Logo Makeover
It’s amazing what a little makeover can do for your brand, but unless you back it up with an overhaul of your actions than many times it is the same thing with a different set of clothes.
John Francis Teaches US How To Listen
When was the last time you really listened?
“For almost three decades, John Francis has been a planetwalker, traveling the globe by foot and sail with a message of environmental respect and responsibility (for 17 of those years without speaking). A funny, thoughtful talk with occasional banjo.”
6 Questions Every Marketer Should Know About Search Marketing
Uploaded by HaMeD!caL.
1. What is Search Marketing?
Search Marketing is a form of digital marketing that attempts to capitalize on the first step of most Internet users, searching for information on a major search engine such as Google or Yahoo! Search.
Search Marketing techniques typically fall into two main buckets:
A. Search Engine Marketing (SEM) or “Paid” Search
- SEM is considered online advertising and requires an interactive media buy that may include keyword buying, pay-per-click and paid inclusion.
B. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) or “Natural” Search Optimization
- Focuses on the techniques required to help improve the ranking of your website in the “natural” search engine results.
- “Natural” Search Optimization requires that you optimize all of your web content to increase the likelihood that your website will be found within the “Natural” Search results.
- “Natural” Search results are the links that appear in the central non-sponsored section of a search engine results page.
- They are determined by “spiders” or “web crawlers” algorithmically calculating the accuracy and probability that the term you are searching for is within the results
2. Why is Search an important part of marketing communications
- Traffic - The closer you are to the top of the search results page, the more traffic your site will receive
- Credibility – people perceive “natural” links as being more credible because they know the company did not pay for the link placement
- People are 6x more likely to click on a natural than a paid ranking.
- 80% of people won’t click to second page of rankings. (They’re more likely to type in a new keyword.)
- Efficiency - “Paid search spend continued to hold strong in Q3 2008 despite the economic climate,” SearchIgnite president Roger Barnette said in a statement. “The strength of this ad market in today’s economy suggests that paid search continues to be a highly profitable and efficient digital marketing channel for brands.”
- Competitors – Your competition has been working on SEO for years now.
- Info source – People are getting their “news” directly from Yahoo/Google search engines, as well as traditional means.
3. What are best practices every brand manager should follow to ensure strong Search Marketing results?
The ultimate goal of Search Engine Optimization is to ensure that the first page of “natural” search results have all positive brand stories, this is referred to as a “roadblock”. To reach this ultimate goal requires a few key steps:
1. Ensure that Your Site is Search Friendly
2. Ensure that your sites design, architecture and html structure works for today’s search algorithms
3. Thorough Keyword Research and Development
–Your site(s), press releases, advertising and digital marketing materials must be designed and tagged with the proper keywords
4. Site Content Creation and Reorganization
– People and Search Engines tend to look at the same key things on sites: headings, bold text, hyperlinks, keywords, and short paragraphs.
– It is crucial to organize your site content in a way that maximizes theses key pieces, always including the proper desired keywords and tags
5. Link Expansion Campaign
– The key to your sites search ranking is to have other credible and influential sites linking to you and you to them.
– A third party link endorsement establishes credibility and increases your ranking
6. Content Development and Expansion Campaign
– Social Media sites, including blogs, news sites and social media sites are consistently in the top search results and are a great place to garner advocacy and credibility.
– By providing them with accurate content and brand approved messages and links, you strengthen your ability to garner better search ranking
7. Monitor, Refine and Keep Your Campaign Fresh
4. How should Search Marketing be integrated with other marketing communication elements?
- Public Relations plays a vital role in the “Natural” Search Engine Optimization Strategy. To ensure strong search marketing results focus on these SEO tactics:
- Optimizing your sites content for search spiders
- Keyword Selection Strategy - Utilizing understanding of common vernacular and not brand category business speak
- Search Engine Copywriting
- Proper Linking and Tagging Strategy
- Active Blogging
- Blogger Outreach
- Image and Video Optimization
- Press Release Optimization
- Social Media Newsroom Creation
- Social Media Site Optimization
When launching any campaign you can enhance the reach and increase the search rankings by utilizing some key PR techniques on external sites
1. Build a Social Media News Room
a. Tag properly and fill with links to brand pages and emerging news articles and blog posts
2. Release the traditional press release over the newswires
a. Tagged, linked and written in “Search Friendly” vernacular
3. Targeted Blogger Outreach to Influential Bloggers providing them with accurate and proper information and links to ensure positive coverage
4. Blog about it on an external blog – the more places the content exists the better
5. Submit news articles to Social Media sites though the Addthis.com tool that connects you to social sites like del.icio.us, Reddit, Digg and Netscape
6. Add the content to “Mega Forums” such as Yahoo! Answers, Google Groups and Facebook Groups.
7. Engage in a Link Sharing campaign through a Digital Word of Mouth Campaign that spreads the links and content to chat rooms, web forums, message boards, social networking sites and personal blogs to ensure that as many links are distributed on relevant content sites.
a. Be sure not to link spam and make sure you always are transparent about who you work for.
8. Syndicate the content through RSS to content sharing/distribution networks to maximize the reach and be sure to include links
- Both SEM and SEO should be executed synergistically for optimum results.
- Nielsen ReelResearch found that when a brand name appeared in both natural search and paid search results, the brand attracted 92 percent of the total clicks and without paid search, the brand name from natural search results attracted only 60 percent of the clicks.
5. How do you suggest a brand manager should measure business impact of Search Marketing?
Measurement depends on the objectives of the campaign and should be agreed upon prior to launch but here is a list of data points that you could measure:
- Total amount of Web traffic
- Total sales
- ROI from search marketing
- Search engine ranking
- Number of clicks (search referrals)
- Return on advertising spend
- Customer acquisition costs
- Number of leads generated or products sold online
- Brand impact
- Number of leads generated or products sold offline
- Number of links to primary site content
- Number of stories or blog posts on external sites
- SEO typically has a higher ROI than Paid Search because once you stop paying for the media buy the ads disappear and that channel is immediately dark. A proper SEO program of spreading links, stories, keywords and tags across a multiple channels (blogs, Social Media Sites, chat rooms, message boards and online news sites) is a more efficient way to keep you message influencing the “natural” search results because theses elements will live on and continue to influence you search engine ranking.
6. How should a brand manager organize for Search Marketing?
- Create a multi-disciplinary search group to instill best practices and act as search “experts” in your organization
- Ensure that SEO and SEM are being carried out in a coordinated effort simultaneously to maximize impact.
– This includes linking campaigns, keyword buys, blogger outreach, site tagging, digital word of mouth campaigns, iMedia and content syndication
– Understand keyword usage an encouraging keyword associations at all levels of the process.
- Establish best practice bench marketing to use establish success metrics (see success metrics in previous section)
- Invest significantly in SEO techniques across all marketing channels (PR, iMedia and Site)
Perkonomics
Trendwatching brings us their monthly “goodie bag” of delicious trends to consume and devour. This month…. juicy “PERK” trends. Building off of their past report on status stories this one should definitely spark some creative ideas.
“PERKONOMICS: A new breed of perks and privileges, added to brands’ regular offerings, is satisfying consumers’ ever-growing desire for novel forms of status and/or convenience, across all industries. The benefits for brands are equally promising: from escaping commoditization, to showing empathy in turbulent times. One to have firmly on your radar in 2009.”
“But as we move towards a consumer society that’s based more on experiences, on status stories, on the ephemeral—and in which, for many, time is now the only true scarcity—expect perks and privileges to become an integral part of every B2C industry and sector.”
The Creative Spark
Need a little creative inspiration? The “Design Like You Give a Damn” section of Ted Talks is a great place to start.
Some of my favorites
Doug Jaeger, Youngest ADC President Ever
Doug Jaeger is a good friend, he is also one of the most creative marketers I know. He was recently voted the youngest president ever of the Art Directors Club (A.D.C.) and he also just got the number 33 tattooed on his left arm. Coincidence? I don’t think so. When he isn’t getting tatoo’s and working on building his company thehappycorp global, he likes to drive his moto all around the state without stopping, because he never runs out of gas.
Congrats Doug!
Excerpt from Adweek article
“Ratcheting up the social currency of the club among the young creative types in New York City — and beyond through the Web — shouldn’t be too much of a stretch. For years, Jaeger’s been bringing creative people together through LVHRD (”Live Hard”), an event-planning arm/social experiment that began with his desire to connect with creative people from other industries and has led to unconventional, brand-sponsored events such as the “Vending Machine Challenge,” a contest to see who can first eat all the contents of a vending machine; “Architects Duel,” which pits architects against each other with a raucous creative brief executed on stage; and “Cell Phone Lock In,” in which twentysomethings check their cell phones at the door of the Museum of Modern Art to listen to Brooklyn band Les Savy Fav.”
“I’m tireless, I work really hard, I take chances,” says Jaeger, currently in the planning stages of “Cell Phone Lock In 2″ for a yet-to-be-determined client. “The ADC wants me to take my energy and give the club energy, make it more youthful, make it about the next generation of communications.”
Goodreads exploits Twitter’s idea
What page are you on? That is the question that goodreads asks it’s members and they reply in a 140 characters or less a stream of consciousness thought about the book they are reading. Sound familiar? You may already do this on Twitter -but- the unfocused thoughts of a tweet stream is nothing compared to a focused social environment discussing books or any other topic. As twitter continues to grow and expand their focused conversation topics like the election, companies like goodreads will take their model and exploit this functionality until the technology is in everything you do - following the path of blogging technology.
Shop It To Me
For all of you out there that like to shop and save money, here is the site for you. ShopItToMe.com is a personal shopping site that let’s you know when the items you are looking for are on sale and they directly link you to the specific products you requested. This is a great way to save money and time and it is like having a personal shopper at your finger tips!
Shop It To Me Apparel, proactively sends you clothing that matches your size and brand preferences as soon as it goes on sale. Shop It To Me Running allows you to find out when your favorite running shoe models and running gear go on sale. It’s so easy that you will never shop the same way again
Official Barack Obama iPhone Application
To understand people and how they interact with one another is the sign of someone who is truly a leader. Barack Obama’s knowledge of new media and using it to connect people and bring them together has been the key to his dominance within the online world. This new iPhone Application takes this understanding to a new level.
Here are some of the features:
- Call Friends: A great volunteering tool that lets you make a difference any time you want by talking to people you already know. Your contacts are prioritized by key battleground states, and you can make calls and organize results all in one place.
- Call Stats: See nationwide Obama ‘08 Call Friends totals and find out how your call totals compare to leading callers.
- Get Involved: Do more. Find and contact your local Obama for America HQ.
- Receive Updates: Receive the latest news and announcements via text messages or email.
- News: Browse complete coverage of national and local campaign news.
- Local Events: Find local events, share by email and get maps and directions.
- Media: Browse videos and photos from the campaign
- Issues: Get clear facts about Barack Obama and Joe Biden’s plan for essential issues facing Americans.
via: Barack Obama
Netflix, Roku and Starz
It was about time that Netflix made another move inside of the streaming video arena. You may have read my previous post about the new Roku/Netflix set-top box that has changed my viewing habits dramatically. Since I received the box, I haven’t returned my 4 at-a-time Netflix DVD’s — they are still sitting next to the DVD player that I haven’t used in six months. It was a Blu-ray player and I thought that I would still use it -but- I don’t. It is so much easier to just watch the Roku box. I have sacrificed picture quality for convenience. This same exact thing happened to me when my CD’s were overtaken by a lesser quality mp3 ten years ago. The final destination of all of us is the Netflix Model. Lots of movies -one price per month- on demand.
In an interesting move by Netflix and Starz, about 2,500 featured movies and concerts are now available for instant streaming over the Internet and using the Roku Netflix box. Because Starz offers first run “premium” content, this move expands the overall streaming offerings from Netflix considerably.
Via: Crunch Gear
Backtype - The Magic is in the Comments
I have been preaching a lot lately about the fact that the magic is in the comments. Conversations happen in the comments on blog posts. A blogger can write about a particular topic and that is not really a conversation. When people are compelled enough to respond to something they read they should be listened to. It is easy to dismiss all of the heated arguments that we read in Youtube comments, but this dialogue is the key to understanding what they real issues are. The same goes for your brand. In order to truly understand what the real problem is you must listen to the comments. I keep hearing my father saying - “You aren’t listening”! Well now there is a tool that can help you listen. Backtype allows you to create a profile around your comments and listen to the comments of the blogosphere. Put your glass up to the door and find out what they are really saying about you!
via: Brian Solis
Snooth Wine
- 2snooth; also snoothed; snoothing verb [ trans. ]
- • To seek out a preferable wine, as like a snooth : I say, snooth the wine list while I choose an appetizer.
- via: PSFK
America’s Greenist Cities
The 2008 SustainLane U.S. City Rankings
(2006 Rankings in Parentheses):
1) Portland (1)
2) San Francisco (2)
3) Seattle (3)
4) Chicago (4)
5) New York (6)
6) Boston (7)
7) Minneapolis (10)
8) Philadelphia (8)
9) Oakland (5)
10) Baltimore (11)
11) Denver (9)
12) Milwaukee (16)
13) Austin (14)
14) Sacramento (13)
15) Washington (12)
16) Cleveland (28)
17) Honolulu (15)
18) Albuquerque (19)
19) Atlanta (38)
20) Kansas City (18)
21) San Jose (23)
22) Tucson (20)
23) Jacksonville (36)
24) Dallas (24)
25) Omaha (37)
26) San Diego (17)
27) New Orleans (32)
28) Los Angeles (25)
29) Louisville (35)
30) Columbus (50)
31) Detroit (43)
32) Phoenix (22)
33) San Antonio (21)
34) Miami (29)
35) Charlotte (34)
36) Houston (39)
37) Fresno (37)
38) El Paso (31)
39) Fort Worth (46)
40) Nashville (42)
41) Arlington (41)
42) Long Beach (30)
43) Colorado Springs (26)
44) Indianapolis (45)
45) Virginia Beach (48)
46) Memphis (43)
47) Las Vegas (27)
48) Tulsa (40)
49) Oklahoma City (49)
50) Mesa (47)source:treehugger.com
I Beat You!
Who doesn’t like a little competition? If you want to have a staring contest with Jessica Alba, or challenge your friends to a tennis tournament this is the place to document it all and win prizes.
JetBlue Auctions off Tickets on eBay
Well this is nothing new, but I thought it was a great way to garner some terrific press. I am constantly getting requests to see if we can auction off things on eBay (mostly my father’s sailboat, but that’s another story) and my first reaction is that auctioning off things on eBay is so - 20th century (like McCain) -but- in this world of CHANGE and new beginnings, we have an airline industry that is getting pummeled by gas prices and people’s fear of traveling abroad and so the economy and savings is the number one issue soooo Start your bidding!
source: 5 Blogs
