Building a Political Digital Marketing Strategy From Scratch
A step-by-step look at how a 2008 campaign could build a digital operation from the ground up, using tactics the presidential race made impossible to ignore.
The Archive
2008
A Practical Guide to Display Advertising
Google's DoubleClick deal and automated ad exchanges are changing how display inventory gets bought, as a shaky economy forces advertisers to justify spend.
Online Video Trends Shaping 2008
The developments that defined online video in 2008: Hulu's public launch, election-driven YouTube traffic and an economic downturn reshaping ad budgets.
10 Email Marketing Strategies for a Tightening Budget
Ten concrete email marketing tactics worth using in 2008, as tightening budgets push marketers toward the lowest-cost, highest-accountability strategies.
Twitter Marketing: What Every Business Needs to Know
A decision framework for whether a business should bother with Twitter in 2008, given how few customers were on it yet and how thin the tools still were.
How Search Engine Optimization Changed Marketing in 2008
As the recession squeezed ad budgets in 2008, SEO's measurable, low-cost return pulled it from a nice-to-have into a survival tactic for many businesses.
How Inbound Marketing Changed Digital Marketing in 2008
Why the 2008 financial crisis pushed budget-strapped businesses toward inbound tactics, and what that shift looked like over the year.
Why Mobile Apps Matter for Your Bottom Line
The business case for native apps two months after the App Store's July 2008 launch, and why the earliest movers had a real advantage worth quantifying.
Why Facebook Marketing Paid Off at 100 Million Users
The ROI case for Facebook in the second half of 2008, as the platform crossed 100 million users and its ad and Page tools started producing real numbers.
Mastering Daily Deal Marketing: A Marketer's Playbook
An operational playbook for the deal-a-day model in 2008, built on the pattern Woot pioneered years earlier and few other retailers had yet copied.
The State of Social Media Marketing in 2008
A snapshot of social media in 2008: MySpace still ahead of Facebook in the US, Facebook's new ad platform and a campaign that changed what was possible.
The Rise of YouTube Marketing After Google's $1.65B Buyout
From three ex-PayPal employees' 2005 project to a $1.65 billion Google buyout: how YouTube became a real channel, proven out by Blendtec and Obama's campaign.
Building a Web Analytics Strategy From Scratch
A step-by-step guide to setting up a real web analytics strategy in 2008, from defining goals to building a reporting habit that survives a tighter budget.
Content Marketing Trends Shaping 2008
Why content marketing is still an emerging, loosely defined term in 2008, and the specific developments pushing it toward becoming a recognized discipline.
Common Political Marketing Mistakes (and How to Avoid Them)
Where campaigns and causes went wrong online in 2008, from treating a website as a brochure to building no email list at all before it mattered.
How Display Advertising Changed Digital Marketing in 2008
2008 closed the Google-DoubleClick deal, tested Facebook's Beacon into a lawsuit and shutdown, then hit a recession forcing advertisers to prove real return.
Mastering Online Video Amid Hulu's Launch and a Recession
An operational playbook for online video in 2008, covering Hulu's launch, tighter budgets from the downturn and lessons from this year's election video surge.
The State of Email Marketing in 2008
How the 2008 downturn reshaped marketing budgets and pushed email ahead of harder-to-justify channels, plus what social networks were starting to change.
A Practical Guide to Twitter Marketing
A mechanics-first look at how Twitter worked for businesses in 2008, from its 140-character SMS roots to the few companies using it for support and sales.
Ten Years of SEO: From PageRank to Universal Search
From Yahoo's hand-curated directory to Google's PageRank and the Florida update, the decade-long path that turned SEO into a real discipline by 2008.
The Rise of Inbound Marketing: Tracing Its Roots to HubSpot
The short origin story of inbound marketing, from HubSpot's 2006 founding and its coined term through the tools that made it practical by 2008.
Mobile Apps: What Every Business Needs to Know
A decision framework for whether to build a mobile app in early 2008, when distribution meant fragmented carrier decks and Apple's SDK was still just a promise.
Facebook Marketing: What Every Business Needs to Know
A decision framework for whether a business should invest in Facebook in 2008, weighing its fast-growing audience against the still-raw Beacon backlash.
A Practical Guide to Daily Deal Marketing
Twelve concrete tactics for running deep-discount, limited-time promotions the way sites like Woot proved out, without training customers to wait for discounts.
Why Social Media Marketing Matters as Facebook Opens Pages
Facebook opened its doors to businesses in 2007 and Twitter was still finding its footing in 2008. Here is the business case for paying attention now.