Next to Now for August 4

The tomatoes are plentiful and perfectly ripe at the Union Square Greenmarket and the Olympics are set to start in Rio. It’s peak summertime and a terrific moment to think about great books, passionate readers, and finding new ways to connect them. PEW DATA ON BOOK READERS A recent Atlantic article on book readers looks at recent […]

Next to Now: The future is always unfinished

THE RISE OF THE MICROINFLUENCERS Bigger is not always better when it comes to influencer marketing: “For unpaid posts, Instagram influencers with fewer than 1,000 followers have a like rate of about 8 percent, while those with 1,000 to 10,000 followers have a like rate of 4 percent.” That’s good news for book publishers and […]

Next to Now: Does the Marketing Funnel Still Work?

MARKETING PINBALL The CMO of Publishers Clearing House writes on Ad Age about the death of the marketing funnel and the birth of marketing pinball. The article’s focus on brands means it’s only moderately useful for book publishers, but it’s still a good read about the current state of the customer journey—instead of traveling along a […]

Next to Now: New Shifts in Ad Ecosystems

As our preparations for this year’s Digital Book World shift into high gear (including the Master Class in paid advertising and the panel on the book buyer’s journey), there is an abundance of ad news to take in. Below is a sampling of what we’ve been reading this week. WHY IS THIS PAGE TAKING SO […]

Next to Now: Holidays Are Here Edition

As the New York City sidewalks become forests of blue spruce and Canadian tree sellers and the Rockefeller Center tree lights up the night, the world of digital advertising continues to evolve. Here are links to some of the most relevant ad news we’ve seen this week: ADBLOCKING NOT YET AN ISSUE FOR MOBILE Nieman Lab […]

Next to Now: Improve Your Social Life Edition

This weeks’s Next to Now includes links to articles on standing out on Snapchat, partnering with Instagram, and checking out an experiment that gives people a real, human stake in an outdoor ad campaign.  HOW TO STAND OUT ON SNAPCHAT This article gives a good primer about strategies to get a presence on Snapchat without […]

Next to Now: “Fall Back” Edition

With the end of Daylight Savings Time on Sunday, we enter the homestretch of the year. Here’s some of what we’ve been reading this week—looking forward even as we “fall back.” SHOULD FOLLOWER COUNT DETERMINE WORTH? It’s a question that depends on context. For regular everyday products like shoes, toasters, or books, the answer is […]