Contact

The DrumLiz HamiltonCommercial Director

liz.hamilton@thedrum.com0141 559 606507814 840153

www.thedrum.com

www.thedrum.com

The Drum now covers more news than ever before; delivering essential industry information remains at the heart of what The Drum does.

The website attracts on average over 750,000** unique users a monthgenerating over 1.4m page views**, as far a fi eld as the USA and Australia.

The subscriber only section provides exclusive features, case studies, white papers and reports. Thedrum.com also offers the facility to receive customised news alerts and promotion opportunities for advertisers.

Advertising opportunities on the website:We offer tailored advertising solutions to suit your needs – microsites, videos, leaderboards, skyscrapers, advertorials, various personalised solutions, knowledge banks, e-blasts, surveys and more.

MPU CPM £35 + VAT

Leaderboard CPM £30 + VAT

Skyscraper CPM £28 + VAT

Benefi ts of using thedrum.com as a marketing platform:

• Measurable results – whatever online campaigns you choose you can see, measure and track the results. We can report fi ndings to suit your campaign objectives

• Numerous opportunities to generate new business leads, build your brand and generate traffi c to your website

• Raise your profi le by getting knowledge bank coverage and solidify your authority in the industry

• Keep ahead of the game and get right in front of top decision makers in the digital, creative, design and marketing industries

MPU web advert

Skyscraperweb advert

Leaderboardweb advert

Source: **Google Analytics

Contact

The DrumLiz HamiltonCommercial Director

liz.hamilton@thedrum.com0141 559 606507814 840153

www.thedrum.com

Homepage Takeovers

The Drum website draws the largest marketing audience in the UK. On average, we have over 750,000* unique viewers a month with a substantial amount of international traffi c.

You can dominate The Drum’s homepage by advertising with a leaderboard banner, an above the fold MPU and your very own branded background to make it unique and completely stand out.

Homepage takeover£1,500 + VAT per day£4,400 + VAT for a week

Expandable MPU £44 + VAT CPM

T-bar homepage advertising £58 + VAT CPM

Source: **Google Analytics

Contact

The DrumLiz HamiltonCommercial Director

liz.hamilton@thedrum.com0141 559 606507814 840153

www.thedrum.com

Knowledge Bank

Knowledge Banks are the ideal platform for agencies and suppliers to discuss relevant issues and share their expertise with prospective clients and their peers.

This is attention grabbing advertising, free from exaggeration, providing a guaranteed editorial presence.

The full Knowledge Bank package includes:

• Your own full page article of up to 700 words with company branding, headshot and images

• An online replication, which will appear in the news-stream in the fi rst instance, then will be archived in our Knowledge Banksection indefi nitely

• Inclusion in our daily newsletters

• Your Knowledge Bank link on the homepage at thedrum.com in rotation with other contributors

Benefi ts of a Knowledge Bank:

• Raise your profi le and credibility through our endorsement

• Over 750,000* opportunities (online + print) to generate new business leads, build your brand and generate traffi c to your website

• Keep ahead of the game and get right in front of top decision makers in the digital, creative, design and marketing industries

• Prove your expertise in your fi eld and solidify your authority

Knowledge Bank full package £1,815 + VAT

DPS Case Study Knowledge Bank £2,500 + VAT

Knowledge Bank online only £764 + VAT

THE DRUM 15.MAR.13 www.thedrum.com Knowledge Bank 23

BRANDED3T - 01132 60 40 10E- contact@branded3.com

W - www.branded3.com- @branded_3

E-COMMERCE SEO IN 2013

Ecommerce SEO has always been a huge challenge for retailers due to technical constraints with legacy IT systems and the sheer number of pages that businesses

with a large inventory of products are likely to have on their websites.

One of the key challenges retailers face in 2013 is the loss of free traffi c from the Google Shopping results that migrated onto the Adwords PPC platform recently. Plenty of retailers were driving signifi cant revenue from this platform and are now looking at traditional SEO to make up for the loss.

Retail SEO has always been about technical optimisation, content and links although not necessarily in that order of priority. In the past, websites have been able to use links to overcome problems with technology or even a lack of content, but since the unnatural link penalties and the Penguin algorithm

penalties of 2012, it’s much rarer that a site with poor content and structure can rank higher than it perhaps deserves, just by building lots of links.

Technical SEO for ecommerce sites is largely about limiting page bloat and ensuring that the pages you actually want to be indexed are spiderable and well optimised. It is rare that ecommerce sites need anything more than product and category pages, plus whatever editorial pages they feel are relevant in order to be a success. If you do a site:yoursite.com query on Google and are fi nding loads more pages than you have products and categories; then this is a warning sign that you have technical SEO issues. We tend to put each page type in a different Google Sitemap so that we can monitor indexation across product pages in isolation and spot any problems easily. Perhaps the most important consideration is creating a strong category structure.

Content strategy for ecommerce websites is a big undertaking, but is simply the most important part of SEO once the technical issues are resolved. Google launched its Panda algorithm in early 2011 and lots of ecommerce sites were affected simply because they were using duplicate content (e.g. manufacturer’s product descriptions) on their product pages. There are very few sites that can get away without writing unique content on product pages, and category level pages need even more care and attention with regard to content.

However, content strategy doesn’t end with product descriptions; we always recommend clients have a strong review strategy with a focus on incentivising all customers to leave a review after their purchase. Certain websites also achieve great success with Q&A content on product pages and the impact this can have on conversion rates is staggering. Other clients have done very well after adding an expert’s opinion next to each product, with a different writing style to the product description text.

The fi nal hurdle that ecommerce website owners need to cross, is understanding how to implement a safe and future-proof link strategy across so many product and category pages on a website. Most ecommerce sites have too many pages to worry about link building on a page-by-page basis which means a strategy of building the overall site trust and authority is the only way to proceed. Amazon has adopted this approach with great success along with most other large ecommerce sites.

The key point to note with an ecommerce link campaign is to focus category by category, so if you are selling TVs and washing machines you might do some online PR or blogger outreach to technology blogs one month and eco blogs the next month. Making outreach based on real product and business news is a far more natural approach than just placing links with no strategic vision.

Ecommerce SEO certainly isn’t easy, and the fact that there are often dozens of websites selling the same products at the same price makes it a real challenge to rank consistently higher than your competitors. Conversion rates are usually key to unlocking the potential of SEO because sites that convert better can allocate more marketing budget and often dominate the sector.

In 2013, SEO for large sites is only going to get more challenging, but major brands and savvy SME’s who have built a business via good quality SEO are being rewarded week after week as other sites drop down the rankings due to poor quality SEO or lack of content. We’re predicting even bigger changes in Google this year and, as ever, it will be the best sites that will win.

Patrick AltoftDirector of Search, Branded3

SUCCEEDING WITH SEARCH & SOCIAL

www.thedrum.com 08.NOV.13 THE DRUM38KNOWLEDGE BANK

rrdcreative

CAST: Innovations in concrete

Tel: +44 (0) 203 047 5040 Email: corey.stewart@rrd.comWeb: www.rrdcreative.comBlog: www.rrdcreative.com/thefridayfiveproject

The challengeOn paper, an exhibition about concrete doesn’t sound all that enticing, and that was a big part of the challenge for Architecture and Design Scotland. That and reaching such a wide audience. The whole point of the CAST project was to satisfy and extend the layperson’s curiosity, while meeting industry experts’ desires for better perspectives on the subject and giving them access to the finer details.

The brief? To create an exhibition with a Scottish perspective on the versatility of concrete and how it has lent freedom to architectural design, and to encourage discussion and debate about concrete in terms of its environmental credentials and wider aspects of sustainability – including how concrete and cement works can support small communities. The brief also challenged us to provide information in engaging, story-telling ways, so people from all walks of life can see concrete from refreshing angles and understand its contribution to so many aspects of the built environment. In addition, we wanted CAST to provide answers to the questions, “What has concrete done for us?” and “what can concrete do for us?” – for designers, architects, construction companies, and of course, society as a whole. After all, it’s almost impossible to spend a day without concrete, wherever you

are, and whether you’re an expert or not. Architecture and Design Scotland’s exhibition had

to be well researched, insightful and informative – and present bold facts about concrete rather than express an opinion or attempt to sway people’s thoughts. The careful curation, and its intriguing and visually striking presentations, aimed to encourage visitors to want to find out more at every stage, and to help them make up their own minds about this versatile staple of everyday life.

The SoluTionTo ensure the exhibition reached out to a wide audience – from construction experts to students and the general public – it made sense to start the research process from the non-expert’s angle. This meant asking the same questions laypeople would, and highlighting from the outset some of the misconceptions the exhibition would set out to change. Then it was time to involve the experts, so they could help complete the picture and ensure the exhibition would also appeal to them.

Then CAST had to bring it all to life for all audiences. To do this, it pulled on a range of complementary approaches to presentation, each alluding to common perceptions of concrete, while adding a creative slant to

help visitors think twice and want to know more. All of this, while engaging the expert audience with an impressive depth and breadth of research. The exhibition used a mix of storyboarding, audio, video, and exhibition pieces of different types of concrete from various sources and applications, to support case studies. Theme-wise, CAST took on a construction-site look, with chevrons and bold colours, and a 1980s minimalist, rudimentary feel with a modern, technological twist.

Central to the exhibition, the Innovations in Concrete timeline wall told the history of concrete, from its origins further back than most would imagine, through its refinement and development, how different societies use it, and how it has become so fundamental – in all its variations and forms – to today’s built environment. For this wall, CAST included typography carefully matched to the overall theme, and an intuitive storyboard style to guide visitors through the history and point them to the level of detail they wanted. The display was interspersed with carefully chosen imagery and infographics – with a selection of fascinating facts about the most commonly used man-made material on the planet. We also included audiovisual guides to expand on particular features of the exhibition.

01 02

A multi-faceted exhibition from Architecture and Design Scotland, bringing concrete to life.

THE DRUM 08.NOV.13 www.thedrum.com

01 Sample cubes were used to demonstrate the wide variety of concrete mixtures.

02 A graphic wall exploring Concrete as a Sustainable Mixture.

03 An 11m timeline wall documented the key milestones in the development and use of concrete throughout history.

As a whole, CAST became an inviting and intriguing space in which to tell the story of concrete in an engaging and perception-changing way, with case studies to put things into context and illustrate the huge variety of uses for concrete over the centuries, plus its applications for today and tomorrow. It also conveyed important key messages. For example, that despite its often undeserved reputation, concrete is becoming an environmentally sustainable building material, and has a big part to play in more responsible construction methods. And also that its production has positive socio-economic benefits, supporting small and large communities.

The ResulTsAs well as guiding a varied audience through the complex history, development and wide-ranging applications of concrete in its many forms, the exhibition has brought together construction experts, architects, students seeking careers in design, construction and engineering, and the general public. It has provided people from all walks of life with fresh insights into this misunderstood man-made material. Perhaps most importantly, it highlights that concrete – produced and applied responsibly – can be an environmentally sustainable and

hugely versatile construction material. A partnership between Architecture and Design

Scotland, The Concrete Society Scotland, and the Edinburgh School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, CAST includes an extensive and inclusive series of seminars, workshops and other related events that appeal to industry professionals and the public.

“To bring the subject of concrete to an audience in an informative and accessible manner was a challenge for all of us. From the outset, RRDCreative had carried out their own research into concrete and its use. This made any ideas that were discussed more fruitful, as their interest and knowledge helped inform the process and the final outcome. There were many layers and types of information to be presented in an understandable manner, and RRDCreative helped us achieve this through their highly innovative design approach – making the graphics

clear and using a graphic style that worked extremely well with the subject. As part of the greater team putting together the exhibition, their input and creativity was invaluable.” Morag Bain, Architecture and Design Scotland.

“RRDCreative were delighted and privileged to be working with the Concrete Society and Architecture and Design Scotland on this project. Getting to know this material that we take for granted and one we don’t appreciate was both creatively challenging and rewarding. We were flattered with the faith and confidence in our ideas that Architecture and Design Scotland showed and we look forward to working with them again on future projects.” Corey Stewart, Creative Director RRDCreative

RRDCreative will be opening a new design studio in the centre of Edinburgh in December 2013.

“RRDCReAtive’S innovAtive DeSign AppRoACh CReAteD A CleAR gRAphiC Style thAt woRkeD extReMely well with the SubjeCt MAtteR.”

03

SCOTLANDFoCuS

Source: * Google Analytics + The Drum

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Contact

The DrumLiz HamiltonCommercial Director

liz.hamilton@thedrum.com0141 559 606507814 840153

www.thedrum.com

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You have an opportunity to get in front of these high spending top marketers via our managed email campaigns.

We can tailor these to suit your needs with regards to who you want to reach, with what message and at what time.

Managed email – HTML format

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A managed email campaign

Contact

The DrumLiz HamiltonCommercial Director

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www.thedrum.com

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Every day The Drum sends out two e-newsletters including aroundup of the latest news, blogs and jobs to over 16,000 opt in subscribers. You can reach this targeted audience with a daily, weekly, or on-going banner campaign to ensure your message is oneof the fi rst they see in their day.

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