in-hand with an ad tech partner to achieve exceptional outcomes through data interpretation.

Reaching Higher With Ad Tech

Ad tech has grown rapidly, and it’s showing zero signs of slowing down.

As it continues its spread, agencies will be able to take advantage of ad tech's opportunities to develop more integrations, more data sharing, extended reach across all channels, and cleaner integrations against content.

According to some stats, up to 39% of agencies already talk about their ad tech connections when wooing prospective clients.

When ad tech and agencies partner up, user experiences will be increasingly polished and positive, and agencies will get the reward for their commitment to embracing the benefits of a lasting relationship with ad tech providers.

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Wednesday, March 1, 2017

How to Insert Google Calendar, Apple Calendar & Outlook Event Invites Into Your Marketing Emails

Have you ever registered for a webinar and then totally forgotten about it? Or perhaps you got an email about an upcoming workshop, but you were busy and forgot to put a reminder in your calendar for it? Yep, I'm guessing that's happened even to the most type-A of us.

Well, if you're an email marketer, you've been on the other side of this, when half of the registrants for an event you promoted never showed up. It sucks.

Luckily for you, you don't have to worry about that anymore, because we're about to share a marketing hack with you: how to insert Outlook, Apple Calendar, and Google Calendar invites right into your email in a few easy steps. That way, registrants can add the event directly to their calendars, and then be much less likely to forget about your event.

Download our free guide here for even more tips to optimize your email marketing.

Unless you somehow magically know what type of calendar your target audience uses, your best bet is to include all three major calendar invites in your email, giving recipients a choice that works for them. Outlook and Apple Calendar users will get an .ics file and Google Calendar users will use a URL-based custom invitation.

Note: All screenshots and steps were taken on a Mac, but if you're on a PC, the process is similar.

Step 1: Create a New Event

If you have a Mac, you can create your invitation in Apple Calendar. If you have a PC, you can create it in Outlook. For Google Calendar, you'll create the URL directly from your calendar application (you'll need to be logged into your Google account to do this) -- it doesn't matter which type of computer you have.

Apple Calendar

Open Apple Calendar and click on the "+" sign in the top left corner of the window. A pop-up will appear. Enter the name of your event in the "Create Quick Event" box and hit return/enter on your keyboard. This will create an event on your calendar, but it will place the event on the current date and time and leave the rest of the details blank. You'll need to change this information to reflect the details of your event (more on that in the next section).

apple_calendar_event

Outlook

Open up Outlook Calendar, then click on the "New Items" icon or click "New Appointment" in the navigation bar and select it from the dropdown. You're setting up an appointment, not a meeting, because this is an individual invite and other people from your recipient's calendar will not be included on it. A calendar invite will pop up for editing.

outlook_calendar_event

Google Calendar

Open Google Calendar in a new browser window. You'll need to be logged into your Google account. Click the red "Create" button on the top left side of the screen. A new event window should open.

google_calendar_event

Step 2: Set Details for Your Event

While Outlook, Apple Calendar, and Google Calendar events have slightly different formats, you'll still need the same components for each one:

Event name
Location
Time
Event description
URL of your event's landing page
Optional event alert

Below are examples of how these details look in the different applications, as well as a clarification of what information and format to use for each of these components.

Apple Calendar

Outlook

outlook_event_details

Source: Northern Arizona University

Google Calendar

google_calendar_event_details

The Details You Need to Include

Event Name (Subject field in Outlook)

Make sure the name reflects what your actual event name is called on your website and in your other promotions (this is a no-brainer, but we're being thorough here). You may want to also include your company name at the end so registrants can quickly remember who is hosting the event when they stumble on it in their calendar later.

Location

Physical address of the event (one line, such as "123 Business Ave, Springfield, TX") or the landing page URL, in the case of an online event.

Time

Enter the start and end dates and times of the actual event. Adjust the timing of the event to your time zone, as you're the one creating the .ics file. It will automatically change the time to correspond with each person's time zone. For example, if you're creating the event file in Boston for a webinar in San Francisco that starts at 10 a.m. PST, you should enter the start time as 1 p.m. EST.

Alert (Optional)

You can set up alerts so attendees don't forget about the event between when you sent the invite and the time of the event. In Outlook, you can set a time for one reminder to go off (such as one hour before). In Apple Calendar and Google Calendar you can set multiple alerts.

It's important to not overwhelm people with too many alerts, as this creates a negative, intrusive experience. Below is an example of an alert sequence in Apple Calendar that reminds folks about your event but isn't in-your-face:

apple_calendar_alert

URL of Event Landing Page

Do you have a specific landing page for your event or webinar? Include its URL, as it acts as a refresher for those who may be fuzzy on the details of what the event is about. Include it in the URL section of an Apple Calendar invite as well as in the body text of your Gmail or Outlook invites if you haven't already included it in the Location section.

Description

Here, you should include a snippet of the event's details. This goes in the "note" section of your Apple Calendar invite, in the body of your Outlook invite, or in the "description" text box in Google Calendar.

It's also helpful to provide your contact info in this section. That way, people can reach out if they have any questions.

Step 3: Save Your Event

Once you're all set editing the invite, you can save it to use as an attachment in your marketing email.

Outlook

Click "Save and Close" in the top-left of your Outlook invite to save it to your calendar. Then, click and drag the appointment from your Outlook calendar to your desktop to use for your email invite.

save_outlook_event

Apple Calendar

Click "done" to save it to your calendar. Then, navigate to the event date on your calendar, click on the event, and drag it to your desktop. Now you've saved your .ics file to use for your email invite.

apple_calendar_save_event

Google Calendar

Click "Save" to save your event to your calendar. Re-open the event and click on "Publish Event". A pop-up will appear with an embed code and a link you can easily copy and paste into your marketing email.

google_calendar_publish_event

google_calendar_copy_link

Step 4: Insert Invites Into Your Marketing Email

Now that you have events created for Outlook, Apple Calendar, and Google Calendar, you can insert these into your marketing email. You can either link your invites to text or a call-to-action button.

For Apple Calendar and Outlook invites, you'll need to attach the .ics file link to text or a button. Most email tools, such as HubSpot's, have a file manager in which you can upload these files directly from the editing window. Highlight the text or click on the button you want to link to, then upload the .ics file to your file manager and attach it to that text or button.

For the Google Calendar invite, link the text or button to the event URL you grabbed in Step 3 of this tutorial.

Here are some examples of how your invite might look in an email once it's hyperlinked (PS -- you can make your own buttons easily using this template):

add_to_calendar

add_to_calendar1

add_to_calendar2

Ultimately, even if you go to the ends of the earth to promote your event, it's up to event registrants to actually show up. Everyone's busy -- work, kids, 5K training, you name it -- and it's easy to lose track of events. Lend your audience a helping hand with a calendar reminder so they remember to attend that workshop or webinar they signed up for.

What strategies do you use to reminds attendees of your marketing events? Share with us in the comments below.

Editor's Note: This post was originally published in June 2014 and has been updated for freshness, accuracy, and comprehensiveness.

free email planning and tracking template

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How to Add Video to Your Social Media Marketing

Want to add video to your social media marketing mix? Wondering how to get started? Understanding what types of video work best on each social network will help you create a well-organized video strategy. In this article, you’ll discover four tips for adding video to your social media marketing. #1: Produce the Right Video for [...]

This post How to Add Video to Your Social Media Marketing first appeared on .
- Your Guide to the Social Media Jungle

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The Candy Crush Effect: How Apps for Boredom Monetized Mobile Addiction

“I’m so bored.”

How many times a week do you utter that phrase? If it’s at least once, you’re in the same boat as roughly 63% of people. And according to the same report that drew that conclusion, how bored you are depends on several factors -- like location and other demographics. But chances are, we all have at least one common outlook on boredom: It can be remedied by the internet.

That often manifests itself via mobile, where 90% of our time is spent on apps. And under the app umbrella, here's how our time is broken down:

Messaging and social: 68%
Entertainment (which includes apps like YouTube): 44%
Gaming: 33%

To add further insight, 70% of that time on mobile social apps is spent consuming media. What do these factors indicate? All in all, we use our mobile devices to stay amused.

App developers are no dummies, either. The most strategic ones know that this boredom can be capitalized to earn revenue. But how does that work? Well, much of it has to do with psychology and -- we hate to say it -- how our brains are wired for addiction. We examined the research done in this area, and tracked down some of the apps that best monetized it.

The Psychology of Boredom

Why We Get Bored

A Chicken-and-Egg Scenario

Despite our use of mobile apps to relieve boredom, that might be what’s causing it in the first place. Researchers at Temple University have found that our increased attachment to mobile devices is making us less patient and more impulsive -- both of which can precede a lower tolerance for lack of stimulation. It’s harder for us to sit still, because the technology is always there for us to check and scroll. And the more we use it, the less time we can spend resisting it.

That’s corroborated by findings of cognitive neuroscientist James Danckert, whose research has led him to think of “boredom as a deficiency in self-regulation,” he explains. “It's a difficulty of engaging with tasks in your environment. The more self-control you have, the less likely you are to be bored.” And what’s another word for a lack of self-control? “Impulsive” -- a trait more of us seem to be experiencing with increased mobile use.

Why We Use Mobile to Alleviate Boredom Anyway

“People will work very hard to relieve boredom,” writes Maggie Koerth-Baker for Scientific American -- which is why, she says, we indulge in impulsive behavior, like binge-eating or other unhealthy activities, in order to alleviate it. But she goes on to explain that the answer to that often lies in novelty, using the example of an educational computer program designed for students with higher boredom levels, which insults the user every time a question is answered incorrectly.

Granted, we don’t spend all of our time on mobile devices being insulted -- despite that common nature of social media -- but it does provide a certain sense of novelty. It’s an instant remedy for inactivity that allows us to consume media, win games, and communicate with others. And our addiction to these devices -- which is rampant enough to have actually earned a name: Nomophobia -- works just like any other. We begin to need more of it in order to be satisfied.

And, in a nutshell, that’s how app developers monetize what they create -- by leveraging our addiction. But which apps did it best? Have a look at our top picks.

3 Apps for Boredom That Became Big Money Makers

1) Tinder

Source: World Vector Logo

When Time magazine profiled the founders of Tinder in 2014, author Laura Stampler summarized the dating app flawlessly:

Users are shown photos of nearby potential matches and can swipe right to ‘like’ and left for ‘nope.’ Mutual right swipes result in a match, followed by the prompt to either send a message or ‘keep playing.’ This ‘Keep playing! Keep playing!’ mantra has led to an epidemic of 500 million swipes (and 5 million matches) a day.”

Notice the language Stampler uses here: “Epidemic.” Even if you’re not particularly interested in dating, the swiping becomes addicting -- an inevitability to which I fell victim during my own days of singledom. I found myself swiping while standing on a subway platform, sitting in a waiting room, or even when watching mindless television. It became a way to occupy time, more than it was a way to meet people.

Perhaps that widespread behavior led to the unveiling of Tinder Plus: A paid version of the app with such premium features as being able to go back when you accidentally swiped the wrong way (“Rewind”), or being able to view potential matches outside of a certain local radius (“Passport”). Plus, it gives you the option to go ad-free. But there’s a catch -- Tinder Plus costs twice as much if you’re over 30, which has rubbed a lot of people the wrong way.

I can see how these features might be appealing, especially when my own swiping increased. Before I deleted the app -- which is a story for another day -- the more I used the it, the less intrigued I was becoming with my potential matches. I was becoming bored. But I was also addicted to it, under the false belief that the more I swiped, the more likely I was to have that boredom alleviated. It aligns with psychology explained above. If I hadn’t deleted the app, my boredom may have motivated me to pay up for the ability to expand my options.

Today, Tinder has 1.7 paid members, illustrating the willingness of people to pay for more novelty.

2) Pokémon GO

Source: YouTube

When I recently visited a friend out of town, I noticed that she would furiously go about business on her phone whenever we were walking somewhere. “Are you lost?” I asked her, assuming she was looking at a maps app.

“No,” she replied. “It’s Pokémon GO,” a game that allows people to “catch” game characters by traveling to real-life places, and reap the benefits online, via the app. It is, in its way, a form of VR.

I was surprised -- mostly because I thought that the Pokémon GO craze had passed by Halloween, and this visit took place several months later. Was my company that boring? Or had my friend become addicted to a game that she initially began using out of curiosity and boredom?

I wasn’t the only one asking those kinds of questions, which explains why numerous psychology publications set out to explain how our brains process apps like this one. In fact, Internet Gaming Disorder has officially been classified by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders as a type of addiction -- one that “prompts a neurological response that influences feelings of pleasure and reward, and the result, in the extreme, is manifested as addictive behavior.”

That aligns with research showing that people more prone to boredom are also more inclined to fall victim to drug and alcohol abuse. And while it could be argued that addiction to a mobile app might not be as severe, it still follows the same psychological process and path of usership -- more is required to reach satisfaction. That could be why the app experienced such monetary success when it began to provide in-app purchases, which ended up accounting for $2.3 million of revenue each day, and totaling $342 million by the end of 2016.

3) Candy Crush Saga

Source: Game Revolution

This example shows yet another instance of in-app purchases reaping huge financial rewards. Candy Crush Saga, owned by gaming giant King Digital, is a free app at first glance. It doesn’t cost anything to download, but its premium add-ons -- like extra lives and other features that allegedly help you reach a higher score -- are largely responsible for the app’s estimated $1,103,436 daily revenue.

But here’s the thing. When you win, reach a high score, or accomplish some other sort of game-playing feat -- it activates the same part of your brain that cocaine does. That research also indicates that these “winning” actions trigger the same signals of pleasure that are produced by substances like methamphetamine, and follows psychological circuit behavior that’s also observed in heroin addicts.

Are we starting to get the picture?

I won’t bother repeating myself about the pattern of addiction and its too-much-is-never-enough behavioral implications, because it’s clear by now -- $1,103,436 in daily revenue is not just the result of people trying to find something fun to do. It’s evidence of what happens when mobile addiction leads to humans becoming more easily bored, and how that boredom exacerbates compulsive digital habits.

Is It a Question of Ethics, Then?

Unfortunately, there is no easy answer to that question -- and perhaps it’s fodder for another blog post (let us know).

But it does go to show that marketers can capitalize on widespread boredom, even ethically. It’s an opportunity for SMBs and nonprofits, for example, to partner and raise awareness of each other. Perhaps, instead of in-app purchases, digital tools can be developed by these brands to promote in-app donations.

Let’s say a local real estate agency wants to try an initiative like this one. It could develop an app for listings and include a trivia game. Instead of asking people to pay for additional in-app features, it can encourage people to keep using the app by advertising a donation to a brand-relevant charity -- like Habitat for Humanity -- for every X number of downloads, or X number of users who receive a perfect score.

Boredom can be leveraged for good. It just requires a bit of creativity and strategy.

How have you addressed boredom with your mobile marketing? Let us know in the comments.

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9 Client Reporting Tools That Will Save Your Agency Time

You love data. Nothing makes you -- and your client -- happier than a chart that shows just how great a campaign is performing.

But collecting all that data each month, organizing it, creating charts, and writing up reports is draining your team's time.

Typically, agency staffers spend around four or five hours per client each month reporting on digital. So say you're managing around 20 clients: Your effective hourly rate for each employee is $75, and it takes four hours to create each report. You'd save almost $5,000 per month if you automated this process.

What's worse? These reports are essential to the client, but she rarely spends more than a few minutes breezing over them -- she wants confirmation that things are trending up and to the right. If they're not, you're going to need to address that over the phone or in-person. A report isn't going to help her understand the context of the problem or how you're going to fix things.

To create reports quickly and easily for many different clients with different KPIs, consider using one of the below marketing reporting tools. These will help to reduce the amount of time you spend gathering data and creating reports so you can spend more time on the work that matters -- building high-performing campaigns.

9 Client Marketing Reporting Tools for Agencies

1) Megalytic

Megalytic provides templates so that you can easily import your data from sources such as Google Analytics, AdWords, Facebook, a CSV file, and others.

The tool has a library of widgets, such as ecommerce sales by geography, AdWords conversions, social referrals, etc., that you can easily add to your reports for more in-depth details. You can also set up reports to be automatically sent to a specific list of individuals, and then track to make sure they landed in the recipient's inbox.

2) Databox

Databox enables agencies automate the client reporting process by compiling data from many popular marketing software and services -- including HubSpot Marketing, HubSpot CRM, Google Analytics, Adwords, Facebook ads, Twitter, Linkedin Company Pages and Instagram. After connecting your client's services, Databox becomes the single place where your agency's team can set goals, monitor progress, calculate ROI numbers and receive alerts when things aren't going to plan.

Databox offers pre-configured reports (like the one below that features data pulled from HubSpot CRM and HubSpot marketing), and the option to build your own custom reports via their designer. You can view your data across multiple devices, including your mobile phone, desktop, TV, and via Slack.

3) RavenTools

RavenTools is useful for agencies and their clients who need a few more reporting features. There's a research center for analyzing competitors or target sites, the ability to schedule social media updates, a tracker for link building campaigns, and an SEO auditor.

There's also a useful feature for analyzing your client's site against those of their competitors -- you can compare backlinks, domain authority, load time, page speed, and other metrics. The report feature has drag-and-drop functionality and makes it easy to add the results of the tests and research performed through RavenTools additional features to your reporting documents.

4) TapAnalytics

This tool works with more than 100 service providers to pull in data quickly without the help of a support team or IT pro. It has a ton of customizable widgets you can use to drill down into specific metrics, uncover problem areas, or show improvements in a client's marketing efforts -- all tailored to the specific needs of the client.

It also provides user permissions and roles to protect your client's data from being viewed by people who shouldn't have access to the account, and agencies can create an overview dashboard that shows all of the agency's clients in one screen, making it easy for leadership to quickly determine problem areas and which accounts need extra attention. In addition, it can be fully white-labeled and provides a feature for adding a service charge (a percentage markup of your choosing) to a client's campaign.

5) Wordsmith for Marketing

This white-labeled tool turns analytics data into a written report that highlights the results of your digital marketing efforts. You simply connect your Google Analytics or Adwords accounts, and schedule when you would like the report to be sent to the client's account manager.

During the review, you can add in notes and suggestions for improvements prior to it being sent to the client. The tool is created by Automated Insights, a platform that the Associated Press is using to write more than 4,000 quarterly earnings reports without humans.

6) DataHero

DataHero integrates with cloud services beyond those focused on marketing, such as ZenDesk, GitHub, Eventbrite, and more, so you can customize your reporting to the specific campaign needs and activities of your various clients.

With this reporting tool, you can upload data or choose the data to import, and it gives you suggestions on the right chart to visualize your data. DataHero then gives you the option to manipulate and add data to the chart, making it easier to create insightful and useful charts for your client's review. (Disclosure: DataHero is a HubSpot integration partner.)

7) DashThis

For agencies that want the client experience to remain with their brand, DashThis provides a custom URL and a fully white-labeled account. The tool integrates with a ton of platforms, including Instagram, Ahrefs, comScore, and Perfect Audience.

DashThis surveyed agencies and found that there were three main report types agencies and their clients wanted. They created templates reflecting these results that are simple to set up and perfect for keeping track of performance each month.

DashThis is primarily a dashboard tool, rather than reporting, so use this for keeping clients or your team up-to-date on performance throughout the month. However, you can send notifications and a report summary or create a PDF from the chosen dashboard.

8) Dasheroo

Dasheroo gives agencies the ability to create client teams with different levels of permissions so that data stays secure between multiple accounts. It includes templates to help you create charts more quickly, and it has an interesting feature called a mashup, where it will compare two different metrics so it's easier to spot trends and issues.

9) Klipfolio

This cloud app lets users to build customized business performance dashboards that sync in real-time across multiple devices -- including TV monitors, web browsers, and mobile devices. For agencies looking to get a high-level view of their clients' performance from numerous data sources, Klipfolio delivers a wide variety of options to connect both on-site and cloud-based sources.

What tools do you use to speed up monthly reporting? Let us know in the comments below!

Editor's Note: This post was originally published in April 2016 and has been updated for freshness, accuracy, and comprehensiveness.

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