Google shaking it up again

These guys are not going to lose the battle of the wits, ever.  Peter Yared and Cameron Olthuis write about Google’s crack down in black hat SEO operations in their article “In Mastering Machine Intelligence, Google Rewrites Search Engine Rules.”   According to Yared and Olthuis, there are some different things SEO optimizers must consider.  However, these sure do sound awfully familiar.  Their list: Clean, well-structured site architecture (all the better to find you with), Usable Pages (results that will satisfy a user’s search intent, not just answers; whatever that means), Interesting content (seems like a no brainer), No hidden content (fancy pagination will penalize you here), Good mobile experience (we’re all going mobile if we’re not there already; I’m glad Google is evaluating on this metric and shocked if they haven’t been in the past),  Duplicate content (their words: Things like a URL resolving using various parameters, printable pages, and canonical issues can often create duplicate content issues that harm a site; not sure what that means either), Markup (more stuff to make it easier for Google to read your page).

It doesn’t seem like a huge stretch to me for websites to comply to any of these items that are truly changes.

Read the full article here: http://techcrunch.com/2013/08/03/won-the-seo-wars-google-has/

Niche Marketing

In class we talked about Google's associate network, where a company can advertise on blogs, and other peripheries of the world wide web, to capture the long tail consumers.  I recently came across one such example. A colleague of mine is on a lesser known diet called the Dukan diet. Although not as popular as the weight watchers or Jenny Craig etc., this diet has turned out to be fairly effective for him.  But enough plugging the diet. He said that he was struggling with finding enough recipes for foods that were "Dukan compliant, that is, till he discovered a whole series of blogs dedicated to this diet.  On these blogs, people shared their stories and experiences, and more importantly, at least from his perspective, recipes! Curious, I decided to check out these blogs. As I was going through one of these blogs, I noticed targeted ads on these websites.  For an untrained eye, it would seem like a coincidence that all the ads were for servicer providers that help you track your weight, help you buy new clothes, etc., but for a newly minted digital media expert like the writer, it was abundantly clear that my colleague was being targeted. However, this time he didn't mind getting targeted! Hmm.. may be I should try out the Dukan diet as well.

 

Here are some of the blogs that I was referring to:

 

Blog 1

Blog 2

Blog 3

Blog 4

 

 

 

Facebook Rewarded for Monetizing Mobile Digital Marketing

Facebook, everyone’s favorite website to use but disdain finally closed above its initial price offer this week.  It has been a long 14 months for the facebook faithful who held on to the stock as it dropped in value by more than half this time last year:

 

Outside of the technical glitches that occurred at its IPO on NASDAQ, Facebook’s equity valuation suffered for the next twelve months that followed primarily due to market doubts regarding its monetization of its digital marketing platform. Specially, Facebook came of age during the reign of the laptop and PC. Big banner ads and pay per click ads on the left margin of the screen were key to its early sales of $1B a year. Fears emerged that sales growth would slow tremendously as an increasing number of its one billion users drifted away from the large screen of laptops and to the tiny mobile phones where display ads and pay per click ads would be much more difficult to show.

COO Sandberg and other execs quickly developed a “mobile first” strategy to stop the doubts in their tracks. In order to stabilize its pricing for ad placements, it had to develop ways to generate them into the mobile user experience. Facebook thus began to incorporate a more effective way of including ads within users’ News Feeds.

The drumbeat for mobile based digital marketing continues at  Facebook announced plans to incorporate video based commercials that marketers can broadcast into a user’s News Feed.

Nonetheless, with roughly $1.5B in earnings, Facebook is trading at nearly 160X price multiple. This indicates that despite the recent reprieve as its stock price reflects its most recent mobile successes will have to continue to execute less it face renewed downside pressures. Nonetheless, the lessons of the past year show to not count Facebook out as a major player in the few dozen billion dollar digital marketing landscape.

eBay Trading Assistants

This blog is in response to all those who laughed in class last week when I asked about whether eBay brick and mortar stores existed.  Well, it turns out, it's not just a joke from the The 40 Year Old Virgin.  eBay stores are real.  Some of them are more successful than others.  Based on my research, some of them have been scams, but they're real.

Here's some information from the eBay Community Forum in relation to my points above.  Apparently, eBay has a Program for Trading Assistants.

Here is some information about what Trading Assistants do from the eBay site:

Trading Assistants are experienced eBay sellers in your area who will sell your items for you on eBay for a fee. By hiring a Trading Assistant, you can take advantage of their selling expertise, save time and effort, and still reap the rewards of selling on eBay. 

Trading Assistants will do all the work for you, from listing an item and answering customer service inquiries, to collecting payment and shipping the item to the winning buyer.

It's a little unclear what this "program" actually entails though.  The site also discloses this:

About the program: 
Trading Assistants are not employees or independent contractors of eBay, nor do we endorse or approve them. Each Trading Assistant runs his or her own independent business, free from any involvement by eBay. You should apply the same standards in selecting a Trading Assistant as you would in hiring anyone to perform a service for you. Use good judgment and common sense in making your choice. 

I'm not endorsing the idea of eBay brick and mortar stores, but sounds pretty interesting and yes, it is one of my favorite scenes from The 40 Year Old Virgin.  Why wouldn't she just let him buy the shoes?!

Google Chromecast - what does it mean?

Google announced a new device ‘Chromecast’  that takes content currently playing on a mobile device like laptop, tablet or mobile phone and displays it on TV.  Watching content from the Web on TV is not new  - most new TVs that are webconnected,.  Similarly, watching on TV content playing on a laptop is old news,  TVs come with HDMI or R232 socket that allow you to connect to a laptop.

So what makes Google Chromecast different?  Is it a noteworthy event?  I believe the difference comes from the ease with which the display can be switched in-between TVs and the mobile devices.  It is easier to access online content from laptops and mobile devices compared to the inconvenience of searching using the keys on a TV remote.

I expect a faster growth in the consumption of online content with Google Chromecast.   It is going to be easier for consumers to avoid content with advertising; creating new challenges to CMOs and positions Google even deeper at the heart of all information gathering and tracking.  

Mobile Marketing

Mobile marketing has become one of the most important marketing tool in digital marketing. To have a competitive advantage most of the established companies are investing in mobile marketing.  Recently Facebook stock jumped more than 30% because of its recent revenue growth in the mobile sector.  For companies that want to be successful should be successful in mobile marketing.  There are different aspects of mobile marketing; here are some characteristics of mobile marketing:

• Immediacy - Mobile users usually keep their phones within easy reach, so your message can be received within seconds of it being sent. Even if the device is in standby mode, your message will be seen as soon as the customer or client turns the phone on.
• A 100% opt-in form of marketing - Unlike direct mail, where businesses can purchase a mailing list, a customer has to provide their phone number in order to receive mobile offers. In most cases, these consumers are previous customers who have a history with a business and want to receive offers from them. This results in less waste and higher response rates.
• Personalization - Because messages are only sent to customers who have opted-in, personalized offers and content can be sent to increase response rates. Marketers can even open up direct dialogues with users via text messaging and get instant customer feedback.
• Mobility - Customers can receive your message on their mobile device anytime, anywhere versus needing a computer, radio or TV to receive it. There are even programs that can generate an offer any time a customer gets within a specified distance of your business.
• Affordability - Mobile marketing can be very easily and economically integrated with most business’s marketing programs to help increase response rates. And, like most mediums, the more customers you reach, the lower your cost per lead.
• Effectiveness - According to many surveys, text messaging has over a 90% open rate (83% within one hour) and, generally speaking, mobile response rates average around 15%.
• Highly trackable - User response can be tracked almost instantaneously. Plus, mobile marketing can be used to track other marketing methods by including a direct call to action (e.g. “text ‘WINBIG’ to 12345″) in a radio or TV commercial.
• Viral potential- Like email, mobile marketing is easily shared with friends and family. So marketers can get a whole lot more exposure with no additional cost or effort on their part.

 As a business owner one can leverage these special features of mobile marketing and increase revenues. As a matter of fact these these features of mobile marketing gives businesses of all sizes tremendous power to reach to its customer base and reach out to potential new customers.  Here are some of the features of mobile marketing:

• Mobile-friendly websites - One of the best ways to tap mobile users is to make sure your company’s website is mobile-friendly. This means tweaking elements of your website so that any visitor using a mobile browser is able to navigate your site. Another option is to create a specific mobile version (e.g. m.dexknows.com) of your site that looks good on mobile browsers and features your most popular content or functions. Google is featuring mobile-enabled sites on their mobile search browser. So the sooner you can optimize your site for mobile, the more likely you are to appear in the coveted top mobile search results in your category.
• Text messaging - This is perhaps one of the most used methods of mobile marketing, in part because of its high response rate. Text messaging involves sending out short messages (160 characters or less) to phone numbers of prospects and/or customers who have provided their phone numbers. These numbers are often collected through contests, opinion polls and in exchange for consumer discounts.
• Email messaging - These days many customers also read their emails on their mobile devices, so you should keep your main message short and within the screen so they won’t have to scroll down. Another tip is to provide a link to your website within your email so customers can instantly bring up your page without having to remember to visit it the next time they log in on a computer.
• Mobile GPS coupons - Thanks to a struggling economy and numerous new mobile marketing applications, the concept of distributing digital coupons to customers’ mobile devices has really taken off. These new apps automatically retrieve coupons via GPS, eliminating the need for consumers to browse for offers, remember text codes or juggle ZIP codes. Consumers simply use the apps to download a coupon and redeem it by showing their phone screen to the store cashier.
• Mobile commerce - This function allows customers to purchase or order something directly through your mobile site or application. While it may not make sense for many businesses, with more consumers using their mobile devices for shopping, it might be something to consider.
• Reputation management - At the very least, make sure your business listings are correct and up to date on directory sites such as Dexknows.com, reviews sites like Yelp, as well as social-sharing sites such as Facebook or Foursquare. Mobile users turn to these sites when they are out and about shopping or looking for entertainment. Keeping track of this data and making sure it best reflects your business is known as reputation management.

One of the biggest features of mobile marketing is the ability to geographically locate the clients and be able to provide them with information and promotions based on their present location and their personal preferences.  Also this could be done almost instantaneously and if it is done through text message then the clients are more likely to open it and email is effective as well since most of the smart phone users also have their emailed delivered to their smart phones and check them regularly.

Given the rapid changes in mobile technology it is fundamentally important that the businesses reach out to their present and potential customers through mobile devices.  This would keep the businesses up to date and would generate more revenue for them going forward.

Note: Information source: http://www.dexone.com/

Tracking consumer across devices

Consumer has different mindset when using different devices. PC, phone, tablet, TV, radio, etc.
Advertisement on TV and Facebook will have different perception on the same consumer. Consumers will have different attentions depending on which device they use. This means, your customers may potentially be looking for different things if they are using iPhone or going online from PC.
Therefore, when customers uses different device, marketers should reach their targeting customers not using the same approaching (e.g. not the same advertisement). In other word, the same person can pooled in a different target market based on the device they use.

I found this interesting that depending on the gateway, people look for different things even though they are the same person. The same concept could have been applied to pre-digital era (TV, radio, newspaper, etc), but now marketers can get data of every customers much easier than they used to and customers demands more from the marketer, the planning and how to reach target customers indeed should be done more carefully and it used to be. It may cost a lot (by losing valuable customers) for the marketers if they categorize their customers incorrectly.

Why was the DollarShaveClub video such a success???

This video was also used in some other marketing courses at CBS. It was always the example of how to use the “new” media as a way to reach your target audience at no costs.

I was interested in why exactly this video has been going viral and wanted to understand what the drivers of its success are. After some research I found an interview with the CEO (also starring in the video) of DollarShaveClub on Youtube. In the interview he explains why he thinks they were so successful.

• Content of the video
• Very clear business proposition (fulfilling a real need) which makes up a nice story
• Don’t give too much information (only one product promoted at the time)
• Funny video what people like to share
• Great casting? --> the actor was the CEO himself!
•  Initial seeding of the video:
• They used the PR around their funding to seed the video in the tech world (initial seeding is key), later it got picked up by the mainstream presh
• Continuous customer engagement
• Social platforms (Twitter and Facebook) were used to engage with promoters
• Blog with allows for engagement with customers (idea sharing)

But what were the results? 2 weeks after launch the company had signed up more than 12.000 subscribers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cW8S-QBKcq4 

Advertising on Apps

Developers struggle with making the choice between offering an iOS or Android app for free (supported by ads) or to charge a fee for it. Free apps have the potential to attract more user to try the app as the downside is obviously limited. However, we have all experienced the annoyance of the very ads that enable the developer to offer the app for free.  The placement of ads is important, or rather placement of any buttons or interactive portions of the app relative to the ad.

 

My 18 month of son is permitted to use my ipad during meal times, however, he constantly ends up accidentally hitting the ad as opposed to the next page (or other interactive) button on his apps, which are not only frustrating for him, but also for his parents. We have stopped using a number of apps that had these basic design flaws.  So, for all the budding app developers out there, here is an interesting article written by a dad providing advice on designing apps for kids, but such design advice is applicable to non-kid focused apps as well.

 

Article

 

 

ZMOT and influence of mobile on retail sales

Today we discussed in class the topic of the ZMOT (Zero Moment of Truth). A term Google invented to emphasize the importance of online presence of a retailer in the buying decision of the consumer. This topic reminded me of a study that was published by Deloitte a year ago on the influence of mobile on retail store sales. 

The key takeaways were the following:

• Smartphones currently influence 5.1 percent of annual retail store sales, translating into $159 billion in forecasted sales for 2012
• Deloitte anticipates mobile’s influence, based on consumers’ smartphone use, will grow to represent 19 percent of total store sales by 2016, amounting to $689 billion in mobile-influenced sales
• Direct mobile commerce sales will pass the $30 billion mark by that time

The study emphasizes that consumers' store-related mobile activities are contributing to (and not

taking away from) in-store sales. The research indicates that smartphone shoppers are 14

percent more likely to convert and make a purchase in the store than non-smartphone users.

This means that mobile is an important tool for retailers to incrementally drive traditional in-store

sales. Mobile allows are retailer to directly communicate with the end-consumer. Retailers can use the mobile channel to strengthen the relationship with the consumer by increasing engagement and loyalty. It is probably only a matter of time before we see a larger adoption of loyalty apps which allow retailers to provide tailored advertisement and promotions to their customer base to take advantage of the ZMOT.

Rutger Flohil

Google Chromecast and it's impact on TV advertising

Google's latest product the Google Chromecast is currently in beta stage but it is a potentially game changing device.

It is a small flash drive sized stick that docks into the HDMI port on your television, and allows you to push content from the Chrome browser on your computer, tablet or phone straight to your television screen. And, unlike Apple TV and other expensive technology that also requires you to own multiple iDevices, Chromecast only costs $35. This makes watching online content on your television screen more accessible than ever.

The could create another major dent in an already ravaged TV advertising industry. Even as early as 2008 the industry was beginning to suffer. ROI from TV spots was estimated at measly a 18%. Since then the fragmentation of media and available entertainment alternatives has only continued to grow. Users are increasingly switching to content that is viewable directly on their computers, tablets or phone. OTT content like Netflix and HBOGO has continued to blossom, and so has DVR technology, where you can forward through TV commercials rendering them less effective. We even have straight-to-online TV shows being produced, like 'Coffee Town' that look quite promising. Clearly, online content has really taken a bite out of TV's share of wallet. And now, in the a cruel and ironic twist of fate, Google Chromecast is quite literally poised to "take a bite" out of TV advertising by allowing you to push your online content right on top of it. Indeed, long gone are the hey days where there were just five or six big TV networks, and advertising on one of them during primetime all but guaranteed that you were going to reach 80% of your target audience. 

Google Music vs Spotify

I've tried both Google Music and Spotify, and found them to be very similar for my basic music needs. For $10/month you get unlimited streaming, mobile apps with offline caching, and a radio feature with either service.

After today's discussion on the evolution of music discovery online, I realized how the two services take very different approaches to discovery. Spotify takes a social approach, so you are encouraged to find music your facebook friends are listening to.

Google Music, on the other hand, takes a very Google-ish approach. I constantly find their mobile app throwing me back to their "listen now" screen, which seems to be a mix of my library and other songs I might like. For the "other" songs, where do they come from? Even if they are algorithmically chosen for me (think organic search), how long until Google starts charging for placement in that screen (like PPC)?

Dollar Shave Club is Genius

The Dollar Shave Club has captured my customer loyalty for man grooming needs with cunning advertising! The ads are brilliant, and the product is equally awesome. It reminds me of FreshDirect for shaving and haberdashery. I plan to join the club and start ordering the shaving butter. Although I am not a fancy man, I aspire to be a well-groomed man who dresses well. The adds speak to that niche of men who like to dress well, but are not overdoing it. Also, I loathe having to waste time doing mundane shopping. I will give them a try.

Pinterest gets a new user!

Hooray for Pinterests new feature that sends members emails when their pinned items drop in price!

I love this feature!  While I have not really been a Pinterest user in the past (I'm generally a buyer not a wish-list type), I think this new functionality will really be great!

One article I saw was speculating as to whether Pinterest was doing this as a business move or to make their website more consumer friendly and I hope that for them these two objectives will be complimentary!

AdChoice Icon not being used by Twitter - is this a big deal?

Today I was reading a posting regarding the fact that Twitter is not leveraging AdChoice's little blue triangle icon :     

Apparently this is bothering the AdChoice consortium partners who are hoping to gain momentum with their icon to stave off government regulation.

It seemed a bit odd to me though, as a regular internet user, I tend to maintain my "security comfort zone" via my browser settings, I have never noticed this blue triangle before and frankly I'm not sure I would click on it or trust it if I did.

What really seems to matter is that companies like Twitter are making it easier for users to set their own comfort levels as to ad tracking via direct and clear instructions in the 'settings' area of the sites.  If AdChoices is looking to gain more trust - I think it needs to do a better job of B2C education/marketing.

Product Placement in Reality TV Shows

Guilty...I watch the Bachelorette. In this week's episode Desiree took the remaining three guys to Antigua...a seemingly innocent and exciting choice. However, as the episode progressed there was more talk of the hotel, how great the amenities were, and how beautiful and fun Antigua is. I felt like I was watching a one hour ad for the Island. Why are reality shows diluting their value (note- sarcasm here) by so obviously promoting certain products, brands and places? How does this type of placement advertising compare to more traditional forms in terms of ROI? Is this a new phenomena or am I just now aware of it because of our informative digital marketing class ;) no matter what the answer, I can't say ill be partaking in the Bachelorettee any time soon....
 

Customer Segmentation

I saw an interesting display advertisement outside the main Columbia campus on 116th and Broadway.  Unfortunately I did not take a photo of the advertisement, which would have made this post a lot more interesting. The advertisement was for a gym in the local area, and stated "Because you cannot buy these legs at Walmart".

 

By utilizing the Walmart name, the gym likely targeted bargain hunting customers, who are likely focused on the lower price point.  This was interesting tactic, similar to how brands utilize brand ambassadors to signal customers.

 

This goes along the lines of the customer segmentation discussion in class today - by mentioning Walmart in their tag line, the gym referenced the price point it was offering, and type of clientele it was targeting.

 

Seeding Viral Marketing

As a follow-up to one of my previous posts about making viral content - the ultimate dream of any marketer- I came across this article on the Harvard Business Review. 

HBR Article

 

They suggest that traditional mass marketing tools can be used to direct traffic to online content, which is not different than the typical brand awareness etc. purpose of such traditional marketing, however, if the online content is easily shareable, you can increase the potential for such online content to go viral, or at least "viral-ish"...

 

I speculate that we will continue to see more research done on this topic, and the holy grail of digital marketing will stay allusive.

 

 

How risky is it to change brands?

What I'm talking about is changing the name of your company, its logo, and its tag line.
I've seen multiple companies do this over the years with mixed results.
Some have gone well and some have not, and others are in between.
In terms of risks, one of the biggest is having your new name or logo associated with someone or something else that is not desirable.
One way to avoid this is to hire professionals to perform due diligence before launching any such change.
Sometimes a brand change is necessary to leave behind a negative legacy.
Other times it is to re-position a company in a new market or to expand the market opportunities.
These changes should be done in a well thought out and researched manner, as the consequences can be serious.