Jeff Kamikow Livingston Biography

Jeff Kamikow Livingston, President and CEO of Cross Audience, has nearly 20 years of media experience including sales and operations management, business development and executive management at companies including Pulse 360, Time Inc. and Ziff-Davis.

Jeff Kamikow Livingston - Co-Founder / Principle @ Kamikow Media

Jeffrey Kamikow Livingston. Jeff Kamikow is a digital marketing expert with more than two decades of experience in a wide range of media industry roles

Jeff Kamikow, President and CEO of Cross Audience

Jeff Kamikow, President and CEO of Cross Audience, has nearly 20 years of media experience including sales and operations management, business development and executive management at companies including Pulse 360, Time Inc. and Ziff-Davis.

Livingston, New Jersey: Rich history, bright future - Jeffrey Kamikow Livingston

You may be familiar with Livingston, New Jersey. You may have grown up with us, eaten at our diners, swam in the town pools, or attended the high school. But even people who grew up here might not know of the town’s rich and lengthy history. To become the welcoming, developed and beautiful Livingston we all know today, it all had to start somewhere. To fully appreciate and understand what it means to live in this area, you need to hear our past.

 

Before Our Township

 Before the 1600’s, the area that would become Essex County was populated by the Lenni Lenape Tribe, Idigenous peoples who were known for their peace-loving nature among other tribes. They made use of the land for gardening and hunting, and in the summers they would travel to the sea to collect oysters and clams.

 

When the Dutch arrived in the early 1600’s, they had little regard for Lenape. Though they would trade guns and rum for pelts and furs, many documented massacres and fights between the Lenape and the Dutch took place. In 1643, Dutch soldiers were ordered to kill the savages and burn as many of their settlements as possible.

The British would arrive around the beginning of 1700 to gain control of the land. By this time, many of the Lenni Lenape in New Jersey had fled. The ones who stayed faced restrictions of land. Disease and alcoholism would continue to kill off many of the remaining indigenous communities.

By 1800, 83 members of the tribe remained in the area. Many of them would eventually move westward towards what is now Oklahoma, and others would move north to New York and Canada to join other Algonquin indigenous tribes.

 

Becoming Livingston

In 1730, British settlers originally purchased the land that encompassed Livingston and Caldwell from the Lenape for 130 pounds. It was not until 1811 that several hamlets would petition to converge together as the Township of Livingston.

The first town hall meeting took place in 1813. The town became mainly inhabited by farmers, and by around the time of the civil war, shoe making and dairy became some of the community’s main exports. Dairy would continue to be the town’s main industry into the 20th century

The population of Livingston stayed at about 1000 until the early 20th century, as the town was not close to any major rail line. It was not until the invention of the automobile and the introduction of hard surface highways that Livingston saw large population growth.

A Commuting Suburb

Due to the town’s close proximity to New York City, it became a popular place for commuters to settle. By 1950, Livingston had amassed a population of nearly 10,000. The population would only continue to grow rapidly from there, reaching over 20,000 by 1950 and peaking at 31,000 by 1970.

 

In 1957, a new form of government, referred to as the council-management system was introduced to Livingston. In this system, an elected council acts as a municipality’s primary legislative body. From this council, a manager is picked to oversee operations and implement policies. (Fun fact: A council-management system is one of five types of municipal governments in the United States.)

An Outstanding School System

Since the establishment of Livingston High School in 1953, Livingston has been ranked one of the top places for education in the country. This, along with an easy commute to Manhattan, make it a desirable place for people to raise families. In 1997, the public high school was awarded the National Blue Ribbon Award for Excellence by the United States Education Department. It has also frequently been ranked as one of the best high schools in the state and one of the top rated schools nationwide.

 

Throughout its history, many notable names attended Livingston High School and went on to have successful careers in all different fields. Graduating from the school in 1964, Frank Biondi would go on to study psychology at Princeton and Business at Harvard. Beginning his career on Wall street, he would later go on to become the president and CEO of Viacom and chairman and CEO of Universal Pictures.

 

With a passion for magic as a young boy, Jason Alexander (aka Jay Greenspan) grew up in Livingston and graduated from Livingston High School in 1977. He studied voice and theatre in town while in school, starring in a the LHS production of Guys and Dolls alongside fellow local celebrity Julie Montgomery. His career began on Broadway, where he has appeared in dozens of productions, ultimately earning him multiple awards, including a Tony and two Drama Desks. Jason would go on to have a wildly successful career on television and film, most notably playing the role of George Costanza on the hit sitcom Seinfeld.

The Present Day

 Livingston in the present day is a desirable and welcoming community to all families. Known for its diversity, education, and community involvement, the town is still recognized as a commuting suburb, with many convenient ways to get to nearby New York City. With a newly renovated town hall, two community pools, and various tennis, basketball, and baseball fields, Livingston offers its residents many recreational opportunities. In a recent census, the population sits at about 30,000. Many residents are involved in volunteer boards or committees, with over 40 existing.

“It’s just a great place to live,” says resident Jeff Kamikow, who has raised two children in the township. “While it offers an easy commute to the city, I was able to set up my business in one of the many local office complexes, so I can work here, support local businesses throughout the day, and be home for dinner with my family.”

Though there are many attractive physical attributes of Livingston in the present, so much of what makes this town unique and significant lies in the many stories of how it came to be. Without a full understanding of Livingston’s history, we cannot appreciate everything people worked for to help it become the thriving township it is today.

Native Advertising Works, But Do It Right

With ad blocking on the rise, native advertising is a great option for marketers to reach target audiences effectively. However, there are best practices that need to be followed - and popular practices that need to be avoided - in order to be successful with this format.

What is Native?

First, let’s define what native advertising actually is, and what it isn’t. Native advertising is a form of paid media where the ad experience follows the natural form and function of user experience where it is placed. Examples include “in-feed” ads on sites like Facebook and LinkedIn, but also sponsored placements like Google Adwords. Generally, native ads match the visual design of the user experience of the site on which they are placed, and feel like editorial content. In terms of function, native ads also behave like the site and act like content.

Native advertising works especially well in mobile environments, where many sites take on a feed-type format. New entries from SnapChat and Instagram will only help native formats grow in popularity.

Best Practices

The best native ads will spotlight and link to compelling content. While a native ad can certainly be “just and ad” in-stream, the most effective ads feature images and text or video that tells a story, and invites the user to learn more. After all, you want your native ad to match the look, feel and tone of the content around it; placing a flashy, salesy ad in someone’s Facebook feed may attract attention, but will it really drive engagement? Use targeting data to promote content that will interest your audience.

Images and video are particularly effective in the native environment, as well, so don’t feel like you’re limited to text!

In a native environment, it’s critically important to develop a great headline for your ad. Think about what makes you click on a headline and develop your own template for great headlines. Leverage ideas from pop culture or current memes. (How many “Don Draper” headlines did I see in 2012?) At a loss? Try tools like Sumo’s Kickass Headline Generator. You’ll have click-worthy titles in no time.

Worst Practices for Native

Sadly, when a trend takes off in our industry, there always seems to be a seamy underbelly. Such is the case with native. Without mentioning names, I can tell you that there are some players in the native space that are making the internet a slightly uglier place, promoting clickbait links to fake news, link farms and other nefarious sites. Before you invest in any technology, make sure they have a good reputation in the industry, that your ad is appearing in good company, and that your native ads are not showing on less-than-reputable sites.

Also be sure then when your native ads appear, they’re clearly marked as “sponsored content” - or at least with some indication that you’ve paid for your content to be there. There’s been a lot of negative feedback from consumer organization who view native ads as underhanded - their feeling is that we’re masquerading ads as editorial content, so it’s our best interest as an industry to ensure native ads are labeled as such. 

Native ads are a bright star in the future of our industry. Users like them because they’re “polite” - they don’t interrupt their experience online. We like them because they drive results - users interact with native ads 20-60 percent more than they do with standard banners.  Business Insider predicts that native display ad revenue in the US, which includes native in-feed ads on publisher properties and social platforms, will make up 74 percent of total US display ad revenue, up from 56 percent in 2016. So let’s keep investing in native - and doing it the right way. 

Jeffrey Kamikow, President and CEO of Cross Audience, has nearly 20 years of media experience including sales and operations management, business development and executive management at companies including Pulse 360, Time Inc. and Ziff-Davis.

Tips for Being a Good Tennis Mentor

Anyone could tell you that Jeff  Kamikow loves tennis. Before he got into print, digital marketing, and mobile ads, Jeff was an avid tennis player. In fact, he at one time was considering going professional. He played on the Division 1 level in college, but an Achilles heel injury took him out of the game before he could make strides on the professional level. Jeff Kamikow still plays with friends and family though. Before his career was cut short, he had several coaches and mentors who helped shape his game. If you are thinking about becoming a mentor, here are a few tips to keep in mind:

It's About the Kid, Not You: Consider why you're thinking about playing tennis in the first place. If you are doing it to relive your glory days, you might want to reconsider. Mentoring should always be about the kid first. If you are not doing it for him or her, you are doing it for the wrong reason.

Be an Active Listener: Part of being a good mentor is being a listener. You might hear about issues at school or at home, and it's your job to provide the child with a comfort zone to always be honest. Obviously, it will be about tennis, but sometimes you may have to provide advice on other matters as well.

Be Positive Always: Your job is not to yell at the child if he or she is not doing something right. While it can be beneficial to be stern sometime, say if he or she is always late, negative coaching might backfire. The child could become afraid of you or start to resist. Instead, show them what they are doing wrong and how to fix it. And when they do something right, be there to offer praise.

These 6 Trends Could Change the Digital Marketing Game in 2016 and Beyond

The digital marketing game changes fast. Experts like Jeff Kamikow, a revenue guru who’s been around since before “online marketer” was a viable career track, are quick to point out that if you’re not leading the digital pack, you’re behind the curve.

“I’ve worked in the same industry my entire career,” says Kamikow. “But that doesn’t mean I’ve done the same thing — far from it.”

In other words, what works this year isn’t guaranteed to work next year. In fact, what works this year might be an active detriment by next. Search Engine Land has a great primer on key SEO techniques to master in 2015, for example. Most are time-tested and right on the money, but it’s an open question whether the finer points of a contemporary strategy that incorporates SEL’s broad strokes will have much relevance by the end of 2016.

That said, no marketer worth his or her salt refuses to peek around the digital bend for fear of making an erroneous prediction or bad projection. So, with the usual caveats about things changing and nothing being settled in a fast-moving industry, here’s what savvy marketers are looking forward to in 2016.

1. The Continued Rise of Mobile Ad Networks

Advertisers are finally embracing mobile ad networks’ power. Mobile ad networks use historical prospect data, location information and other inputs to deliver highly relevant, highly effective ads designed for opportunistic conversion. Whereas traditional forms of digital advertising take the old “spray and pray” approach, mobile ad networks are akin to heat-seeking missiles (of commerce, not destruction).

2. Social SEO Takes on a New Meaning

Word broke recently that Facebook is working on its own internal search engine — or, rather, a far more expansive search feature than what it already has in place.

Once deployed, and depending on what other functionality changes accompany it, this new feature could lead to an explosion in the volume and quality of original content published direct to Facebook.

Over time, Facebook’s publishing capabilities could come to rival LinkedIn, the only major social network that’s really figured out how to (or cared to) square the longform publishing circle in a bite-sized-content world.

It’s premature to speculate how Facebook’s internal engine will interact with or affect traditional SEO practices. Keep this one on your radar.

3. Mobile Functionality Is the Future

Mobile ad networks are poised to revolutionize digital marketing, but they don’t do any good for sites that aren’t effectively optimized for mobile in the first place.

Google’s recent “mobilegeddon” algorithm update is merely the most visible in a long string of algo changes and priority shifts designed to penalize mobile-unfriendly websites and reward responsive or mobile-first design. If your website is still optimized for desktop browsers, stop what you’re doing and invest in a mobile retool.

4. Learn to Love the Snap

In 2014, Snapchat founder and 25-year-old person Evan Spiegel was roundly criticized for rebuffing Facebook’s $3 billion buyout offer. How could a company with no revenue to speak of and a completely unproven business model turn down an offer that would make its founder one of the richest people in the world overnight?

In retrospect, Spiegel’s call looks brilliant. Snapchat is turning into the stealth marketing medium of choice for political candidates, blue-chip brands and everyone in between. A just-announced plan to sell sponsored Lenses for up to $700,000 per day is likely to have future investors seeing dollar signs — and deep-pocketed advertisers lining up to snag a cut of the platform’s millions-strong captive audience.

Oh, and if you can’t afford $700,000 a day, plow what you’ve learned from Facebook and Twitter into an old-fashioned organic Snapchat campaign. Either way, learn to love the Snap.

5. Marketing Is Going Virtual

Snapchat might be the newest social marketing darling, but it’s far from the sexiest. That honor arguably goes to Oculus, the Facebook-owned virtual reality company set to release its first production-grade VR headset in early 2016.

Virtual reality has made tremendous strides since the bad old days of nausea-inducing lag and uncanny-valley imagery. It’s now, well, pretty darn reality-like. Early VR marketing is likely to leverage traditional video, logo placements and other fairly straightforward techniques.

Going forward, it’ll be interesting to see how creative advertisers are willing to get — and how far early VR 2.0 platforms will let them go. And though Google Glass is dead for the time being, marketers can’t forget about the eventual elephant in the digital marketing room: augmented reality, which is sure to take the mobile ad network model to the next (several) level(s) in the coming years.

6. IoT Could Break Marketing

The consumer-facing Internet of Things has taken a little longer to arrive than some predicted, but it’s finally here. By the end of the decade, expect connected sensors to live inside a host of inert objects, from household appliances to retail kiosks. Savvy marketers are already drawing up plans to integrate IoT devices into comprehensive, multichannel campaigns — as well as more opportunistic touches, like kiosks serving on-the-spot retail ads to passing prospects or appliances automatically ordering new supplies.

Remember the Basics: SEO Techniques to Master

Let’s circle back to Search Engine Land’s primer on SEO techniques. Before you can take full advantage of these 10 SEO trends for 2016, it’s a good idea to grasp some SEO basics that too often get sidelined in favor of sexier, but less meaty, concepts. It’s a walk before you can crawl thing.

Your first SEO-related New Year’s resolution for 2016 should be brushing up on these key SEO techniques:

• Identifying measurable, mission-critical KPIs that support reliable benchmarking
• Re-familiarizing yourself with your analytics suite — yes, many folks don’t know how to read a Google Analytics report
• Boosting your website’s page load speed
• Simplifying your website’s navigation and layout
• Developing an external content network with no-follow backlinks

And your second? Well, the sky’s the limit.