Premium publishers have a crisis on their hands. With print revenues eroding, albeit slower in agriculture, many of them turn to digital for survival. The challenge is that digital isn't as simple as putting graphically pleasing ink on paper. Premium publishers, therefore, have to be just as relational within their niche audiences while being just as technically proficient as Google, Facebook and Amazon.

It's an expensive venture for them with every decision having to thrive both in the short term and long term. What does the operation look like? Which digital products will we offer and do well and which are just beyond our capability? Are we ahead or behind the audience adoption curve?

The best way to work with endemic publishers today is to collaborate in a manner mostly unseen in the industry. Bring a marketing problem (or desired outcome) and suggest solutions ... then allow the publisher to bring its own experience and knowledge to the issue. Deeper conversations can create better plans, new routes to success and put everyone on the path to success.

Continuing to treat premium publishers as just another vendor, working predominantly with people you like personally rather than those who perform for you, will keep them and marketers running in the exercise wheel to negative outcomes.

Click here to listen to the third installment of Rooster's Wake-Up Webcast with a round-table discussion with industry veterans Jeff Jackson (Farm Progress) and Courtney Yuskis (Farm Journal). It was a great 40 minutes that would benefit many to hear.

While premium publishers can lead the way in creating trust, the trust breakdown continues in digital marketing ... led by kickbacks by media to agencies that recommend specific uses. MORE

DIGITAL MARKETING: The Rooster Cast has exceeded 45 episodes but the audience has voted on the 10 best. If you have 10 minutes, you can hear them all! Or just pick and choose. MORE

PROGRAMMATIC: As the options grow in programmat ic, the right-sizing on the use of static banners is happening right now. MORE ... See below for "A Day In The Ad Life Of An Average Consumer," a hypothetical illustrative example of what an average consumer might experience during an average day. It is based on information from The Trade Desk, public sources and management estimates. The print line isn't probably something we support for our agricultural targets, but still interesting. MORE ... I had a minute of thoughts on this graphic in a recent Rooster Cast ... Privacy laws will hinder many, which will fuel a resurgence of contextual. MORE

SEARCH: Mobile and desktop search results differ and the Google algorithm that drives such things changed 3,000 times in one year. MORE ... Google is considering a warning label for slow web sites. MORE ... If you have any content dependent on Flash (remember Flash?), Google is soon to be blind to it. MORE

SOCIAL: If you want to be good at social media, you have to have a plan, support the platforms you are on, not just talk about your brand and time things out ... and there are other mistakes to avoid. MORE ... Instagram is testing a removal of likes this week, making the analytics behind social a little bit more challenging. MORE ... There are influencers, micro-influencers and now nano-influencers. MORE ... LinkedIn also has fake profiles and you can know which ones are fake. MORE ... Instagram has noticed TikTok and is testing a similar tool. MORE ... You think you have seen enough political conversations on social media? Political advertising is set to double in 2020 on social media (they won't all turn down a piece of $2.9 billion). MORE

EMAIL MARKETING: The subject line is so pivotal in the beginning of the engagement transaction. Here are some strong subject lines to consider from the fall. MORE

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: It doesn't take much intelligence to realize most of the time people refer to AI, they are calling a spade a club. MORE

VIDEO: Video ad engagement, specifically in social but also beyond, is much greater than other ad types. As OTT and streaming use increases, the more natural the video experience will feel for the audience. You need to have a video ad strategy in 2020. MORE

AUDIO: Listening to the spoken word on its numerous device types has increased rapidly over the past few years. Meanwhile, music listening has declined 5 percent. MORE

CONTENT MARKETING: If you are still adding content to a web page in anything less than a content management platform (CMS), you are needlessly killing yourself. Here is a primer for you on CMSs. MORE ... Personalization is the term guiding 2020 innovation ... because the other terms are going to be an even tougher challenge. MORE ... How deep are you taking personalization today? Targeting by industry (probably), by role (possibly), by known challenges (maybe), by specific account (thinking about it) or based on user interactions (probably not). MORE

USER EXPERIENCE: User experience is an area where web sites can always improve. But the best way to stay on top of it is to have an ongoing strategy. Constantly research, constantly test and change, and constantly measure. MORE

FRAUD: The best battle against fraud is keeping the fraudsters from getting paid. MORE

REGULATIONS: The IAB is trying to make heads or tails of the current iteration of CCPA. Check out the framework here. MORE