Digital Is All About Change
Digital is all about change. If you don’t know that, get ready, your industry is about to be disrupted. We receive new directives about changes in how the media operates nearly every week from orgs such as Facebook, Google, Instagram and Snapchat. 
With change comes a new vocabulary. New, trending words are invading our vernacular every day. Here are few you should pay attention to:
OTT: This is short for over-the-top content. It is basically content that is delivered via the internet without requiring a subscription to satellite or cable TV service. So now you can buy advertising in shows people are streaming. The advertising is limited but highly targeted. We are placing clients on OTT media, but know there is not a standardized measurement across all OTTs.
Addressable TV: Addressable TV uses audience segmentation to deliver specific video ads at the household level. The individual advertiser reaches only those households that qualify with the audience composition that has been predetermined. So ads are only delivered to views in the target audience at the household level.
Conversions: A conversion recorded when a user takes a desired action while on a landing page or website. The conversion could be a video view, filling out a form, downloading a coupon or clicking for more information. Conversions are recordable actions on a digital page.
Organic Traffic: People like to use organic for many things: growth, food, revenue. But organic traffic is generated by your website from the use of keywords. This traffic comes through search engines. Search engine optimization occurs when you hurdle all obstacles to people finding your site.
Voice commands: You may better recognize this as Alexa, but voice command marketing and audio marketing are beginning to see growth in all sectors. There’s a reason podcasts are seeing a resurgence. Smart speakers are become the smart phones of our kitchens and living rooms.
Mark Mathis
Mark wrote his first direct-mail fundraising letter in 1981 for the University of Iowa Center for Advancement. The effort raised a few million dollars in undiscovered wills and legacy gifts. From that day forward Mark discovered a love of the big idea that moves the needle.
After 12 years at KWWL, Mark became a business owner as a co-founder of ME&V — rebranded as AMPERAGE in 2015. After 25 years of leading creative teams in video production, graphic design, PR, writing and web development, Mark transitioned out of ownership in 2021. Today he serves in an employee role as special projects consultant.
He is creatively ambidextrous — son of an artist and engineer — and famous for distilling complex ideas down to a few words and a few visuals. Mark is a writer. When he found that many nonprofits struggled with complex branding puzzles, he wrote the book, “NonProfit-NonMarketing .” He also wrote a novel called “Reenactment.”
Mark is an active blogger OneMinuteMarketer® with nearly 1,000 readers each week on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter. One of his most popular YouTube videos is on “How to Look Good on Zoom.”
One of Mark’s fondest business memories was being named to INC 500 two times and attending the INC 500 conference with other winners. Mark is considered by some a Civil War expert (and that explains his novel). Mark also served as an adjunct professor in the business and in the communications departments at Wartburg College.
Mark is a graduate of the University of Iowa and is currently vice president of the University of Iowa Journalism and Mass Communications Advisory Board.
Mark is married to state Sen. Liz Mathis, and the two love to travel, even when it means being trapped by a volcano in the Czech Republic for three weeks.