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ESPN and MLB Strike Out Looking When it Comes to Search and the 2008 Home Run DerbyJosh Hamilton of the Texas Rangers put on a spectacle during the 2008 MLB Home Run Derby as he hit a single round record 28 home runs in the first round of the contest. I am not quite sure how the ratings will end up, but ESPN, the MLB, and their partners have to be optimistic for decent numbers based on the record breaking performance. And although this year’s derby was probably lacking the star-power of recent derbies past, the network could at least rely on promoting the historic venue-Yankee Stadium in it's final year. With all of the effort surrounding the promotion and coverage of this event by ESPN, the MLB and their partners, it's hard to believe they could have missed out on the opportunity with search, integrating online opportunities, and driving relevant traffic to a destination where further brand engagement could have occurred. One missed opportunity was not capitalizing on the spike in searches on “Home Run Derby” that would expectedly occur around the all-star break. Searching “Home Run Derby” resulted in NO paid ads...
...so it’s clear there isn’t much advertiser competition surrounding these terms. The cheap clicks could have been driven to a special Home Run Derby landing page or microsite with stats, blogs, past Home Run Derby highlights, pictures or even interactive games. But the good news is- it's not too late! The big game isn't until tomorrow night. It's as simple as coming up with a destination and some ad copy, and bidding on the term "all star game"-there is no advertiser competition here either. And the spike for "all star game" is also pretty high in mid July.
Labels: Google, Paid Search, Search, Strategy Why Pay for Online Audience Metrics When You Can Get Them For Free?Everyone loves getting something for nothing, particularly when that something has a pretty decent price tag associated with it. What am I talking about here? It’s online audience metrics, which until now were primarily available to organizations willing to subscribe to comScore or Neilsen Online.So who’s out there shaking things up? It’s our old chum Google! Yes, in the very near future, Google is expected to announce its own online audience measurement tool aimed at helping advertisers identify the best places to reach their target audience and purchase online ads by telling them which sites they visit. Not only will the tool be free, but it will also have a different means of collecting user data than either comScore or Neilsen Online, which many believe will make it better and more accurate. Specifically, Google’s tool will be based mostly on data from Web servers, which will allow for a more in-depth and broad-based view of internet use. Comparatively, both comScore and Neilsen Online gather usage data by tracking panels of people and what they do online or by conducting surveys. This methodology has the ability to make results inconsistent and incomplete as you are in reality measuring a small segment of the online population and then aggregating those results to make more broad-based observations about the marketplace as a whole. In comparison, Google’s tool, which will still rely on some data gleaned from panels, will measure a much broader segment of the population as it will be deployed across their entire very, very expansive ad network. While Google’s system does not appear infallible (it's cookie-based and users can delete cookies), the sheer size of Google’s user base and network has the potential to make this a very revolutionary system and shake-up the way online activity is measured. And because it’s being offered for free, it will make this kind of intelligence more of a commodity and level the playing field in terms of online media planning and buying. What do I mean by “leveling the playing field”? Simply stated, services like comScore and Neilsen Online cost money and are available only to those who can afford them. However, by Google making audience data free of charge, it will enable everyone to leverage it and make more intelligent decisions about how they plan and buy online media. Therefore, while such intelligence has primarily been available to big agencies or companies and touted as a competitive advantage that smaller rivals just don’t have access to, this will no longer be the case. Hence, what is exciting about Google’s forthcoming tool is that it will enable everyone to make more accurate and confident decisions about the buys being executed and the targets being reached, which should in turn lead to an overall increase in the ROI associated with online advertising. And in an era of heightened accountability, this will likely only make advertisers more comfortable with committing more dollars online. But the true value that I see in a tool such as Google’s coming to market, is not just that it’s going to level the playing field, lead to increased budgets and provide free access to data that was previously only available to those with the means to pay for it, but that it’s going to force us as marketers to become better at what we do. In order to be competitive, we’re now going to be forced to further evolve our thinking. So in the online media planning and buying space where will the competitive advantage now come from? Simply stated, it will no longer be enough to say you have access to and spout audience statistics, as soon everyone will be able to do this. Rather you will need to demonstrate that you understand and know how to use and apply this data. The truth is, while everyone likes statistics, people love it when you can demonstrate that you know what they mean and apply this knowledge to solve real business issues. With Google’s forthcoming tool, we’ll all soon be able to know who is going where and doing what. But now, to truly differentiate your plans and buys, you’ll need to demonstrate that you not only have the data, but understand what it means and the business benefits derived from it, and this is what will separate the leaders from the pack. Labels: Google, Industry, New Business, Online Media, POV, small business marketing, Strategy Yahoogle – It’s HereWell folks, it’s official! On Thursday, Yahoo officially stated that under a new pact with Google it will display “some” ads sold by its rival. The deal is expected to generate an additional $800 million in annual revenue for Yahoo, through what the Wall Street Journal describes as improved monetization of certain types of searches.On top of it all, both companies also stated that they are looking for ways to now expand what is considered to be a limited partnership, possibly into the realm of display advertising. Now this would be interesting, as display is one area where Yahoo does hold a commanding lead over Google. While all of the specifics of this deal have not been definitively worked out, the understanding is that Yahoo will control how Google’s ads are displayed along side its own advertising. Although it has not been 100% defined, my guess here is that Yahoo will most likely give priority to ads purchased directly through its own site, but then populate excess inventory with ads from Google. Therefore, it appears that Yahoo is entering in a pact to become part of Google’s “Expanded Search Network”. This means that while you will still be able to buy everything you would like directly via Yahoo, whenever there is a case of excess inventory on Yahoo, Google’s ads will now be displayed. It appears to be a similar arrangement that Google has with sites such as Business.com, from which you can purchase ads directly from or go through Google to do so, as Business.com is part of Google’s expanded search network. Assuming I am correct, and while this great news for the shareholders of Yahoo, there are few things that we as search engine marketers must now consider. If you did not already know, when you buy advertising from Google, you have a few options. You can go with Google Search, which means you advertise to people just searching on Google; Expanded Search, which means adverting on Google and all of its search partners (AOL, Earthlink, etc.); and then of course there are programs such as Google Content. In my experience, most people opt to go with Google’s expanded search network as they not only get access to the audience on Google, but also those on AOL, Earthlink and more. However, unlike Yahoo’s expanded search network, with Google, it’s an all or nothing proposition. This means that with Google, you can not select which search partners you advertise with and which you do not. Additionally, Google does not disclose what percentage of your searches or budget are actually being spent with their partners, versus them directly. This leads most people to believe that when they advertise with Google all traffic and clicks are coming from people directly on Google, but this is not necessarily the case at all. Why this is important is that if Yahoo does join Google’s Expanded Search Network, you could end up spending a good portion of your budget directly with Yahoo unknowingly via Google. Because Yahoo does command upwards of 20% of the Search Marketplace, they still have a very good sized audience and therefore you could soon find your Google programs spending much faster that you had previous realized, as you now have your ads being put in front of Yahoo’s still very sizeable audience. As a result, if you were previously reaping the benefits of Google’s Expanded Search Network, whether you knew it or not, with Yahoo in the fold you may have to start spending a lot more to continue to do so. Additionally, seeing that Google does not let you see the specifics behind what is happening on their Expanded Search Network, you will loose the ability to plan your budget accordingly for Yahoo. I see this as important as both Google & Yahoo perform differently under certain circumstances and therefore you want to be able to structure your campaign on many levels such as Keyword, bidding and budget to take advantage of different audience dynamics. However, under this pact you will be relegated to spending some of your budget with Yahoo, but planning based on your insights from Google. Now, you might say that with Google’s Expanded Search Network you’ve already had to do this for AOL, Earthlink, Business.com, etc., but the difference here is that none of these engines offer an audience the size of Yahoo’s and really have the potential to shift things one way or the other. Now of course you can still advertise with Yahoo directly and plan accordingly, but previously you had the advantage of knowing that you had a Google budget and a Yahoo budget. But now under this new pact you will have a Yahoogle budget and a Yahoo budget, if in fact you decide to advertise directly with Yahoo at all. This leads me to my last point, what does this mean for Yahoo in the future? In my experience, a lot of organizations like the fact that they can go through one provider and get their ads displayed on multiple engines. In the end you basically get the same result, without the headache of having to manage multiple programs and campaigns. In short, life is simpler. So, does this mean that over time, we will see more people just turning to Google to leverage the fact that they can go there and use them as a one stop shop? I guess the answer to this question relies on the definition of “some”, in terms of what the Google/Yahoo pact means when they say it means that Yahoo will display “some” ads displayed/sold by Google. Ultimately the word “some” is very ambiguous, and leaves a lot of room for this partnership to grow and expand. However, while you can at times get better cost efficiencies of going straight to the source, versus going through a partner, the challenges of managing multiple programs sometimes outweighs the cost benefits gained. Therefore, while I do believe that Yahoo will always have direct presence, I feel that the number of advertisers who opt run programs directly with them will shrink as they realize they can go to Google and manage everything from one single interface. This will be particularly true for those businesses that don’t have the ability to have a dedicated search marketing staff, but previously felt they had to run on both engines in order to access both audiences. One thing that is for sure is that by making a bid for Yahoo, Microsoft has certainly shaken-up the search marketing landscape. Who would have thought that the net result of trying to acquire Yahoo, would have the unintended effect of making Yahoo run directly in to the arms of the rival that Microsoft as trying to fend off via their intended acquisition strategy. If you think this is strange; based on the precedent set here, I can only imagine what's going to happen next. Labels: Google, Industry, Online Media, Paid Search, POV, Strategy, Yahoo Landing Page Whitepaper Offers With Sub-Par Landing Pages?Things change fast in the world of interactive marketing, so it is a good idea for most interactive professionals to subscribe to industry email newsletters in order to keep on top of the latest research, trends and best practices. As a result, my inbox is flooded with various industry newsletters pointing to current articles, and of course the HTML emails contain ads targeted to someone in the interactive media business.Over the last few days, I have been served ads for a couple of different landing page guides. In order to get the landing page whitepapers, the user is directed to what else- a landing page. Logically, you would assume that an ad or email for a landing page best practice whitepaper would point to a pretty well designed landing page, but don’t make assumptions too quickly. I do not have access to the conversion data for either of the pages to be discussed, so the following observations are based solely on my experiences of landing page elements that enhance or detract from conversion rates. One example of a questionable landing page design is for an Omniture landing page guide entitled “Does Your Landing Page Smell Like Your Keywords”. I use the term “questionable” because many design elements on this page are pretty good , but there are some design elements on this page that are extremely frustrating, especially in the context of downloading a whitepaper about landing pages. See the page below. The red line represents the “fold”; the portion of the page above the red line is visible without scrolling.
The next design element that is frustrating as an end user is the functionality of the form. Keep in mind, I was served the ad for the landing page in an email newsletter for online marketers- the primary subscriber base is most likely comprised of folks working at interactive agencies, which brings me to my concerns surrounding the form functionality. The first several fields are the standard fill-ins like name, email, but when you get to the drop down menus, things get a bit strange. One design element that seemed particularly odd was the industry selector. As I mentioned previously, the ad for this page was served to a group that is likely comprised on online advertising agency types, but neither “Advertising” or “Marketing” were available as drop down selections. Instead, the form has a selection for “Healthcare” which seems strange as I could not imagine many people in healthcare are developing custom lead generation landing pages in-house. Similarly, peculiar selections were available for other fields, especially considering the ad for this offer was served in an online marketing industry newsletter. Assuming the majority of folks that see this ad work at online ad agencies, it is odd that the most common job titles in the industry are not available in the drop down menu. There are no fields for “Account Executive” or “Account Director” although these are very common titles for the people that are seeing the ad impressions. Another unique component of this page that I find frustrating relates to “form growth”. If you select “Other” from the drop down, a new fill-in field appears below the drop down box. I personally find this very frustrating as I feel deceived by the advertiser as the form gets larger and larger as I complete fields. Look at the difference between the original impression of the form, and the expanded form that “grows” based on your selection.
This experience reminds me of the frustrating multi-stage forms in which users keep getting directed to new pages with new form fields, and there is no indication of when the form will be complete. Keep in mind, this page design could have been the result of extensive testing that indicated this design would lead to the highest possible conversion rates for this channel; however, it is undoubtedly counterintuitive to many thoroughly tested best practices, as well as my own experience in landing pages testing and design. Nevertheless, I won’t be reading Omniture’s landing page whitepaper- I bailed out of the conversion process before I could make it through the frustrating landing page and form. Labels: Industry, Landing Pages, Strategy, web 2.0 Supplementing Social Media Marketing is Crucial to Success (Part 2.)For the first part of this series, please see Supplementing Social Media Marketing is Crucial to Success (Part 1.) In order to maximize return on any social media investment, it is critical to supplement the social campaign with alternative forms of media. Social media marketing campaigns can include a variety of components and platforms, but it is important to remember you can’t simply launch a social marketing campaign and assume your core audience will find you and engage in a conversation. This sentiment was reiterated in a recent article in the Summer 2008 edition of Search Marketing Standard entitled Marketing on Facebook. In the article, SMS correspondent Grant Crowell interviewed Rodney Rumford- CEO/founder of FaceReviews & Gravitational Media. When asked about common mistakes of marketing on Facebook, Rumford cited a problem in the perception of marketers that “if I build it they will come”. Yes, there is a huge viral component involved with social media marketing; however, marketers still need to take steps to ensure their social campaigns are supplemented with other forms of media in order to fully capitalize on the social marketing opportunity. Getting back to BMW’s social campaign surrounding a car customizer application, it is clear that supplemental marketing efforts were not a well thought out component of the social campaign, and this detracted from the overall performance of the campaign. BMW clearly fell into the common trap of thinking “we built it- they will come”, but this is not the case. So what specific supplemental tactics could BMW have utilized to maximize the return on their social campaign? Here are a few ideas.
After reading about this campaign in the press, I attempted to find the custom application, but I was not successful. For a very modest fee, BMW could have developed a small paid search campaign with terms like “BMW customizer”, “BMW Facebook page”, “BMW MySpace profile” etc… This would be very inexpensive as there would be virtually no advertiser competition on these terms. Ad copy should include calls to action such as “add us to your friends/become our fan” or “check out our new application” to encourage users to interact with the social profile and/or social campaign.
The same keyword list running in the PPC search campaign should also be launched on the Google Content network. This will generate tons of free impressions, and more importantly, MySpace pages fall under the Google Content network, so text ads running within MySpace could direct users BMW’s MySpace profile (assuming this was one of the networks utilized). Click costs on the content network would likely be even cheaper than search clicks, and the high level of relevance related to seeing ads for BMW’s MySpace page when already in MySpace should help drive comparatively high click through rates for the Content Network.
It also makes sense to invest in online media to drive additional traffic to a social profile, campaign, or application. It is unclear if BMW supplemented their social campaigns with display, but it is certainly a good idea. In addition to standard media buys with various targeting options, it is also worth investigating media buys that would run on the social sites themselves, which would also increase relevance, and therefore would hopefully also increase performance. Social sites are constantly coming up with new advertising solutions as well. Case in point- Facebook’s new Social Ads which utilize the Facebook News Feed to serve hyper-targeted ads to relevant users. One unique targeting example would be the ability serve ads to users whose friends have recently engaged with the advertiser's Facebook profile.
BMW had an opportunity to develop a short press release describing the campaign/custom social application that could be distributed to targeted audiences via RSS. The release should have several anchor text links pointing back to the profile page where the application resides. The anchor text should include copy like “BMW customizer application” or “BMW virtual joyride”. The RSS feed should also include a screen grab or short video of the application to maximize performance in terms of press release reads and the number of times the story is republished on blogs, forums, etc… The RSS component is very cost-effective as well, and there are multiple benefits to this specific tactic. The RSS feed will drive traffic to the profile page, but in addition, there will now be several links out on the web that will point back to the profile page. The additional links will help gain SEO traction in the natural search results in the search engines, but the links will also help the profile pages show up higher in search results within social sites like MySpace and Facebook.
Another important tactic involves continuing the conversation with your core audience in the social space. If BMW is hosting their application on Facebook or MySpace, then a blast should be sent out to the fans/friends of the brand. In addition to telling fans and friends about the new customizer application and “virtual joyride”, the content on the profiles should be updated on a regular basis to encourage users to return. Every time an update is made, friends and fans should be notified. Some social sites will automatically inform users when profiles are updated, but this is likely not enough in most cases.
The blogosphere also offers a huge opportunity in relation to supplementing a social media marketing campaign. BMW had an opportunity to launch a blog outreach campaign in conjunction with the social media campaign/customizer application. Putting your ear to the ground to find out what bloggers think of your brand is helpful, but it isn’t enough. Bloggers can significantly influence thought, feeling, and general perception of a brand, particularly in the automotive category in which emotion plays such a large role in the perception of a brand. Cars could be considered more of an extension of an individual’s personality than a preference in transportation. So if listening is not enough, what should BMW do? Reach out and initiate a conversation with the influential brand ambassadors in the blogosphere. Find out who is talking, select the most active and influential blogs, initiate a conversation, and provide something of value- even if it is just the right to use images of a new model on their site. BMW should also make sure that the conversation includes a quick pitch of the social app that BMW is promoting, as this will create awareness, drive traffic to the application, and will likely result in additional links back to the campaign which provides additional SEO benefits. The list of supplemental tactics above is by no means all-inclusive. Each campaign has a unique set of goals and challenges. The most effective may to maximize the return on a social campaign is to develop a well planned, multi-faceted, integrated promotional strategy to supplement the efforts of the core social campaign. BMW clearly missed a big opportunity to maximize the return on their social campaign- so be sure not to make the same mistake. Labels: Integration, Social Media, Strategy Born to Have Good Search RankingsWhen my older sister announced that she was pregnant with twins last year, as her younger sister I was thrilled to be a first time aunt. As an online media professional, I was thrilled to (jokingly) offer her advice on how to optimize the babies’ names. From what my sister has told me, competition among expectant parents for baby names is just as fierce as getting accepted into a nursery school in Manhattan. Remember that Seinfeld episode where Susan’s cousin took George’s favorite baby name, Seven? Well here are some ways to beat out the competition by using search engine optimization techniques to enhance the ranking of your baby’s name. These tips were taken from a MediaPost article written by David Berkowitz entitled Baby Name Optimization.1) Write a press release the day your baby’s born with the baby’s name in the headline, and optimize the entire release. As soon as the little one takes its first breath, he or she can even appear in the body of Google’s natural search results thanks to universal search. 2) Buy all potential domain name misspellings of your baby’s name. If you’re blessed with ample foresight or come from an ages-old tradition of arranged marriages, buy versions of the last name of any potential suitor you have in mind. Redirect the names to your baby’s main dot-com domain. 3) Film the birth and syndicate it to dozens of video sites. One of those sites will have to be around by the time of your kid’s communion or bar mitzvah, right? On your primary domain, optimize the video by tagging every second of it so those clips are accessible to search engine spiders. 4) Blog as if you’re the baby. Then, when your kid is old enough to blog, you can hand it over to your child, or you can go on blogging as if you’re his or her therapist. 5) Tag your baby. Don’t forget that you can use these search engine optimization tips for your business as well. It doesn’t matter if your business has been established for a long time or is just getting underway, these tips and tricks will help build your company's brand for years to come. To read the rest of Mr. Berkowitz’s tips and the full article please click here Labels: Online Media, SEO, Strategy Social Media Marketing: A Marriage Made in HeavenAs an online media planner, I receive dozens of online marketing newsletters each day, so it takes a catchy headline and a pertinent topic to really pique my interest. Today I came across an article on ClickZ, written by Heidi Cohen entitled Online Marketing: Wedding Bells Meet Content, Community which talks about the three major C’s of online marketing: content, community and commerce and how it relates to planning a wedding. As newly engaged to be married, this article was certainly something that I can relate to not only in my professional life but also in my personal life.As soon as my fiancé proposed I was amazed at how many questions we got from friends and family wanting to know everything from when and where we were going to get married, to what color the bridesmaid dresses would be. Not only that, every time I email someone with the words “engaged” or “wedding,” banners for tuxedos, wedding invites and supplies seem to pop up on websites that have nothing to with the topic. Only two weeks into the engagement and I already feel behind the 8 ball, so after two blissful weeks of no planning, I started my wedding research. Since I can’t seem to escape the madness that follows when you get engaged, I might as well embrace all the tools that marketers, like myself, use to hit their target audience to my advantage. The community section in Ms. Cohen’s article I found particularly interesting. Many of Overdrive’s clients are interested in social media marketing so it’s become a hot topic around the office. When building a client’s website, landing page or social media campaign, it’s important for marketers to keep in mind who their customer is and how information is communicated. With a product that requires a long decision marketing process, marketers need to keep in mind that consumers will use the internet to conduct pre-purchase research. Even though company websites are helpful to explain a product, what really hits home when making a big decision are customer reviews and feedback on social media communities. Facebook email chats with my friends, viewer polls on the Weddingchannel.com, message boards on Theknot.com, and venue reviews on Tripadvisor.com have helped to narrow my search. Peer to peer reviews and suggestions hold a strong stake in my decision making process, as this information comes from people who have been there and done that. As Ms. Cohen writes, “Given the one-time nature of a wedding, one negative comment, which may be taken out of context, could be sufficient to eliminate an option.” This can apply to any product or service, not just for a wedding. To sum this entry up, marketers need to listen to their customers and monitor message boards and forums to find out what people are saying about their products. In addition, considering how important peer comments and suggestions are in making decisions, marketers need to build their online community and fan base to let customers know that their feedback is important. One bad review and you’re out the door, but one good review can spread like wild fire. To read Ms. Cohen’s article on ClickZ, please click here Labels: Online Media, Social Media, Strategy Maximize Return By Supplementing Social Media Marketing Campaigns (Part 1.)Social media marketing is all the buzz today- you can't read any online marketing newsletter or industry publication without coming across an article about the next frontier in the world of interactive marketing- social media.
The lack of integrated efforts to promote the social campaign has certainly impacted the return on investment for BMW. Even though the majority of traffic hitting the social campaign is viral, a huge opportunity was wasted by not driving additional traffic through integrated marketing efforts. So, what should BMW have done? Stay tuned for Part 2 of this series to find out. Labels: Integration, Online Media Daily, Social Media, Strategy, web 2.0 Extending the Reach and Effectiveness of Your Marketing Efforts with Paid SearchMuch has been said about Paid Search and its effectiveness as a direct marketing medium. It’s targeted, cost effective and generates tremendous results.However, an often overlooked aspect of Paid Search is its effectiveness as a complimentary medium to other forms of media being deployed to market various products and services. For example, when a prospective customer sees an ad on TV or in a magazine, it is highly unlikely that they are going to stop what they are doing and act on the message or offer right there and then. More likely they are going to continue watching the program or reading that magazine. In fact, to assume that your target will be completely captivated by your ad and stop what they are currently doing to act on it, is a big assumption. And you know what they say about assumptions. So is all lost? Not at all. While your prospect might not be able to recall the entire message word for word, it’s very likely that they can recall a portion of it. They might not know your company name, but remember the product name. They might not recall the headline, but remember a part of the concept. So, once they have finished doing what they are doing, where is this prospect going to go in order to turn this fragmented piece of information into a complete idea? The Search Engines. Yes, as we all know, search engines are a great place to take an idea or big piece of information and turn it into something more. Therefore a user who is interested in what you have to offer, but does not necessarily have enough information to go directly to the source, is likely going to turn to the search engines in hope of finding the necessary information needed to access your product or service. This is where Paid Search Engine Marketing can step in and really act as a means to extend the life of your other marketing efforts. By dissecting the message and thinking of all the various ways a user might react to or apply it to their lives, you can build a list of terms that, when searched on, will ensure that the prospect will be able to find your product or service, even if they can only recall a small portion of what was actually said in the advertisement. Additionally, with Paid Search, you have the ability to choose which terms you want your product or service to be associated with, and assuming you have enough budget allocated, secure a high profile and very visible placement. You can also control the message that appears when users search on these terms to complement the message associated with your other marketing efforts and direct the user to a destination that provides them with everything they need to access or purchase your product and service. Additionally, the fact that you can turn it on and off based on the needs and timing associated with your other marketing efforts provides a huge degree of flexibility that ensures your message is placed exactly where and when you want it to be accessed. Sounds pretty easy and basic enough doesn’t it? I mean, you’d think that all companies would take advantage of this strategy. Unfortunately this is not always the case. In fact, more often than not, companies see Paid Search as an island; not something that can be tied into and extend the life of their other marketing or PR efforts. A Case of Missed Opportunity - Bag, Borrow or Steal & Sex and the City Movie To support this claim, just take a look at the company Bag, Borrow or Steal. This company received a huge boost – a direct mention in one of the of most hyped movie releases of the summer - Sex and the City, as well as a huge article in the May 27th edition of the Wall Street Journal. This is press and publicity that almost any company would kill for! The focus of the Wall Street Journal was how Bag, Borrow or Steal was planning to leverage the mention in the movie to grow their business. So what has Bag, Borrow or Steal done to capitalize on their 10 seconds of movie fame? Well, according to the Wall Street Journal article they have trumpeted its affiliation with the movie on their website as well as launched a contest on YouTube. Now this is all great, but it really assumes that you are already somewhat familiar with the company or are going to remember this line from the movie. My guess is that people will remember bits and pieces from the movie, such as the handbags being carried by the characters, but are they really going to remember a specific line from one particular scene? Not likely. Therefore, by buying terms such as “Sex and the City Movie” or “Sex and the City Handbag”, Bag, Borrow or Steal could really extend the life of this mention in the movie and procure additional traffic and sales. Additionally, my guess is that via PR they are pushing their YouTube contest and people are writing about it, just like we saw with the Wall Street Journal article. While this is nice, users still have to go and search out the contest. Therefore, people are likely going to turn to the search engines to search for the contest using terms such as “Sex and the City YouTube Contest” or “Sex and the City You Tube Contest”. However, after reading this article, I decided to do some searching on my own, and much to my surprise, when I searched on all of the aforementioned terms, Bag, Borrow or Steal was nowhere to be found in the Paid Search results. Talk about a huge missed opportunity. Here is a company that received national press in the second most widely circulated paper in America, and you could not find them. Now this may have changed by now, but below are screen grabs of search results taken the day after the Wall Street Journal Article was published. Search Result for "Sex and the City movie"
Search Result for "Sex and the City handbag"
In short, whether they knew when the article was being published or not, once it was printed they should have had a plan of action in place. Therefore, by having a Paid Search campaign ready to go, they could have started capitalizing on their affiliation with the movie some time ago, or at least immediately after the article was published. The moral of the story here is that Paid Search should not be looked at just as an isolated medium or silo in your online marketing program. Rather it should be closely integrated into all of your marketing efforts as it can really work to extend their reach and life. By considering how people use the search engines to complete ideas and to find what they are looking for based on what they have seen elsewhere, you can really garner tremendous added value from your marketing investment. Labels: Integration, Paid Search, Search, SEO, Strategy Social Media and Why You Need a StrategyEvery day, it seems we read something new about Facebook, MySpace and other likeminded properties and how the social web is changing the face of the online landscape as we know it. So what is it that makes these companies so important that they are garnering so much press and interest? Well, in my opinion its not such much the properties themselves, but rather the communities they have fostered within them and this is why every marketer should be paying attention.To support this point, just read the following quote from a recent Wall Street Journal article about Sport Illustrated (SI) and their decision to take their Fantasy Content to Facebook: "The move is, in part, an admission by the iconic sports brand, owned by the Time Inc. division of Time Warner Inc that it needs to do more than draw users to its own Web site. It also needs to take its products to a site people already visit.” - Wall Street Journal, May 5, 2008. What struck me about this comment was not so much that Sports Illustrated is partnering with Facebook, but rather how it as decided that a presence on Facebook is a viable alternative to driving users to their own web site. In short, SI has realized if they truly want to engage the Facebook community, they have to do so within Facebook, not outside of it. This, in my opinion is one of the true powers of the social web, and a key reason why all companies need to start thinking about developing a social media strategy, if they have not already done so. In short, the social web, comprised of sites such as Facebook, MySpace, Bebo and others is a web within a web. Rather than refer to these as sites, I think that they could be more accurately described as online environments. People don’t necessarily go on the social web with the intent of finding the next great web site, rather they're on the social web to interact and socialize with others within the context of that environment. Therefore, if you want to reach users within the social web you need to come to them and set-up shop in their environment. Doing so demonstrates to users that you understand the nature of the social web and are willing participate within it. This is an important fact to realize and if you want to be considered relevant within the fabric of the social web, then you need to be have a presence within the social web. Now you may be saying to yourself “But we have a website, so why would I need to create a presence within context of the social web? I mean, we’re already online.” Well, yes your business or company does have a website and is online, but you are not operating within the realm of the social web. You are also making the broad based assumption that those who are engaged in the social web, want to leave it to see what you have to offer. However, this is big assumption and an unfortunate mistake. Again, users go to the social web to interact within that environment, so if you want to reach them you need have a presence where they are. Additionally, there is a common misconception that the social web is only for kids, teens and young adults so it just does not make business sense to be there. Well, there was a time when people felt the same way about this thing called the World Wide Web. Remember when only cutting edge companies had websites? It’s laughable by today’s standards and if you don’t have a website today, people will seriously question your competency. Well, the same trend is now being realized with the social web. Not every company has a presence and those that do are hailed as being innovative and thoughts leaders…just look at Sports Illustrated. The fact that they have decided to set-up shop on Facebook has gotten them ink in the Wall Street Journal. I’m willing to bet that in a matter of just a few years, that such moves will be par for the course and if you don’t have a presence on the social web, you’ll be laughed out of the room. So where am I going with this all? Well, the fact is that marketing on the social web is something that is still relatively new. People are waking up to the fact that there is an audience to be had, but they don’t know what to do or how to effectively access it. But the fact is that social media, just like other forms of online media such as search, can act as channel and means to access a very ready and willing audience. However, to be successful you need to understand how to play with and engage this audience within the context of the social landscape. Like what SI did, think of social media as a means to complement what you are already doing online. While your corporate web site can still be the center of your online marketing universe, it does not mean you can’t have branch or satellite offices within the confines of Facebook, MySpace, Bebo and others. As I mentioned earlier, the social web is not just another group of sites, it's a unique, multi-faceted environment in which resides a huge audience. However to effectively market to this audience, you need to first understand the environment and be willing to join its fabric. Ultimately, by deploying a social media strategy you will greatly expand the power and reach of what you are doing online and develop a channel that is bound to pay off today and in years to come. Labels: Industry, POV, Social Media, Strategy Paid and Natural Search - Complimentary MediumsI was recently asked the following question by a client: "If we are appearing in the Natural Search Engine Results, why should we we also be paying to appear in the Paid Search results for the same term?" In short, if they're getting the clicks for free, why should they be paying for them as well? However, I don't think the answer is really that simple, as a truly effective search engine marketing campaign is not about Paid vs. Natural, rather its about understanding what makes each medium strong thereby playing to and understanding those strengths.
 Please do note that while it may sound like I am trying to discount the natural results, that is not the case at all. Natural results most always drive more traffic and getting top positions is the true benchmark of success when it comes to any SEO program. However, what I am trying to illustrate is the value that Paid Search results do have, even when you are also appearing naturally for the same term, as paid search offers a level of flexibility and control that you cannot get from Natural SEO. In the end, this is not a case of one versus the other, but about illustrating how having a fully integrated SEM and SEO program can ensure that you can take advantage of all that is being afforded to you in the search environment and driving the optimal user experience for all facets of the page. Labels: Google, Industry, Landing Pages, Paid Search, POV, Search, SEO, Strategy, Yahoo Quick Affiliate Marketing POVHey there – as you may know by know I like posting my POV emails to clients when I actually manage to say something interesting or insightful. So here is a recent one regarding affiliate marketing. The client basically asked me if we managed affiliate programs and what my thoughts were on them.My response: Hi XXXXXXX, This is not our sweet spot but we do know a lot about it and can help you get one going with one of the top platforms. (Commission Junction or LinkShare.) Our Search Department Supervisor used to work at Commission Junction and I would be glad to set up a call between me, you and him so you could pick his brain. From what I know there are three main factors that drive the success of an affiliate program: 1) The universal appeal of the product and the stature of your brand a. As of now you have the universal product appeal covered 2) The offer you are making to consumers and how easy that will be for affiliates to sell it to their audience a. Basically the offer always subordinates the bounty b. A $5 bounty for no credit card required/free trial signups may actually have a higher adoption rate by affiliates than a $50 offer for signups that require a credit card – the affiliates know they will get exponentially more conversions that way and make more money 3) The zeal of your affiliate advocate that is recruiting affiliate members a. We typically recommend that people pay Commission Junction’s $3k fee to have an assigned advocate to their program (I am not sure what LinkShare charges for an advocate) b. CJ Advocates tend to know the environment really well and have relationships with sites in the CJ network c. Especially for a company like yours it is very important to have extremely strict affiliate compliance guidelines - showing up on questionable sites or in spam emails could really damage your credibility I hope this helps and do let me know when you would like me to line up a call with our resident CJ expert. See you soon, Harry- Labels: Online Media, POV, Strategy eMetrics Marketing Optimization Summit – May 5th, San Francisco One of our clients is the eMetrics Marketing Optimization Summit. This is THE premier event for web and marketing analytics. Attendees can see demos of all the latest web and marketing analytics applications and learn how to better implement fact based decision making and marketing optimization for their organization. This exhibitor and sponsor list is literally an all star roster of companies and experts. For the May 4th, 2008 San Francisco Agenda see: Monetizing Your Site TrafficSometimes I like to post emails that I send to clients when they ask interesting questions. (Of course I XXXX out their names and contact info.This client is looking into monetizing their site and was seeking some info. Here is what I said: Hi Harry, Hope this finds you well. It seems as if we have some great momentum going right now. I appreciate the time you’ve put in to reviewing our business. The more frequent meetings and analytic reports have been very helpful. I know that XXXXXX and XXXXXX feel the same way. I’m doing some research on a potential project and would appreciate any insight on the following Display Advertising: What are your thoughts about not investing in online (display) advertising until you hit 1M page views per month? Would you say that’s true? H: When you say “investing in online (display)” do you mean setting up an infrastructure to accommodate some kind of advertising on your site? If so 1 million page views per month is plenty and you certainly do not need to be at that level – especially if your visitors represent a targeted high value/high cpm/high cpm audience. What’s usually the minimum amount of traffic (in PVs or unique views) before you can work with a reputable ad network with relevant ads? H: If you do Google AdSence there is no minimum and if your content is attracting a high value audience and ads that have high bids then you can get a lot for a click even with the Google rev share. Some networks will work with anyone, burst requires 10,000 visits per month. However, be careful with ad networks – they have very few B2B or high end advertisers and you don’t want to end up with LowerMyBills.com or Dating Site banners on your site. If you want to monetize your site I would start with Google AdSence – they would have the most pre-sold terms garnering the highest cost per clicks. You can also explore Ad Exchanges that allow you to set the price for your ads and control who advertises there. Start with Right Media: Click Take The Tour: http://www.rightmedia.com/ Determining a starting CPM – any reference material for us? H: Send me the sites that you want to monetize and we can get rate cards from comparable sites. CPMs can range form $1 to $100 depending on how targeted they are. Newsletter and email also command a premium CPM. You can also do site takeover sponsorships which are good for low traffic high-value sites. There is a lot less selling involved to – you just sell them by the day, week or even month. Certainly sites in the XXXXXX space that have the XXXX brand could most likely command a high CPM or CPC. From the companies that you work with where do you see the balance shift between companies with their own inside ad sales group vs. working through a network? H: Typically sites sell as much as they can direct (especially their premium real estate and site takeover sponsorships) and use AdSence and Networks for unsold inventory. Also, there are specialty and freelance reps who can sell just your inventory. That way you get control over who advertises on your site. (I know an independent rep who sells for the American Marketing Association if you want me to connect you with him.) You could also try and bundle your site with other XXXXXX property ad packages. CPC Advertising: What are some appropriate metrics for modeling text ad revenue? For example, what’s an average CPC rate? I would say conservatively .75 but that could be low? H: I think AdSence from Google is the way to go with this as some of the ads can come from very expensive keywords so even with the rev share you may get $.75+ per click. Certainly $.75 to $1.00 is a good average if you are selling direct – if you are part of a network like Google or ValueClick again it is very hard to say – it depends on the value of your audience and traffic volume of your site. Is there anything close to standard ad revenue splits between publisher and ad networks? It is hard to say. Google does not disclose its rev share (see link below) and it all depends on the value of your audience and volume of site traffic. Clearly if you get a lot of traffic and have a high value audience you can command and bigger rev share. https://www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/answer.py?answer=32859&topic=8421 Who do you think are the interesting text ad networks (other than Google)? H: You should also think about Intellitxt form Vibrant media – that way you can monetize the actual words with in your copy in addition to standard ad real estate. See info and demo at: http://www.vibrantmedia.com/ Let me know if you need more info. Certainly we could do a more in depth study of what kind of ad revenue you could generate based on factors like audience value, ad unit and placement offerings, CPC vs. CPM and traffic levels. We have consultants we work with that help media properties project ad revenue and create high value advertising products, media kits and rate cards. Labels: Online Media, Strategy Seminar: Search Engine, Blog and Social Media MarketingExciting news! I am giving a Search, Blog and Social Media seminar at the NEDMA (New England Direct Marketing Association) Conference on April 30, 2008. You can see my seminar description below. It's not on their site yet but click on the link below to see the preliminary info and sign-up for their newsletter via the "subscribe" box at the bottom of their page to get updates.http://www.nedma.com/annual-conference Search Engine, Blog and Social Media Marketing: Accessing the Critical Moment and Joining the Customer Conversation Search engines have become the number-one resource that consumers as well as business and technology decision-makers use to find and research products and solutions. No other point of consumer or prospect contact has the ability to access the "critical moment" when your target audience is seeking exactly what you are selling. On top of that blogs and social media have become a trusted source of opinion and reviews for consumers, technology professionals and business people researching purchase decisions. They also offer an unprecedented opportunity for businesses to join the marketing conversation between consumers and weave their messages into user generated content and the market place instead of simply broadcasting to it. The main question that every marketer must ask is: "Do I have a strong presence on the search engines, blogs and social media sites?" If not, then the obvious next question must be: "How do I build one in a cost effective and politically correct way?" The answer is search engine, blog and social media marketing. This seminar will focus on the statistics, strategies, tactics, and benefits of search engine, blog and social media marketing. It will also detail the linkages between search engine optimization and a strong presence in blogs and social media sites. Any marketer (both client and agency side) who wish to access prospects when they are researching or discussing their products and services should attend. -Topics covered will include: -Current and predicted trends in search, blog and social media behavior and technology -Assessing your company's search engine presence -A detailed overview of paid search listing and advertising opportunities -A detailed overview of organic search engine optimization -Some tactics regarding universal and image search -Converting search engine traffic into customers and leads -A breakdown of the major search properties, the blog landscape and social media sites -The anatomy of a blog and social media site profiles and channels -Some basic blog and social media outreach and politically correct saturation tactics -Case studies -More... Please come prepared to have a good time and ask lots of questions specific to your organization's products and marketing goals. About the instructor: Harry Gold Founder and CEO Overdrive Interactive Harry started his online career in 1995 when he founded Interactive Promotions. Since then he has been at the forefront in developing successful online programs for various agencies and Fortune 500 companies. His client experience includes search and online media management for top companies that include General Motors, Harley-Davidson, John Hancock, Dow Jones, EMC, Progress, LoJack, Cognos, Mosnter.com as well as many other companies who now enjoy a strong Internet presence. Harry brings to Overdrive a highly distinguished background in online development, search engine marketing, and online media that goes back over 12 years. As the architect and conductor behind Overdrive's programs, Harry's primary mission is to create innovative marketing programs based on real-world success and to make sure that the best marketing and technology practices that drive those successes are continually institutionalized into the culture and methods of the agency. What excites Harry is the knowledge that Overdrive's collaborative environment has created a company of online experts, all of whom drive success for the clients and companies they serve. Harry is a frequent lecturer on search engine marketing and online media for The New England Direct Marketing Association, The In-House Agency Forum, The Ad Club, and Boston University. He is also a recognized subject matter expert and columnist for ClickZ. Labels: Agency News, Google, Industry, Online PR, Paid Search, Podcasts, SEO, Social Media, Strategy Complimentary Webinar - Latest Trend in Social Media: How to Listen Effectively and Engage in the ConversationOur Client Dow Jones is having a free webinar that looks pretty interesting - definitely seems worth checking out. We all know how important social media is to Search Engine Optmization.
Labels: Podcasts, SEO, Social Media, Strategy Benefit Driven Ad Copy and Landing Pages are Truly Silver Bullets When Used for PPCSometimes I like to post emails I send to clients explain certain best practices so here is one:Hello XXXX (of course I cannot divulge who they are), I know that this info has been presented to you guys in one form or another at different times but I thought I would package it up for you in this email just to make sure we are constantly evolving in the right direction. Below is a link to a PDF I think you all will find very interesting. http://www.ovrdrv.com/presentations/demystifying_search.pdf It is a study done by Google that talks about how strong benefit and offer statements in the ads coupled with strong conversion oriented landing pages is what drives the best results. Also below you will see an email from an actual client at XXXXXX (sorry I cannot reveal that either but of you get in touch with me I will show you the case study) who after 18 months of internal struggles with compliance and product managers finally got a few of our landing pages launched. At its worst, lead flow doubled and at its best, it increased 10 fold! I am sending this because I think we still have a ways to go in terms of creating and applying compelling offers against your different products and services that really resonate with your target audience. I know that the arsenal of offers we have now are what we are using in the current “battlefield.” But again I want to make sure we are setting the bar in the right place. Things like creating offer and benefit driven ad copy and landing pages are truly silver bullets when it comes to paid search and online marketing in general. The results you see from those efforts, as complicated from a content creation and messaging standpoint as they might be, are exponentially greater and faster then what you will get from optimizing on a keywords, clicks and bids. (Not to undervalue the surgical management of those items.) In addition, great offers and landing pages will greatly increase your stable of performing terms because you get higher click rates on your ads and conversion rates on your landing pages. I think once we have the keyword and ad copy situation stabilized (which should essentially be now) I would like us to have a breakout call that focuses in on what we are doing regarding this subject and what can be done to revisit the benefit and offer matrix we did when we started. Then we want to explore what can be done to carry those essentially elements more into our ad copy and landing pages. This is where you guys are going to see the most bang for you buck. Of course we are making recommendations against the pages you have now. However, in the long term I think we need to apply more energy against the content of the offers in addition to the topical and structural element page recommendations we are making now. Looking forward to these talks, Harry- Labels: Landing Pages, Paid Search, Strategy |
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