Digital Sea Change

Gone Googley...

2010-09-03T19:17:00.005-05:00

I started this blog back in August of 2008 because, as I noted at the time, "I found myself without a forum to comment on general trends in digital marketing and media." Sure, I had some 15-ish active blogs but they were all specific to some niche in the industry or some quirk of my personality.

Today, I'm fortunate to have found a forum and following through my book, Everything I Know about Marketing I Learned from Google, and the Googley Lessons blog. Going forward, I'll be putting Digital Sea Change on hold indefinitely and consolidating all my digital marketing blogging on my book website.

I'll leave this blog intact so that you can peruse my posts over the past couple years -- including those I pointed to directly in the book -- but I will not be adding any new content. If this is the first time you're visiting my blog and just want the highlights, please see my "Favorite Posts of All-Time" on the right rail.

I hope you'll join me at GoogleyLessons.com/blog as I continue the blue ocean pursuit. After all, it's only getting Googlier!

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Getting My Groove on with Groupon

2010-08-27T19:18:00.007-05:00

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In this week's Search Insider, I continue my "sexy search" theme. Here's the blurb...

50% Off Top-20 List About Groupon and Search
Posted by Aaron Goldman on Aug 25, 9:04 AM
In my ongoing campaign to bring sexy back to search, I thought I'd take one of the hottest companies on the interweb and relate it to search marketing. Groupon is everywhere. From your inbox to the "Today Show," you can't escape the appeal of collective buying power. Here are 50% of the top 20 ways search marketing is sexy like Groupon. Note: if 100 people give this column a thumbs-up, I'll share the other 50% in my next column.
» 1 Comments

I'm Not Too Sexy (yet)

2010-08-14T15:33:00.000-05:00

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In this week's Search Insider column, I riff on a Justin Timberlake tune to illustrate my point about making Search sexy again. Hopefully, my POV will resonate and I'll have to switch over to Right Said Fred's mantra in the near future.

Here's the blurb...

Bringing Sexy Back to Search
Posted by Aaron Goldman on Aug 11, 10:08 AM
Search has become a bit boring. It doesn't get the headlines. It doesn't pack the halls at conferences. It doesn't trend on Twitter. But still: From social to mobile to video to display, key attributes of SEM are being incorporated into emerging online ad platforms and content development best practices. And it won't be long before the convergence of the online and offline world -- see Google TV -- brings the search mojo to traditional channels. Here are 10 reasons why SEM professionals are positioned well to rule the marketing roost:
» 2 Comments

Google eBook

2010-08-11T18:10:00.000-05:00

Here's a Google eBook I created with McGraw-Hill to showcase each of the 20 Googley Lessons from my book. Hopefully this will give you a good feel for my content and tone.

Note: the actual book contains much more depth on Google's approach to marketing along with mini case-studies of other companies demonstrating these principles and exercises for readers to apply these lessons to their businesses, so don't think you can just read this eBook and be done with it!!

Everything I Know About Marketing I Learned From Google

View more presentations from McGraw-Hill Professional.

Google Rap Video

2010-08-11T14:27:00.000-05:00

Here's the video trailer for my new Google book. If you like the last 50 seconds, be sure to check out the outtakes at GoogleyLessons.com/Videos and keep an eye out for the Googley Lessons Blog Tour Aug. 30 - Sept. 10th which will have me "appearing" at some 30-odd blogs -- many in video format complete with customized raps.

Googley Haiku

2010-07-29T15:10:00.000-05:00

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I've often compared writing search ad copy to conjuring Haiku. Those darn specs can be infuriating! Every time I pen one of these columns I'm reminded how valuable good search copywriters are.

So Few Characters.

Want To Add More Nouns And Verbs.

And Here Is The Blurb...

The New Haiku -- 2010 Edition
Posted by Aaron Goldman on Jul 28, 10:17 AM
Anytime I find myself in a pinch for column fodder, I know I can always fall back on a little Search Haiku. It's not as exciting as covering the search news blotter, but hopefully it will still be as entertaining for you. So here is a fresh new installment of rhymes adding to my collection from '06 and '09.
» 9 Comments

Tomorrow's Buzzword: Media Design

2010-07-26T10:45:00.002-05:00

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Faithful followers know I have a soft spot for buzzwords. While some people loathe them for their overuse and inability to really say anything, I heart them for their ability to give us a common language and describe (even if generically) emerging concepts.

One phrase that hasn't gotten much attention to date is "Media Design." Why? Well, quite simply it hasn't been really introduced. One man is out to change that, though.

Saneel Radia (not pictured above), formerly of Improv Olympic Chicago fame, is the recently appointed Director of Media Innovation at BBH Labs. His role there? Essentially, bringing the idea of "Media Design" to fruition after incubating it for the past few years at Denuo.

So what is Media Design? I have to admit, it took me a while to grasp the concept. Not because it's invalid or unimportant, but because it's a true paradigm-shifter. Yikes, there I go with the buzzwords again!

As Saneel puts it, Media Design represents "the missing skills within the advertising agency creative departments." In fact, that's the subtitle of Saneel's thesis completed in July of '09 for his MBA in Creative Leadership at the Berlin School.

The 70+ page paper -- which Saneel was kind enough to share with me -- makes the case (successfully, I might add) for the importance of Media Design as a discipline and the Media Designer as a critical role within creative shops.

With Saneel's permission, I'm posting the excerpts from his thesis that most resonated with me. As you read these, you can see how Saneel's thoughtfulness and ability to produce punchy soundbytes may have been shaped by his mentor and Denuo founder, Rishad Tobaccowala.

---

On the connectedness of today's consumers:

"When the world was dominated by a traditional media model, advertisers had two major advantages when engaging consumers. First, the vast majority of media consumption occurred from a single source: the content creator. In other words, as television networks broadcasted content, most people who consumed this content were receiving the broadcast, rather than receiving it from a third party. Thus, brand messages needed only to be placed within content moving linearly from a single origin to engage the vast majority of users. In fact, the relationship between the content itself and the ad message placed within it was a secondary or tertiary consideration, with the primary concern being what demographic audience was consuming the content. Of course, a relationship has always existed; audiences tend to follow loose patterns (e.g., sports content is consumed primarily by male viewers), but the content itself rarely prevented brand message insertion."

On the social media model:

"First, it means brands are actually competing for attention with the very consumers they are attempting to engage. Second, in a new media model, consumers are clearly in control. They create the content, decide who and what they connect with, and generally outline the rules of those engagements."

"If a brand’s message or experience isn’t easily portable, doesn’t provide any natural reason for consumers to share it amongst themselves, or doesn’t live organically within the new social media model, the brand is drastically handicapping its messaging potential."

On the need for non-standard creative ideation:

"The experience can simply not be standardized as it was in traditional media. Thus, it does not exist in most ad agencies because they are built to deliver creative ideas in standardized environments."

On the need for new media creative ideas to evolve:

"When crafting creative ideas limited to traditional environments, agencies rarely had to think about the experience as anything other than a message; it was up to the client to provide service and responses, in many cases, not even the same individual responsible for marketing."

On the misprioritization of technology:

"The issue though is that technologies are downstream in the creative process and primarily impact how an idea manifests or how users experience it; they rarely determine if the creative idea itself is an effective platform to engage a brand’s target consumers."

Quoting Hashem Bawja, former New Media Director at Goodby Silverstein:

"Regardless of how the engagement has changed, the best creative ideas are still the ones built from a true and compelling insight into people's lives."

On why creative agencies employ antiquated models:

"The answer can of course be found by following the profits. As traditional creative departments have become less profitable over the last fifteen years, they’ve relied more and more heavily on marking up production to drive profits. As the FTE model has continued to yield lower blended hourly retainer rates while agency compensation for employees has increased, the profit margin has eroded significantly. In other words, clients are spending a smaller percentage of budgets on retaining Creatives in relation to their investment in media and digital production. As stated above, digital creative departments integrate production into their process; this has allowed agencies to establish profit by producing executions in house."

"Any client that listens to an agency attempt to sell a creative idea that requires in-house production at the agency should immediately consider the validity of the recommendation. Is the agency truly attempting to help drive the brand’s business forward, or is it attempting to drive its own?"

On the shift from branded micro-sites to social media:

"The reason is clear: consumers are spending more time in these environments and they tend to be in exploratory mindsets as they surf profiles and updates. It’s much easier to engage a consumer looking for something to do than one in the middle of an objective that must be lured to a micro-site via a banner ad."

On understanding the Media Design concept:

"First, a new frame of reference is needed about the output of creative departments, specifically differentiating ideas vs. their executions. Next, the lines around what constitutes advertising must be redrawn and blurred to some degree as the traditional lines between product, advertising and experience are simply not clear within most new media."

On the role of creative agencies:

"Creative departments are in the ideas business."

"Today’s creative ideas must be broader, more flexible, more modular, utilitarian, and more diverse."

On the role of the Media Designer:

"Philosophically, Media Designers do not approach media as containers for the placement of uniform executions of ideas, as was highly efficient in a traditional media model. Instead, Media Designers view media as a canvas upon which are ideas are placed. More accurately, media is a collection of unique canvases, each of which has a dramatic and distinct impact on the creative manifestation itself."

"The Media Designer's primary tool is 'media' itself, of all types and formats... 'Media' is defined as any environment, virtual or physical, in which consumers may engage brands."

"Media Designers understand channel impact on content."

"Media Designers leverage media as a consumer lens... One key skill set of the Media Designer is the ability to use media as an input as adeptly as he or she uses it as an output."

"Media Designers craft media-scalable ideas. One clear distinction when approaching media as a canvas vs. as a container is understanding the striations of users across a medium and engaging them differently to maximize a creative idea’s potential. For example, YouTube receives about 89 million unique users a month [as of May 2009]. A 'container' philosophy sees this as the total possible universe reachable via advertising on YouTube. However, the audience itself can be cut an infinite number of ways, many of which will yield different outcomes based on variations on the same creative idea."

On Burger King's Whopper Sacrifice Facebook App:

"The creative idea's relationship with its medium was circular."

On why Media Design is such a foreign concept to creative shops:

"The issue currently though is that not enough relevant skills exist in most creative departments to ensure relevant conception, primarily because of the void resulting from an absence in media sensibility."

On why the industry is ripe for Media Design:

"The model is appropriate for agencies now that brand engagement has been so dramatically impacted by the new media revolution. It weaves media into the fabric of the original idea, the key reason most work is rejected by consumers today."

On managing expectations:

"Media Design is not intended as a panacea for any agency, but it certainly provides a tangible and achievable set of expertise that must be secured, then deployed as appropriate in the environment of that particular agency. In order to be successful, most agencies will require some form of reinvention. Media Design is proposed as a key step in that reinvention process for the majority of agencies around the globe."

---

Can you imagine Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce employing Media Designers? Me neither. That's one of the many reasons why SCDP would not be flourishing in today's ad world. (I'd imagine health care and HR costs would be among the others).

Media Design is both revolutionary and evolutionary. It's an approach built to manage the complexities of today's digital world while paying homage to the tried and true principles of successful advertising that have proven to work over the years across shifts in media, technology, and culture.

It will be very interesting to see how long it takes for the Media Design concept to catch on in creative agencies. I do believe it's a matter of "when" not "if" though. And, "if" it doesn't happen at Bartle Bogle Hegarty, look for Radia Goldman coming soon to a mad ave near you.

Google Me: Why Ask Why?

2010-07-14T16:02:00.006-05:00

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In today's Search Insider column, I pick up where I left off 2 weeks ago and dissect Google's social media ambitions.

So why is Google so keen on building a large-scale social network? The answer's not as rhetorical as you might think.

Here's the blurb...

Why Google Me
Posted by Aaron Goldman on Jul 14, 8:00 PM
The world may not need another social network. But Google does. Google needs a place where people can easily congregate and communicate. A place that's as easy to understand and use as Google.com. A place that people "like." Why?
» 2 Comments

Are you a "User?"

2010-07-13T13:48:00.004-05:00

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Pet Peeve:

I hate when people are referred to as "users" in a marketing context.

"We protect the privacy of Web users!"

"We design our products with users in mind!"

Whenever I hear that term, I think of the guy in this picture.

Have I seen Trainspotting and Requiem for a Dream too many times? Maybe. But I'm sure I'm not alone here.

When you're speaking/writing/blogging about marketing, I'm sure this is the last image you want people conjuring up. Unless the audience segment you're referring to are actual drug users.

Website visitors are not users. Your customers are not users. Media consumers are not users. Your target audience is not users (unless you sell syringes). They are all PEOPLE.

So let's start calling a spade a spade.

"We protect the privacy of people on the Web!"

"We design our products with people in mind!"

Sounds better, right?

Let's not forget we're in the people business, not the marketing business.

Rant over.

Got Those Marketing Blues?

2010-07-13T10:26:00.003-05:00

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Are you suffering from the marketing blues? Do you live in Chicago?

Well, you're in luck. One of companies I consult for is singing your tune.

Resolution Media, a leading digital marketing agency under the Omnicom (and also my happy home for nearly 5 years) is hosting a great event at the House of Blues on 7/22 for local area marketers, director level and up.

For more details and RSVP info, visit the Resolution Media website. Hope to see you there!

Google Who?

2010-07-07T16:16:00.011-05:00

Woe is me for having branded myself (and my wife) with the Google Me moniker. As rumors fly over a Google social network named Google Me, I'm ducking for cover from Google's lawyers (would they really come after someone who just wrote a book singing their praises!?!) and frantically planning modifications to my t-shirt line (available today via KosherHam.com -- get 'em while they're hot... and legal!)

In last week's Search Insider column, I touch on Google Me (the network, not the shirt... well, ok, the shirt too!) in the context of Facebook's move to use the social graph to influence search results. Will flesh out the Google Me piece more in next week's column.

Here's the blurb...

Link Vs. Like And The Future Of Web Ranking
Posted by Aaron Goldman on Jun 30, 10:12 AM
There's been a lot of discussion about the ongoing fight for Web supremacy between Google and Facebook but, to date, the debate has centered around matters like privacy and metrics like page views and ad dollars. In the past week, however, it appears both companies are taking direct aim at the heart of the other's core business. First, AllFacebook.com reported that Facebook launched an "open graph search engine." Then, Kevin Rose sent the blogosphere into, well, the stratosphere with a tweet suggesting that a new Google social network called "Google Me" is imminent. In today's column, I'll dissect Facebook's search aspirations.
» 2 Comments

Digital Advertising Technology Landscape

2010-06-30T13:18:00.009-05:00

This schematic has become my cheat-sheet of choice for making sense of the digital advertising technology landscape...

Source: Terence Kawaja, LUMA Partners via Slideshare

From my perspective, the take-away here is that the digital marketing ecosystem continues to fragment by the day as innovative firms find new ways to create value. In turn, the challenge is that each bucket that pops up adds another layer between the advertiser and the consumer (and another potential point of confusion for marketers getting hip, or trying to stay hip, to digital).

It's interesting to see how many buckets Google is active in through owned/operated properties. At my count (based on the original schematic below, not the updated one posted above) the Big G has a play in 9 of them:

DSP - Invite Media

Ad Exchange - DoubleClick AdX

Ad Networks - Google Content Network

Creative Optimization - Teracent

Ad Servers - DoubleClick

Analytics - Google Analytics

Mobile - AdMob

And, of course, since this chart only shows the "display advertising technology landscape," it doesn't include Video (YouTube), Search (Google) and all the other Google products.

Methinks it's only a matter of time before advertisers will be able to just go through Google to get to their audience and check all the boxes and buckets along the way.

In 5-10 years, the digital advertising landscape could look very well like this...

And, I suppose it's possible publishers could even be dis-intermediated too!

Now, surely, this outcome might cause some concern for marketers over Google having access to all the data, potentially fixing pricing, etc. But I think the benefits of centralization, simplification, and efficiency will outweigh the cons for 98% of the 5 million-ish advertisers that currently work with Google today. For the other 2% (big Internet retailers, Fortune 500's, etc.), there will still be a need for either a) agencies to act as their advocates or b) internal teams that will put all these pieces and buckets together themselves.

And, while the 2% may control a good 20% of the total digital advertising spend, that's a healthy 80% ripe for Google's picking. My bet is Dennis Woodside, Penry Price, Jim Lecinski, and the other Google ad sales big wigs have this cheat-sheet affixed to their desks as well.

Update 7/27: Just came across a great post by Doug Weaver on his blog, The Drift, reacting to this graphic. He likens the state of today's overcrowded display advertising technology landscape to 2 hobos slicing a bean. Rather than introducing "one more data source that's going to refine targeting by a quarter of a point" or "another technology or platform to shave a nickel off the CPM," Weaver urges us to focus on finding/creating companies that will create "new online wealth."

Who's Ready to Get Googley?!?

2010-06-16T20:02:00.000-05:00

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Gotta love that old Snickers ad. "Hey, that's great but who are the Chefs?!?"

Yesterday saw the new website launch for my Google book, Everything I Know about Marketing I Learned from Google, at GoogleyLessons.com.

I'm very pleased with how it came out and must tip my hat again to the good folks at Elevate Studios for the amazing work.

The site is full of content including executive summaries of each chapter, the full text of nearly every interview I conducted while researching the book, as well as the complete book introduction. There's also a blog where I plan to share behind-the-scenes tidbits as well as keep everyone updated on news and info related to the book and its subjects.

One of my main goals for the site is to make reading the book a more interactive experience. Throughout the book I included URLs for people to click on e-readers and/or type in to their browsers to get more context for a particular topic. And I set up specific URLs for each chapter for readers to share thoughts and exchange ideas with others.

My hope is that the book will become much more than the paper -- and, as the case may be, digital ink -- it's printed on. As noted in Chapter 17, "Show of Your Assets," it's always a best practice to extend the shelf life of your products through digital asset creation and distribution. This website is one small way I'm looking to practice what I preach. Other tactics include a promotional video I'm shooting tomorrow along with a blog tour around the book release date (which is set for 8/27, btw) -- both of which were concepted and being executed by my publisher, McGraw-Hill.

When you have a few minutes -- or hours -- to spare, please check out the Googley Lessons website and, if you haven't already, pre-order the book and engage in the conversation.

And, if you like the shirt below better than the one up above, feel free to pick one up -- choose from 20 color combinations! -- through my pals at KosherHam.com.

Image Credit - Photo Images, Inc.

Remember, Googley is as Googley does. And who doesn't want to get Googley every now and then?!?

Google's Invitation to SEM VIPs

2010-06-16T18:35:00.003-05:00

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In today's Search Insider column, I invite those in the SEM community to RSVP to Google's proposition to buy online display media in a more search-like manner through its latest acquisition, Invite Media.

I didn't touch on this in the column but another interesting thread related to the Invite Media deal is that Google now owns an ad network and ad exchange as well as an ad server (DoubleClick) and demand side platform (Invite) that can be used to buy inventory (and see rates among other data) across other (non-Google) networks and exchanges.

Nat Turner, Invite Media CEO, himself said that this was a huge conflict of interest just a few short months ago. In his guest post on AdExchanger.com about "True DSPs", he wrote...

"A true DSP must remain neutral and have zero allegiances to any publishers, exchanges, data providers or other vendors. A true DSP should embody the word 'platform' and not just be conduit or pretty interface to a pre-existing business."

And, as if that didn't make it clear enough, he went on to say...

"The DSP should not, under any circumstances, own or operate an ad network. This is in direct conflict with the neutrality aspect."

Will be interesting to see how this is resolved.

Meanwhile, here's the blurb from my column...

Google Invites SEM Attributes To Display
Posted by Aaron Goldman on Jun 16, 10:34 AM
In the display world, Google has fared pretty well of late. YouTube will turn a profit this year. And the Google Content Network enjoys 80% reach globally, becoming a staple on most every media plan that includes online ad networks. And Google's success in display can be largely attributed to incorporating key features of SEM.
» Comments

Googley Tube

2010-06-03T22:35:00.004-05:00

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In yesterday's Search Insider column I pontificate on the ideal ad format for Google TV.

As you might guess, I advocate for taking lessons learned from SEM and applying them to the big screen.

Let's hope Google doesn't act like a bunch of n00bs when incorporating ads onto the boob tube.

Here's the blurb....

What Will Ads Look Like On Google TV?
Posted by Aaron Goldman on Jun 2, 10:18 AM
As many of you know, Google introduced Google TV a couple of weeks ago at its I/O developer conference. Details have been posted via Google blog post , intro video, and developer guide. Conspicuously missing, though, was any information about advertising via Google TV. So, on the off chance Google hasn't yet figured out the proper ad format for Google TV, I thought I'd share some suggestions.
» 4 Comments

My Best Career Advice: Don't Wait... Ask!

2010-05-28T19:38:00.011-05:00

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I seem to be in a bit of a retrospective mode this week. That, and I've happened to have some very interesting conversations lately with some very interesting people.

On Wed., I posted thoughts shared by Scott Kier about Google's energy ambitions. Yesterday, it was a response to a request I received about corporate blog best practices.

Today, I'd like to share an introspective chat I had earlier this week with a former colleague of mine from Resolution Media, Josh Dreller, who's gone on to build quite a name for himself and his current agency, Fuor Digital, in the digital marketing space.

We got to talking about what it takes to succeed in this industry. Sure things like smarts, connections, and passion came up. But we landed on one very simple tenant that really separates the wheat from the chaff. And, looking at some of the most successful folks I know in this industry (and others, for that matter), I find this to be something they all exemplify...

Don't wait for anything to be handed to you. Ask for it!

This adage certainly applies in the sales and business development world where "asking for the order" is Sales 101. But anyone anywhere can take this to heart and use it to propel themselves and their company to higher levels.

The bottom line is that it's rare to work for a company where anyone is really looking out for you and your best interests. Sure, there are good managers that will reward you with more money, a promotion, etc. But, at the end of the day, they've got their own asses to cover. And they'll respect you as an employee even more if you show some initiative and ask for whatever it is you want.

Now, of course, make sure your request is grounded in a) reality (read: commensurate with your contributions/skillset and the current marketplace) and b) the best interests of the company (read: more revenue and/or reduced costs) or else your "ask" will fall flat as will your chances of moving up the chain of command.

For whatever reason, I find that the vast majority of people in the marketing world are too scared, embarrassed, timid, jealous, and downright unsure of themselves to ask for what they want. And, of those that do, only a few actually take the time to consider the position of the "askee" and determine if what they are asking for is something that deserves to get green lit.

Yes, that means doing some homework. Yes, that means practicing your pitch. Yes, that means listening intently. Yes, that means understanding the motivations of the person you're asking. Yes, that means building a business case. But, most of all, that means getting off your ass and doing something about your situation.

To be sure, some folks may say that it's even better advice not to ask for permission, rather ask for forgiveness. In other words, don't wait to be told... don't even ask... just do it. Many times I'll agree with that approach but it's hard to make a sweeping statement like that and advocate for it across all situations. There are times where that can get you into serious hot water. So, as a rule of them, I'd start by asking until you get familiar enough with all the moving parts in an organization to know when it's ok to "just do it."

So, now, I ask you, what are you waiting for?

Corporate Blog Best Practices

2010-05-27T19:29:00.002-05:00

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Earlier this week, a colleague asked for my thoughts on best practices for corporate blogs. This was for a service provider in the digital marketing space but I think these guidelines can be applied to any business:

• Post at least once a week. Blogs are supposed to be timely. Any less frequent posting will show you're not serious about the platform.

• Have multiple contributors but one voice. No-one wants to hear only from the CEO or only from the marketing director. We want to see the different personalities and viewpoints of the company. That said, we also don't want 100 different styles or writing, contradictory POV's, etc. Create a filter that all content must pass thru. For example, before posting, always stop and ask yourself, "Would I say this to a customer?" Or, always use "we" when referring to the company and never use "they" without specifying who "they" is.

• Create a schedule ahead of time so everyone knows when they are on the hook for content.

• Always keep 2 posts "in your pocket" for when scheduled contributors are delinquent.

• Pick topics that are a) relevant to your business b) relevant to SEO keywords you want to win for and c) controversial (to generate links).

• Don't just talk about yourself. Make it personal and show your personality but it shouldn't just be a less-formal version of a self-promotional corporate website. Comment on (and link to) topics of interest for other companies, even your competitors as appropriate. To be clear, it's ok (and encouraged) to post about the goings-on at your company but if every post is a pat on the back, your only readers will be employees and their friends/family.

• Along those lines, keep your audience in mind. It includes your clients, competitors, employees, potential employees, etc. Everything you write should be meaningful to all those constituencies. If you write in a tone that only appeals to one group, you risk alienating the others. For example, I never like to use the word "clients" because that means something different to a network vs. an agency vs. a marketer. Whenever referring to corporate marketers, I say "marketers."

• Don't write in a formal tone. But don't use too much slang. And certainly mind your grammar and spelling.

• Link wherever possible to other web pages related to your topic.

• Cross-link to your own older posts as relevant. Extend the shelf-lives of that archival material.

• Create categories to bucket content into and tag each post accordingly. This helps readers go deeper on certain topics of interest.

• Make it easy for others to link to your posts. Include social-bookmarking and sharing icons as well as FB "Like" buttons. RSS Feed is also a must for people who prefer to consume that way.

• Give people a reason to link to you. Write about things that others will find useful.

• Use images (and video) wherever possible. All text blogs are boring. Also, bullets and lists are helpful. No paragraph should be longer than 3-4 sentences. Quick, puchy reads are best.

• Make sure sensitive content is not posted (eg, client data, internal memos, etc.) without the proper permissions.

• Encourage feedback and comments. Blogs should be 2-way (or multi-way) dialogues. Don't censor comments. Take the good with the bad. It's part of building a community and a conversation.

• Promote your posts. You can't just post and expect people to read. Tweet links to new posts. Ask employees to email links to relevant parties. Include links in press releases, POV's, decks, newsletters, emails to customers, etc.

• Have fun with it! If your people enjoy contributing, it will come thru to readers and they'll have fun reading it!

The Big G is Energized

2010-05-26T21:19:00.006-05:00

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A good friend and colleague of mine, Scott Kier of Mosaic EcoSystems, pinged me a few weeks ago asking for my POV on Google's Energy Foray. I turned the question back on him and here was his response (posted with permission). Very intriguing stuff...

"One of the silver bullets in terms of energy efficiency is the 'smart grid' - a power grid that does more than just send a powerful stream of electricity to your home or office or factory for you to tap into. Rather, it's going to involve attaching a network to the grid - or merging the grid entirely with existing data networks.

Consider:

Just about anything that's plugged in - a lamp, a dishwasher, etc... - draws a trickle of power even when turned off. Eliminating that trickle won't revolutionize anyone's electric bill, and fossil fuel energy remains extremely cheap for you and me, so we don't tend to worry about these small moves towards efficiency. But if EVERYONE eliminated that trickle, collectively it significantly moves the needle of overall energy usage. So what needs to happen isn't just turning off the power switch on the appliance, but rather, turning off the outlet it's plugged into. So you need the outlet to be networked so that when you turn an appliance back on, it re-activates the outlet.

Here's another smart grid application: the power company in Las Vegas knew that people were over-cooling their homes. In the summer in Vegas, setting your thermostat to 78 feels the same in the dry air as setting it to 69-70 does here in Chicago. But most people were setting it to 72-74. Well, when it's over 100 outside, cooling those extra 5-7 degrees is a major usage of power. So stimulus money went to providing single-family homes in Vegas with a smart thermostat which allows the power company to set a default temperature. You can override it, but they were convinced that people wouldn't do so when they realized that 78 degrees was perfectly comfortable and saw the result of that on their electric bill. My parents' electric bill last July fell almost $100 year-over-year.

There are tons more, like smart water heaters that shut down when not needed as opposed to running all the time, keeping water hot.

And when most homes have at least supplemental solar and wind power, it's going to take a smart system to know how to optimize the mix of in situ renewables and grid power, in much the same way as a Google algorithm generates placement for paid search and SEO.

Think of the progression from the typewriter to the computer: it gave you and me a lot more to DO, a lot more access to information, it replaced the card catalog at the library with a query, so we could customize our usage of information. Droid and iPhone OS are the distillation of that for mobile usage, and I believe (and HP seems to believe, too, based on the rationale for their acquisition of Palm) that this is the way in which more and more people will interact with their data.

Well, the progression from a dumb power grid that just blasts power and loses a ton of it along the way to a smart grid that, much like a query, will only go where it's needed - will only find the "relevant" destination - will give you and I will many more applications to manage that, just as we have applications to manage our data.

Tom Friedman calls this the 'energy internet': replacing a dumb, manual system with one driven by queries and manipulation of data. This is exactly what Google knows how to do, so as we move into an era where energy and data will be part of the same technological ecosystem... who better than Google to be a leader in an emerging space that will be built as much on a technological, data-driven platform as an industrial one? They have the processes and culture for innovation, many of the core competencies, and the resources to to be ahead of the pack in this next phase and essentially avoid the fate that befell Microsoft when they really fell behind Apple and Google when the game moved on them.

(Yes, I know PC still crushes Apple in market share, but Apple is still viewed as the premium product, and as tablet computing emerges, Apple will narrow that gap dramatically, and Google will further encroach on Microsoft's position as you have Droid-based tablets.)"

Don’t Hate the Mayor. Hate the Game.

2010-05-24T16:22:00.001-05:00

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I’ve been cited in the press twice in the past two weeks regarding social media.

The first pertained to Four Square monetization and the second was re: Facebook and privacy. As always, I’ve posted recaps of the Connectual blog and added an extended POV on each topic and the implications for the digital marketing ecosystem.

So the next time one of your friends annoys you by clogging your social media feeds with check-ins or crop-dusting, just think… it could be worse. Imagine if those notifications came with ads!

Putting the KITT in Kittlaus

2010-05-24T16:06:00.002-05:00

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In last week’s Search Insider column, I share the complete transcript of my interview with Siri CEO, Dag Kittlaus.

I conducted this Q&A in the context of exploring the future of search for my book. Chapter 21 is titled “Future-Proofing” and takes a look at what the world of Google will look like 10 years from now and how marketers can best prepare.

Without stealing thunder from my book, the short story is that the future of search will look nothing like the keyword-triggered results we get today. As app-ssistants like Siri complement -- and eventually replace -- Search Engines, we’ll see instruction-triggered actions leveraging intimate knowledge of our preferences.

And, with Apple now owning Siri, we may also see a shakeup of power among the key players in the space.

Let’s just hope the next wave of virtual digital assistants leaves the Hoff behind.

Here’s the blurb…

A Siri-es Of Fortunate Events
Posted by Aaron Goldman on May 19, 10:07 AM
To be sure, Siri is not yet ready for prime time, but it has all the makings of a Siri-al Google Killer. And, with continued investment from Apple, it's not unreasonable to think that Siri could do to search what the iPhone did to phones -- that is, completely change the way we think about them from both a consumer and marketing standpoint. Here's my chat with Siri CEO Dag Kittlaus.
» 3 Comments

Yahoo Chides Google for Keeping It Simple. Who's Stupid?

2010-05-06T22:37:00.006-05:00

Yahoo! Tile Video @ Yahoo! Video

I came across this video in my Facebook news feed thanks to my friend who runs the self-titled "Geoff DeMars Internet Marketing News" page on FB.

The crux of this video and Yahoo's new campaign can be summed up in these 2 lines...

"There's nothing to look at but a box and a button... you come to this place so you can leave."

"At Yahoo, we've got another idea... a place you want to stay."

In his post, Geoff linked to this piece on Search Engine Land in which Yahoo's approach is called "misguided and off the mark" by Greg Sterling and "stunningly stupid" by Danny Sullivan.

For what it's worth, I see merits and demerits to this strategy...

Merit: Yahoo realizes it can't compete with Google and is trying to position itself as an entirely different resource.

Demerit: If Yahoo really realized it couldn't compete in search, it wouldn't repeatedly play up its search capabilities in the voiceover.

The bottom line, though, is that there's nothing Yahoo can do about the fact that most advertisers don't want to reach people on a place that "people want to stay."

Rather, as I discuss in Chapter 4 of my book, "Everything I Know about Marketing I Learned from Google," advertisers want to reach people when they're in a commercial mindset aka "buy mode." More often than not, that type of intent is displayed by going to a place to find what you're looking for and leave. Hence why Google did $6.7 billion in revenue in Q1 compared to Yahoo's $1.6 billion.

I cover the whole "should I stay or should I go" thread in Chapter 3 of my book and the copy is so darn close to the script in this Yahoo ad I thought I'd better share it now before anyone reads the book in September when it's released and thinks my POV was skewed by the Yahoo campaign.

So here's an excerpt from Chapter 3 -- the first 797 of 3647 words in the chapter, to be precise. Note, this is unedited copy from my original manuscript and, outside McGraw-Hill, no-one else has seen it. Would love any and all feedback.

Chapter 3: Keep It Simple, Stupid

What are you supposed to do on Google.com?

Easy, right? Search.

The big search box surrounded by white space beckons you to do one thing and one thing only.

Search.

When you first told someone else about Google, did you have to explain how to use it? Nope.

How do you think Google became a verb? Simple.

There’s very little ambiguity. Google means search.

Today, this seems like a no-brainer. But, in 1998 this was a novel concept. At that time, the most popular websites more closely resembled newspapers, covering every inch of the page with content and ads.

What you were supposed to do on these sites was less clear. Read articles. Look at ads. Communicate with friends. There was one common goal, though. These websites wanted you to stay -- maybe not on that particular page but definitely on that site.

Contrast that with Google. Google doesn’t want you to stay on its site. It wants you to leave.
And what better way to hammer that idea home that to put a big box in the middle of the page with nothing else around it.

Fade to White

Today Google could command millions of dollars for ads on its homepage. But that would distract you from the task at hand. Searching.

In fact, Google recently went a couple steps further. First, in September 2009, it made the search box bigger. Then, a few months later, it removed everything but the box, logo, and search buttons, only fading in the other menu items, links, and footer upon movement of the mouse.

In a blog post, Marrisa Mayer, Google’s VP of Search Products and User Experience, explained the change as follows…

“For the vast majority of people who come to the Google homepage, they are coming in order to search, and this clean, minimalist approach gives them just what they are looking for first and foremost. For those users who are interested in using a different application like Gmail, Google Image Search or our advertising programs, the additional links on the homepage only reveal themselves when the user moves the mouse. Since most users who are interested in clicking over to a different application generally do move the mouse when they arrive, the ‘fade in’ is an elegant solution that provides options to those who want them, but removes distractions for the user intent on searching.”

Of course, what happens after you search is a different story. In the early days, Google results pages were pristine lists of blue links. Today, they resemble almost every other page on the Web replete with images, widgets, and ads.

This layout is quite calculated, however. Once you’ve already searched, Google doesn’t want you to search again. It wants you to click. On whatever seems most relevant to you at the time. Organic listing. Image. Map. Ad. It doesn’t matter. Just click. Hopefully you’ll have found what you wanted and then come back again to search.

Everything about the way Google lays out its pages screams what it wants you to do. Search. Then click. And repeat.

“Don’t over think it. Sometimes simple creates the best experience.” -- Sean Cheyney, VP,

Marketing & Business Development, AccuQuote @scheyney

Easy Does It

On its corporate website, Google lays out its design principles. One of them speaks to the power of simplicity.

“Simplicity fuels many elements of good design, including ease of use, speed, visual appeal, and accessibility. But simplicity starts with the design of a product's fundamental functions. Google doesn't set out to create feature-rich products; our best designs include only the features that people need to accomplish their goals. Ideally, even products that require large feature sets and complex visual designs appear to be simple as well as powerful. Google teams think twice before sacrificing simplicity in pursuit of a less important feature. Our hope is to evolve products in new directions instead of just adding more features.”

In June of 2000, Google stuck a deal with Yahoo! to power its search results. But, despite returning the exact same results, more and more people flocked directly to Google.com when they wanted to find another website. Why? Simple. Google meant search. Yahoo! meant stay.

As Kenneth Fadner, Chairman and Publisher of MediaPost and one of the founders of Adweek, observed, “Yahoo's search was always buried inside its cluttered portal page. When people thought "search" they thought about Google, even while on the Yahoo page, where they could also search using Google. It was not the promise of a better result that moved them, it was the inability of people to hold multiple thoughts in their heads at the same time that made them think: ‘If I want to search I need to go to Google.’"

It was that simple.

I am Siri-ous and Don’t Call Me Shirley!

2010-05-05T20:47:00.005-05:00

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As promised, in today’s Search Insider column, I cover Apple’s acquisition of Siri in the context of its ambitions to change the way we think of mobile and search marketing.

I asked my Twitter followers to weigh in with other good Siri puns and @telerob inspired the title to this post. Here are some others I like:

1. Siri-al (Google) Killer
2. Mis-Siri Loves Company
3. A-Siri-an Nation
4. World Siri-es Champ
5. Look out Siri-han Siri-han
6. Siri-sucker Suit
7. Montes-Siri Education
8. Siri-ndipitous Turn of Events
9. The Sooth-Siri Sees All
10. Healthy Does of Triglyc-Siri-ide

In my next Search Insider column, I’ll share highlights from my interview with Siri CEO, Dag Kittlaus. Meantime, I need to Siri-ously get a life.

Here's the blurb...

Apple Is Siri-ous About Search
Posted by Aaron Goldman on May 5, 11:23 AM
Nearly one year ago, fellow Search Insider Gord Hotchkiss declared, "Search needs an iPhone." With this "mobile Web and computing device.... [Apple] intended to vault over the competition, changing the rules and opening a new marketplace. Apple strategists had nothing short of revolution on their minds."

Two recent events make it pretty clear that Apple feels the same way about search as it does/did about the phone.
» 5 Comments

Privacy Shmivacy

2010-05-03T17:27:00.003-05:00

Today marked the first time I encountered (or noticed) one of the IAB ads from its "Privacy Matters" campaign. Launched back in December, the goal of the program is to "to educate consumers and provide them with the resources to help them manage their privacy online."

Accompanying the ads is "an information-rich website where consumers can... engage in conversation about their privacy concerns."

Now, I don't know about you, but the only place I've seen people engage in conversation about their privacy concerns en masse is on Facebook via threads related to the latest effort by the social media giant to "extend the social graph" by sharing personal information with little-to-no advance notification and a mere opt-out.

Of course, the data collection, sharing, and targeting practices of IAB members are also opt-out but seldom (if ever) involve personally-identifiable information. Alas, the call to action to "engage in conversation" has produced a grand total of 16 comments to date on the IAB Privacy Matters website.

Google, for its part, took a different tact when it launched Interest-based advertising. For the most part, it avoids using the words "behavioral" and "targeting" altogether. Instead it suggests that its platform makes ads more "relevant" and "useful." I believe I called this approach putting lipstick on a pig.

My personal take? All the campaigning, notifications and wordplay in the world can't change the fact that the reason people don't like behaviorally (or otherwise) targeted ads is because they know someone's getting rich off their data and it ain't them.

As I said before, let's stop educating people about privacy (or even policing it) and just pay them!

Don't get me wrong, I applaud the IAB and its members for doing something to educate the public and keep the vocal minority from becoming a vocal majority. That said, I think we need pop the pig open and see if it squeals rather than just making it over.

Apple Signals Sea Change, Buys Siri

2010-04-28T17:01:00.004-05:00

Today brought word that Apple bought Siri, a virtual personal assistant that I cover in detail in chapter 21 of my book. Siri CEO, Dag Kittlaus, was kind enough to grant me an interview as I prepared my manuscript. Little did I know -- or did he let on -- what was cooking behind the scenes.

WSJ has good coverage of the news. Will share my POV in next week's Search Insider column. For now, just wanted to call everyone's attention to this latest development in the Google/Apple saga. One day we'll point to this and say this was the moment Apple threw down the search gauntlet.

More on how these two are tangoing in my recent post on the Connectual blog, including a press mention in MediaPost speculating about Google's hire of a new "Developer Advocate."

Wish I Were There

2010-04-23T08:06:00.002-05:00

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In this week's Search Insider column, I collaborated with Frank Lee of The Search Agency to recap the highlights of the MediaPost Search Insider Summit. (Frank attended the conference in person while I monitored it live via Twitter #mpsis.)

In my last column, I shared predictions for what would have people buzzing in Captiva. Turns out I got 4/10 right -- 5 if you count Attribution as a variation of Data. Not a bad average for a major league baseball player. Not great for a guy who's been closely tracking SIS buzz for eight shows running.

Here's the blurb...

Search Insider Summit Buzz-O-Tweeter
Posted by Aaron Goldman on Apr 21, 10:05 AM
Last week saw the annual spring migration of search geeks down to Florida for the Search Insider Summit. After attending the previous seven shows and tracking the buzz, I had to turn the reigns over to Frank Lee of The Search Agency for on-site buzz tracking -- which is very scientific, mind you -- and settle for remotely monitoring the #mpsis tweet-stream. Here are the top ten buzzwords dropped by conference attendees, with some context for each one from Frank -- and a little added commentary from me -- along with the tweet I think best captured the sentiment.
» 2 Comments

My Search Story

2010-04-15T21:05:00.004-05:00

If you're a regular reader/follower, you know I have a proclivity for vanity searching. Heck, my Facebook profile pic is of me in a t-shirt I made that says "Google Me." (By the way, I'm teaming up with KosherHam.com to sell a new version of these shirts as part of the promotion for my upcoming book.)

So it should come as no surprise that as soon as heard about Google letting people create their own Search Stories -- via David Berkowitz who made one of his own on ego searching -- I had to do the "Aaron Goldman" version.

Unfortunately, just a few days ago some Aaron Goldman impostor commented to the Boston Globe about layoffs in the Newton mayor's office. This bumped my quote in MediaPost from the top spot for my name on Google News to #2. I'm happy to report that I'm still #1 for every single other vertical search category on Google, though -- web search, image search, blog search, product search, and maps.

Go ahead... Google Me!

Ad it up

2010-04-14T20:37:00.001-05:00

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Today Twitter announced that it would soon start running ads -- or, as it calls them, "Promoted Tweets" -- on its platform.

The announcement, which was made via blog post by Twitter co-founder Biz Stone, was light on details but here are the highlights...

1. "You will start to see Tweets promoted by our partner advertisers called out at the top of some Twitter.com search results pages."

2. "Only one Promoted Tweet will be displayed on the search results page."

3. "We plan to allow Promoted Tweets to be shown by Twitter clients and other ecosystem partners and to expand beyond Twitter search, including displaying relevant Promoted Tweets in your timelines in a way that is useful to you."

4. "This is distinct from both traditional search advertising and more recent social advertising."

Indeed, Promoted Tweets are a brand new category of online advertising that doesn't fit neatly into the conventions of search or social. That said, it's by no means revolutionary. From my point of view, it's a mere tiptoe into the advertising waters to see what the response from the community will be -- that community being users and marketers alike.

It's unlikely that Promoted Tweets will piss off users given the format is very tweet-like and the placement is non-intrusive. It's unclear, however, what their response will be in terms of clicks and conversions.

As for marketers, Twitter dropped named like Starbucks, Best Buy, Virgin, and Sony as already being on board. However, it didn't share any details about how these new ad units will be priced. Are we looking at CPM? CPC? CPR (Cost-per-retweet)?

Back in September, I penned a post for the Connectual blog speculating on what the ideal Twitter ad format would look like. In turn, I offered up 4 potential formats -- In-text, Contextual in-stream, Contextual on-site, and Sponsored Hash-tags.

In that post, I implored Twitter to consider 7 lessons learned from Google as per my upcoming book. Below is a recap of each lesson from my Sept. post along with some commentary per today's announcement.

1. Relevance rules. Ads should always be targeted to the content of the tweets. And, over time, they should be tailored to individual users based on their behavior – what ads they click on, what topics do they tweet about most often, what registration data have they provided, etc.

By placing the ads in search results, for now, Twitter will presumably target Promoted Tweets to relevant queries.

2. Don’t interrupt. Twitter ads should never disrupt the experience. They should be there for people to interact with on their own terms.

As it stands, Promoted Tweets in search results are non-interruptive. We'll see what happens when Twitter moves beyond the "first phase" as Biz alludes to in his post.

3. Tap the wisdom of the crowds. Using quality-scores to determine ad effectiveness and, in turn, placement and pricing will ensure the people have a voice in what ads they see. And enticing them with contests or other rewards for interacting with ads and brands will only stimulate the almighty WOM that advertisers are hoping for.

A number of times in his post, Biz emphasizes that Promoted Tweets must "resonate" with Twitter users. He also says that "if users don't interact with a Promoted Tweet to allow us to know that the Promoted Tweet is resonating with them, such as replying to it, favoriting it, or Retweeting it, the Promoted Tweet will disappear." Indeed, it sounds like we're looking at some sort of Twitter Quality Score here.

4. Act like content. Ads should feel like tweets, be embedded in hash-tags or otherwise appear as familiar Twitter features.

Check. I'm reminded of Digg's relatively new ad format which I critiqued on this blog in October. Digg ads look just like Digg stories, save the sponsored label. Same here with Promoted Tweets.

5. Test everything. Twitter should not just try one ad format. It should experiment with multiple models and see how the ecosystem -- advertisers, agencies, users, etc. -- responds.

For now, Twitter's just testing this one format but Biz points out that this is the first execution in a much larger experiment with advertising.

6. Let the data decide. The response of Twitter users -- via feedback thru tweets and feedback thru clicks -- should determine which formats to use and which ads to show within a given format.

Check.

7. Mindset matters. Fortunately for Twitter, many people its platform to talk about brands they like and don’t like and solicit input from others. Accordingly, the mindset on Twitter is often commercial – similar to Google and unlike Facebook, where the mindset is mostly social communication and entertainment. This should bode well for advertising effectiveness.

Biz says it himself, "Like any other Tweet, the connection between you and a Promoted Tweet in real-time provides a powerful means of delivering information relevant to you at the moment."

Bottom line -- if you're a marketer wondering if Promoted Tweets are right for you, allow me to drop a few more relevant Googley Lessons...

8. Test everything

The only way to know if Twitter ads will "resonate" with your audience is to try.

9. Track everything

Marketers will have to incorporate some new metrics into their analysis -- ie, what's the value of a retweet? And, if the goal is direct response, make sure you're tracking links in tweets all the way thru to conversion like Dell.

10. Let the data decide

Just like Twitter will see how far it can continue to push the envelope with ads by seeing how the community responds, so too must marketers get past their "shiny-new-object" syndrome and only continue funding Promoted Tweets if they perform. At the same time, don't quit on them if the first tweet you promote doesn't do well. Test various messages, calls-to-action, links, etc. and let the data tell you what the right combinations are.

11. The more shelf-space, the better

Whether it's Twitter search results or user-timelines, as a marketer, the more tweets you own -- whether you paid for them or not -- on each page or stream someone's looking at, the better.

12. Don't rely on search engine marketing alone

There are only so many people searching for your brand or your category. There are plenty more seeking and discovering relevant information from the people they follow on Twitter -- as well as those they don't. Search is a great tool to capture demand. Twitter is a great tool to create it. Ignore one or the other at your own peril.

"Final" Book Stats

2010-04-13T22:22:00.001-05:00

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A couple weeks ago, I shared the latest numbers from my book manuscript. On 3/31 -- well, technically it was 12:08 on 4/1 -- I turned in my "final" manuscript to my publisher. Thought I'd share one last recap to let everyone know where I landed.

345 pages

3,052 paragraphs

7,232 lines

85,729 words

434,572 characters (no spaces)

518, 564 characters (with spaces)

If you do the math here, you'll see that almost half of my paragraphs are just 1 line. The goal is to make this book a quick read. It's not intended to be a cover-to-cover endeavor. Rather each chapter stands alone. With 21 chapters and an Introduction, each one averages out at 15-16 pages. If it took you longer than 30 minutes to read each chapter, I'd be surprised. Now, in each chapter, I tried to include an exercise for the reader to apply the Googley Lesson to his/her business. So the goal is certainly to have you think about each chapter for more than 30 minutes but it shouldn't take you much more than that to get through the copy itself.

Currently, the manuscript is in the very capable hands of my editor at McGraw-Hill. From there it goes to a development editor and a copyeditor. At that point, I'll have a chance to review their edits and make any last ones of my own. Then it's off to layout and production for an 8/20 release!

For now, it's back to more regular posting here and on the Connectual blog -- not to mention the other blogs I've been neglecting over the past 3-4 months -- as I still have the writing itch and plenty more time to spend scratching!

Buzz Lightweek?

2010-04-08T13:54:00.008-05:00

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In yesterday's Search Insider column, I offered up a preview for next week's Search Insider Summit, a conference that I've attended each of the past 7 times but will be missing next week due to family commitments.

At each SIS, I track the Buzz-o-Meter -- the ten most popular buzzwords dropped by speakers and attendees. In this column, I recap that past 7 lists and take a stab at predicting what will have people buzzing next week.

We'll see if my predictions come true or if it turns out to be a buzz-light week.

Here's the blurb...

Captiva Weather Report: Sunny, Warm, And Chance of Buzz
Posted by Aaron Goldman on Apr 7, 11:43 AM
Next week, many of my friends and colleagues will be descending upon Captiva Island, Fla. for the biannual Search Insider Summit. In today's column, I'll share the results from the past seven summits to see what trends we can identify and help people "skate where the puck is going" or, more appropriately, "sail where the boat will be" in Captiva.
» 3 Comments

Who's Counting?

2010-03-28T21:25:00.007-05:00

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As stated in my previous Search Insider column -- What Assorted Marketing All-Stars Learned From Google -- the goal for my last installment was to catch the Duggars.

Last week's column -- What 19 Marketers Learned From Google -- squared me up with them, parents and grand-children excluded. Not sure how Michelle did it. My interviews each took only 30-40 minutes, not weeks!

Won't spend much time previewing or pontificating here. My manuscript deadline is 3/31 so it's crunch-time. And, being the glutton for punishment I am, I decided last week to add a 21st chapter titled, "Future-proofing" to discuss what's coming in the next 10-ish years for Google, and marketing in general, along with some tips to help readers prepare.

In my last blog post -- Got It Covered -- I shared some stats on word-count and such in addition to the cover art. Here are the updated figured -- again, pending a few last holes to fill and all the publisher edits yet to come...

Pages: 335

Words: 83,233

Characters (no spaces): 415,942

Characters (with spaces): 497,517

Paragraphs: 2,907

Lines: 6,935

And here's the blurb from my column...

What 19 Marketers Learned From Google
Posted by Aaron Goldman on Mar 24, 1:24 PM
This is the sixth and final column in a series I've been publishing in MediaPost featuring excerpts of interviews I've conducted while writing my book, "Everything I Know About Marketing I Learned From Google." Today, I'll share 140-character-or-less responses from 19 marketing gurus regarding the most important thing they learned from Google.
» 1 Comments

Starting next week I get back to regular posting and bylines -- which means more often and less book-y!

Got It Covered

2010-03-11T17:24:00.004-06:00

Very excited to share the cover art for my book. This was created by McGraw-Hill and has some extra white space for glowing endorsements. :)

As far as the manuscript goes, today I cranked out the 20th and last chapter. I'm not done quite yet as there are a few gaps in each chapter that still need to be filled with research, interviews, etc. But, for the most part, the content is complete!

I'm very proud of what I've put together. I think it will make a very interesting, informative, entertaining, and provocative read. I've been very humbled by the support I've received from friends, family, colleagues, blog/byline readers, etc.

And I'm very fortunate to have been granted time and consideration from some 100+ industry luminaries who all participated in Q&A with me to help me prepare the manuscript. Excerpts of those interviews have been running in my Search Insider column and I plan to share more on my soon-to-be newly-designed book site, GoogleyLessons.com, which is scheduled to launch in April or May.

I'm also grateful to the good folks at Elevate Studios for letting me bunker-down in their offices the past few months where I can write in peace and especially for putting up with my machine-gun typing and frantic pacing.

OK, that's enough thanking. Gotta save something for the acknowledgements and dedication!

The book itself will be released August 20-ish but is now available for pre-sale on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Borders. I trust you'll find it's the best $17.79, $18.18, or $26.95 you've ever spent!

Here are some quick stats on what I've assembled. (Note: as mentioned above, I still have to plug in some holes and my editors have yet to work their magic. In all likelihood, these figures will get trimmed down quite a bit.)

Pages: 303

Words: 75,571

Characters (no spaces): 375,601

Characters (with spaces): 449,650

Paragraphs: 2,645

Lines: 6,286

(Yes, I've got it saved and backed up in triplicate!)

Look forward to putting this puppy to bed and getting back to biz and blogging! Thanks for your interest and, again, your support!

Kickin' It with the Marketing All-Stars

2010-03-10T17:18:00.001-06:00

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In today's Search Insider column I culled my book interviews to catch some quick commentary from a collection of colorful characters. This is my second-to-last column before I come out of hiding at the end of the month and resume original writing.

Over the next three weeks though, I'm looking at a wedding in NY, conference in SF, week vacation in Cancun, and, oh yeah, a book deadline of 3/31 for McGraw-Hill! As I told my colleague, Glenn Fishback of Adify, yesterday, I only know one speed. Giddyup!

What Assorted Marketing All-Stars Learned From Google
Posted by Aaron Goldman on Mar 10, 9:59 AM
This is the fifth in a series of columns I'm publishing in MediaPost featuring excerpts of interviews I've conducted while writing my book, "Everything I Know About Marketing I Learned From Google," Previous installments included a double feature with Paul Gunning and John Battelle. Like the Octomom or the Gosselins, there's no turning back after your first set of multiples -- so, today, I'll offer up 11 marketing all-stars weighing in on the same theme: What makes Google such a unique company? Why has it been so successful?
» 1 Comments

OMMA Gawd, This is Gonna Be Good!

2010-03-07T13:34:00.012-06:00

In a couple weeks, I'll be moderating a panel at OMMA Global in San Francisco. This conference is put on by MediaPost and, for the first time, track sessions will be free to the public.

Rather than sharing the topics and questions for my panel in the rear -- like I did for last week's CIMA event -- I thought I'd put 'em out in advance so people can get a sense for what we'll be covering and weigh in with feedback prior to the session.

Now I can check the buzzwords "transparency" and "crowd-sourcing" off my to-do list. (Speaking of transparency, I should point out that I'm compensated by MediaPost for programming the search track of this conference.)

Below is the prep sheet I just fired off to my panel. I'll be sure to update this post after the session with the highlights. Meanwhile, let me know what else you think we should hit on.

And, if you happen to be at the event, instead of Buzzword Bingo, we're gonna play Freestyle Fodder. Print out this post and keep track of how many Q's I actually ask versus ad-lib.

OMMA Global
Marriott Marquis
55 Fourth Street, San Francisco, CA

March 18, 2010
11:30am

Is Your Company Spending Too Much on Search?

Search may be the last click for customers who are buying what you have to sell. But that click often comes at the end of the consumer’s online marketing journey -- which includes exposure to banners, video ads, mobile messages and various other marketing techniques. Up to now, search has gotten much of the credit -- and the budget -- for making the sale. Smart search experts, however, recognize they don’t operate in a void, and more of them are studying and reporting how their discipline works in conjunction with other forms of marketing. They believe that by showing you the impact of marketing dollars spent "upstream," they can accurately address if your company is spending too much or too little on search. Others, however, are not so sure. This panel will discuss the unpredictable effects of search’s evolving upstream approach. Could it be a minefield for the search industry or will search finally step into the role as your strategic adviser? Find out what you have to gain either way.

Panelists:

Chad Baldwin, VP, Sales, North America, Kenshoo

Gerry Bavaro, VP, Managing Director, Resolution Media

Mike Moran, Chief Strategist, Converseon

Esco Strong, Director, Analytics, Microsoft Advertising

Moderator:

Aaron Goldman, Managing Partner, Connectual

Questions for the Panel

(Note: I will not get to all of these and won’t ask them in this order so be ready to improvise with me!)

Update 3/19: Well, I made it through half the Q's. See below in italics for choice sound-bytes from the panel. All in all, it was a great session. Thanks to my panelists for sharing their wisdom and to everyone who turned out in the audience!

Role of Search in the Mix

Before we can talk about proper budget allocation between search and other channels, I think we need to talk about the role of search in the marketing and media mix. Now, of course, this will be different for each marketer but give our audience a framework for how to think about the role search can play for their business? What part of the purchase funnel does search address?

Chad: Over 50% of new customer acquisition comes from search

Gerry: Search is part of a long trail. (AG: Hopefully it’s a happy trail!) You have to walk before you run.

Mike: Search is not a tool, it’s a moment in time. You don’t ask what the role of the telephone was in driving sales, do you?

When we talk about “spending too much on search,” we can be referring to many different things -- media costs for paid search, labor costs for natural search, technology costs for both and, certainly, opportunity costs for both. How does the approach to this conversation change if we’re talking about paid search or SEO? Or does it not change at all?

Gerry: Think about bucketing media into paid, earned and owned

Chad: Need to track every single event to conversion

Esco: It’s not about asking if I spend too much on search, it’s am I spending it in the right way or am I spending enough on other channels?

Mike: When it comes to SEO, many people don’t think about it until after they build the website. That’s like building a house and saying, “OK, now we need to figure out the plumbing.”

Big Picture

Mike reminds us that before we get into discussing advanced attribution modeling, we need to consider that most businesses that sell their products and services offline can’t tell what happened online to result in a sale. What are some basic best practices for these companies?

Mike: Too many clients think, “We went into marketing to get away from the math.” Don’t focuse on numbers, focus on answers or insights.

Best Practices

As we move into the online arena, where tracking is most robust, it’s clearly a challenge to isolate the impact each touchpoint has on your brand from search to display to social to mobile. How does one get started on building a basic attribution model?

Mike: Do it wrong, quickly. Whatever you do will be better than doing nothing.

Once you have a working model and data coming in, what’s the best way to analyze and act on that data? Is it just about redistributing credit for sales? Or are there other ways to apply this data?

What’s the biggest challenge to getting attribution right?

What’s the biggest mistake you see people make when it comes to attribution and budget allocation?

Can you share some examples of companies that have successfully created and applied attribution models to drive more marketing ROI? What typically happens to the credit for sales that search gets in these situations? More, less, same?

Players

Who needs to be involved in the allocation and attribution conversation? Which departments internally within the corporation? Which external partners? From an agency standpoint, who needs to be involved?

Mike: as few people as possible!

Ultimately, who should have ownership?

Tools

What tools and technologies are available for marketers and agencies looking to determine the proper budget allocation and attribution models for their business?

Chad: it’s a statistical problem. At Kenshoo (alert: sales plug!), we have PhD's working on technologies that can help solve it.

Will we ever get to the point where we can take people out of the equation and the technology can “do it all?”

Esco: it’s equal parts art and science.

Future

How do you think the attribution conversation will change in the coming years?

In 5 years, what will we be talking about on panels like this at conferences? Will we still have attribution and allocation panels at conferences?

Audience Q: How do you get everyone at the table to tackle these thorny issues?

AG: Free food!

Mobile on the Brain: Stop the Madness!

2010-03-05T17:29:00.004-06:00

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Last night I moderated CIMA's "Mobile Madness" event. Had a great time riffing with the panel...

Courtney Jane Acuff - VP, Director, Denuo
Erin (Mack) McKelvey - Senior VP Marketing, Millennial Media
Gian Fulgoni - Chairman, comScore
Josh Cherfoli - Online & Relationship Marketing Manager, Porsche Cars North America

Here are the Q's I asked -- almost all of which were on my initial prep sheet, that was a first! -- along with highlights from panelists responses.

Basics

Let’s get our terminology down. When we’re talking about navigating the Internet on our phones, we call it the mobile web. So what do we call it when we’re navigating the web on computers and laptops?

Gian - Fixed Internet

Courtney - it's just the Internet!

Josh - I like to call it the fat web.

Formats

It seems like display ads from folks like AdMob, Quattro, and Millennial provide the most scale right now for marketers and the most monetization for publishers. But that seems like such a Web 1.0 way of doing things. “Let’s just take the ads we run on the fat and put them on the mobile web.” There has to be a smarter way to take advantage of a device that is more personal and boasts voice and geo-location capabilities. So what's the “killer” mobile marketing app? Has it been conceived yet?

Mack - you have to fish where the fish are and right now that on WAP sites and apps.

Per eMarketer, in 2012, the split in mobile advertising spend will be almost equal between messaging, display, and search. If you had to pick one that you think will come out on top, which would you pick and why?

Courtney - search is a gateway drug.

Budgets

Per eForecasts, there will be 3 times as many mobiles as PCs by 2010. Why don’t brands spend 3x on mobile as they do on standard online ads?

Gian - it always takes time for marketers to adopt new channels.

Should all marketers be active in mobile or are there some that just aren’t a fit? How do you respond to marketers that say, “We need to build a mobile app” the way they said “We need a Facebook page” last year?

Courtney - If I have to give another Mobile 101...

Do all brands need a WAP site?

Everyone - yes!

Audience

Why is Porsche active in mobile? It's just kids out there texting and no-one ever bought a car from their cell phone?

Josh - we want to let our audience consume our content wherever and whenever they want.

Tools

What tools are available to help marketers and agencies deploy SMS campaigns?

Mack - Vibes Media has a good one (plugs Jack Philbin in audience).

Measurement

What are best practices for measuring mobile marketing? Do most standard ad servers and web analytics technologies incorporate mobile metrics? Does comScore have mobile-specific measurement capabilities?

Gian - comScore has a 40,000 person mobile panel. The metric to measure sure ain't the click!

Mack - ad servers like DoubleClick and Atlas are compatible for mobile and the networks have their own in-house servers too.

Best Practices

Can you share an example of a mobile campaign that you’ve personally worked on that succeeded?

Courtney gave an awesome example from HP but it was way too intense and complex to recap here.

Given that mobile's so hard to plan and execute, what's the best way to approach it? (Think I made reference at this point to holing up in a room with white boards and a joint.)

Courtney - get all the decision-makers and gatekeepers together at the outset.

What’s the biggest mistake marketers make when approaching mobile?

Josh - not thinking about the objectives.

Future

What will the mobile landscape look like in 5 years? What will be the role of Google in mobile marketing? Apple? The carriers?

Gian - don't rule out the carriers. They're gonna be more than just dumb pipes!

Update 3/8: Good recap of the discussion and some of Courtney's finer points on the Denuology blog.

Sound Check with Paul and John; Where's George and Ringo?

2010-02-24T20:50:00.005-06:00

Original Image Sources

Today's Search Insider column is a double-feature with sound-bytes from 2 heavy hitters in the space -- Paul Gunning, CEO of Tribal DDB Worldwide and John Battelle, CEO of Federated Media Publishing.

I've been very fortunate to have the support of many influential and insightful industry figures throughout the process of writing my book. I've conducted over 50 interviews to date with another 50+ in the works. It's been challenging to coordinate schedules much less take copious notes and weave them into the running manuscript.

That said, it's been well worth it as the end product will be much more powerful than anything I could've written in a silo. And, to top it off, I've been able to re-purpose the material into some fun Search Insider columns.

Here's the blurb from today's piece...

What Paul Gunning and John Battelle Learned From Google
Posted by Aaron Goldman on Feb 24, 10:06 AM
This is the fourth in a series of columns I'm publishing in MediaPost featuring interviews I've conducted while writing my book, "Everything I Know About Marketing I Learned From Google." Today is a 2-for-1 special with Paul Gunning and John Battelle. Gunning is CEO at Tribal DDB Worldwide. Battelle is CEO of Federated Media (FM) Publishing, and author of "The Search," a book that stands the test of time as the defining narrative on the rise of Google and the importance of search. So, what did these captains of industry learn from Google? Read on...

Book Preview

2010-02-23T20:24:00.003-06:00

Yesterday, the TechJournal South posted this brief preview of my book. In it, I share some context around 5 of my 20 Googley Lessons.

FYI, I've now completed 12 chapters totaling 184 pages and 45,00+ words. Hoping to have the first 15 chapters done by the end of the week. Giddyup!

Stay tuned for tomorrow's Search Insider column, which will feature interviews with Paul Gunning of Tribal DDB and John Battelle of FM Publishing.

All in the Family

2010-02-11T20:37:00.005-06:00

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Was pleased as punch to be quoted in MediaPost along with my little brother, David, opining on Google's Super Bowl ad. Thankfully the punch was not super spiked. More commentary on the Connectual blog. Now we have to find a topic that the entire Goldman bunch can weigh in on!

We're Off to See the Wizard, the Googley Wizard of Biz

2010-02-11T07:45:00.002-06:00

Image Source (Magic Google 8-ball mine)

In yesterday's Search Insider column, I ran my interview with Scott Hagedorn and teased him up as the "wizard of biz." Now you can see why.

Here's the blurb...

What Scott Hagedorn Learned From Google
Posted by Aaron Goldman on Feb 10, 11:29 PM
Today, Scott Hagedorn sifts through the sizzle and the steak. Scott is the U.S. CEO of PHD, a global media network under the Omnicom Media Group umbrella. Scott is a digital guy at heart with roles as U.S. Director of Digital at OMD and Chief Interactive Officer at RAPP on his resume. But, above all, he's a self-professed geek when it comes to data, analytics, and technology. In fact, he's been known to bust out 4-D factorial models on spec in new-business pitches. So, what did the wizard of biz learn from Google? Read on...

Throwing the Book at 'Em

2010-02-06T08:27:00.018-06:00

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Just a quick update on the progress of my book -- aka the reason my blogging has been so light.

On Monday, I turned in chapters 1 thru 10 along with the introduction. The manuscript checked in at 37,158 words -- the equivalent of roughly 150 pages. In all, I've planned for 20 chapters -- one for each Googley Lesson -- so I'm half-way there!

By the time this sucker is edited down, we'll probably be looking at a lean, mean 250 pages which is a good fighting weight for this project -- substantial enough to include a host of case studies and practical takeaways but svelte enough to be a quick read with punchy copy and quick hits throughout.

I'm in the process of redesigning my book website in tandem with the dream team at Elevate Studios. We're looking at a 4/1 launch date for the website which just happens to be one day after my full manuscript is due to McGraw-Hill.

On the new site, I'll share many of the interviews I've conducted with various industry luminaries like Seth Godin, Rishad Tobaccowala, Scott Hagedorn, Scott Shamberg, Matt Spiegel, Quentin George, Paul Gunning, Tony Bombacino, Olivier Lemaignen, Lance Neuhauser, Ed Wise, Penry Price, Jon Raj, Sean Cheyney, Omar Tawakol, and Debra Zahay among others. FYI, I've got another 50 or so currently scheduled so you can be sure I'll be practicing what I preach in chapter 2 when I talk about tapping the wisdom of crowds.

I'll also share excerpts of my manuscript so everyone can get a feel for the book content and tone. (Although, if you're a regular reader of this blog or my Search Insider column, you probably have a good feel for the latter.)

So far, the process has been pretty smooth but definitely more of a commitment than I expected. I've been writing bi-weekly columns for 3 years -- each one clocking in at abut 1,000 words. The goal for my manuscript is 60,000 words so I figured it'd be just like writing 60 columns. I took on the project in late December so I calculated that I'd just need to write the equivalent of 1 column per day in Q1 and I'd hit my 3/31 publisher deadline.

Of course, it's not that easy. For one thing, I don't get a chance to write every day what with my day job and all. And it's much different than writing bylines in that each chapter or sub-section doesn't stand alone. With a column, I can sit down and crank something out in a few hours. With the book, sometimes it takes me half a day just to get my head back to where I left off the last writing session. In turn, I've found the best way to create a cohesive manuscript is to flip on the out-of-office auto-reply and devote entire days and, twice so far, entire weeks to writing.

I also underestimated how difficult it would be to schedule and execute all the interviews. The folks whose brains I'm looking to tap also carry some of the craziest calendars and, at times, it's felt like herding cats. But it's important for me to include a variety of perspectives because I don't think anyone wants to read 250 pages of what Goldman thinks about marketing. Accordingly, I've sought out a mix of marketers, agency wonks, authors, academics, and entrepreneurs to share their POV's.

All in all, I'm very pleased with how the manuscript is shaking out and am very appreciative of all the industry heavyweights that have donated their time and energy to the cause.

Once I turn in my manuscript on 3/31, it goes through an extensive editing and production process and then sales and marketing efforts ramp up. The goal right now is a Fall launch but I'll be emerging from my blogging hiatus in April.

Until then, thanks for all the support and please weigh in on Twitter @GoogleyLessons and let me know what you learned from Google and/or what you'd like to see in the book. I plan on including selected tweets in the book and, for every 100 followers, I'll pick one from the entire list to-date to receive a signed copy.

Now, it's time for this booky to find a bookie and pound the Colts.

Gettin' Googley With Rishad Tobaccowala

2010-01-28T07:23:00.006-06:00

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The learning continues. Two weeks ago, it was Seth Godin. Yesterday, it was Rishad Tobaccowala. In two weeks, it will be Scott Hagedorn (CEO of PHD US). Today, it's back into my bunker to work on my book.

Here's the blurb...

What Rishad Tobaccowala Learned From Google
Posted by Aaron Goldman on Jan 27, 10:59 AM
Rishad Tobaccowala is a management board member of VivaKi, Publicis' digital marketing shared services and incubation group. Rishad is a true pioneer in the space. So what lessons did the man who's constantly reinventing learn from Google?
» 3 Comments

365 words on MLK Day

2010-01-18T20:20:00.012-06:00

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Today I participated in a cool project called the 3six5 created by Len Kendall and Daniel Honigman. In a nutshell, every day in 2010 they're having a different person write about what's happening in the world from their point of view.

I signed up for January 18th knowing it was Martin Luther King Day but not knowing what I'd write about. Fortunately inspiration stuck last night and, once I started writing today, it was all I could do to keep within the 365 word limit.

Here's more info about the project and here's my post. Now, it's back into hiding so I can work on my book.

Seth Godin's Googley Lessons

2010-01-13T20:00:00.006-06:00

Original Image Source (Thought bubble is mine)

As mentioned in my last post, I'm hard at work on a book for McGraw-Hill which is why Digital Sea Change hasn't been updated for some time.

I've also had to scale back my Search Insider column in Media Post. For the rest of Q1, I'll be using that space to share interviews I'm conducting with various industry thought-leaders while researching and preparing my manuscript.

Today marks my first installment, an interview with Seth Godin. Here's the blurb...

What Seth Godin Learned From Google
Posted by Aaron Goldman on Jan 13, 12:54 PM
So what lessons did the father of permission marketing learn from Google? For one, "relevancy rules." And, "tap the wisdom of crowds" -- but think of them more as tribes, since "crowds are close to mobs -- out of control and sometimes angry."

Booked

2009-12-16T23:42:00.000-06:00

I'm very excited to announce that I've agreed to terms with McGraw-Hill to publish my book, "Everything I Know About Marketing I Learned From Google." (Yes, they cut out "I Need" from the title to tighten it up.)

We're looking at a Fall 2010 release which means I need to pour all my creative writing energy into my manuscript for the foreseeable future. Accordingly, posting will be light on Digital Sea Change for the next few months.

As I discussed in last night's post about WWGD, I'll be interviewing many industry bigwigs as I cull case studies, POV's and misc. sound-bytes to beef up my narrative. My hope is to publish excerpts on LearnFromGoogle.com as well as in future Search Insider bylines. So I won't be going dark completely. I'll make sure to link to these and any other related postings here on Digital Sea Change.

I'll also be active on twitter and picking the most insightful tweets from others @LearnFromGoogle to include in the book. And for every 100 followers, I'll pick one person at random (from the entire list of followers) to receive a signed copy. So please follow along even if you don't want to participate in the conversation.

Thanks for your support as I sink my teeth into this project. And special thanks to everyone that thought I was book-worthy and thumbs-upped my MediaPost column seeding the topic. If you want to be notified when the book is published, please register your email on my Learn From Google site.

Have a great holiday season! And be sure to check out my recent post on the Connectual blog relaying thoughts shared with MediaPost on preparing for 2010 and 10 digital marketing tips for the coming year.

Search and Social: See You at the Crossroads

2009-12-16T23:13:00.000-06:00

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The intersection of search marketing and social media has been a hot topic lately. I've weighed in on it with posts like Search and Social: Wherein Lies the Truth?, Search and Social: Playing Nicely Together and Is Social Media the New Search?

I also moderated a session at SES Chicago on the link between search and social. I teased up my panel in the post SES Chicago Preview and Shameless Self-Promotion and then recapped it with SES Chicago Search + Social Session in Pics.

I also did an interview for Webmaster Radio with Marshall Clark at the conference on "Social Search and Distributive Reputation Systems."

For more context on that last thread, check out Marshall's deck below. I've also posted the PPTs from the other 3 gents in my session with their permission. As you'll see, we have 4 very different takes on the topic. Feel free to comment here or reach out directly to the presenters with feedback.

I'd like to thank each of the panelists again for their participation pre, during, and post-session. All I can say to you fellas now is that, with your decks forever enshrined on Slideshare, tell me what you gonna do when there ain't nowhere to hide, when judgement comes for you cuz its gonna come for you!

Search And Soical - SES Chicago - Marshall Clark - Organic

View more presentations from SearchAndSocial.

Search And Soical - SES Chicago - Tobias Peggs - OneRiot

View more presentations from SearchAndSocial.

Search And Soical - SES Chicago - Brian Boland - Facebook

View more presentations from SearchAndSocial.

Search And Soical - SES Chicago - Bryan Simkins - FedEx

View more presentations from SearchAndSocial.

Keepin' 'Em Buzzin'

2009-12-16T22:07:00.000-06:00

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Today's Search Insider column features the bi-annual Search Insider Summit Buzz-o-Meter. Take a flyer (get it, fly-er?) to see what you missed in Park City a few weeks ago.

Here's the blurb:

Search Insider Summit Buzz: Get Your Cut
Posted by Aaron Goldman on Dec 16, 11:34 AM
In a world where real-time is becoming the only time, I feel like a bit of a dope relaying the Search Insider Summit Buzz-o-Meter nearly two weeks after the event. Alas, it's just the way the publishing schedule shook out this season. So here goes.
» 1 Comments

411 on WWGD

2009-12-15T22:48:00.023-06:00

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I ordered a copy of What Would Google Do? By Jeff Jarvis (sans handsome t-shirt) shortly after it was published. And then it sat on my desk for a while. A long while. That’s not a rare occurrence for me. I had -- and still have -- the best of intentions for the last 10+ business books I bought but my to-do list between my company and my family is never-ending. Sometimes tackling it feels like shoveling while it’s still snowing.

EIKAMILFG

As you probably know, I’m working on a book of my own about lessons learned from Google titled, “Everything I Know About Marketing I Learned From Google.” FYI, my publisher -- with whom I’ve just agreed to terms and will reveal as soon as the signed contract arrives -- cut “I Need” from the title to make it shorter. Surprised they didn’t recommend going with EIKAMILFG given that acronymization is all the rage these days -- not to mention, the success-to-date of WWGD.

At first, I didn’t want to read WWGD for fear of clouding my own creative process. So I was fine with my copy sitting untouched in the business book graveyard that my desk has become. Then, after seeing Jarvis speak at SES Chicago last week -- and fortunately managing to stay dry in the front row -- I realized how closely aligned our points-of-view were and knew it’d be a sin to not consider what he wrote as I get deeper into my manuscript.

Overall, I really enjoyed WWGD. And it was a surprisingly quick read. If only writing 240 pages were that easy as reading them!

In this post, I’d like to share some of Jarvis’ best pearls of wisdom. I’ll add context to his quips and sprinkle in some of my own thoughts to make this more of a narrative. By no means, should this be a cliff notes for WWGD, though. If I’ve piqued your interest here, please buy the book.

SSDB

First, lest you think my book will be a case of Same Shit Different Book, let me point out some of the key differentiating factors...

In WWGD, Jarvis discusses how Google has changed the world. In EIKAMILFG -- rolls right off the tongue, aye? -- I will focus on how Google has changed the marketing world.

In WWGD, Jarvis lays out 40 “rules” for businesses operating in a Google world. In EIKAMILFG, I’ll lay out 20 lessons for marketers operating in a Google world.

In WWGD, Jarvis spends a lot of time talking about the how the news, media, and journalism fields have been impacted by the Big G. That’s clearly because those are the industries he knows best. In EIKAMILFG, I’ll spend my time talking about marketing and advertising. Those are the disciplines I know best. (Jarvis does devote a chapter to advertising, btw, and I’ll share my thoughts on that later.)

In WWGD, Jarvis takes a sarcastic and borderline snarky tone -- which makes for a more entertaining read, I might add. In EIKAMILFG, I’ll take a more prescriptive and borderline ironic tone -- as epitomized by the heavy use of emdashes -- that should be quite familiar to loyal Search Insider readers.

In WWGD, Jarvis laments that he cannot follow his own rules -- “If I had eaten my own dog food -- you wouldn’t be reading this book right now, at least not as a book. You’d be reading it online, for free, having discovered it via links and search. You’d be able to correct me, and I’d be able to update the book with the latest amazing stats about Google. We could join in conversations around the ideas here... If only books enabled links."

For EIKAMILFG, I’m taking a reverse approach. Links will enable the book. More specifically, tweets will enable the book. I’ve set up @LearnFromGoogle to gather and share -- or, as Jarvis might say, curate -- relevant bits of tid relating to lessons learned from Google. Many of these tweets will be printed in the margins of my book, providing additional insight and, hopefully, a dollop of humor to the narrative.

I’ll also be posting excerpts from the many interviews I’ll be conducting with various industry influentials throughout the process of completing my manuscript. Look for those on LearnFromGoogle.com. In turn, based on the response from the community, I’ll cull out the most popular and provocative quips and pepper them into the most relevant sections.

There are, of course, many similarities between WWGD and how EIKAMILFG is shaping up. Many of Jarvis’ rules map to my lessons. For the record, though, I completed my series in MediaPost of marketing lessons (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3), product development lessons, general business lessons (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3) and dating lessons prior to reading WWGD so know that these are all original thoughts.

FWIW

Before we get into some of my favorite nuggets from WWGD -- and, for what it's worth, I think Jarvis could give Rishad Tobaccowala a run for his money in the sound-byte department -- I want to circle back to the thread around Jarvis’ view of advertising in a “post-media” Google world.

Jarvis thinks ad agencies are doomed. He is of the mind that “your product can be your ad and your customers are your ad agency.”

I fully support tapping the wisdom of crowds to create advertising and cite Doritos in my book as an example of turning over the keys to consumers -- of course the irony there is Frito Lay still had to shell out millions for the Super Bowl media slot. Nonetheless, I still think there’s a place for advertising beyond just making good products and there’s a place for agencies beyond just making good ads.

In fact, I think the model for the agency of the future is Rishad’s own Denuo, a firm that appropriately carries the tagline, “Tomorrow Tangible Today.” And irony of ironies, Rishad is cited on numerous occasions in WWGD, even getting the final word in the second-to-last chapter comparing Apple to Google in that they both want “Godlike power.”

As Jarvis astutely observes, “Agencies will resist change until the economics of the industry change. Because agencies make a cut of what they spend, they are motivated to spend more on ads rather than to replace ad dollars with more valuable relationships between brands and customers.”

Here’s the thing about Denuo, though. They don’t spend a dime on media! They actually get paid for intellectual capital -- aka, ideas for ways to create more valuable relationships between brands and customers. Imagine that!

Sure enough, the agency of the future won’t be buying spots and dots -- that’s Google’s job now. They’ll be idea factories. And Denuo is proof that you can make money from your ideas.

FYI

OK, here are my favorite Jarvis-isms from WWGD…

On the notion of a “post-media company”: “Unlike Yahoo, Google is not a portal. It is a network and a platform. Google thinks in distributed ways. It goes to the people.” As Jarvis put it at SES Chicago, “Homepages are bullshit.” Indeed, the lesson for marketers here is that it’s arrogant to think that -- unless you’re Apple -- consumers want to come to you. Of course, that’s why Apple is my poster child for lesson #1, “Relevancy Rules.”

On the Dell Hell he raised: “I asked the Dell team whether this approach was efficient, fixing problems one blog kvetch at a time. They insisted yet.” This reminded me of the Broken Window Theory used to fight crime in NYC under Bratton’s watch. The idea was that if you started to arrest people for jumping turnstiles and clean up graffiti, there would be less crime in the subway and that would lead to less crime in the neighborhoods and so forth. In another ironic twist, Dell is now seemingly the poster child for social media -- although I have cautioned people about fawning over Dell’s Twitter sales figures.

On dealing with angry customers: “You hate the idea of not being in control of this conversation. But remember: When you hand over control, you start winning.” I’ll try and keep this in mind when my daughter gets old enough to argue.

On Google’s real breakthrough: “The single greatest transformative power of the internet and Google has little to do with technology or media or even business. It’s about people and making new connections among them. It all comes down to relationships.” Accordingly, the lesson of Google is not technology and algorithms, it's relationships and connections. Brin and Page’s Stanford paper that set the stage for Google was an algorithm based on humans voting with links, appropriately -- and humanly -- named Backrub. I believe so much in the power of relationships and connections, I bet my business on it.

On the significance of platforms (quoting Meg Hourihan, co-creator of Blogger): “What we say isn’t as important as the system that enables us to say it.” I struggled with this for a while. And then I remembered, without Blogger, you wouldn’t be reading this.

On the state of today’s news industry: “If the news business were invented today, post-link, everything about it -- how news is gathered and shared and even how a story is structured -- would be different. For example, in print, reporters are taught to include a background paragraph that sums up all that came before this article, just in case a reader missed something. But online, reporters can link to history rather than repeat it, because one reader might need to know more than a paragraph could impart whereas another reader, already informed, may not want to waste time on repetition.” Jarvis was clearly ahead of his time here. Just last week, Google unveiled an “experiment with a different format for presenting news coverage online” in partnership with the New York Times and Washington Post. In a nutshell, Living Stories aggregates various stories related to a larger news topic and changes the assembly of the page(s) based on what you’ve previously read. In another move to change how news is gathered, AOL just launched Seed.com -- a new distributed model for content development.

Many times throughout WWGD, Jarvis refers to a “virtuous cycle” created by Google. This ecosystem perpetuation is, more than anything, what I believe makes Google so successful…

1. On usage and market-share: “The more we click on search results, the smarter Google gets; the smarter Google gets, the better its results are, and the more we use Google.”

2. On the AdSense ecosystem: “The more Google sends traffic to sites with its ads, the more money it makes; the more money those sites make, the more content they can create for Google.” (Not to mention, the more money they can afford to spend with Google.)

3. On Googlejuice (love how he says it in one word like Beetlejuice... every 3rd time I read the word, I expected Michael Keaton to pop out): “The more links, clicks, and mentions you get, the higher you rise in Google’s search results, offering you potential for even more clicks.”

On how media companies try and put themselves and their content at the center and invite audiences in: “That’s not how their customers think of their worlds. People draw their me-spheres with themselves at the center and everyone else -- especially those who want their money -- on the outside.” Amen. Want to see this for yourself? Just do a focus group with the closest teenager on Facebook.

On this whole notion of privacy: “The more public you are, the easier you can be found, the more opportunities you have.” As I’ve said before, come the middle of the century, we won’t be building houses with curtains.

On the old role of government and media in organizing us: “The next generation of organizational enterprise -- the Facebooks, Flickrs and Wikipedias -- don’t organize us. They are platforms that help us organize ourselves.” Obama showed signed of getting this during his campaign but it’s gonna take more than a WhiteHouse.gov blog to keep the grassroots rootin’.

On blogs and its impact on the new media: “The writers are starting to outnumber the readers.” Alas, I know this all too well as I look at the Google Analytics reports for GoodWordBadWord.com!

On the commoditization of media: “Serve the niche well rather than the mass badly.” That’s what I told myself I was doing with GoodWordBadWord.com!

On middlemen and other “proprietors of inefficient marketplaces”: “Google isn’t their competitor. Google is the weapon their competitors wield.” Take that Murdoch!

On abundance breeding quality (another virtuous cycle) in movies and TV: “Once the people were given choice and control, they would tend to pick the good stuff. The more choice they had, the better the stuff they picked. The better the stuff they picked, the more Hollywood was forced to make good shows for them.” Gee, Golly, Glee.

On not waiting until products are perfect to release them: “Beta is Google’s way of never having to say they’re sorry.” Wish I could pass gas in beta!

On Google’s “Don’t Be Evil” credo: “As interaction explodes, the costs of evil are starting to outweigh the benefits… When people can talk openly with, about, and around you, screwing them is no longer a valid business strategy.” I certainly know where Michael Arrington stands on this one.

On the impact Google has had on our day-to-day lives: “Google has made us impatient people, more than we know. If we can get any of the world’s knowledge in a blink, why should we wait on hold or in line or until your office opens.” I, for one, have developed a serious case of Google-induced A.D.D.

On business models: “Beware any strategy built on protecting cannibalization, for it probably means the cannibals are at the door and ready to eat your lunch.” Hope the folks in Redmond filled up on breakfast!

On disclosures: “It could be corrupting if bloggers recommend products only to sell them. But the blogger’s brands and reputations are at stake. If I buy a wine you push and it’s bad, I won’t trust your judgment again. But if I find a new wine I like, I’ll give credit to you and to the store that made it possible.” I thought long and hard about this when launching my business with the model that has me getting paid by the companies I recommend. But then I realized the market would keep me honest. One bad referral and the brand is permanently damaged -- not to mention, I only get paid based on completed transactions.

On the Google philosophy: “Create and manage abundance rather than control scarcity.” Not sure how the digital velvet ropes for new products like Google Wave apply here.

On why Google is always pushing for faster, free-er Internet (quoting Larry Page): “If we [Google], have 10% better connectivity in the U.S., we get 10% more revenue in the U.S.” This reaffirms my business lesson, “Find your golden goose and then give away the farm.” As I suspected, “Someone at the Googleplex has calculated the amount of money Google makes for each new Internet page view -- not page view on a Google property, page view anywhere on the Internet. And I can assure you that amount is more than any other company in the world. I can also assure you that amount multiplied by all the new Internet page views generated each day is not less than what Google is spending on these programs.”

On Googlifying the airline industry and fostering social connections on flights: “Remember, your company is the company you keep.” I chuckled thinking about this one as, just this morning, I had my seat reassigned on a flight from Chicago to New York planting me next to an old friend of mine whose company I think I'll keep.

On Googlifying education: “I imagine a new educational ecology… where the skills of research and reasoning and skepticism are valued over the skills of memorization and calculation.” In my day, the TI-82 was the reason we argued it was stupid to memorize facts and formulas, today it’s Google.

On the Googlification of government: “The information government knows must be online with permanent addresses so we can link to, discuss it, and download and analyze it.” Not so sure I’m with Jarvis here. Seems like an Al-Qaeda wet dream -- well, if there were 72 virgins in it too. I certainly agree that a more open government is a better government -- and, in that sense, WhiteHouse.gov is an accomplishment -- but there’s got to be a firm line drawn in the sand when it comes to information sharing.

To be sure, Jarvis adds: “I’m not suggesting that government should be crowdsourced. I don’t want rule by the mob, even the smart mob. The internet requires filters, moderators, fact-checkers, and skeptics. So will the conversation that powers the country. That is the definition of a republic: representatives as filters.” Now there’s a notion I think we can all agree on bi-partisanly.

On privacy, again: “Privacy is not the issue. Control is. We need control of our personal information, whether it is made public and to whom, and how it is used. That is our right, at least for matters outside the public sphere.” I couldn’t agree more. That’s why I sold my non-personally identifiable information on eBay a couple years ago.

On redefining selfish behavior: “For all these reasons and one more powerful than any of them -- ego -- we will continue to reveal more of ourselves online. We will want to speak and to be discovered. Our online shadows become our identities. To stand out from the crowd, we need distinct identities. I’ll bet we’ll soon see parents giving children unique names so they can stand alone in Google searches.” Consider me guilty as charged! My daughter Eliara was the recipient of a made-up name landing her top rankings on the search engines.

On sharing the mundane of one’s personal life on Twitter and the like (citing Leisa Reichelt): “Ambient intimacy is good for friendship. It makes us feel closer to people we care for but in whose lives we’re not able to participate as closely as we’d like. And on a practical level… It also saves a lot of time when you finally do get to catch up with these people in real life.” I explored this phenomenon in my post, “Happy Birthday! Love, Your Wall.”

On whether Google is making us smarter or stupider: “Is what I do now better or worse? I’m not sure that judgment is meaningful. I learn differently, discuss differently, see differently, think differently. Thinking differently is the key product and skill of the Google age.” Hmm, seems to be a lesson learned from Apple here, whose slogan, “Think Different,” -- which I dubbed one of the best slogans of all time -- see right rail on GoodSloganBadSlogan.com -- stands the test of time.

WWJJD

OK, let’s close it out here. At 3,200+ words, I’m starting to wish I’d have poured tonight’s creative energy into my own book!

All in all, WWGD is a compelling read and, again, if any of the nuggets I’ve served here have tickled your palette, I urge you to buy the bird.

And please sign up to be notified when my book is published in Fall of 2010. I can only hope it’s worthy of being mentioned in WWGD’s company -- and that I can have some pimp merchandise of my own.

As for the rest of my manuscript, for better or worse, going forward I’ll be heavily considering What Would Jeff Jarvis Do?

When It Comes to Dating, Do You Feel Lucky?

2009-12-11T06:46:00.001-06:00

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Whoops! Forgot to post my latest byline...

As promised, I related lessons about dating learned from Google. Thanks to some great suggestions tweeted @LearnFromGoogle and an interview with a Google insider, I was able to come up with 15 gems. Here's the blurb...
---
Everything I Need to Know About Dating I Learned From Google
Posted by Aaron Goldman on Dec 2, 2:02 PM
Today I'd like to take a spin on the lighter side in my series of lessons learned from Google. To date, we've covered marketing lessons, product development lessons, and general business lessons. Now let's see what Google can teach up about dating...
---
This will be my last in the "Learning From Google" series for a while. My next column will be the Search Insider Summit buzz-o-meter and then I'll likely take a hiatus to focus on writing my book... which I just agreed to terms with a publisher on! More detail coming soon.

My 3 Cents

2009-12-11T06:13:00.000-06:00

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I've been busy spouting off on the latest digital marketing news to anyone that will listen in the press and on the Connectual blog.

Below are 3 recent topics I weighed in on...

1. News Corp potentially pulling out of the Google index and granting an exclusive to Bing. Two citations in Media Post. Expanded POV on Connectual blog...

Sorry News Corp, News Not Core to Search Advertising
Why Murdoch's Threats Don't Scare Google

2. Yahoo and Microsoft commencing their search deal. Citation in MediaPost. Expanded POV on Connectual blog...

Yahoo and Bing: Four Months Later, Two-Tenths Lighter
One Milestone Down, Many More To Go

3. Google bowing real-time results and the intersection of search and social. Interview at SES Chicago with Lee Odden of Top Rank Marketing.

SES Chicago Search + Social Session in Pics

2009-12-10T18:34:00.010-06:00

After some shameless promotion, my SES Chicago session on the link between Search and Social was well-attended and well-received.

You can see the panel assembling in the pic above. From right to left that's Bryan Simkins of FedEx, Marshall Clark of Organic, Tobias Peggs of OneRiot, Brian Boland of Facebook and yours truly. Hat tip to Chad Richards from Firebelly for the TwitPic.

The content was quite diverse reflecting the individual POV of each speaker and his respective company.

By way of quick recap...

Marshall outlined his Page Rank for People postulate.

Then Tobias broke down One Riot's Pulse Rank algorithm.

In turn, I joked with Brian that Facebook should roll out Poke Rank. He didn't take the bait but did demonstrate how the Facebook ad platform incorporates some of the same concepts as SEM.

Bryan wrapped things up by tackling the recency vs. relevancy conundrum that's surfaced with Google's integration of real-time results onto the SERP by pitting man vs. machine.

I just asked the panelists for permission to post their presentations. As soon as I get that, I'll add their decks as an update to this post. In the meantime, here are some images that represent the highlights of the presos. You'll have to check back for the full context -- although the Alt Tags will provide some clues.

Update 12/18: Rather than update this already long and visual post with the decks from the session, I decided to create a new post to house them -- Search and Social: See You at the Crossroads.

Google Real Time Search Optimization

2009-12-07T15:23:00.007-06:00

Today, Google rolled out Real-Time search integrated into the SERP's. And just like when I heard about Bing's Twitter integration, my first inclination was to try and get myself a page 1 ranking. Sure enough, it wasn't that difficult...

Here's a screenshot of the (fleeting) results for the query "Google Real Time Search."

And here's a closeup...

The presentation of these results is interesting. They're called "Latest Results" (presumably, because no-one outside the digital marketing world knows what "real-time" means) and they auto-refresh nearly every second with a "pause" button available to stop the madness. There's a scroll bar to the right which helps this set of results really pop on the SERP. For straight articles and blog posts, the results look like any other Google news result but, for tweets, the listings appear in a cute little talking bubble.

This is the first time I've seen Google embed anything on its SERPs with auto-motion, as opposed to static listings. It certainly draws the eye to these results. I wonder if this is a precursor for richer ad units. Get people used to seeing movement on the SERPs and then hit them with ads that float around and whatnot. OK, that's probably a stretch but a guy can dream, can't he?

Update 12/9: Today I tried doing an entirely knew kind of Google bomb. I was curious if Google and/or Twitter were filtering tweets that get pulled thru to Google.com. So I dropped an f-bomb in a tweet and nervously monitored the SERP. Sure enough, it never saw the light of day on Google. And just to be sure it wasn't an anomaly, I let another tweet fly with the same keyword sans f-bomb and, sure enough, it was picked right up...

Search and Social: Playing Nicely Together

2009-12-05T13:33:00.026-06:00

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Day 3 of the Search Insider Summit brought a keynote with Chris Copeland of Group M and Graham Mudd of comScore on the interplay between search and social. They covered the key findings from research released in October.

When I first read the press release about the study, I was struck by how much the results seemed like no-brainer (even potentially misleading) material and posted an admittedly hasty response -- Search and Social: Wherein Lies the Truth.

So I was excited to have the opportunity to see the research presented live and share some of my thoughts on how the data was interpreted. Sure enough, as he took the stage, Chris (justifiably) called me out for the hasty post -- although, in my defense, at least I was transparent about it -- and assured me that he'd leave 5 minutes at the end for my questions.

The data Chris and Graham presented was certainly compelling. I won't rehash it all here as it's available through Group M Search. The basic gist is that they saw significant lifts in search query volume and click-rate when consumers were exposed to both search and social media vs. search alone. These lifts were more pronounced when looking at campaign brand terms (32 point lift), brand product terms (42 pts) and general product attributes (21 pts). Chris pointed out that this demonstrates the impact social media can have on influencing the consideration phase of the purchase funnel.

A few times during the presentation Chris suggested that marketers may be investing too much in their paid search programs to maximize coverage on top-of-funnel terms when siphoning some of that budget off to social media could more effectively drive consideration and, in turn, marketers could capitalize by buying lower funnel (typically less expensive) terms.

After the presentation, I began my comments by applauding the research and recognizing that there's not enough research about the interplay between search and social so any data is good data. However, as I mentioned in my previous post, it seems like you could replace social media with any other marketing tactic or media channel and find the same results -- that the combination of Platform X plus search drives a lift over search alone. After all, people need to be motivated by some external stimulus to search.

In fact, a few years ago, iProspect put out a study that showed that 37% of all searches were influenced by TV and 30% from print. Accordingly, I asked Chris if it might make more sense to reallocate dollars from search to other media channels besides social if the end goal is driving a higher search response (which was the only metric measured in the Group M/comScore report).

Chris acknowledged there are a number of different directions they could've taken this research and reiterated that they plan on releasing a phase 2 report with deeper analysis into conversion activity. But he reminded me that, when it comes to budget allocation, this is not a zero sum game. Most clients aren't maxing out their paid search opportunity, much less fully-funding other channels. As Chris sees it, the data from this study should help justify increased investment in social media but where that budget should come from will depend on each marketer's unique situation.

Other areas that they plan to dig deeper into for the phase 2 report include categories beyond auto, CPG and telecom. Comparing the lift relative to other channels is not on the docket but something they may explore down the road. I also asked if they'd be able to break down the components of "influenced social media" futher to see what impact things like FB fan pages have vs. iPhone apps but Chris pointed out that it's tough to isolate these platforms because they don't really have a 1-to-1 relationship with the consumer. In other words, they all work together to influence the consumer and not independently in silos.

All in all, I was satisfied with the rationale Chris and Graham provided for how this study was set up and what they set out to prove. It's more about just understanding the impact of social on search and less about making sweeping recommendations and advocating for specific budget reallocation decisions. In this context, I certainly agree that the mission was accomplished and look forward to seeing how they build on it for phase 2.

I'll be getting into this topic again on Monday in my SES Chicago panel -- more info on that session in my post, SES Chicago Preview and Shameless Self-Promotion. Look forward to continuing the dialogue there and in the blogo/twitter-sphere.

Update 12/16: Just posted the 4 decks from my SES panelists. Great stuff from Marshall Clark of Organic, Tobias Peggs of One Riot, Brian Boland of Facebook, and Bryan Simkings of FedEx. See "Search and Social: See You at the Crossroads."

Search Engine Idol: and the winner is...

2009-12-04T14:09:00.025-06:00

Update Dec. 2, 2010: Milo acquired by eBay for $75 million. Hope no-one forgets where Milo got its big break!

Congrats to Milo on winning the first season of Search Engine Idol at the MediaPost Search Insider Summit today.

It was a hard fought contest with Milo scoring the max 100 on the crowd-o-meter (using this awesome PPT template from SAP). Second place went to Goby with a 97. Search3 was appropriately 3rd with 96 (skewed by David Fireman's self-clapping close to the microphone) and 4th was Info.com (disclosure: Connectual partner) with a respectable 76. Unfortunately, Factery Labs had to bail last minute and couldn't participate.

Another cool PPT integration from SAP that I used was a streaming tweet bar at the bottom of the slide. Here's an abridged recap of the chatter...

MikeMoran: Watching demo of Milo search engine that locates products in physical stores near you--even clothing. #mpsis

telerob: #mpsis - milo.com uses a dog? Hello Lycos rip off.

Eric_Hoffman: "Future of search is about context" per Mark Watkins of Goby, very true. #mpsis

jefffig: Goby is pretty cool. Just tried Arts & Culture in Salt Lake for tomorrow and got relevant results. #mpsis

telerob: Goby contextual search engine is unique but no reason bing or google couldn't replicate this and crush them. #mpsis

mattkdecide: Can I make the big screen? Wow I'm famous. Hi mom! #MPSIS

outofmygord: #mpsis Search3 interface just doesn't work for users..too complicated..asks too much from user. Doesn't scan well

MikeMoran: Now we are seeing Search3 at #mpsis, which does comparisons of search results across engines

janellandis: dont future search engines that want to compete with google need to simplify the process? methinks search3.com complicates it. #mpsis

telerob: the Search3 is meh. Nothing of interest. #mpsis

HeidiJack: Milo.com v. Goby v. Search3 v. Info.com competition #MPSIS Milo would rock on the phone! Goby great categories with pics, Search3 compiler

chiefmartec: what if Aaron Goldman's desktop background wins best UI in search engine idol #mpsis

MikeMoran: Now looking at info.com at #mpsis which is a meta search engine with deeper vertical provider relationships (e.g., become.com for shopping)

telerob: Some one wake me when info.com is done. #mpsis

cknoch: #MPSIS tweets in preso has me reading the Tweets instead of paying attention to the preso :)

cdanuloff: Moby and Milo are well executed & useful vertical engines - lots of value add. Info.com and Search3 are good ideas but not there yet. #mpsis

aarongoldman: First season of Search Engine Idol was a hit! Congrats to Milo.com (@wherecanibuy) on winning and thx to all contestants & judges. #mpsis

Looking forward to season two of Search Engine Idol at the next SIS in April. Thinking of mixing things up and having Rob Griffin (@telerob) sit on the judge's panel. We'll see if he's as Simon Cowell-esque when he has to actually say it to the faces of the contestants.

Another change I'm considering for next time is making all the contestants do the same query in their demo (and not telling them in advance what that keyword will be). Methinks that'll level the playing field pretty well.

Thanks again to all the contestants and judges (Charles Knight of AltSearchEngines.com, Robert Pettee of Lending Tree, and Mark Scholz of HP) as well as the audience for keeping things lively.

And congrats again to Milo for fetching the top spot!

Update 12/8: MediaPost just posted the video of Search Engine Idol to the gallery. I've embedded it here so, if you missed the event, you can see all the action. Enjoy!

Assorted Musings

2009-11-22T20:37:00.005-06:00

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Peep the Connectual blog for 3 recent posts featuring my mug in the press.

1. 5 Ideal Mobile Ad Formats for a Post-AdMob Google -- POV in MediaPost on Google's AdMob acquisition and some further thoughts on AdMob's current ad formats (spoiler-alert: I'm not bullish on long-term prospects og mobile display ads).

2. Cracking the Blagica Files -- Interview with Blagica Stefanovski for her new blog series.

3. Engagement Does Not Equal Opportunity -- Weighing in with MediaPost on the meaning (or lack thereof) of comScore research showing Microsoft tops in time-spent.

Search Wars: Desperate Times Call for Desperate Measures

2009-11-22T19:51:00.014-06:00

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Unless you've been living under a rock, you're aware that Rupert Murdoch has been threatening to remove News Corp properties from the Google index as a means of punishing the Big G from profiting from its content. Many have weighed in on the pros and cons of such a move.

Today brings an interesting plot twist though. Apparently, Microsoft is offering to pay News Corp to "de-index its news sites from Google." According to the Financial Times, "Microsoft has also approached other big online publishers to persuade them to remove their sites from Google’s search engine."

Microsoft seems to have no limits to its scramble to catch Google. After spending millions to launch Bing, it struck a distribution deal with Yahoo but everything MSFT gained in share from Bing, Yahoo has since lost.

It looks like Microsoft realizes it can't catch Google just by improving its own product or aligning with other contenders. It has to cripple Google itself. But, will paying big publishers to remove their sites from Google be enough to break the Google Habit? I'm not so sure.

Frankly, I don't think that many searchers would realize that News Corp sites are missing from the index. Google has no shortage of other sources to cite for queries related to News Corp content so people will just get their news or entertainment from other places. Google is one of the top brands in the world. News Corp is not. Google is the source the masses trust when seeking information. News Corp is not.

It would take a coalition of all major news outlets to boycott Google for this to be a meaningful coup. And I don't think others are willing to cut off their nose to spite their face the way News Corp is ready to do. (After all, if I'm Turner and I just saw Murdoch remove his properties from Google, wouldn't I be thrilled to have that traffic come my way?) And, even if they would, there's plenty more to Google than just news search. In fact, who really searches for news anymore? Don't we all just lean back and let Twitter tell us what's going on in the world?

Meanwhile, while Microsoft is putting all this horsepower into figuring out a way to catch up in search, Google is busy launching Chrome OS. If this puts a dent into the Windows franchise, it would surely be a bigger blow to MSFT than the opportunity cost of not being #1 in search.

Now I'm not suggesting Microsoft give up on search. I've always been a proponent of fostering competition in search. That said, competition means all parties have access to the same sources of information. And a strong search platform (that will continue to provide ROI for advertisers) requires having all forms of content in the search engines, including news. So I'm not a fan of News Corp or any other publisher removing their sites from the search indices, much less Microsoft paying them to do so.

So let the Search Wars continue. But let's keep it clean, aye?

Update: I just commented on a post by Mark Cuban who calls this attack by Microsoft "smart." Danny Sullivan also weighed in, breaking down Cuban's argument frame-by-frame and countering blow-for-blow.

Update 11/23: MediaPost picked up my POV in its coverage of this story -- Could Microsoft-New Corp.'s Deal Mean Sharing Ad Profits? I talk about the technical aspects of this type of deal as well as why it won't have a big impact on consumers.

Update 11/24: Another press mention in MediaPost -- Can News Corp. Syndicate Its Content For Search Engine Use? I'm cited downplaying the importance of news search inventory for advertisers.

Update 11/24 #2: Gord Hotchkiss has a very thoughtful analysis of the "conscious decisions [people make] about where they go to get their news and information" in his post, Mindless Online Behavior: Web Navigation on Autopilot. Included is a great analogy comparing Google to a refrigerator. Required reading for anyone trying to better understand the potential implications of News Corp. pulling out of the Google index.

Update 11/24 #3: Just expanded on the thread around the mindset of news searchers on the Connectual blog -- Sorry News Corp, News Not Core to Search Advertising. Even included a subtle Foreigner clip!

SES Chicago Preview and Shameless Self-Promotion

2009-11-18T23:26:00.040-06:00

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It's hard to believe that SES Chicago is right around the corner. Crikey, where did this year go?

I'm really excited about this show, not only because I'm hosting an awesome session (hey, they don't call Chicago the Windy City for nuthin'!) but because the Day 1 and 2 keynotes are from authors I really respect.

Day 1 features Jeff Jarvis who wrote What Would Google Do? -- a book I have yet to read but was reminded about after I wrote my Search Insider column, Everything I Need to Know About Marketing I Learned From Google, and have since followed on Twitter and found his outspoken nature highly entertaining.

It appears Jeff and I share the point-of-view that Google has created a new world order and, just as his book is the guide for companies seeking to understand the new rules of the business game in a Google universe, I'm penning what I hope will be the guide for companies wanting to learn lessons from Google related to marketing.

Visit LearnFromGoogle.com to find out more about my book (I'm very close to signing on with a major publisher) and submit your email to be notified when the it's released -- which is looking like Fall 2010, just in time for next year's SES Chicago keynote. *cough, cough* Ahem, Mike, Stew, Matt, Marilyn, et al. *cough* Are you reading this? ;)

The Day 2 keynote is Peter Morville who's book, Ambient Findability, was an inspiration for me and led to this series I wrote for MediaPost...

What Role Does Personalization Play In a World of Ambient Findability?

Should We Fear Ambient Findability?

The Quotable Ambient Findability

As for my session, I'll be moderating a deep dive into the intersection of search and social -- a topic I've been following closely for some time. See this post for my most recent musings -- Search and Social: Wherein Lies the Truth?

Below is the session overview. More detail follows...

Day 1: Mon. 12/7
4:30-5:30

Search on the Edge Track
What's the Link Between Search and Social?
Every day the lines between search and social media become blurrier and blurrier. Twitter, for example, can be used as a "social network" to communicate with friends or a "search engine" to ask for recommendations from experts. And Facebook now allows people to search the content of status updates. So how can marketers and agencies best organize their assets to leverage the synergies between search and social? In this panel discussion, we'll learn how brand marketers are managing their presence across these converging channels. And we'll explore how future search algorithms will incorporate the social graph and how social networks will use PageRank and HITS methodologies. We'll also discover the inner workings new real-time search engines. And we'll hear how leading social networks are thinking about using search to improve monetization.

Moderator:
Aaron Goldman, Managing Partner, Connectual

Speakers:
Marshall Clark, Group Director, Search, Organic, Inc.
Tobias Peggs, General Manager, OneRiot
Brian Boland, Manager, Performance Solutions, Facebook
Bryan Simkins, Marketing Specialist, FedEx

In terms of format, we're looking at doing brief presentations and then moderated Q&A before opening it up to audience questions. Here's what I've asked from each of the panelists to prepare for their 10 minutes of deck-time...

Marshall - Give us your Page Rank for People dissertation.

Tobias - What is a real-time search engine? How does it work? What makes its results more impactful for searchers?

Brian - How is Facebook thinking about search? What's the rationale for indexing people's status updates? How will search results be monetized beyond Bing syndication? What's the potential for search results based on the social graph?

Bryan - What experience does FedEx have playing in the search and social space? Can you share a case study? Or at least some key challenges you've encountered and key learnings?

And here are my thought-starters for the Q&A portion...

How can marketers best organize their assets to capitalize on the opportunities in search and social?

What's the role of the agency in search and social?

Thoughts on Bing's Twitter integration?

Thoughts on Google's new social search features?

What does the future hold for these platforms?

Wish we had another hour for this session as I'm sure we won't get to all of these threads. What else would you like to see covered?

What are you most looking forward to at SES Chicago?

Still have yet to register? What are you waiting for? Click here and use this SES Chicago promo code for 20% off: 20SPG

Update 12/16: In case you missed my session at SES Chicago, I posted the 4 decks from my panelists under "Search and Social: See You at the Crossroads."

Who You Calling a More-on?

2009-11-18T23:18:00.008-06:00

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Here's the blurb from today's Search Insider column. Next up, lessons learned from Google about dating. Tweet your suggestions to @LearnFromGoogle. And yes, I will find a way to work in something about pocket protectors and overhead projectors.

Even More On: Everything I Need to Know About Business I Learned From Google
Posted by Aaron Goldman on Nov 18, 9:51 AM
Today we close out the chapter on business lessons learned from Google. As much as I like a good top-ten list, I couldn't whittle this one down, so here are numbers nine through eleven, staring with: 9. Follow the law of averages at your own peril.
» 1 Comments

Google Showing Graphic Ads on SERPs

2009-11-14T14:36:00.011-06:00

Today I came across something I've been waiting to see for over 2 years... display ads on Google search engine results pages!

Check out the top 3 ads on the right rail for the query "Wireless Monitoring System"...

Here' s a closeup...

These new graphic ads look nearly identical to the shopping results, with image, product name, price, retailer name, and link.

I refreshed a couple times to see if the ads would rotate but they didn't (although the text sponsored listings below did). I did see the layout of the SERP change, though. Check this one out. You can barely tell the difference between the paid and unpaid listings...

To be sure, Google is not the first to do this. Ask Jeeves used to run "branded response" display ads in the early 2000's and Yahoo bowed "Rich Ads in Search" earlier this year.

Google has patiently waited it out though, seemingly afraid of alienating its users. But, over the past few months, Google has made a number of changes to blur the lines (quite literally) between organic and paid results.

A few key questions come to mind in regards to these new ad placements...

Was this announced somewhere or been going on for a while and I just missed it?

Are these just re-purposed shopping results?

Did the retailers specifically consent to this placement?

Does these run on the same auction as PPC text listings?

Are the images selected by the advertiser or Google?

Are the images pixeled for view-thru attribution?

Is this just a precursor to full-blown banner ads? (Get people first used to graphics on the right rail, then hit 'em up with real display ads.)

Are these ads only running for overt shopping-related queries?

I'll update this post with answers as I get them.

Update 11/30: OK, apparently these are Product Listing Ads - a new beta program that allows merchants to "serve highly targeted ads that include richer product information directly in the ad itself - including product image, price, and merchant name." Best of all, these placements are available solely on a CPA basis. So, the answers to my questions above are: Yes (but only 3 days prior), Yes (essentially), Yes (presumably), Unknown (but assuredly Google is rotating units based on effective yield), Advertiser, Unknown (but unlikely), and Yes.

Is Social Media The New Search?

2009-11-13T21:09:00.003-06:00

I caught this Sears ad yesterday with a social media call-to-action at the end. I can't remember seeing anyone else doing this on TV. Looks like social's finally made it!

Reminds me of the Google Pontiac ad from a few years ago that signaled search had truly arrived...

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Heck, I can still remember those TV spots that featured AOL Keywords.

Fortunately for my Good URL Bad URL hobby, Sears still opted to include the URL in the frame. Let's hope other advertisers do the same -- not just to fuel my URL-aholism but because it really is a best practice.

I mean, who is really that passionate about Sears that they're going to run to their computer to find their Facebook page or Twitter account? The most Sears can hope for is that their spot will have inspired someone to find the Sears near them and, for that, the URL will get them that info a lot quicker than their You Tube channel.

While it's great to see social media coming front and center, let's not forget that is has it's place. And that place is not directional. That's what search is for.

Social media is a great engagement platform. And if you want your consumers to engage, your best bet is to capture them through search and then direct them from your website to your social media content. Or advertiser in social media spaces. If you're going to use TV to drive social, either focus your entire spot on the value prop of your FB fan page or run a twitter feed along the bottom showing what people are saying about you.

It's gonna take more than an icon to move the needle on your follower count.

Eternal Questions

2009-11-06T12:51:00.001-06:00

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Check out the Connectual blog for my musings on 2 eternal questions recently posed by MediaPost...

Where Are We Going? (What will the future of media look like?)

You Asking Me? (Who will buy Ask.com?)

Still Learning From Google: The Horse Ain't Dead Yet!

2009-11-06T12:17:00.002-06:00

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In this week's Search Insider column, I continue down the path of lessons learned from Google. This time the topic is general business and I've stretched it out to a 3-parter.

After this list is done, I'll do the obligatory Search Insider Summit buzz-o-meter before shifting back the Google meme and focusing on life lessons learned from the Big G, starting with dating. Tweet your suggestions to @LearnFromGoogle.

Also, FYI, I'm in final negotiations with a major global publisher around a book deal for "Everything I Need to Know About Marketing I Learned From Google." Keep an eye on LearnFromGoogle.com for all the updates and submit your email to be notified when the book comes out.

Here's the blurb from my last columm...

More On: Everything I Need to Know About Business I Learned From Google
OK, kids. Class is back in session. Once again, we're studying business lessons learned from Google. As you'll recall, last time we covered these five Google-isms: 1. Innovate or die. 2. Automate or die. 3. Tap the long tail. 4. Keep your head in the cloud. 5. Don't scare users. Today, we'll discuss numbers six through eight. So get those pens and papers ready...
» 2 Comments

Hunch Reader Census

2009-11-06T11:53:00.003-06:00

Just added this cool widget from Hunch.com to my sidebar. Recall, Hunch is a decision engine (a real decision engine, unlike other impostors) that I've written quite a bit about this year.

Take a couple minutes to play through and then click over the Hunch site at the end to see how well its algo does in predicting your responses to various questions based on your answers here. I've found it to be very accurate so far.

Open Casting Call for Search Engine Idol!

2009-11-05T23:03:00.016-06:00

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This could be you!

We are now casting for the first season of Search Engine Idol to be held on December 4th at the Search Insider Summit in Park City. We're looking for new and innovative search engines or search alternatives that would like the opportunity to demonstrate their wares to a panel of judges and audience of search experts.

To be considered, please comment here or tweet me with under 140 characters (make sure to include your URL) on why you deserve a slot. Selected contestants will appear on stage at SIS with the chance to do a live demo audition and convince the audience why they're the best thing since sliced Google.

Sorry, reps from Google, Yahoo, Bing, and Ask are not eligible.

Session Overview:

Join us for the first season of Search Engine Idol, a unique talent show focused on finding the next superstar search engine or search alternative. Each contestant will have 5 minutes to conduct a few live search queries and state their case for why they deserve Google-Killer status. Then the judges will weigh in before the audience votes for the winner.

Hosted by: Your Truly

Update 11/25: I'm excited to report that Charles Knight, editor of AltSearchEngines.com will be a guest judge for this event. Still a few slots left for contestants so, if you're interested, drop me a line.

Update 12/1: OK, the lineup is pretty much set. Here are the contestants...

1. Mark Watkins, CEO & Co-founder, Goby
2. David Fireman, Co-Founder & CEO, Search3
3. Paul Pederson, Founder and President, Factery Labs
4. Stephen Scarr, Co-Founder & CEO, Info.com

We may have last-minute entrants from Milo and Leapfish so you'll have to tune in to hashtag #MPSIS-UT09 to get the final lineup and follow the real-time buzz.

We'll also be inviting 2 guest judges from the crop of esteemed marketer VIP's to weigh in on all the action. They'll be focused on the advertising/monetization opportunities inherent within each contestant's platforms while Mr. Knight will cover the end-user utility and application of technology.

Should be a jolly good show!

Update 12/3: Ted Dziuba, Lead Engineer & Co-Founder at Milo.com, will be joining the field. And check out this fancy certificate that will be presented to the winner...

Update 12/3 #2: Happy to announce 2 more judges to round out our panel...
Mark Scholz, Senior Manager SEM & SEO, HP
Robert Pettee, Director, Search Marketing, LendingTree

Update 12/4: And the winner of the first season of Search Engine Idol is... Milo! Just posted a full recap. Looking forward to season two in April!

Twitter SEO

2009-10-22T18:24:00.002-05:00

Yesterday, Microsoft incorporated tweets into the search results on Bing using an API from Twitter. You can see it in action at Bing.com/Twitter. (Not to be outdone, Google quickly announced that it had struck a similar deal.)

Being the search geek that I am, my first thought when I heard about this was, "How can I get myself on the homepage?" After striking out on getting my picture on the Bing homepage, I was determined to reign victorious on this effort.

So I went to the Bing Twitter homepage and saw the trending topics at that time.

Paranormal Activity was the first one under the tag cloud so I tried using that as a keyword in my tweet... to no avail.

Then I noticed that the signal Bing seemed to be using was the link because the heading for the section is "Shared Links About Hottest Topics." So I tried again and included the specific link that appeared to be the trigger for which tweets it pulled through to the homepage. Again, no luck.

So I decided to try another hot topic...

And voila! See me there at the bottom?

Here's a closeup...

Do I get a medal?

Implications for marketers:

Don't get all crazy with your Twitter SEO just yet. I can't imagine this Bing Twitter mash-up is getting significant query volume. For that to happen, Twitter would need to start defaulting it's search functionality to Bing. And that's unlikely, given the similar deals Twitter has struck with Google (and apparently Yahoo.)

The other option would be for Bing (and/or Google) to start including tweets in the main search results and not at a custom URL. At the very least, Bing should integrate a Twitter drill-down option on the left-rail alongside images, video, etc.

If/when the query volume is there, it will be the wild wild west with SEO's trying to reverse engineer the algorithm and the engines continually refining it to defeat black hat tactics. Today, it's apparently as easy as including a link about a popular topic in your tweet. I suspect that will change quickly though.

Other signals the engines can/should/will use include:

Authority of the Twitter account -- based on number of followers, tweets and amount of time account has been active
Relevancy to the topic -- based on keyword (character?) density and/or hashtags
Number of retweets
Categorization of Twitter account -- perhaps tapping We Follow or other directories (eg, an account tagged as Chicago will have a better chance at coming up for Chicago-related Twitter queries)

SEO's, start your engines! But no need to floor it until there's more people in the stands.

More to Learn From Google

2009-10-22T17:43:00.000-05:00

In yesterday's Search Insider I continued my series on "Everything I Need to Know About _____ I Learned From Google" with numbers 1-5. Will finish up with 6-11 in 2 weeks and then start on lessons learned from Google about dating. (Multi-variate testing for outfits anyone?) Tweet your suggestions to @LearnFromGoogle and make sure to submit your email at LearnFromGoogle.com to be notified when my book is published.

I Did It All for the Nook-ie

2009-10-20T21:23:00.004-05:00

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Today, Barnes and Noble unveiled its e-reader, the Nook, in partnership with the Google Editions project. Mashable has some early coverage and screenshots.

Check out the Connectual blog for my musings on Google Editions based on a POV I shared with MediaPost last week. I've also fleshed out 5 potential ad formats for online book readers in the event hardware sales, subscription revenue, and per-title fees are not enough to sustain the channel.

Test Driving Your Agency During the RFP Process

2009-10-20T21:02:00.007-05:00

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I've been trying to rally the industry around fixing the broken client/agency RFP process for quite some time. It's nice to know I'm not fighting this battle alone.

I just came across a great piece in iMediaConnection from back in July by Daniel Flamberg -- 11 ways to rock and RFP. Yes, I've been one upped -- my column that ran in iMediaConnection in March featured just 10 ways to improve the client/agency RFP process.

Daniel makes a lot of great suggestions but I really like #11 -- "Road test the finalist agencies." Here's his POV...

"Don't ask for spec creative or free strategic thinking. Instead, ask agencies to participate in a live 90-minute strategy session. This more than anything will give you a live feel for what it will be like to work with any given agency team.

In structuring the live working session, follow this formula:

1. Prepare real data to identify and document a real business issue or scenario that the agency will face. Supply this to the agency one week ahead of the session. Be sure all participating agencies have signed non-disclosure agreements in advance.

2. Insist that only two senior people and the working team assigned to your business can participate.

3. Limit the session to 90 minutes. Set a clear outcome for the meeting. For example, the meeting should yield a campaign theme and three tactics to address this particular marketing problem.

4. Have your team -- the people who will interact with the agency each day --participate in the session. Run it as if the relationship existed.

5. Use an independent leader. Don't lead the session if you are assessing the outcome.

6. Devise a scorecard that accounts for the quality of the ideas, the creativity of the team, the experience demonstrated, and the chemistry between the participants.

7. Measure how prepared the agencies were and what outside data, information, or experience they brought to the party.

8. Try to understand the relative contributions of the senior agency people versus the working team members.

9. Ask your people which team they liked best and why.

10. Weight this exercise relative to the other intelligence you've developed to make a final decision."

I think this a very practical recommendation that respects both the time and IP of the agencies while still making them sweat a little bit to show the client how they'd perform if selected. I especially like the improv aspect of this kind of session in that the agency will have to respond to the feedback of the client in a live environment rather than hide behind a flashy presentation, rehearsed scripts, and planted questions.

All told, I can't think of a better way for a client to tell if they're getting a cadillac or a lemon -- well, besides transparent agency rankings based on the Ultimate Question but I'm still working on that.

Will People Dig Digg Ads Beyond Digg?

2009-10-14T10:11:00.007-05:00

I'm a huge fan of Digg ads... on Digg.

Per the Digg corporate blog, "Digg Ads will give you more control over which advertisements are displayed on Digg. The more an ad is Dugg, the less the advertiser will have to pay. Conversely the more an ad is buried, the more the advertiser is charged, pricing it out of the system."

Seems like a great model, right? And perfectly aligned with the Digg ecosystem.

Here's one that's live now on the Digg homepage...

Today came word that Digg is thinking about running its new ad unit on 3rd-party sites. Brian Morrissey at AdWeek has good coverage of Digg's plans, comparing it to an ad network of sorts.

In the article, Chas Edwards, CRO at Digg, justifies the move as follows -- "Advertisers want the ability to take an advertising format and scale it in many places. It's like what Google started with AdWords."

Yes, but is that what consumers want? Not so sure.

Digg users want Digg ads. Or, more appropriately, Digg users will tolerate Digg ads.

But if I'm not a heavy Digger or if I'm one of the overwhelming majority of people online that's never heard of Digg and I'm not on Digg at the time, will I want or even know what to do with Digg ads?

As I said earlier, Digg adds are perfectly aligned with the Digg ecosystem. The challenge is that the Digg ecosystem does not currently extend beyond Digg.com.

I'm all for taking lessons we can learn from Google and using them to innovate in the marketing world but I think there's been a misinterpretation here.

What Google started with AdWords was a way to serve relevant ads based on queries and content.

What Google started with AdWords was a way for advertisers to reach consumers when they are in a commercial mindset -- ie, where can I buy X or what's the best brand of Y product?

I could go on but instead I'll point you to LearnFromGoogle.com for all 20 lessons.

To be sure, Digg can check some of these boxes -- eg, Tap the Wisdom of the Crowds, Act Like Content, and Let the Data Decide. But it misfires widely on Relevancy Rules, Mindset Matters, and Be Where Your Audience Is.

The bottom line is that the Google ecosystem extends far beyond Google.com because search is ubiquitous. Therefore AdWords has legs far beyond Google.com.

Until Digging content becomes ubiquitous (ie, when Digg is recognized by Webster's as a verb the way Google is) , I don't think Digg ads will be dug beyond Digg. Ya dig?

True North: The Google Product Development Compass

2009-10-07T23:10:00.004-05:00

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In today's Search Insider column, I continue the lessons learned from Google theme (and begin to flesh out the sequel to my book). This time, I explore what Google can teach us about creating a product development roadmap.

Everything I Need To Know About Product Development I Learned From Google
Posted by Aaron Goldman on Oct 7, 11:49 AM
As loyal Search Insider readers know, I've been fleshing out marketing lessons learned from Google for three consecutive columns as a precursor to a book I'm writing -- Everything I Need to Know About Marketing I Learned From Google. I figure it's never too early to start working on a sequel so, today, I'd like to focus on lessons learned from Google about product development.
» 1 Comments

Search and Social: Wherein Lies the Truth?

2009-10-07T19:31:00.002-05:00

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There's been a lot of chatter about the intersection of search and social media lately. In fact, I'll be moderating a session titled, "The Link Between Search and Social" at SES Chicago.

Yesterday, I got a press release from comScore about a study it just released with GroupM Search on the "Interplay Between Search Marketing and Social Media." I have not yet had a chance to read the entire report but plan to in the near future and will post additional thoughts as an update to this post.

From what I read in the press release though, the results seem, at best, no-brainer material and, at worst, potentially misleading.

Here's one example from the press release...

"Further, consumers exposed to a brand’s influenced social media and paid search programs are 2.8x more likely to search for that brand’s products compared to users who only saw paid search."

No-brainer: of course people exposed to messages in 2 channels are more likely to respond than those exposed to just 1. Seems to me you could insert any 2 platforms (eg, radio and print vs. just print) and get the same outcome.

Potentially misleading: I don't think it makes sense to compare results for people exposed to social (or any other channel) plus search to those exposed to only search when the measured response is search queries performed. Obviously, people who only saw paid search are less likely to search again. They've already searched! Something will have to compel them to search again. Could be social media. Could be anything! Is it just me or is this a total circular reference?

Now, all that said, I don't want to make any hasty decisions about the validity of the analysis here before I've had a chance to read the entire report. For one thing, I know Chris Copeland, the author of the study, and he's a very sharp and talented guy. If he put his name on this, I'm sure it's legit.

So I suspend judgment pending further review. Thought it better to put in my 2 cents while the story is hot off the press than to wait until I've had a chance to read the whole thing, as my to-do queue is a mile long. Secretly hoping someone from GroupM or comScore can weigh in and set the record straight and save me the trouble of having to pore through the report. (Uggh! I'm officially one of those lazy bloggers that I hate! And speaking of lazy bloggers, suppose I better comply with the new FTC regulations by disclosing all my "material connections" here. So here goes: I was a comScore customer for many years at Resolution Media. I spoke on a panel a couple weeks ago at OMMA Global NY with Eli Goodman from comScore. Chris Copeland of GroupM Search and I both publish columns for Media Post Search Insider. And I make money consulting on search and social media strategy!)

Update 10/19: OK, I’ve finally had a chance to read the entire white paper. And, while there are definitely some good nuggets in here, my overall POV hasn’t changed much. This is mostly no-brainer stuff and the circular references are confusing if not misleading.

The study “sought to explore” three key areas:
1. Are consumers exposed to social media more likely to search?
2. Does social media exposure drive search queries further down the purchase funnel? (It wouldn’t be a marketing white paper without a graphic of the purchase funnel!)
3. Does social media plus search marketing drive a better performance than search alone?

SPOILER ALERT: As you might expect, the research cited shows the answers to all these questions are yes.

Point #1 is certainly a no-brainer. As I said before, people exposed to any media channel/platform are more likely to search than those with zero exposure. That said, the results are pretty compelling. They saw a 50% lift in click-rate for consumers exposed to both social media and paid search.

Point #2 is quite interesting. The study measured where queries fell among stages of the purchase funnel with upper-funnel “expressing awareness and consideration (industry relevant terms, general product attributes)” and lower-funnel “expressing action and loyalty (campaign brand terms, brand product terms.)” The results showed that searchers who interact with social media are “far more likely to search for lower-funnel terms compared with consumers who do not engage with social media.”

Point #3 is still a bit misleading. Having a control group that consists of people who were only exposed to paid search advertising doesn’t seem right when the lift being measured is search activity. Not sure why they didn’t just use the general online population as the control.

Another thing that struck me as odd in this study was this finding -- “Consumers exposed to both a brand’s influenced social media and paid search spent 3x more time online than the average consumer.” This is another one of those no-brainers/potential misleaders. I’d think your chances of seeing both a social media campaign and a search ad would be higher the more time you spend online. Let’s not confuse correlation for causality here.

Bottom line, I can’t argue with the major takeaway from this study. “This research clearly shows a direct correlation between social media and search.” And the methodology seems sound when it comes to showing that social media exposure can trigger lower-funnel search queries. So I’ll let the study’s author, Chris Copeland, have the last word with his conclusion -- which I fully support with an emphasis on the word “guide” -- “In using these learnings as a guide, we start to appreciate and act on better allocation of financial and brand investments for the betterment of paid media and overall performance.”

Developing a Product? Get Googley With It!

2009-10-07T18:07:00.001-05:00

In today's Search Insider column, I expand my lessons learned from Google from marketing to product development.

I've also started a Twitter account @LearnFromGoogle to share additional thoughts and provide a forum for feedback and new ideas. I plan to include the cream of the crop in my book so hit me with your best shot... tweet away!

Here's the blurb...

Everything I Need To Know About Product Development I Learned From Google
Posted by Aaron Goldman on Oct 7, 11:49 AM
As loyal Search Insider readers know, I've been fleshing out marketing lessons learned from Google for three consecutive columns as a precursor to a book I'm writing -- Everything I Need to Know About Marketing I Learned From Google. I figure it's never too early to start working on a sequel so, today, I'd like to focus on lessons learned from Google about product development.
» 1 Comments

The B List

2009-10-05T19:13:00.005-05:00

Last night I wrote a post for the Connectual blog on how marketers can leverage Twitter lists. I won't rehash the content here but I did want to share this cartoon that I was going to use before I came across a more politically correct image.

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Yahoo: It's You-ish

2009-10-04T20:32:00.018-05:00

What's gotten into the portals these days? First Microsoft launches Bing with an over-the-top commercial essentially blaming the recession on Google. Now comes Yahoo with an ad that would have you believe it can make you into some sort of superhero, leaping tall buildings, making mad cash and endearing yourself to the opposite sex.

While Yahoo didn't go after any of its competitors in this spot, it -- like Bing -- used a barrage of images set to techno music, surely designed to appeal to the short-attention spanned generation that's busy skipping right past Microsoft and Yahoo as they "Google it" to get to their online destination.

Don't get me wrong. I'm actually a big Yahoo fan and think Carol Bartz has it on the right track. I just wish the ad campaign told a story, any story, rather than a generic, "It's all about you message." It's just not enough of a differentiation.

As I said in my review of the Virgin Mobile, "You Rule" slogan, "This slogan could be for just about any brand that's hopped on the bandwagon of personalization in targeting today's self-centered instant gratification generation."

I actually think Yahoo could've used something like "Start Here" -- a slogan that was confusing when ABC used it -- to show that it's finally morphed into a true portal where all your favorite content is neatly organized and no-one's trying to keep you in a walled garden.

The thing that bugs me most about the Yahoo ad is that they actually use the word "consume" to describe how people might use it. For the love of marketing, people don't like to think of themselves as consumers!

Check that, just watched it again... the thing that bugs me most is that it shows 2 pre-teens when it suggests you use Yahoo to "flirt." As a father of a little girl who will be pre-teen in no time, the last thing I want to be thinking about is my daughter flirting with boys online.

And what's up with the harmony on the Yodel at the end? Bring back the country bumpkin! Or, wait a few more months and then I'm sure Kevin Skinner will be looking for paying gigs.

OK, enough ripping on this initial spot. Microsoft seemed to get it right after its manic breakout with follow-up spots that were more subtle and on-point and it appears the campaign is moving the needle on market share so maybe Yahoo's just trying to follow that blueprint and generate some buzz.

Here's the commercial...

And here's my 2 cents on the out-of-home ads...

Update 10/14: Just saw this chart from Silicon Alley Insider (h/t to @LenKendall via @JBCopeland) showing consumer perception of Yahoo pre and post "It's You." Looks like I'm not the only one that this campaign is failing to resonate with.

Book 'Em Danno

2009-09-24T04:53:00.005-05:00

In yesterday's Search Insider column, I offer up 5 more in what's now become a Top 20 list of marketing lessons learned from Google.

As discussed in my post, "Is It Book-Worthy?" my goal is to expand this series into a book. This week, I've taken the next step towards making that happen. I just finished up an 18 page book proposal that I'll be submitting to a publisher I met through my ad:tech Digital Marketing Webinar. A colleague of an editor at one of the better known business information brands attended and then stopped by my booth in the virtual expo hall afterwords -- funny how those things happen, aye? I used to think it was a small world. Then I got Connectual.

Here's the blurb...

Even More On: Everything I Need to Know About Marketing I Learned From Google

In my last two columns, I've offered the following 15 marketing lessons learned from Google and examples of folks applying them. More than just tidbits to maximize SEM programs, these are principles that can be applied to all facets of marketing. Of course, the irony in all this is that Google is a company that's proudly spent very little on advertising. Accordingly, perhaps the most important lesson of them all is that marketing is so much more than just advertising.

» 2 Comments