Content Marketing by a Stock Exchange

The CEO of a public company tweeted today about an interview. In the interview, the president of Nasdaq Helsinki sets up a portable studio and dicusses with Marimekko’s CEO Mika Ihamuotila about issues that are interesting to shareholders and traders. Great stuff! Finally a business that makes real, original content to engage its customers. This is not just a …

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iOS Content Blocking Implications to Websites

Doc Searls wrote an interesting article regarding Apple’s upcoming content blocking in iOS 9. The main message seems to be that content blocking is good and will make the web better for the people. I admire his ability to take a strong position for content blocking. While I tend to agree that “tracking is spooky” I’m not quite so sure …

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Ad Blockers Are the Anti-Vaxxers of the Web

A huge part of the web relies on advertising as the primary source of revenue. Ad blocking is an issue to many websites, and the challenge is growing more prominent as we speak. I wanted to learn more and tried to read analysis and commentary regarding ad blockers and ad block ethics. Unfortunately, the discussion seems to only …

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Can I have both vision and execution, please?

People are either 1) vision or 2) execution thinkers. Visionists talk on a high level and focus on values and mission. Executionists think in concrete terms and focus on feasibility and strategy. Visionists and executionists have tough time understanding each other. You see this divide everywhere. Case 1: Political discussion. There was a recent heated discussion in Finland regarding multiculturalism. …

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EU VAT Changes in 2015: Registration Thresholds

Are you selling software or a service as a software to European consumers? If yes, the new taxation rules apply to you. From 2015, you need to know your buyers’ country of residence, use that country’s VAT rate and report your sales to that country’s taxation authority. GigaOm writes: The problem here is that there are …

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Selling Ads: Viewability Metrics

Much of the consumer internet is “free” to use, that is, it’s based on selling advertisement inventory to advertisers. In most cases, advertisers pay for clicks (Cost-per-click, CPC) or impressions (Cost-per-mille i.e. cost per thousand ad impressions, CPM). Now there’s a rising star: Cost per viewable impression, CPMv. Why is this important? Because it drives quality and fairness. …

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Customer Centricity is Rare

True customer centricity is still rare. This is news to me because these days you’re supposed to be customer centric. I hear many entrepreneurs describe their business as customer centric. Their product is customizable and totally flexible; they know their would-be customers thoroughly; their product utilizes big data to adapt to users’ needs; and so …

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Compete to Be Different

I like to compete. When we’re cycling with a friend, it turns out to be a competition of who’s first up the hill. When we are shooting hoops, we always count the score. It’s fun, makes the game more interesting, and provides a solid measure for development. We are competing to be better. But when …

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Wasting Money on AdWords Mobile

Google is rolling out AdWords enhanced campaigns. Starting on July 22nd, all legacy campaigns begin to get automatically upgraded. Enhanced campaigns raise focus on mobile: it gets easier to customize, target and bid for mobile users. I learned about enhanced campaigns the hard way. When setting up a new campaign last week, I accepted the …

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