You Can Run a Global Sales Team. Jeff Kamikow Explains How

 “There’s literally a world of opportunity out there,” says digital marketing expert Jeff Kamikow. “You just have to be in the right place to take advantage.”

Kamikow learned firsthand what a boon international business can be. As a prominent digital marketer who’s developed original revenue strategies for several successful companies and built global sales forces that magnified his efforts here at home — boosting sales, revenue and income in the process.

Many of Kamikow’s fellow entrepreneurs are discovering the power of doing business overseas as well. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration, 98 percent of all U.S. businesses that export overseas are classified as small to midsize enterprises. Exports account for nearly 7 million jobs and nearly 14 percent of U.S. GDP. And U.S. companies that export are about 9 percent less likely to go out of business than companies that focus exclusively on the domestic market.

Perhaps most importantly, 70 percent of the world’s purchasing power is located outside the United States. That proportion is likely to rise, not fall, as time goes on.

Exporting can be complicated, sure. But given these facts, it’s hard to argue that expanding overseas isn’t in a growing company’s best interest, all other things being equal. And since many modern businesses don’t even make physical goods, “exporting” can be as simple as bouncing bits off orbiting satellites or shooting data through overseas cables.

If you’re looking to tap overseas markets for your products and services, you’re likely to need a global sales force that can support your efforts wherever you choose to set up shop. No matter how modest your resources or scale, it’s hard to beat an on-the-ground sales force that (sometimes literally) speaks your prospects’ language and spots threats and opportunities in plenty of time to respond.

Here’s what you need to do to build and maintain an effective global sales force, no matter what your company does.

1. Plan Before You Expand

A few years ago, when Jeff Kamikow was putting together his first global sales team, emerging markets were the golden children of the global economy. No matter how hard you tried to find an underperforming or politically risky place to grow your firm, you’d find a firehose of eager buyers with fistfuls of cash — at favorable dollar exchange rates, no less.

Those days are long gone. Expanding overseas is a much trickier proposition these days, and the possibility of failure looms large. Former darlings — Brazil, Russia, even China — are struggling to keep their houses in orders. Some smaller players — Greece, Egypt — are on the verge of collapse.

Before you expand your global footprint, take a hard look at what your company brings to the table. Research the markets you’re targeting and determine whether consumers there are willing to buy what you’re selling. (Do they even care?)

If you’re targeting new markets primarily for back-office support for existing operations elsewhere, carefully analyze local political and economic risk. Even if they have favorable tax laws or incentives for foreign-owned firms, politically unstable countries present unacceptable risks. That’s why Jeff Kamikow’s latter-day global sales work tends to focus on relatively stable markets, like France and India.

2. Build a Curious First Wave

When you enter a new market, you’re likely to build your first “wave” of salespeople and managers from trusted home-market employees. As you evaluate the candidates, take care to select culturally curious people who exhibit a willingness to learn about and engage with locals. You don’t want people who just want to hang out in the lobby of your Western hotel or apartment block.

3. Develop Local Talent

Your sales team’s second wave, with few exceptions, should be comprised of talent hired and developed locally. This is particularly critical if you’re expanding into non-English-speaking markets. Establish connections with local civic boosters and talent search professionals to find qualified workers and reduce failure rates. Jeff Kamikow’s team wouldn’t be where it is today without talented natives willing to stick out their necks for him.

4. Understand Local Customs

Customs and social norms differ widely from place to place, so it’s critical to conduct exhaustive research prior to entry and to retain an open mind afterwards. Even activities as simple as eye contact between subordinates and superiors, jokes made during presentations, and finger-pointing or other seemingly innocuous gestures can create tension and possibly jeopardize your position.

5. Learn from Your Mistakes

At some point, it’ll become clear that things simply aren’t working out with a particular sales initiative or — unfortunately — an entire territory. Don’t fight a losing battle, particularly when you’re out of your element. Instead, cut your losses, analyze what went wrong, retrench your efforts elsewhere, and vow not to make the same mistake again.

6. Look for Opportunities to Scale

As noted, the first wave of your global sales force may well be from your home country, or perhaps picked from other international markets. As you grow your presence in-country, you’ll then need to hire and develop local talent.

But unless it becomes clear that you’re on a fool’s errand in your new market, you should never stop looking for opportunities to scale quickly and cost-effectively — i.e., by acquiring smaller, local competitors or purchasing in-place assets (if cash flow allows) that align with your goals. For instance, if you catch wind that a local call center operator is looking to sell, consider buying them out, retaining high-potential employees, and retraining them to support your local goals (whether direct sales, inbound support or some other complementary activity).

7. Leverage Your Global Presence

When you’re building a global sales force, it never hurts to brag. Jeff Kamikow is the first to admit that he’s played up his global sales chops in past situations where it’s to his benefit to do so.

Entrepreneurs who successfully build and manage global sales forces, regardless of scale or mission, demonstrate that they’re able to run complex, multipolar organizations outside of whatever cultural comfort zone they might normally occupy. The value of this competency is difficult to quantify, but it often leads to opportunities that weren’t previously on the radar.

Are you working to build a global sales force for your company? What are the biggest challenges and opportunities you’ve identified so far?

Jeff Kamikow Livingstone NJ Info

Jeffrey Kamikow, 40 from Livingstone. Jeffrey Kamikow is a digital marketing expert and revenue strategy executive with more than two decades of experience in sales and operations management.

Jeff Kamikow CV

Our CEO, Jeff Kamikow, weighs in on marketing to Gen Z teens on social and mobile in a column on Forbes.com. Jeff Kamikow recommends investing in a brand refresh every year or two, regardless of whether you feel like your brand

4 mobile marketing mistakes that could kill your business By Jeff Kamikow

Building a mobile strategy is uncharted territory for most business. The maps we have so far are incomplete, with many zones that say “Here there be dragons.” Yet you know you must set sail if you want to remain competitive. How can you avoid wrecking your ship as you start off on your mobile strategy journey?

1. A mobile website may not be not enough

In the early days of mobile, all the focus was on creating responsive websites that looked good on mobile device. This is still necessary, but it is not enough. Ninety percent of all smartphone use is done in an app, not on a browser. While a responsive website does make you look more professional, chances are that you’re not going to attract much business through a website alone.

2. Not having a roadmap for your mobile strategy

Mobile strategy isn’t just client-facing. The most important parts of a mobile strategy happen inside the business. But converting your internal processes and dashboards to mobile versions must be done smartly. Every change you make should affect business positively and be measurable. Otherwise, if it’s not broke, don’t fix it!

3. Building too many internal apps

One of the ways that companies go off the rails is to try to convert every internal piece of software into a mobile version. Desktops and laptops are still quite useful! Because a mobile strategy can affect a business from top to bottom, you must talk with each business unit to see how mobile can help them. The answer could be that they don’t want a mobile app at all, and it could be the right answer!

4. Building a customer app the customer doesn’t want

On the customer side, any app you make must give them information or services they want. Depending on your industry, your customers may not even want an app on their phone from you. Think carefully about what you want any customer-facing app to do and do better than your current processes. Don’t build an app just to check off a box that says we have an app.

Would Jeff Kamikow Be Worried about iOS 10’s Privacy Settings?

 A mobile advertiser likes Jeff Kamikow is constantly looking at market fluctuations and any restrictions that could change mobile advertising strategies. Over the past five years, mobile advertising has grown many, many times over, and it represents the present and future for digital advertising. More people use their mobile devices for shopping, accessing the news, communicating with others on social media, paying their bills, and more. Advertisers have responded in kind, and the market has grown exponentially more than desktop advertising.

One of the biggest players in the mobile space is obviously Apple. iPhones and other Apple devices are some of the widely used mobile devices. The iOS 10 update will be here in a few days, and it will certainly have some ramifications for mobile advertisers. Now before you  panic too much, iOS 10 will not block ads completely. Instead it will expand on iOS9’s IDFAs and give advertisers even less information when it comes to tracking. IDFAs allowed  advertisers to track metrics for “frequency capping, attribution, conversion events, estimating the number of unique users, advertising fraud detection, and debugging.”

Now that this isn’t in play, mobile advertising will change greatly. Users who turn on “Limit Ad Tracking” and send IDFAs to advertisers may begin to experience an even poorer experience as advertisers will not be able to target based off location or user activity. Instead, they may see the same ads over and over again or see ads that do not pertain to them whatsoever.

Therefore, it is the job of Jeff Kamimow and other advertisers, to educate the public about IDFAs and the new updates as well as create good ads that users won’t get annoyed with. Privacy is a major thing with users. Relevancy is too though. If advertisers can make the case that tracking is necessary to enrich experience, more users may be willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.

Jeff Kamikow | Video Ads

 Every marketer, including Jeff Kamikow, has used video ads in some capacity to advertise on mobile devices. Videos are engaging and often have a longer shelf-life than other forms of advertising. Plus, they are pliable, making them a viable option for a number of different industries.

Jeff Kamikow | Is Mobile Advertising in a Boom?

TechCrunch believes that we’re on the verge of another major boom in marketing through mobile. Is this true? We’re probably already there. The writer of this article compared what we’re seeing in mobile advertising right now to what happened in the dot com bubble.

Here mobile advertisers threw a lot of money out there to try and attract new customers, but the number of customers and an understanding of the level of advertising needed to get a conversion weren’t there. The money began to run out, and, as a result, website advertising would trend downward for several years until the mid-2000s.

We are experiencing  another boom right now for mobile advertising. Users are accessing web pages and especially apps now more than ever before. In addition to that, brands are devoting more of their dollars to mobile advertising than web advertising too. Jeff Kamikow and other advertisers believe mobile will be the present and future of advertising for some time. Are they right?

Yes, probably,  but the current model will not be the way that happens. Advertisers are too focused on app-install ads as pointed out by TechCrunch, and they are spending too much money to get people to install their ads and keep using them. Unfortunately, a user may try out an app for a week before moving on. Instead, Jeffrey Kamikow and others in the mobile advertising industry will need to focus on integrating app and mobile advertising with other channels to create one holistic marketing scheme.

Jeff Kamikow Begin

Jeff Kamikow began his career in the print industry. He found his first career-track job as an account executive at PC World magazine during personal computing’s early-90s heyday. 

Jeffrey Kamikow | Launch of Mobile DSP

Our mobile DSP will give advertisers access to some of the most trusted names in digital publishing, as well as the premium audiences they've been struggling to reach through other partners - particularly if they don't have a Fortune 500-sized budget. Whether they're aiming to drive app downloads or sales, we're offering scalable, data-driven, programmatic advertising that many mid-sized companies haven't been able to take advantage of previously.

Jeff kamikow, CEO

Jeff Kamikow at Ziff Davis

 While working at Ziff Davis, Jeff Kamikow became fascinated with the rapidly evolving, high-potential world of digital marketing. He had the good fortune (and fortitude) to make the digital transition just as the space’s best minds were figuring out how to squeeze revenue from online ads.

Jeff Kamikow Information

Jeff Kamikow is the Co-Founder / Principle at Kamikow Media Group . Additionally, Jeff Kamikow has had 3 past jobs including Chief Revenue Officer at LYFE Mobile . Kamikow Media Group Co-Founder / Principle 2011.

Jeff Kamikow - 10 Places To Look When Your Website Traffic Is Dropping

For companies that generate most of their leads and sales online, bringing in steady website traffic is critical. That's why a sharp decline in traffic sends the average business into full-on panic mode.

While you should be concerned about a sudden dip in site visits, there's often a logical explanation for it, if you know where to look. Sometimes it's a simple and fast fix – a coding error, for instance – while in other cases, such as an algorithm change, it might take a bit longer to bounce back. Either way, it's important to look for the root of the problem so you can fix it.

Ten Forbes Agency Council members explain some potential reasons your site's traffic may have tanked, and what you can do about it.

1. Tracking Tags

The simplest explanation for a sudden and unexpected drop in website performance is often analytics tags failing to fire. Always check tracking first to make sure website visitors are being accounted for before making drastic changes. Reconciling tracking issues will help mitigate the long-term impact. Additionally, making friends with your IT department will help avoid issues before they arise. - Nina Hale, Nina Hale / Performance Digital

2. The Front End Of Your Website 

The first thing to investigate after a major dip in traffic is your website itself. Is it actually working? Is there a problem with the domain? Mechanically, is everything functioning as it should? If all that checks out, make sure the critical inbound links are still intact. If the majority of your traffic comes from inbound campaigns, ensure your inbound marketing platform is working properly. - Jeffrey Kamikow, Cross Audience

3. Google Analytics 

When the world is crashing around you, trust the data. Dive into Google Analytics and try to pinpoint where things went south. Think back on marketing tactics you recently pushed live and find the correlation. This should lead you to an internal audit, where you may discover an internal tool is broken or an external force is impacting your site. - Kirk Deis, Treehouse 51

4. Google Search Console 

If you don't stay up to date on major Google algorithm changes, you're falling behind. If your site is not mobile-friendly, improperly secured or using outdated practices for SEO, your rankings may be dropping. Check your Search Console, work with your team to fix the problem, and start subscribing to the right resources to avoid this in the future. - Stewart Gandolf, Healthcare Success

5. Traffic Sources 

After confirming that there’s no recent update to search algorithms throwing things out of whack, identify which traffic source has seen the greatest decline – direct, referral, organic, paid, social. After pinpointing the source, work backward to determine what actions (or inactions) could be at fault. Check your content consumption and be sure it is on point with your target audience. - Keri Witman, Cleriti

6. Your Site's Code 

When we see a sharp decline in traffic, we first check the site’s code. During site changes and redesigns, SSL and 301 redirects are often overlooked, causing Google to de-index the site's pages and search rankings to drop. The drop in rankings can dramatically decrease visitors. So when building a new site or making changes to your current one, double-check your redirects before pushing live. - Michael Weinhouse, Logical Position

7. The Bigger Customer Engagement Picture 

Don’t panic, and take a step back to see the bigger picture. Perhaps customers are engaging with your website primarily on mobile rather than desktop. If your mobile site isn’t optimized or they are instead using your app, then this could be why. This gives you insight into how consumer behaviors change over time and where they are most likely to engage with your brand. - Preethy Vaidyanathan, Tapad

8. External Backlinks 

A client once had a downward trend in organic traffic. We audited all the checklist items to figure out what the issue was and we were stumped. We then evaluated the search trends of their top backlinks and found that their highest authority backlink had the same drop. To fix our client site, we had to fix the referring site. External forces are sometimes just as important as internal factors. - Brett Farmiloe, Markitors

9. The Last Item That Changed On Your Site 

When diagnosing an issue, you need to think back to what was the last item that changed. It could be a code push that somehow removed analytics from your site, it could have been a change to content that has caused a decline in search traffic. Did you make a change to your advertising? Sudden declines (or increases) are often traceable back to the last modification (big or small) that was made. - Greg Kihlstrom, Yes& Agency

10. Adblockers 

Check whether you are getting "adblocked" by any browsers, which may be redirecting traffic from your site. Also check on whether you might have had "false" traffic coming to your site from foreign websites, which was then rectified and now has new accurate website traffic numbers. - Jessica Hawthorne-Castro, hawthornedirect.com 

Mobile Performance Marketing Company Cross Audience Announces Launch Of Mobile DSP

Cross Audience works with agencies, partnering to handle their mobile advertising needs, but they also work directly with brands in retail, travel, food service, entertainment, and other verticals. Below is our recent interview with the Jeff Kamikow, CEO at Cross Audience:

Q: What is mobile performance marketing and how does it work?

A: Mobile performance marketing is our specialty – it’s what we do best. It refers to any kind of marketing wherein the marketer only pays when a certain action is completed, whether that means an app has been installed, a purchase has been made, a lead has been generated, a prospect has scheduled an appointment, etc. The difference between performance and traditional advertising is that the publisher or affiliate only gets paid by the marketer when that action has been completed, versus paying on something like a CPM or monthly basis. It’s much more accountable.

Q: What about Mobile App Conquesting? Why is it so powerful tactic in digital marketing today?

A: Mobile app conquesting has been a big focus for us. We really believe it’s a powerful and underutilized tool in mobile marketing, in particular. App conquesting allows mobile marketers to reach and win new customers based on the apps they’re using right now. Marketers can reach and engage qualified mobile customers and their devices at scale using our unique technology – which is, of course, permission based an uses only non-PII data. Marketers can actually target users across their competitive set, while also defining behaviors that will allow them to build out unique custom audience profiles. We’ve seen amazing success with conquesting campaigns over the last year. We’re looking forward to more marketers taking advantage of this powerful technology.

Cross Audience Recommended: Olea Sensor Networks Promises To Revolutionize Mobile And Cloud-Based “Internet of Things”

Q: You’ve recently announced launch of mobile DSP; could you tell us something more?

A: There are so many DSPs out there, it’s hard to stand out from the crowd. Our is differentiated in a few ways. For starters, while it’s currently mobile-only, our near-term goal is to make it effective across screens. It’s also fully customizable and trader-friendly. We’re able to deliver broad access to exchanges and suppliers, while simultaneously offering broad access to both first and third party data. That makes things so much easier for today’s trade desks and individual traders – not to mention agencies and in-house marketing teams.

We also know it’s much easier to use than almost any other DSP on the market because we use it ourselves. The interface is very user-friendly. It’s also really fast and flexible, so clients can launch their campaigns incredibly quickly, and optimize easily and to their unique KPIs. We’re excited about that speed and easy customization.

Our full-service clients know that working with Cross Audience will give them the benefit of working the DSP, but also the high-touch service they expect. They have access to our smart, friendly team, along with the confidence that their ads are only shown to hand-raisers with an interest in their (or their client’s) product or service, and on trusted publisher content.

Cross Audience Recommended: Acct Two Helps Organizations Achieve Success By Transforming Finance And Accounting Into A Growth Enabler

Q: What else can we expect from Cross Audience in 2018?

A: We have a few things up our sleeve for the year ahead, but right now we’re laser-focused on making the DSP the best it can be. We’ve onboarded several clients already and we’re pleased with what we’re seeing. It’s very exciting to see successful campaigns leveraging our best-in-breed technology, powered by our massive collection of first-party data, and optimized in real-time by our experienced and passionate team. So far, the results have been fantastic, and our clients are raving about how easy the platform is to use and how fast it is compared to others on the market today.

That said, we know there’s always more we can do. We want our clients to get the highest possible ROI from their campaigns with us, so we’ll keep finding ways to improve the technology, optimize the results, and keep everything we do as free of fraud as humanly possible. It’s a competitive industry, and we want marketers to know that we’re here with the best technology and the best quality data – and that we’re willing to work harder to drive results than anyone else.

Jeff Kamikow – Musings from the CEO of Cross Audience

A mobile advertiser likes Jeff Kamikow is constantly looking at market fluctuations and any restrictions that could change mobile advertising strategies. 

What Are the Basic Forms of Mobile Advertising - Jeff Kamikow

 If you are one of the hundreds of millions of people who accesses the internet on your smartphone or tablet, you are probably well aware of mobile advertising. Jeff Kamikow, a branding expert, knew that mobile advertising would one day overtake desktop website advertising and other ad networks. It is simply changing customer behavior.

More people are tapping rather than typing to reach their favorite sites or apps. More people are accessing media content on an app rather than a desktop website. It’s partly simple convenience. You can’t just carry your desktop or laptop everywhere you go. But you can take your smartphone or tablet with you, making them much more convenient. This is why mobile advertisers like Jeff Kamikow incorporate various strategies to help these users access their clients’ brands.

Here are various forms of mobile advertising you might find when you go on a website or access media on your mobile device:

Banner Ads: These are, by far, the most common mobile ads you will find out there. That’s because they are seen by the most people and they’re rather innocuous. They rely on brand recognition as it is tough to get in details in these tight banners.

Video Ads: Video ads certainly engage the user. They are played automatically as a user is on a mobile website or application. However, they can be more expensive and not welcomed by some  who would prefer to get straight to their content. That is why it needs to be done right to deliver the right message and response.

Native Ads: If you’re a fan of Deadspin or other blogging sites, you have probably seen native ads. They are designed not to actually look like ads, but rather content that closely resembles the site or app.

Interstitial Ads: These are widely used by Jeff Kamikow and other brand experts to create a compelling CTA and creative content to engage the user as the site or app loads. When done right, they can really draw a good response.

Hack These 3 Ecommerce Trends in 2023 | Jeffrey Kamikow

Jeffrey Kamikow has noticed the distinctions between ecommerce and “regular” commerce are falling fast, if they ever really existed at all. No matter what your business does, who it sells to, or how it’s built to make money, it needs a cohesive ecommerce (or at least e-conversion) strategy.

What this looks like on the ground, of course, is up to you. No one can hold your hand and tell you that this is how you turn your online dross into ecommerce gold.

What experienced marketing professionals like Jeff Kamikow can tell you is how to capitalize on late-breaking ecommerce trends — how to ride the wave that everyone knows is cresting, but few are exactly sure how to catch without wiping out.

These three ecommerce trends are all set to build or crest in 2016. Which are you most looking forward to capitalizing on?

Multichannel Is the Way to Go

Ventureburn has an in-depth look at the emerging power of multichannel marketing and sales. If you have time, definitely read the whole thing. Here’s the short version: Since your customers access your ecommerce platform on a variety of devices, you need to tailor your marketing campaigns to capture them all.

Use mobile ad networks to turbocharge conversion rates and reach customers opportunistically, retargeting systems to catch prospects on the conversion bubble, traditional PPC and search campaigns to draw in desktop-bound users, video and email to build awareness and loyalty, and non-digital word of mouth campaigns (brand ambassadors, anyone?) to develop legitimacy.

Content Marketing Works Pretty Much Everywhere

Think no one reads your product descriptions, ad copy or “about us” blurb? Think again. Content is the once and future king of ecommerce, naysayers be darned. What’s different for 2016 and beyond? In a word, quality. We’ve been hearing the drumbeat about quality content for years, but it’s (unfortunately) been possible to skate by with subpar, corner-cutting content until relatively recently. That’s certainly not going to be the case in 2016, and likely won’t be for the foreseeable future. Make sure your ecommerce portal’s content engine is well-oiled and primed to purr. From your product descriptions and reviews to parent-page content, blog and sales collateral, everything you produce needs to be on-message, authentic and structured to sell.

Responsive, Ready or All In? Either Way, It’s Mobile Now & Mobile Forever

Mobile ad networks aren’t the only mobile-centric ecommerce trend set to shake up the digital landscape in 2016 and beyond. Thanks to recent algorithm changes by Google and other search engines, ecommerce sites that don’t have mobile-friendly architectures and designs risk drastic hits to search visibility and performance.

If you haven’t already, get on the stick and invest in a mobile-friendly overhaul that touches every aspect of your ecommerce operation — including ancillary pieces like confirmation emails and tracking tools. An ounce of prevention really is worth a pound of cure here.

Which ecommerce trend are you most looking forward to in 2016? Which are you most skeptical about?

Jeff Kamikow - An Executive Position with Verve Mobile

 Jeff Kamikow left Pulse 360 in 2011 and accepted an executive position with Verve Mobile, one of the very first companies to crack the mobile advertising code. Kamikow subsequently moved to Lyfe Mobile, whose methodology and approach closely mirrored Verve’s. As Lyfe’s chief revenue officer, Kamikow was responsible for growing the company’s revenues, expanding its brand, and ultimately executing a complex and highly beneficial sale to BlinkX, a larger European competitor seeking a foothold in the American market.

Telling a Story with Your Mobile Ad - Jeff Kamikow

 If there is one thing that could really annoy a potential customer, it’s giving him or her the same ad to look at over and over again. There is certainly something to be said about ad repetition in some mediums. You hear a jingle on the radio or see the same pitch guy on a commercial, and it could create a level of familiarity that could improve the brand. This is not the same with mobile ads.

Mobile users want ads that they can engage with. For example, you can have an ad that utilizes some form of gaming that keeps the user interested. However, if the same user is given an ad with the same gaming feature over and over again, he or she will eventually get bored with it. Jeff Kamikow is a mobile advertising expert who has produced mobile ads of all kinds. He would argue that a company’s mobile advertising strategy must consist of fresh content all of the time that tells a story. So how can you accomplish this?

There are a number of tools available today that allow mobile advertise to use predictive behavior to slightly update an ad with each view by a user. For example, the first time might just be n introduction, so it might just show broad features or a tagline. The second time around, more details might be shown or the ad might showcase a feature that could be of particular interest to the user. This will go so on and so on until the user has a full understanding of what the product does.

By adapting to customer behavior to tell your brand’s story organically, you could reach your audience better, which could potentially turn into a lead. When it comes to mobile advertising, the key is freshness to adequately tell a story

Do You Have The Right Content for Your Website | Jeff Kamikow

We’ve all heard the phrase “content is king,” but its ubiquity is in part due to the fact that it is true. We’ve all gone to websites where the content was bad or tried too hard and sounded more like a term paper than a conversation. Visitors who come to your website should be able to understand what you do, what services or products you provide, and what makes you stand out with ease. They should be able to accomplish what they want to on your site without too much trouble. Jeffrey Kamikow started out in print, so he could tell you that the content still matters greatly in marketing. Here are a few tips to keep in mind:

Keep It Conversational: If your visitors need a dictionary to understand your content, you are trying too hard. The goal of your website copy should be to appeal to as many people as possible – not just those in the industry. If there is too much jargon or technical terms, you may be turning off a key part of your potential base. Keep it conversational, but obviously make the content good. Check for grammar and punctuation too as this will make your site look unprofessional.

Keep the Home Page as Concise As Possible: In a few seconds, a visitor who comes to your site will make a decision whether or not they should keep looking or hit the back button. If there is too much content or, even worse, not enough, they’ll quickly choose to go elsewhere. Stick to the point and use your homepage content to show what you do and why visitors should choose your offerings.

Update Your Content When the Information Becomes Old: Like we said, Jeffrey Kamikow was a print man. In print, the content must always be relevant and up to date to maintain readership. The same holds true with your website. It’s important to update content when necessary to ensure it is relevant and obsolete information is deleted. If your information isn’t relevant, your visitors will quickly click the back button.

Coaching Tips from Jeff Kamikow

 Media specialist Jeff Kamikow spends some of his free time coaching little league baseball with his father. He had the pleasure of coaching his team to a championship, so he knows what it takes to coach winning ball. Here are several tips if you decide that you want to coach your child on a winning team:

Know that Every League Is Different: When you’re getting started, you may not realize how different one league game could be from the next. Three outs, nine players on the field, four balls equals a walk…how different could it be? Each league will have different rules and regulations though, so you should get acquainted with those before you decide to coach your first game, so you and your team are prepared.

Coach Safety: Before hitting or playing good defense, the first thing you’ll want to do is teach your kids the importance of safety. Show them the proper way to slide, how to stand on the plate to protect against a wild pitch, and what gear is needed. You are responsible for them when they’re on the field, so be sure to show them how to play the game safely to protect against injury.

Be Confident In Yourself: Remember, these are just kids. They have the innate ability of being able to spot someone with fear a mile away. If they don’t respect you, they’ll never listen to you. Coach Jeff Kamikow was able to coach his team to victory because he was confident in himself and always spoke with authority to his team. Now it’s okay to be afraid starting out, but remember that you are the coach. You are the one who is responsible for teaching the kids what to do and what not to do. The only way to successfully do this is to believe in yourself first.

Good luck on the diamond! It is a great time and you’ll feel so rewarded the first time you get a W.

Hack These 3 Ecommerce Trends | Jeffrey Kamikow

Jeffrey Kamikow has noticed the distinctions between ecommerce and “regular” commerce are falling fast, if they ever really existed at all. No matter what your business does, who it sells to, or how it’s built to make money, it needs a cohesive ecommerce (or at least e-conversion) strategy.

What this looks like on the ground, of course, is up to you. No one can hold your hand and tell you that this is how you turn your online dross into ecommerce gold.

What experienced marketing professionals like Jeff Kamikow can tell you is how to capitalize on late-breaking ecommerce trends — how to ride the wave that everyone knows is cresting, but few are exactly sure how to catch without wiping out.

These three ecommerce trends are all set to build or crest in 2016. Which are you most looking forward to capitalizing on?

Multichannel Is the Way to Go

Ventureburn has an in-depth look at the emerging power of multichannel marketing and sales. If you have time, definitely read the whole thing. Here’s the short version: Since your customers access your ecommerce platform on a variety of devices, you need to tailor your marketing campaigns to capture them all.

Use mobile ad networks to turbocharge conversion rates and reach customers opportunistically, retargeting systems to catch prospects on the conversion bubble, traditional PPC and search campaigns to draw in desktop-bound users, video and email to build awareness and loyalty, and non-digital word of mouth campaigns (brand ambassadors, anyone?) to develop legitimacy.

Content Marketing Works Pretty Much Everywhere

Think no one reads your product descriptions, ad copy or “about us” blurb? Think again. Content is the once and future king of ecommerce, naysayers be darned. What’s different for 2016 and beyond? In a word, quality. We’ve been hearing the drumbeat about quality content for years, but it’s (unfortunately) been possible to skate by with subpar, corner-cutting content until relatively recently. That’s certainly not going to be the case in 2016, and likely won’t be for the foreseeable future. Make sure your ecommerce portal’s content engine is well-oiled and primed to purr. From your product descriptions and reviews to parent-page content, blog and sales collateral, everything you produce needs to be on-message, authentic and structured to sell.

Responsive, Ready or All In? Either Way, It’s Mobile Now & Mobile Forever

Mobile ad networks aren’t the only mobile-centric ecommerce trend set to shake up the digital landscape in 2016 and beyond. Thanks to recent algorithm changes by Google and other search engines, ecommerce sites that don’t have mobile-friendly architectures and designs risk drastic hits to search visibility and performance.

If you haven’t already, get on the stick and invest in a mobile-friendly overhaul that touches every aspect of your ecommerce operation — including ancillary pieces like confirmation emails and tracking tools. An ounce of prevention really is worth a pound of cure here.

This Is How You Drive Quality App Installs Without Losing Money

MediaPost has a great look at the value of quality mobile app installs, and offers some tips for business owners and developers looking to drive quality installs without paying through the nose. The whole article is definitely worth a read, but here’s a summary of the main takeaways:

Take Your Apps to the Movies

For some moviegoers, the trailers are the best part of the whole show. Who doesn’t want to peek around the curve at all the exciting (hopefully) movie events slated to drop in the months ahead. If the main event is subpar, at least you have the promise of better flicks ahead to buoy your spirits after the letdown.

App trailers work by the same principle. Just as movie studios use feature trailers as implicit votes of confidence in their upcoming content stable, savvy app developers use app trailers to tease hot new concepts and convince (with or without justification) viewers that upcoming apps really are as awesome as they sound. For best results, embed your app trailers with clickable or easily searchable calls to action.

Explore Your PPE (What?) Options

Pay per engagement (PPE) is an innovative marketing strategy with roots in the tried-and-true subscription model. PPE apps basically follow the freemium model. Instead of asking for upfront payment, they ask for skin in the game only after users complete a specified action, such as purchasing a separate service offered through the app, paying for a piece of premium content, or buying credits through an embedded game.

Given their inherent barriers to conversion, PPE apps typically don’t generate eye-popping revenues and generally have high acquisition costs. But their acquisition quality metrics are off the charts — and, for many types of marketers, that’s what matters most.

Invest in Retargeting

Mobile retargeting is a great way to bring dormant app users back into the fold. All you need to do is invest in retargeted mobile PPC ads aimed at users who’ve been away from your app for a set period of time: a week, a month, whatever. The concept isn’t all that different than those “We miss you!” emails you’ve been using since 1998 — just way less annoying, and way better at keeping your brand top of mind.

Deep Link Nine

Deep linking is a relatively new, really simple concept personalization concept: links to specific pages within your apps. Deep linking is a great way to improve geotargeted campaigns or drive specific buyer personas to take specific actions around your brand. In other words, it’s catnip for your numbers guys.

It’s Not a Quality Install Without Quality Analytics

None of the preceding app install strategies would be possible without analytics. If you’re not measuring and analyzing your mobile apps’ performance on a regular basis, you’re simply not getting the most for your money. Pay special attention to attribution analytics, which assign user actions to specific sources or campaigns. Once you know where your traffic originates, you can figure out why some sources are more effective than others and improve your overall app campaign’s ROI.

How are you planning to drive quality app installs in 2016?

4 Major Reasons Your Business Needs Social Media Marketing

While many businesses have made social media marketing an integral part of their company’s digital marketing strategy, others aren’t sure what it can do for them.

Social media can be rather confusing if you don’t do it every day. Businesses also need to protect their resources and time. But the bottom line is that social media marketing is necessary for businesses to succeed in today’s market.

Seasoned digital advertising professional Jeffrey Kamikow provides four major reasons why your business needs social media marketing.

Increase brand awareness

Social media marketing is a great outlet to introduce and promote your brand to potential customers. Customers can learn about your business, your products, and your services through content, images, and videos. Product information on social sites can certainly impact shopping behavior. Also, social media marketing lets you instantly reach audiences on a local, national and international level.

Boost sales

Promoting your products or services on social sites encourages audiences to purchase them, which helps increase your sales. There are a few different ways to use social media to increase sales. Businesses can write posts that link to products, create social media advertisements to reach target audiences, or share coupon codes with a unique code for each social channel.

Connect with Customers

Another big benefit of social media is that it is easy to connect and engage with your customers. You can get to know them based on their posts and statuses, and see the posts they like to share and from what websites. You can also keep them in the loop with any major news announcements and product information. Also, many customers turn to social media to raise any concerns or issues they have, in which you can quickly and promptly address them.

Your Competition is Doing It

If your competitors get to your potential customers first, they’ll earn their loyalty. Find out what social sites your customers are on and make sure you’re on those sites as well. As Jeff Kamikow explains, by staying active and engaged on various networks, you can gain customers first and your competition will have to play catch up.

What Can Competitors Teach You About Marketing Tactics?

Every single business has a competitor, regardless of how niche they are in the market. It doesn’t matter what industry or sector you work in, you have a competitor that’s looking to take the same customers you are trying to reach. With that in mind, you can actually learn a lot from your competitors and it’s a great idea to keep a close eye on them according to digital advertising and marketing professional Jeff Kamikow. Remember that old saying keep your friends close and your enemies closer? Well, it’s definitely a saying to live by because it can help you rise above the competition. Let’s take a look at what you can learn from your competitors!

How To Find What Works Best

There are many different marketing strategies that you could use to reach potential customers, but why play trial and error when you can see what’s working for your competition. Perhaps they are using webinars or social media posts to promote their products or service. If they seem to be working and getting engagement, you can take that idea and make it better. It’s important to capitalize on the things that are working because you don’t want to miss out on any opportunities.

Localizing Your Business

Perhaps you have a competitor located in the same area as you and when you search for a specific term that’s associated with your business, what appears in the listings? Is your competition appearing before yours? If so, that’s an issue. More and more internet users are taking advantage of localized searches by typing in the product or service they are looking for, followed by a town or state. You could create local pages to cater to these specific keywords and rank better for localized searches.

Learn From Their Mistakes

Every business can make a mistake, that’s just reality, and if you notice your competition making some sort of marketing mistake that’s not working for their business, you can avoid that specific strategy. Perhaps they are targeting an audience that’s not really interested in the product or service. That could give you some insight on your own target audience and it’ll help you craft a strategy that’ll be more beneficial.

Always keep a watchful eye on your competitors because it can help you in the long run!

Jeff Kamikow | Why Mobile Ads Are Getting Shorter

Have you noticed the ads that you see when you browse the internet on your mobile devices is getting shorter? This is no accident as brands are trying to create better engagement and get their message across. As Jeff Kamikow would point out, brands are always changing the way they advertise to appeal to the public.

Mobile devices have caused users to have a much shorter attention span than they once did for other platforms. In fact, the average mobile user will have an attention span of as little as eight seconds. However, at the same time, it should be noted that mobile users are experiencing more within those eight seconds. They have a laser-like focus where they can gather what is happening and make a quick decision on whether or not they want to continue viewing the content.

This is the reason why so many people are installing ad blockers on their phones to prevent marketers from targeting them for specific ads. It is also why they’re conditioned to find the X button as soon as possible. However, as many researchers point out, there are still many opportunities out there, and many brands have made a point of creating 5-6 second ads that can engage users. So far there has been limited success here, but this should be a major focus for marketers in the years to come.

As Jeffrey Kamikow would say, you have to give the public what they want. Today, it would certainly be shorter ads that they can consume as quickly as possible to get back to their content.

Jeff Kamikow Provides Five Tips for Supporting Your Child Athlete

On many weekends and some weeknights in the summer, Jeff Kamikow can be found coaching his son’s baseball team. As a former collegiate athlete himself, Jeff has seen his fair share of good parents and those that may have needed some coaching themselves.

If you are a parent of a student who plays baseball, football, softball, basketball, or soccer, you might be wondering what is considered good behavior during a game, what kind of motivation and support you should provide your child, and how you can teach your child good sportsmanship. Obviously, your own situation will be your own so you may have to make some changes, but here are some common tips for parents of kids in any sport.

Be On Time: Punctuality is an important part of many parts of life, including sports. Please try to bring your child on time, so he or she can get as much practice with the team as possible.

Don’t Coach or Yell at Refs from the Stands: Your job is to support your child. Remember that everyone makes mistakes – even coaches and refs. Try to remain positive and cheer for the whole team and be a good example for your child.

Always Have Fun: Coach Jeff Kamikow always tells his kids to have fun. Sports are supposed to be fun. While you should certainly make sure your child takes it seriously to help his or her teammates, being too serious just takes away from the game, which nobody wants. Remember, it’s just a game.

Jeffery Kamikow | Podcast Boom Means Big Money for Advertisers

 Are you reading this as you listen to a podcast? You’re not alone. Podcasts are big business, and it is no longer a fringe form of media. Two years ago, the public went nuts about Serial, a true crime podcast that chronicled a murder case in Baltimore. The podcast may have even had some influence on the defendant getting a new trial. From comedy podcasts like WTF and the Adam Carolla Show to health podcasts like the Rich Roll Podcast and slice of life podcasts like This American Life, there is a podcast for everyone.

According to the latest numbers from AdWeek: Nearly one in five Americans between the ages of 18 and 49 listen to podcasts at least once a month. One in three men between the ages of 18-34 claim to tune in to podcasts at least once a month. More people are listening to podcasts all of the time, which means advertisers are beginning to take notice.

The advertising industry expects to spend $700 million on advertising in podcasts this year and for good reason. It’s not just the number of people listening to podcasts; it’s also the percentage of listeners that respond to ads. Nearly two-thirds of respondents in a recent survey said that they either researched a product that they heard about in an ad or they purchased it outright. These numbers are very compelling for advertisers. In addition to that, technology has made podcast advertising a more viable option.

One of the biggest issues with podcast advertising was that the ad was usually recorded with the podcast. Therefore, someone listening to a podcast ad a few months later would not benefit from the ad as it would be obsolete. Dynamic ads have changed this and allowed advertisers to control their campaign. For advertisers like Jeff Kamikow, this could potentially increase their enthusiasm for podcast advertising. Look to see more advertisers spent on podcasts for the foreseeable future.

Jeffrey Kamikow | Cross Audience Helps Brands Develop Quality Mobile Apps To Engage And Retain Audiences

Cross Audience delivers marketing results by matching meaningful ads to in-market consumers. By targeting specific audiences and providing quality service the company has helped many globally known brands improve their mobile presence. To find out more about their mobile platform we sat down with Jeff Kamikow, CEO at Cross Audience:

Q: Could you provide our readers with a brief introduction to Cross Audience?

A: Cross Audience is mobile marketing company based in the New York metro area. We’re committed to helping global brands expand their mobile presence through the acquisition of new high value users. How do we do that? We use premium data to identify ready-to-convert audiences for our clients. We engage those audiences with high-impact, user-friendly ad formats, and then we work relentlessly to optimize and drive results. As a company, we’re on quality, which is a concern for many brands these days. It’s helpful that have maintain long-standing relationships with respected publishers, so we can offer quality placements. The fact that we already work with some of the most recognizable brands in the world also speaks well of our commitment to quality.

Q: You’ve recently announced the launch of your Mobile App Conquesting solution; could you tell us something more?

A: Mobile app marketing is more competitive than ever. Not only are the app stores already overflowing, but Google recently changed its algorithm so that rankings are based more on app retention and engagement versus number of downloads. That means that app marketers can’t just buy downloads and expect to see their app rank higher in the Play Store. That algorithm change means that marketers have to focus on quality audiences – consumers who will not just download their app, but who will actually use it, as well.

Mobile App Conquesting offers marketers a way to target users of similar apps, so they know that these people are already using shopping apps, or couponing apps, or apps to order ahead at their favorite quick serve restaurant (QSR). Conquesting data empowers marketers to be able to target users based on interest, geo, and the apps they already use. We’ve been building a proprietary database of quality users from verticals including news, retail, auto, insurance, travel, finance and CPG comprised exclusively of non-PII, opt-in data. That data can be leveraged via our conquesting solution for better targeting. Combine that with data-driven, compelling messaging and our high-performing ad formats, and marketers will see measurably better results in their campaigns.

Q: What are main benefits for marketers?

A: The main benefit is definitely more downloads from better quality audiences – audiences that will have a higher propensity to keep your app. But Mobile App Conquesting will also likely drive more efficient campaigns, with fewer wasted ad impressions, which ultimately means a better use of ad dollars.

Q: Who are the primary clients of Cross Audience and what are some of the key challenges you are helping them solve?

A: While we can’t disclose our client names, we do work with some very well-known e-commerce players, retailers, QSRs, and leaders in the entertainment and finance industries, among other clients. We’re helping them to grow their mobile businesses quickly and efficiently using cutting-edge technology, premium data, and highly effective ad formats. It’s a combination that delivers incredible returns. For those focused on app downloads, we’ve been very effective at helping them exceed their goals with a high ROI.

Q: What are your plans for the future?

A: Our future plans include the expansion of our mobile programmatic advertising capabilities, the continued growth of our first-party database, and the addition of even more premium publishing partners – all in the interest of helping further mobile business both for our clients and for the industry.