CINCINNATI — One local man who is passionate about digital marketing has made it his business goal and mission to help small businesses here in the Tri-State gain exposure through Facebook.

Les Fultz has been running « More with Les » for only three weeks now, but already he has seen an impact with his digital marketing efforts. And the already impressive reach on his Facebook videos spotlighting local businesses back it up.

Though he’s successfully taking on this new full-time role as a digital marketer, Les has no background in the field. In fact, Fultz owned a cleaning company he founded in 2010.

But as Fultz continued to experiment with short Facebook videos showing potential clients new cleaning products and techniques in an effort to attract new customers to his business, he knew he was onto something big.

As more new clients came flocking to his business after seeing the short editorial-style videos posted on Facebook, Fultz realized how powerful this marketing tactic could be. It was then that he set his sights on the idea of helping other small local businesses achieve the same success.

« I really wanted to help local companies understand the power of digital content, » Fultz said.

The Westwood native titled his new editorial-style show « More with Les, » which highlights small businesses around the Tri-State. Fultz plans to spotlight everything from locally owned retail shops and restaurants to business news and entertainment.

« I hope to show companies that there is a lot of business potential behind producing video content through this platform (Facebook), while also giving small businesses a taste of just how powerful publishing an impactful episodical-style video can be. »

So far, Fultz has published four pilot shows to Facebook. Although he has fewer than 100 followers on the business page, the videos have reached more than 27,000 people, he said.

« I’ve been working really hard to get this going, and really the last three to four weeks have been out of control, » Fultz said

As the « More with Les » pilot series prove his business model is a success, Fultz eventually plans to offer clients an « all-encompassing exposure package, » which will include photos of the business as a well as a write-up that will be published on his website.

« I’ve already recruited a copywriter for the writing aspect and a photojournalist, » he said.

While Fultz has been offering his services for free as the pilot series is being completed, he eventually plans to start charging local businesses.

The price of the services will start at $495 and will include an « all-encompassing » package.

« This is a viable option for the little guys, » Fultz said. « While larger companies don’t think twice before spending $10K on a video that sits on their website, it’s oftentimes out of the marketing budget for smaller companies. But it’s just as important for them. They need video, too. »

Fultz plans to have most of the videos for « More with Les » produced in his West Side studio, Valere Studios. The space was built late last year and is fully equipped with state-of-the-art equipment, along with everything else necessary to his fun and timely episodical videos.

The name of the studio was derived from the Latin word for value and was designed and built by Fultz with the help of the building’s landlord.

In addition to « More with Les, » Fultz also uses the studio to showcase local artists and musicians and will even use the space as a live broadcast studio.

« So, really, I have two big irons in the fire — I help promote local artists by showing live music at night on the Valere Facebook page and then the ‘More with Les’ show during the day on the ‘More with Les’ Facebook page. »

Fultz hopes he can continue to attract clients that are looking for more brand exposure or businesses that have a story to share as his just-launched business takes off.

When asked if he had a background in video production, Fultz said that only two years ago, he had no idea how to operate a camera.

It was an entrepreneurial drive and determination to make a difference, mixed with a lot of long hours and hard work that brought him to where he is today.

Fultz also hopes that by sharing his story, he can inspire and motivate others to follow their passion in business and in life.

For more information about Les Fultz, visit his website, the Valere Studios Facebook page or the « More with Les » Facebook page.

Spin is spin, even when it is written by journalists. (Image: scyther5 / iStock / Getty Images Plus)

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I first started writing articles when I was a teenager, as one of the ways I could contribute to the movement to stop the war on Iraq, to free the refugees from detention in Australia and to stop a waste dump being built where I lived (one of the poorest parts of Sydney).

I’ve been a journalist for 16 years now, writing from Bolivia, Mexico, Venezuela, Pakistan and other countries — aiming to center the voices of those who aren’t usually heard, and covering the other side of the story. But now, as a freelancer in Mexico, like many journalists and writers, I’m forced to do content writing between the journalism in order to pay the bills. As a result, I’ve learned a lot about how this huge and booming marketing industry works. I’m alarmed by how many people don’t realize the supposed blogs they’re reading are simply well-concealed marketing, and about the serious social impact of this calculated, dollar-driven invasion of the internet.

***

Nearly half of millennials (43 percent) have been misled by medical information on the internet. A recent Harris Poll found that people tend to click the first article that comes up in a search, even though such articles are often advertising content aimed at selling medicine or medical devices.

When people aren’t searching, they are often coming across such misleading content via social media. Of the 20 most-shared articles about cancer on Facebook last year, over half, according to The Independent, contained claims discredited by doctors and health authorities.

How does this misinformation make its way into widely circulated articles? Often, it is there on purpose: Content marketing — corporate advertising disguised as articles, videos and information — is being systematically manufactured on an industrial scale.

The global spend on content marketing is predicted to reach US $313 billion by 2019 — around double what it was in 2014. Companies are devoting more and more effort to creating advertising that doesn’t look like advertising: content that consumers want to interact with, such as blog articles, infographics, reports and studies, moving emotional YouTube videos, social media content and « native advertising » (ads that look like news or opinion content).

Content marketing aims to be useful or entertaining so that consumers invest time reading or interacting with it — unlike other forms of advertising that can easily be ignored. Companies are also mass producing content for their sites and social media pages, as more pages mean better search engine optimization, more visitors or social media views, and higher brand awareness.

The number of « news » stories has increased by 36 percent each year, Christopher S. Penn, VP of marketing technology with SHIFT Communications, told EContent. He said that in 2016, his company expected 88 million stories to be published. « No matter how amazing we think our content marketing is, customers are drowning in media, » he said, referring to the phenomenon as « content shock. »

The overall composition of internet information is shifting toward strategically executed corporate drivel: substandard health articles aimed at convincing readers to consume more wine, real estate articles pretending to enable consumers with helpful « tips » to find the house they can’t afford and emotionally manipulative Pepsi videos pretending to understand rebellion and social justice struggles.

The proportions of junk food we consume affect our bodies. Similarly, the composition of the information we’re fed affects our collective knowledge, our ability to think critically and the focus of our collective attention.

The Quality of Content Marketing

« One’s mouth becomes watery when, people around you boast of fried foods. Weather one is male or female, young or old, maximum people have the fondness for the shiny, greasy food, » opens one article on Listovative. Though clickbait rather than content marketing, the article showed up at the top of two separate Google searches, showing that with the right strategy, low quality can make it to the top.

Then there’s this unsound mortgage advice with bonus grammar mistakes on real estate site Trulia, including oversimplified statements like, « It might be five years before you recoup the initial costs of purchasing a home. » Companies like Trulia employ a strategy of mass production of such content in order to attract clicks and readers. Typically, they content farm their « blog articles » from extremely underpaid and often inexperienced writers. Often, this means unqualified people are producing content that provides what is portrayed as serious health, parenting, diet and financial advice. The content pretends to be useful for the reader, but it could in fact be counterproductive, or even dangerous.

WebMD, for example, earned $561.3 million in 2016 from advertising and sponsored content — 79.6 percent of its total revenue, according to its annual report. Because the site produces good, reliable information, it can be hard to weed out the sponsored content, such as a depression test, sponsored by drug giant Eli Lilly, maker of antidepressant Cymbalta. Now removed from the site, the test gave everyone who took it the result: « You may be at risk for major depression. »

As long ago as 2010, a Nottingham University study of health advice on the internet found that none of the sponsored or commercial websites provided correct medical information. A similar study from 2013 found that in searches about sports injuries, nearly half of the top results came from companies trying to sell something. The researchers — doctors — had noticed that many of their patents were coming in and, based on what they had read online, would request medical devices that were not appropriate for them.

Another type of content marketing with little integrity is « newsjacking, » where companies use trending hashtags to promote themselves. A few of the more infamous examples of this include designer Kenneth Cole taking advantage of the Cairo protests in 2011 and tweeting, « Millions are in uproar in #Cairo. Rumor is they heard our new spring collection is now available online.… » The Golf Channel used Martin Luther King Day in the US to tweet, « Tweet your ‘golf’ dream on the anniversary of MLK’s ‘I have a dream’ speech.… »

Meanwhile, 62 percent of business-to-consumer marketers use infographics as a tool as well, seeing that this didactic format works well as an advertising weapon.

The proliferation of junk content is aided by economic inequality. The internet is not a level playing field, and just like in the real world, those with more money often hog the limelight. Those companies with more money to spend on page creation, advertising, analytics, influencers (people with high social media followings can be paid to promote content) and social media campaigns skip to the front. Social media signals like retweets, shares, retweets by influencers and so on, can drastically affect a site’s Google search ranking, and those retweets, likes and shares can be bought through companies like Mechanical Turk or Boostlikes.com.

The Business-Run Newsroom

On the other hand, the newsroom is being taken over directly by corporations, with businesses boycotting traditional channels and creating their own « newsroom » as part of their corporate website. (For instance, Red Bull may encourage you to find out the latest sports news by going to its site.) Meanwhile, traditional newsrooms are using their editorial teams, or setting up special native advertising teams, just to provide disguised content for companies.

Coca Cola’s newsroom includes not only articles about the product, but also listicles about topics vaguely connected to the product, such as 16 Things You Didn’t Know about Vending Machines in Japan and Around the World, and news sections, such as community, business and innovation. Plus, the site offers ways for consumers to participate — by submitting photos of their « Coke moments, » for example.

Red Bull’s Content Pool is focused on the sports and culture events the brand sponsors, as well as a quotes corner, photos of the week and « premium » film and music content.  Red Bull TV streams similar content live.

Nestlé, according to Columbia Journalism Review (CJR), creates more than 1,500 pieces of content daily, with its subsidiary, Purina, a pet food company, having its own animal story site.

Still, there’s an advantage for businesses if content they produce (or pay for) appears to be independently produced or published. This is where news outlets like BuzzFeed come in. In BuzzFeed videos, people try food and products, and their sometimes-critical responses lend credibility and interest value to the marketing, at a time when the newer generations are increasingly skeptical of direct advertising. CJR notes that BuzzFeed employs a team of 65 people to produce work on behalf of corporate clients, while a larger team produces other editorial content.

The world of « native ads » is growing. Fairfax Media launched its native advertising business, Brand Discover, in 2015, and it has since grown from a team of three, to a full-time team of 28, plus more than 3,000 freelancers. In a campaign for the South Australia tourism authority, Fairfax created and published over 200 content elements, including listicles, infographics and itineraries. Time Inc., meanwhile, also launched its native advertising agency, The Foundry, in 2015, and its team of 150 has since served companies like Bank of America, Volvo, Emirates, Merrill Lynch and California Tourism.

Meanwhile, many consumers struggle to tell the difference between journalism and marketing, with nearly half of the respondents for one survey not knowing what native advertising was.

Fewer Journalists

With this mega shift towards news that is more directly produced by (or for) corporations, journalism is changing: Writers and journalists are expected to be able to write advertising copy, and those writing for company « newsrooms » are considered journalists.

More people are working in native advertising teams and as content writers, and the number of actual journalists is decreasing. In the US, the number of journalists in daily newspapers dropped by 39 percent between 2005 and 2015 — from 54,100 to 32,900. In the UK, the number of journalists dropped from 70,000 in 2013 to 64,000 in 2015, but the number of UK workers describing themselves as public relations professionals jumped from 37,000 in 2013 to 55,000 in 2015.

Many freelance journalists, writers and other creatives are also being forced to turn to content writing to supplement their income. This means journalists are writing more about food, celebrities, tech and companies than about social justice or global issues. On top of this, content writing can be extremely exploitative. Sites like iWriter pay rates of $1.62 for a 300-word article, and $4.05 for a 700-word article. Clients (in my experience) will then often read over the finished piece, keep the text and use it, then rate the writing low in order to not have to pay even that. Other sites like Upwork see freelancers competing to bid the lowest for their labor, while Upwork keeps 20 percent of the wage for itself.

Social Consequences of More Corporate Information and Content

The digital information we have access to is increasingly corporate-made and sponsored. Of course, collaboration between much of the big media and the business world isn’t new, but this collaboration is increasingly pretending to be content worth reading — and since the internet provides infinite space for articles, infographics and video content, we’re seeing a deluge of this type of clandestine marketing.

The era of sponsored content portends a vulnerable fate for the next generation of consumers, when it comes to misinformation and manipulation. A 2016 Stanford study of US high school and university students found that their ability to analyze information on the internet was « bleak » and « they are easily duped. » In one test, 80 percent of students believed native advertising was a real story. In the example, a picture of a homepage, the native advertising was marked clearly with the words « sponsored content. » In another test, 40 percent of students felt that photos on their own — without context, explanation or coming from a reliable source (in this case, uploaded to Imgur) — were a reliable source.

Whether the content is low quality and uninformed or part of an expensive, well-resourced and multichannel corporate campaign, spin is spin when it comes from corporations — and now, that spin is dominating the information quickly available to us on the internet.

MDC Partners (NASDAQ: MDCA) and Tremor Video (NYSE:TRMR) are both small-cap business services companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, risk, earnings, profitabiliy, institutional ownership, valuation and analyst recommendations.

Risk Volatility

MDC Partners has a beta of 1.56, suggesting that its stock price is 56% more volatile than the SP 500. Comparatively, Tremor Video has a beta of 1.36, suggesting that its stock price is 36% more volatile than the SP 500.

Earnings Valuation

This table compares MDC Partners and Tremor Video’s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

MDC Partners has higher revenue and earnings than Tremor Video. MDC Partners is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Tremor Video, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Dividends

MDC Partners pays an annual dividend of $0.21 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.0%. Tremor Video does not pay a dividend. MDC Partners pays out -30.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Insider Institutional Ownership

86.1% of MDC Partners shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 36.4% of Tremor Video shares are held by institutional investors. 3.4% of MDC Partners shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 8.2% of Tremor Video shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares MDC Partners and Tremor Video’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for MDC Partners and Tremor Video, as provided by MarketBeat.

MDC Partners currently has a consensus price target of $11.83, indicating a potential upside of 13.24%. Tremor Video has a consensus price target of $3.13, indicating a potential upside of 38.89%. Given Tremor Video’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Tremor Video is more favorable than MDC Partners.

Summary

MDC Partners beats Tremor Video on 10 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About MDC Partners

MDC Partners Inc. is a provider of global marketing, advertising, activation, communications and strategic consulting solutions. The Company and its subsidiary agencies (Partner Firms) deliver a range of customized services. The Company’s segments include Reportable Segment, All Other and Corporate. The Reportable segment consists of the Company’s integrated advertising, media and public relations service companies. The All Other segment consists of the companies that provide the Company’s specialist marketing offerings, such as direct marketing, sales promotion, market research, strategic communications, database and customer relationship management, data analytics and insights, corporate identity, and design and branding. The Reportable segment includes the operations of various companies, such as Allison Partners, Anomaly, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Doner, Forsman Bodenfors, Hunter PR, kbs, MDC Media Partners and 72andSunny.

About Tremor Video

Tremor Video, Inc. is an advertising technology company. The Company provides software for video advertising effectiveness. The Company operates through online video advertising services segment. Its technology optimizes performance of video advertisement campaigns across all screens, including computers, smartphones, tablets and connected televisions. The Company’s buyer platform enables advertisers, agencies and other buyers of advertising to discover, buy, optimize and measure the effectiveness of their video advertisement campaigns. The Company’s technology analyzes video content, detects viewer and system attributes, and uses its repository of stored third-party data to optimize and target the delivery of advertisement campaigns. Its buyers can transact directly on its buyer platform through the Tremor Video DSP, a user interface that allows them to manage the execution of their campaigns on a programmatic basis. The Company also offers a seller platform, the Tremor Video SSP.

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