How Are Businesses Going About Retaining Their Customers?
A recent brand loyalty tactics survey highlighted the differences between B2B and B2C when it comes to customer retention. More than 300 B2B and B2C business leaders were surveyed, with 97 percent having made customer retention a top priority. Some 68 percent of B2B respondents were confident in their firms’ retention prioritization, with 29 percent noting that they could do better, and only 14 percent of B2B respondents noting that customer experience and support was a top priority. MarketingCharts

The podcast industry expected to create $1 billion in annual revenue by 2021
By 2021 podcast advertising is expected to top $1 billion in annual revenue, according to newly-released forecast data. Such a strong projection by IAB could drive even more marketers to explore podcasting options. The Verge

Ad Execs Struggle To Harmonize Disparate Targeting Data, Default To 1st-Party
Media buyers and advertisers have faced challenges from differing targeting data, with some 70% having experienced conflicting advertising data, and MediaPost takes a look at preliminary results showing differences between first, second, and third-party data. MediaPost

Google Cancels Support for Robots.txt Noindex
Google has altered the way it parses and interprets websites’ robots.txt files, doing away with the longstanding standard method of preventing site indexing and replacing it with five separate alternate methods, the search giant recently announced, presenting an opportunity for digital marketers to ensure clients switch to the new guidelines. Search Engine Journal

Forrester: B2Bs Think Their Sites Build Awareness, But Most Need Work
B2B marketers see their websites as an effective method for building awareness, however the sites often fail to offer compelling content and directly answer top questions, according to recently-released research from Forrester. The best sites engage using interactive visuals, useful tools, and experiences that demonstrate a keen audience understanding, the study revealed. MediaPost

Facebook Adds ‘Top Fans’ Targeting Option for Organic Page Posts
Facebook has been rolling out new options allowing Facebook Page’s to target their top fans with organic posts, presenting digital marketers new ways to offer exclusive content and specific features to thank top fans, and Social Media Today takes a look at the rollout. Social Media Today

LinkedIn lifts the hood on its news feed algorithm to show how it ranks posts
More niche-and-occupation-specific conversations have been brought to the forefront as part of LinkedIn’s ongoing algorithmic push to build greater user engagement, and Marketing Land has taken a look at these changes at LinkedIn (client). Marketing Land

The Kind of Authenticity Customers Will Pay More For
Harvard Business Review recently took a look at authenticity and how consumers value two separate incarnations, with some fascinating implications for digital marketers striving to incorporate the most effective form of authenticity in their campaign efforts. Harvard Business Review

YouTube’s pushing augmented-reality ads
During Cannes film and marketing festival week, Google-owned YouTube announced new augmented reality (AR) advertising options, which will be available later this summer through YouTube’s influencer marketing platform FameBit. DigiDay

The State of Instagram Marketing 2019 – Part 3: Future Marketing Opportunities on Instagram
Instagram marketing opportunities and how marketers have achieved success on the platform are examined in detail in a recent joint SEMrush and Social Media Today survey. 64 percent of respondents view Instagram as either extremely or very important in their broader planning efforts, one of many insights the study presented. Social Media Today

ON THE LIGHTER SIDE:

A lighthearted look at advertising production by Marketoonist Tom Fishburne — Marketoonist

Rolos Unveils New Cryptocurrency Exclusively For Rolos Customers — The Onion

Texas Instruments Announces New Plug-And-Play TI-83 Classic — The Onion

TOPRANK MARKETING & CLIENTS IN THE NEWS:

• Lee Odden / TopRank Marketing — The Top B2B Influencer Marketing Trends for 2020 [Infographic] — Social Media Today
• Joshua Nite / TopRank Marketing — SearchChat Podcast: Your Customers are Begging for (Better) Personalization [Podcast] — Biznology

Have you found your own top new influencer marketing or digital advertising stories from the past week?

Thank you for joining us, and we hope you’ll tune in again next week for more top digital marketing industry news, and in the meantime you can follow us at @toprank on Twitter for even more timely daily news. Also, don’t miss the full video summary on our TopRank Marketing TV YouTube Channel.

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