In an effort to maximize conversion rates, today's online marketers take advantage of myriad channels and ad types to reach their customers. They also employ a number of cross-channel strategies to reach users at more moments of purchase consideration, increasing awareness and the probability of conversion -- but that also makes managing and optimizing campaigns increasingly complex. This leads advertisers to wonder, "How much is too much?" That question is answered by attribution-based overlap reporting.

To paraphrase the tagline used in commercials by Ally Bank: "Even children know it takes more than a single ad to convert a prospect." When optimizing online campaigns, the overwhelming majority of advertisers still credit only the last ad event that occurred prior to the conversion. That last event is typically in the form of exposure to a display banner or a click on a paid search link. This is usually referred to as the 'last ad' model. Some advertisers will only attribute credit to an ad if it was clicked - the 'last click' model. It's no wonder, then, …

For those of you thinking about attribution management solutions, one of the most important things to know before beginning your evaluation process is that marketing attribution measurement will significantly change the practice of marketing within your organization. Unlike other technologies, attribution is not just a piece of software that sits in a corner and is pulled out every now and then to solve a specific issue or meet an ad hoc need. It's a tool that you will live and breathe with every day. But even the easiest to learn, use and navigate attribution software will need to be operationalized …

Every day new facts, findings, figures, and pronouncements fill my inbox. However, very few insights make it there. So many studies, so much data and so many findings abound, but it seems that it's hard to boil it all down into truly useful intelligence. Even when the findings and figures appear to have been collected using appropriate methodologies, more often than not, my reaction is "This is really interesting -- but what does it mean?"

For the last decade hyper-local ads were the next big thing. Today, thanks to the proliferation of smartphones and a maturing mobile marketplace, advertisers can reach consumers with a level of location granularity that enables a new form of storytelling. These types of campaigns are now real, but understanding the nuances of location data and the privacy implications are key to running a successful campaign. To understand these nuances, we have suggested four questions you should ask to make the most of hyper-local and mobile marketing opportunities.