Google Display Network vs. Demand Side Platform

Marketers have lots of choices when it comes to display media, however, the primary choice for many people who are engaged in Search Engine Marketing and looking to increase display reach is the Google Display Network. But there are pros and cons of using the GDN instead of employing a DSP and the best decision is not obvious. Here are the primary factors to consider when choosing GDN, DSP or both.

Budget – If you aren’t spending over 100k a month, the reasons to consider a DSP are less compelling because you probably can get all the reach, targeting and ad diversity you need from within the GDN.

Banner Testing – Custom ads cost money to create. The GDN and some DSP facilitate Dynamic ad creation within their ad servers using templates. In addition, some DSP integrate with a DCO (Dynamic Creative Optimization) platform such as Flashtalking or Spongecell to allow for creative to be dynamically created from feeds or other data sources. Google GDN serves text centric ads using Adwords account data and ad groups, but it also has a responsive ad creation tool for the GDN. One can include images, and it can be effective.

Reporting – When you stay within the Google technology stack, centralized reporting is much easier to implement and manage.

Ease of use – The GDN looks and feels almost like Adwords, making it easier for agency or in-house staff to use it without additional training.

Budget Fluidity – If budgets are being moved around based on results or changes in target KPIs, it’s often easier to do so within one platform.

Reach – While GDN has good reach, DSPs now have that reach plus more – so if you’re doing retargeting or need to reach a niche audience, a DSP can often find more of the audience you’re looking for. DSP have inventory from AdX (the DoubleClick Ad Exchange) plus other exchanges/SSPs (Supply side Platform) such as PulsePoint, OpenX, AppNexus, Sonobi, Rubicon, PubMatic and others. In addition, there is an option of doing PMP (Programmatic private marketplace) where there is a direct publisher-to-advertiser relationship and programmatic direct with specific publishers.

CPC vs. CPM preferences – The GDN gives you a choice as to How to pay. But even though you will be invoiced on a CPC basis, the yield management algorithms inside the GDN are calculating an effective predictive CPM when deciding where, and how often, to serve your ad. Nearly all inventory purchased through DSPs is made available for real-time bidding on a CPM exchange, including Google and others.

Data Partnerships – Google gives you access to many audience types, including retargeted audiences and demographic, contextual and interest based targeting. Similarly, DSPs often have data partnerships with a broad set of partners and can facilitate the use of that data not only for targeting but also to influence the bids on inventory/impressions. DSPs have inventory from AdX plus other exchanges, including AppNexus, Rubicon and PubMatic along with PMP partnerships and programmatic direct.

Integration with a DMP (Data Management Provider) – Data is a byproduct of programmatic media and marketing in general. Larger marketers use DMPs to collect, unify and activate data. This allows them to identify and target the right audiences. DMPs can also be used in conjunction with a DCO platform to personalize ads to segments of the audience. This personalization can even be based on recent experiences or engagements you’ve had with others.

Some advertisers and agencies use a DSP and GDN at the same time, but one must be cautious when doing this. If you based your bids on the same audience, the result may be that you’ll end up bidding against yourself because inventory in AdX is bid on by your DSP and Google GDN simultaneously. If you need to use both your DSP and GDN to accomplish your marketing objectives, make sure you use different ad creative and perhaps a different landing page user experience.

Women Workforce in India

With less than a quarter of women of working age in the labor force, India has fewer women working or available for work compared to any other large economy in the world. Women’s participation in the labor force declined sharply in the country precisely when the country’s economic engine was growing the fastest: between 2004-05 and 2011-12. In a recent report by World Bank, India ranks 120^th among 131 nations in women workforce. The participation of Indian women in the workforce fell 10% in the past decade.

While the rise in share of women attending to domestic duties was more pronounced among rural women, the share of women attending to domestic duties was higher in urban India. Among major religious groups, Sikhs and Muslims reported the highest share of women attending to domestic duties in 2011-12. Among Hindus, the share was higher for upper castes than for other caste groups.

A big reason why women don’t work is because there is usually no one else to do the tasks that a patriarchal society assigns to them. In rural India, this often means attending to onerous tasks such as fetching water, or collecting firewood. In Urban India, this may mean childcare in an environment where help is not as easy to come by as in Rural India. Across major states, the share of women attending to domestic duties is broadly correlated with the share of women citing social and religious constraints as the main reason for attending to domestic duties.

In states such as UP, Punjab & Haryana, women face such barriers to a greater extent compared to states such as Tamil Nadu, Karnataka or Kerala. The former states also have a higher share of women attending to domestic duties compared to the latter. A majority of women attending to domestic duties are, however, willing to work part-time if such work were made available at their household.

Tailoring work seems to be the most preferred option for such women, followed by dairy-related and poultry-related work. The share of women who cited tailoring as their most preferred option rose sharply between 2004-05 and 2011-12. Most women who want to take up such work emphasized the need for finance and training. Nearly half of them cited access to finance as one of the key requirements to start part-time work, while a third cited training as a key requirement.

The data suggests that the Skill India initiative may have missed a trick by focusing largely on male candidates looking for full time work. Given the rising demand for training among homemakers looking for part-time work, they could benefit greatly from a skilling initiative that helps them get into part-time work, or to start their own enterprises.

Ways to be a Self-starter at Work

Companies are always inclined to hiring professionals who demonstrate an intrinsic motivation and drive. This article share talks about How to be a self-started at Work?

Be a goal-getter – An employee or manager should create a vision for themselves and work towards a set goal. A real goal-getter has to work towards achieving the goal. Sometimes it may be unrealistic to accomplish that particular goal in one year, but taking small steps towards it, can reap towards.

Create and innovate – Employees who are self-starters are not afraid to create and innovate. Intrapreneurs are usually highly self-motivated, proactive and action-oriented people who are comfortable with taking the initiative. People, who jump in and solve problems, even if they are not asked, are often considered a self-starter.

Taking Risks – Thinking outside the box and proposing new ideas that has not been tried before is always well appreciated by corporate leaders. Managers and Leaders often gravitate to those team members who they believe are the ones bringing something new and different. Self-starters take calculated risks after analyzing available information. Such employees can be seen consistently trying than settling for complacency.

Promote Yourself – A Self-starter is one who seizes new window of opportunities to promote oneself. When someone knows the job deeply, others at the workplace look up to the person for guidance and inspiration. It boosts the confidence and self-esteem of the person and pushes him or her to take the first step.

Workplace Culture – The culture at workplace is crucial in encouraging as well as enabling a person to take the first step. Some managers reprimand their team members when mistakes happen, push their teams to strictly follow the set processes and stay within safe limits while carrying out their day-to-day responsibilities. These kinds of workplaces do not help innovation, exploration and experimentation.

How use of Clean Fuel can Empower Women?

India ratified the Paris Agreement in 2016, one of the strongest proponents of living in harmony with nature and the environment. India committed to generating at least 40% of its electricity from non-fossil sources by 2030. Currently India accounts for 4.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Its efforts are key to achieving the goal of halting the effects of climate change by restricting the rise in global temperature to 2 degree Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

India’s increasing focus on expanding the use of clean energy is critical. What is clean Fuel - Natural Fuel (such as compressed natural gas or liquefied petroleum gas) or a blend (such as gasohol) used as a substitute for fossil fuels and which produces less pollution than the alternatives. Women play an important role as agents of change in the transition to cleaner, affordable and sustainable energy. There is a clear link between energy access and women’s economic empowerment and well-being.

In India, for example, women still spend time collecting fuel for cooking as part of their unpaid, unrecognized and unaccounted care work – work that restricts the opportunity for education, paid employment and economic advancement. Further, the use of biomass fuel causes severe and long-term health problems such as respiratory diseases. The lack of access to clean and affordable fuel also has a direct link to violence against women. In addition, reliance on wood disrupts natural resilience buffers and produces vulnerabilities and even accelerates climate change.

Improving access would reduce the drudgery of women’s unpaid and care work, enable them to access education and employment options and enhance their livelihoods. Clean fuels could help eliminate the hazards of indoor air pollution. Access to energy for women also results in positive gains for the ecosystem. For example, electrification of rural communities can result in a 9% point’s increase in female employment, and a staggering 23% increase in the profitability of rural women working outside the home.

Enabling women’s access to energy also results in improvements to their social conditions. Women invest 90% of their income back into their families and their welfare – which has a positive knock-on effect, with lasting effects for generations to come. Government’s Ujjwala Scheme, which provides LPG connections at reduced rates to women from BPL households, is a useful example. The scheme will be bolstered by public investment in clean energy, incentives such as subsidies and taxes and communities access to finance, awareness and education.