Banner ads have fallen on rough times.  According to BusinessInsider, banner ads started to die in 2012. A recent article from Digiday presents some abysmal stats for this 18-year-old advertising medium: trillions of these ads are served to US users yearly, yet the average click-through rates are less than 1% — in fact, the CTR averages .1% (or less; 468×60 banners average .04%). This same article describes banner ads as “a symbol of all that’s wrong with online advertising.”

That’s a pretty harsh sentiment, and the statistics are hard to ignore. Content marketing and native advertising are quickly overtaking the banner advertisement.

But is it time to completely write off this advertising medium? Why not take a closer look at why banner ads are so ineffective? After all, while this form of technology may be dying, it’s not dead yet – opportunity could still lie by taking corrective action.

Digiday reports most banner [...]

If you asked everyone in your marketing department to name his or her top goals for the company, would the answers match up? I’m going to go out on a heavily reinforced steel limb and say, probably not. And that’s OK. In marketing, that highly sought-after “same songbook” is not always the only one worth singing from. When everyone is focused on the same goal, it can be easy to miss opportunities outside the field of vision.

Sometimes, digital marketers—clients and agencies alike—become fixated on a single goal at the expense of other opportunities. With that in mind, here are 5 tips for more effective goal-setting in digital marketing:

1. Set goals, but don’t be afraid to re-evaluate — Goals should be taken seriously but not at the expense of business growth. With business moving at the speed of Google Fiber, goal-setting should be flexible, fluid.

2. Define goals in business terms — [...]

Today Oneupweb is excited to host the Michigan Road Scholars, a group of 30-plus faculty members from the University of Michigan as they tour, observe and fact-find their way across the state. As part of their 3-day journey, they’ll be stopping by Traverse City to visit our office and get a taste of our sweet, sweet marketing world.

With mitten love running through our veins, we jumped at the opportunity to partner with the University of Michigan and the Michigan Road Scholars as they work to develop awareness of and first-hand appreciation for the state’s distinctive geography, economy, culture, government, politics, history, educational systems and health and social issues.

Our CEO, Lisa Wehr, will sit down with the scholars to discuss the history of Oneupweb, the ins and outs of digital marketing and how Michigan businesses can thrive in the global economy.

If our amazing view of Grand Traverse Bay wasn’t enough of [...]