Fuze Blog | © Bryan Landaburu (aka Willie Vega) | Reno-Sparks-Nevada Blogger

SMX West Day 3 - marathon day

Last day of SMX West i am spent both from full day sessions, paired with martini-based client dinners, and the next leg of travel ahead. Only 3 more days of this fun stuff to go.  This post i went ahead and weaved my thoughts into the post a little tighter. Hopefully my 10s of readers will follow along.

Keynote
Interesting (moderately) session on how search will be used as it evolved.  Reps from Google, Yahoo, and Live were on hand with Gord and Chris Sherman as part of a panel of experts.  I personally believe that they are right regarding their take on Mobile search (that GPS based search would be very powerful, and that the experience on the small screen needs to improve).

My take on most of this keynote and the conference in general is that search is obviously evolving, but has been VERY SLOW in terms of features and functions. Needed improvements to search (way more long term) will include some much better presented results (vs. the same 10 blue links we have all been seeing since 1996). Search engine technology development has been very much based around ways to exploit ad revenue (for good or evil (your call)).  As humans continue to expect more, and with more mediums having relevance, search engines results need to be much more fuzzy and comprehensive and all reaching.  Its an interesting pattern and topic i have seen resonate here since day 1 here at SMX.

I also sincerely believe that Mobile mashups and Local search are areas search engines do absolutely HORRIBLY. Everything with a city qualifier pulls from city center. LAME.  If you are on your mobile, and you do a search for something in a city (ex. san francisco sushi restaurants near nob hill) why cant a search engine see your GPS location, and match that with the query, and realize a more accurate search result may be based on a combination of that, vs. word match globally across the webisphere.  One other space that is RIPE for improvement is integration of live data integrated into auto nav systems - live traffic, simple searching, all using hot, live data.  That would be a much welcomed change and the data & technology to do both are here today.

Not really cool how search engines treat "mom & pops" as being on the hook to provide them all the data.  They claim thats the only way to improve local, and i call this a cop out.

one great thing about search both now, and in the future is that Search and Search Marketing are 100% quantifiable.  That makes it better than almost ANY other form of media and advertising.  Search will continue to grow and evolve and we can thank social networks and social media for this new set of eyes on how people search, interact, and research online.

Attended a session on: Growing Your SEM Firm
Moderated by Chris Elwell
Panelists: Fionn Downhill, Damian Finley, Lisa A. Williams

was only moderately engaged in the discussion for several reasons, but didn't hear anything overly compelling (to me).  Ahem...next.

Analyzing the competition

Its pardonable to be defeated, but never to be surprised. - Frederick The Great

Christine Churchill - Key Relevance

• do searches for key terms (paid & organic)
• Determined how competitive sites are optimized
• look up WhoIs information to get information about the competitor
• archive.org is also a useful history tool
• Study their backlinks, how many, what sorts of relationships
• check their traffic estimates - compete, hitwise, alexa, comScore - great for seeing what terms your competitors are getting traffic from and where people go before/after
• PPC review - what engines they are using, phrases, bid strategy, quality of ads, SEO effort
• Tools in the PPC space - keywordspy, keycompete, adgooroo, spyFu
• Reputation management - google alerts, forums, blogs, etc., bbb, d&b, epinions

HitWise

• bill tancer, GM Global Research
• New book - CLICK
• not much to say other than talking about how he and HitWise have the best tools on the planet for uncovering stats, research data, competitive analysis, keyword analysis, etc.
  • cheaper alternative is trellian or competitious.com

Jake @ STN Labs
Loose informal conversation on the realities of the visible web and how to research and more important, protect yourself from spys.  My guess is that 90% of the folks in the audience thought Jake was advocating hacking madly, but what he was trying to point out is our false sense of security that our websites are just securely chugging along and that all our information is safe from inquiries and prying eyes so nobody needs to mind the shop. Peoples answer that "my host takes care of that" is an absurd false sense of security. Almost as mad as having life vests on commercial airlines...whats the point?  The only way you're escaping a commercial airline "water landing", is if you have jumped out of the plane with your own parachute before impact. Wow, that's a tangent...i digress.  Here are some of his thought provokers.

• If you are doing research...
  • good webmasters are already researching their competitors
• whois.sc is the best whois research
• regional IP databases - first step to social engineering
  
  • find the ip, pump it into completewhois.com and find their ISP.
• social engineering - getting someone to tell you something they're not supposed to
• allinanchor - can be your friend
  • will return webpages linked to that target them
• protecting yourself
  • watch for unnatural traffic - allinanchor, link:, cache, whois.sc
  • track them and send them on their way with 301redirects
  • serve 403 pages, send to differnt pages with different pricing, send them to their own site, serve midis and wavs to piss them off, or just silently track them

Search Marketing B2B Style
Slightly different slant on SEM which is a big element of our business, we are vested in the B2B space.  Tactics are different, distribution of ads and optimization activities are also different than B2C.  Some outlets that are interesting for B2B clients.

• Ben Hanna @ Business.com went through their offers and advantages. They have a simple ad network and paid inclusion model.  We tried this at IDWholesaler a while ago, but it just didint work for their audience...almost NO conversions. But Business.com ads may work better for our clients like Graylift who are selling forklifts, or clients like Entrust Group who targets a professional influencer audience like Estate Planning Attorneys and CPA's.  Both clients search terms could be supported by articles and placement in the Business.com directories.
• Patcicia Hursch - SmartSearch Marketing - focused more on tactics and things to do
  • she stresses getting beyond lead gen to things like: visibility, traffic, in addition to Lead Gen
  • also stressed the post click behavior that needs an effort.  These could include site UI optimization, landing page optimization, and/or microsite optimization.
  • have to get to buyers at the start of the process so you can influence their decisions
  • advertising in the tail is a valid concept that emphasizes the important of targeted long tail terms.
  • using ad copy to pre-qualify clickers - being specific will help you weed out lookie-loos that you don't want clicking your ads (ex it outsourcing vs. national it outsourcing service provider for companies with 15 to 300 employees)
  • align ad copy with query - depending on the type of search based on your sales lifecycle, your paid ads should adapt as the process moves.  learning > research > narrow options > buy
  • microsites focused on specific industries - or focused on specific solutions
  • test all your page elements on the landing pages
    • page layout
    • images
    • benefit statements
    • action triggers
    • names of downloadables
    • etc...
  • offer action options
    
    • trial
    • seminar
    • buy
    • not always one size fits all
  • simplify reg forms
    • 15 fields 5 %
    • 5 fields 9%
    • 2 fields 15%
• Galen deYoung - Francis SEO - Organic search for B2B - focused purely on b2b seo
  
  • business purchasers - are different
  • matters what they search for and it matters what they type in...even if seemingly insignificant:  healthcare consultant, health care consultant, healthcare consultants
  • people search by:
    • subject, problem, person role, product, industry, geo
  • each distinct set of keywords needs a distinct landing page
  • see acousticsbydesign.com for one of his clients
  • page strategies
    • know keyword target and 3-5 long tail term modifiers
    • could be 3-5 words or even up to 7-8 words
  • great slides with good points.  fingers tired and cant keep up the typin.
• covered some interesting tactics regarding lead management and lead nurturing

Okay, thats it for me.  I am off to the bar for a pre-flight round and then its off to San Diego for the Miva Developers Conference. No rest for the weary.

BL

Bleeding Edge Thoughts From The Leaders In Search - SMX West Day 2

Today I managed things at the office, learned loads, fired a client, negotiated a deal, made 5 new Twitter friends, inked a new partner deal, found 2 new freelancers, and bought a house all from the floor of SMX West here in Santa Clara, CA.  Not a bad little Wednesday all in all.  Here is my conference Day 2 wrap up.

Keynote Louis Monier - cueil
Topic: Past, Present, Future of Search
Started his presentation off on the wrong foot with me by using the extinct font Comic Sans for his slides.  I digress.

• The web is only as good as its index
• Claims that the only way search will work is to have robotic index (Mahalo & Clusty would disagree)
• Future - long tale terms, which don't have a single answer, do not offer any guidance from search engines (today).
• eCommerce search works differently because they allow you filters and guidance to complete and structure the query. 
• Current engines work very similar to the way that they did in 1995.
  • word soup - build points based on frequency and structure and shingles within the doc.
  • links and anchors - page rank and inbound links increase relevance
  • user behavior - whatever gets the most clicks gets the highest rank
  • UI - still sitting around 10 blue links.
  • is anything new other than "scale" (millions to billions of pages)
• fundamental q - what portion of the web are they indexing and ranking - search can be a lot more than it is today.
• The Future
  
  • search should provide insight
  • is Human Powered search the answer (Wikipedia, Mahalo, Squidoo) - he says no.
  • is personalization the answer - filling in the blanks? It will only help so much because it cannot discern what you want or desire based on your basic demographics like age, geo location, language, etc.  that would assume we are all the same.  not true.
    
    • ex. diamond = jewelry if you are a woman, baseball if you are a man
  • is vertical search an answer - the more specialized or niche, the more likely it will work but only on a VERY THIN scale so this doesn't scale.
  • what about natural language processing? problem with natural language is that there are too many variations on written language.  wont match the realities of the web.
  • semantic search/semantic web - everything gets marked up...issue is that there is no motivation to put this level of detail into the META and backgrounds...also it is too exploitable.
  • !spell checker - the concept of type a word in and see what version has more matches.  That returns the "norm" and allows you to make a decision.
  • !aggregate information - structured data comes into play and returns better results based on known options and frequent selections - this leads to research assistant as a concept...
    • research assistant - part of the evolution of search
  • Bottom line - size matters - you have to have the whole web.  Nobody will ever be able to decide based on any robotic factors what, or what is not important to you.

Multi-variate Testing

• Johnathan Mendez - interesting base level knowledge presentation. worth reading this optimization blog, he has some great ideas.
• Closed Loop Marketing - getting more from your multivariate testing
  • have a plan & a goal
  • choose the right starting place - get your program to the right place first, then start testing...not before!!!
  • gather inputs
    • who
    • baselines
    • other info
    • apply best practices
    • integrate usability testing
    • work with designers that GET IT
  • elements - what elements matter headlines, call to action, button, hero image, bulleted benefits, tables & charts, forms, etc.
• seth rosenblatt - optimost/interwoven
  • another great presentation that outlined countless justifications for testing, optimization, and design.
• Jon Diorio - google
  • discussed Google's free analytics process
    • identify impactful page, section or element
    • develop hypothesis for each element
    • test a few variations (2-4)
    • repeat (if needed)
    • google.com/websiteoptmizer - upcoming seminars for beginners
    • review tom ash landing page optimizer book
• Gregg Makuch - Widemile
  • current Fuze partner and experts in multivariate testing and optimization - lots of traction in this area

SEO & Social Media Marketing

• Rand from SEOmoz.org had a great presentation about "cool shit on the internet"[his words] - Rand is a great speaker and always offers a wealth of information about social media marketing (SMM).
  • why is social media so important? its BIG. growing at an exponential rate (especially globally)
  • blogosphere is fully engaged and the way they find blogs is that they click links on other blogs.
  • influencers spread content via a number of social media methods.  There are a number of turn on's/off's
• Neil patel from acs - ran through a number of great case studies on different business types and how they use social media.
  • HP example
    • photo sharing
    • social news
    • social networks
    • blogs
  • american greetings
    • assisted with a popular photo/flash combo to raise their presence on "greeting cards" in search because of the viral video
  • life insure
    • embraces the fact that publishing content on dying which resonated in the social networks
  • Gawker media
    • 90% of their traffic driven from social media efforts.
• Barbara Boser from 3 Dog Media - added some insight on how important commitment and participation are required to be successful in social media.
  • prepare to be consumed for at least 2 months
  • read what is popular in the different communities
  • look for tools you can use within sites and on the web
  • subscribe to as many feeds as you can - particularly popular sites in the community you want to break into
  • keep your profile and persona unique
  • memorable avitar
  • match gmail account ad IM that match your username
  • see top users and associate with them - watch out for people who are too high maintenance
  • vote fast and often
  • dont submit more than 2-3 stories and dont submit stories from your own site
  • avoid hitting top users too fast and hard
  • make sure your profile is listed on all the sites you are in
  • never make multiple accounts on the same site
• michael grey - greywolf seo blog & atlas web services - took the leading edge tact and had a number of new concepts and topics to discuss
  • current event social media (oscars, deaths, etc) - oscars/prius post good for auto blog
  • twitter is seen as a great traffic generator - lots of great plugins with twitter that make it possible to publish where you are.  try not to "sell" in twitter, but rather use it for persona development.  Can also be used for product releases or service
  • let people who monitor you know you're out there.
  • jetblue, carnival, southwest, amazon gold deals, woot, all use twitter as a sales channel
  • tactics: look into your profile, make it real
• Top social sites for marketers are:  Digg, StumbleUpon, YouTube,

SEO 2.0 for Web 2.0 sites
interesting set of concepts/opinions on the new emerging programming and development techniques that are having influence and are buzz-ie on the web.  Lots of opinion, all of which i agree with.

• Sherry Thureau - CSS & Search engines
  
  • obvious advantages of using CSS
  • couple refreshers:  make sure you create a sense of place - make sure your CSS clearly shows visited and non visited links.
  • keep your headings and H1, H2, Text matched up.
  • title tag should be 40-60 characters - cant H1 a page
  • CSS should never be used to exploit search engines
  • images are not satan and can easily be optimized.  THINK OF YOUR USERS!
• mikkel deMib Svendsen - web2.0 and ajax etc.
  • web.2.0 importance - new types of applications, deeper interaction, embrases power of human interaction, but may be exclusionary to some
  • Mikkel says say NO to AJAX - it breaks a unified model of the web - it breaks the standards of the web. can only link to the application, not to the page.  people cant be referred back (by search engines) to the same piece of information...thus search engines may never fully index AJAX apps
  • always ask WHY, when people say they want to use AJAX or FLASH.  They can be used for good, but usually for no real reason.  Must improve conversion or make something better.
  • be careful when using AJAX applications...they are NOT secure.
  • social web 2.0 is great [duh] for SEO
    • higher freshness, grammar issues (but it doesn't matter, the message comes through)
    • great to have 20,000 SEO's - you want their comments, but be careful with SPAMMERS

great conference so far all in all.  Much different than SES.  A tad more out on the bleeding edge, but cool for me and lots of great ideas to take home to the Fuze Basecamp.

More coming for Day 3.

BL

Blended Search is Hot | Fuze reporting from SMX West | Day 1

Arrived a little late so that i could hang an extra night at home with Lori & Cole. Lots going on at the homestead.  More on that later.  Reporting from the floor [literally] from SMX West 2008 in Santa Clara, CA.  Since these are mainly my shorthand notes, some of it will make sense, some of it will be Greek to most. I'm sure some of this will end up in someones "hack-ie" presentation slides - i just hope i get to heckle them with questions about the source when i see them.  Anyway, here are some topics that are pretty hot...

Blended Search Revolution - When 4th place Ask.com started their ad campaigns showing off that they got rid of Jeeves (something i will never forgive them for), they introduced something more profound than i think they imagined.  They introduced the concept of blended search.  Blended search is nothing more than a mashup of data on a search result screen.  This lets people see local results, combined with video (YouTube), with images (flickr), with reviews (yelp), and alas, with paid and organic search results.  This is VERY logical and for the last 10 years has never really had any attention.  Now it is getting attentions it aptly deserves.  Here are some thoughts...

• People use search in 3 primary ways:
  • In & out - answer a question, settle a bet, move on
  • discover - research, spend time looking to buy something, monitor a concept, etc.
  • Explore - Browsing with no specific goal, surfin the net, etc.
• To accommodate these very TYPICAL search results and keep people on their sites longer, this mashup/blended result is their answer.
• What this finally means for the industry is that what we know now as the concept of "search engine optimization" (and the one that all those jackass "SEO Experts" call to solicit you about), is GOING TO DIE.  Pack your bags snake oil salesmen.
• SEO experts wont be able to influence or exploit results through "service" it will require companies to get involved in the conversation, put their information everywhere, and let natural search take their course.
• What's this mean for web users? This makes search engines USEFUL again.  Once again, the playing field is going to level.What this means for monitization and the Web 2.0, 3.0, 4.0...companies building and evangelizing their powerful social tools...your space is on RED HOT fire.  You own a concept, you get rich.
• Watch for UI changes from Yahoo, Google, Live, and refinements from Ask.
• I think i like search again.  :-)

Search Marketing and Persona Models

• Decision process factors: knowledge, risk, reward, emotion - low to high
• Objectives - criteria, candidates, budget/scope, research (basic), research (detail), options, decision
• Humans can only consider 4-5 chunks of information, decide what meets their criteria, and move on.
• Use REAL PEOPLE on your site to identify faster with your visitors.  Stock images are USELESS to show you are approachable.
• understanding the way men and women differ in their browsing, navigation, and selection criteria is critical to success.
• All great marketing requires empathy
• Establishing personas - practical personas - view 37signals.com/svn
  • research (demographics & psychographics) - adlab.msn.com, quantcast.com, compete.com, trellian for keyword discovery, wordtracker, claritas.com
  • NOTE: you cannot build personas based on keywords
    
    • brainstorm - narrow from 5-10 to 1-3 focal personas.  Some may need to be driven away.
    • write
    • create campaign
    • segment audience
    • measure, adjust, repeat

More Blended Search - Focus on Local

• Blended local search differs on Live, Yahoo, & Google
  • Live - getting started, varying results based on relevance and distance
  • Yahoo - looks like google present
  • Google - new local one box, added 10 listings, varies display wise depending on how they interpret what you are searching by. Same amount of space
• overall - the closer you are to any city center, the better you will show up in local search
• good strategy to run your blog on a separate domain that is keyword loaded - interlinking will add to your link popularity.
• create a review function - part of link building
• verified listings - business profiles
  • manual verification - small number of businesses (google, yahoo, live)
  • feed based verification - reach local, localeze, infousa
  • trusted sources - internet yellow pages, feed providers, social review & niche sites
• strategies
  • cross link contact pages

Blended Search Results - ecommerce/retail tactics - What works?

• dont forget about how to's
• ratings and votes - are relevant
• who links to you in important
• research what people search for
• keep your profiles up to date
• re-energize forums
• implement ratings and review
• analytics
  • track referrers
  • add paramaters to URLs
• build relationships with customers - it is ABSOLUTELY not about SEO anymore
• Optimization
  • product feeds need keep titles tied to what people search for
  • each engine will represent product based searches different (currently Live does it best)
  • brand name is very important for search results from feeds
  • use long tail terms in title, especially for highly competitive products
  • always include photos! - no photo = no show! in MS Live
  • insure photos are available through image search
  • seller rankings matter in google - manage ratings at contributor sources
    • dealtime, nextag, shopzilla, etc.
  • other important factors
    • page rank, prices, popularity for keywords, click behavior & time on page, quality scores based on keyword density
  • Chris from NetConcepts was an excellent speaker
     
  • Getting products into results
    • optimize prod feeds
    • optimize yahoo ssp

• Blended search is a work in progress - its mostly experimental until things settle out
• Organic's goal is a research and brand vehicle,alternatively, SEO refocuses from keyword user relevance
• search results, universal search anyway, have changed the users eye patterns from
  an F to an E pattern
• Other tips
  • respect sources
  • become a reference
  • test now
  • embrace the new dimensions of search

I think that about covers day one.  I can sum all this day up with a quote I heard at a session: If Starbucks can learn to make coffee again, we can also learn a new way to optimize search. All of it left me thinking this should be a great conference. More to report on day 2 & 3.

BL

Wanna look up the definition of "real-man" - Start at Mavericks

I am one who has a tremendous respect for Mom Nature and all her power & glory.  Those who tempt MOM eventually lose.  That said, here in the bay area (cali), folks are all chompin' at the bit for Mavericks Surf competition to start tomorrow.  They cancelled 2007 because the swells "didnt qualify" size wise (no SPAM pun intended).  Now, as someone who has ridden in 6'+ swells on a jetski, and broken bones as a result, my respect goes out to those who stare 20' waves in the face and say..."ya, I'll have a bit of that."

So if you want to look up the definition of "Real Man" you can start your search at:

• Mavericks Surf 2008

This year Maverick's got a good healthy dose of "technology" with realtime streams, and a number of other cool web tools on their site.  If you're down here, and have never witnessed Mavericks, the waves and competition are a must-see.

Surf's WAY up!

WBV

Christmas is dead sexy!

I am not sure who decided to put the sexy in Santa Claus this year but 2007 sure seems to be the year that the exhibitionists get to whip out their revealing costumes and make it a par-tay before the dust even settles on Halloween's Grey Goose soaked bustier.

I find these sort of events the equivalent to caddie-day with alcohol, so I will probably be a great indoorsman this weekend. But, that doesn't mean I don't admire the efforts and creative savvy of those who vow to make Jesus' birthday as sexy as it can be.

Party on Wayne!

WBV

The Reno Tahoe Open has a new title sponsor: Legends

Senator Randolph Townsend speaks at Reno Tahoe Open Press Conference at Montreux.

We are excited, as always, to be so involved with the Reno Tahoe Open and today we are very excited for our PGA tournament who just announced their new title sponsor. The tournament will now be known nationally as:

The Legends Reno Tahoe Open

Title sponsor, The Legends at Sparks Marina (a RED Development project) is a little $1.2 Billion master development in our home town of Sparks, NV.  The Legends project is terrific for Sparks, and will be a giant entertainment, dining, residential, gaming, resort destination and is under construction now. Today's press conference had an amazing turnout and demonstrated a great amount of support for the event from sponsors, influential leaders like Senator Townsend, Mayor Geno Martini, RSCVA, Montreux, and on and on.

This new title sponsor is a great fit and will energize this tournament. As I have said before...get out and support this tournament. It is a fantastic event that supports our communities and drive enormous traffic to this area.  More press to follow.  For more information about the event visit: www.renotahoeopen.com

Sparks is on the map folks. Game on!

WBV

[another treo post - sorry for the typos]

Future of Web Design - and why i am not there.

I was simply bummed that i had to cancel my New York trip to FOWD this year. I paid for the conference and travel but had to bail out and i have been head down, pouting like a child, kicking rocks around the office and bitching ever since. 

I heard mixed reviews of the conference, but regardless, i would have much preferred to be there.  The trip was also a visit to our new New York client Lazaro Jewelry - a SoHo New York based jewelery designer to the stars, and one killer little storefront that we are excited to have been selected to represent for their electronic marketing efforts.

At any rate, with this trip on top of my other business travel, and our pending vacation, i would have been out of the office for 3+ weeks in November, during a very busy time.  So alas, i had to let this one go.

I'll be back in NYC in March and we'll see FOWD in London in April so life is good folks.  Life is good.

Fly safe.

WBV

Ad:Tech 2007 San Francisco Recap

Randomized thoughts from Ad:Tech 2007. I have to say that this was my least favorite Ad:Tech in some years.  Nothing exciting, not much new.  Other than getting to meet and talk with the CEO of Organic, i have to say i would give this conference a B+.

Here are some of my notes and ramblings.  They all make sense (to me):

THEMES FOR THE SHOW
» the new ROI is Return on Involvement
» the search box: Pontiac. Increasing use of branding search vs. Url's because consumers browse this way anyway.
» open branding - let customers interact with you and your brand however THEY choose.
» Community concept - good for Entrust, clp, idw, etc...monitor but get at the 'naked truth'
» immediate access to content
» jargon watch "video snacking"
» short form
» video video video
» monetizing ad spend...tougher to realize
» next gen set top boxes based on telco tv. All the players want your bundeled bill. Wave will meld all mediums together. 20Megabit to households within 3yrs.
» 3 screens
» have to create a brand that is "the life of the party" so people will want to hang out with it
» get the web to the core of campaigns - tough shift for big advertisers
» chat and email is not the right time to reach me
» user 'profile' generated content is a huge opportunity...ability to serve ads focused on buyer behavior - don't show me a WalMart ad if I don't buy at WalMart

ECOMMERCE
» reviews have value, if you use the information to shape experience.
» lego derives 20% of sales from paid search (6000 english keywords)
» behavioral targeting -

INTERESTING PARALLELS
» runescape - games
» ad guys at SES
» search & viral are what matter
» ad guys are WAY WAY behind compared to search industry...still trying to harness the TV and create convergence...and regain control of the viewers eyeballs
» shift to ebay model...many carriers of the message...payout, or 'toll' are paid to the 'x' that can match a message to a viewer.
» creatives slow to adapt...people who don't have digital in their portfolio will die on the vine
» focus too much on youth and early adopters...low hanging fruit - easy convert - older audience spends the money.
» if you have the choice...always sell to rich people
» the library of congress staffs a full time person whose job is to monitor secondlife!

QUESTIONS ON ADPOTION
» will mainstream ever get it?
» passive people will embrace advertising without noticing it
» think your brand can launch and monetize a social network? You're wrong. If lays builds a social network it makes the assumption that because you like the same potato chips, you are in the same network...not true

The State of Email Marketing from Ad:Tech San Francisco 2007

My takeaway from a session on Email Marketing:

Despite all the rumors: Email marketing isn't dead. [makes me happy since we have a burgeoning practice around email marketing]

In spite of all the woes of SPAM filters, stuffed inboxes, and inundation with information, email is still a valuable component in the marketing quiver.  Email alone is not as powerful as the mix of components such as: landing pages, conversion pages, subscription pages, etc.  Best practices in email assume the same things any of your marketing components...OPTIMIZATION is key. 

Firing into the abyss with any single component will always have limited success.  The more consistent messages, delivered in the most relevant and frequent means that match your target, will produce the best results (novel idea, i know.).

Here are a few bullets on the state of email from the Ad:Tech San Francisco floor:

• VALIDATED SENDERS - Gaining strength but still not main stream  List hygiene and using a good email provider can greatly help with your deliverability and consumer trust
• Deliverability should be in the high-90% range
• Images are being turned off by default for many ISPs and Outlook 2007.  Need to make messages pretty for text as well.  Also need to account for that fact that your open rates will be lower simply because images are set to off.
• Optimize subscription management landing page.
• Co-reg is still good
• Frequency is dependent on audience...only message as you need to.
• most are doing email - landing - conversion
• Most all have an agency handling creative and message craft, then distribution is internal, tracking internal
• All are re-engaging with their aging lists
• product specials work less than good information
• Headcount in email is typically 1-3 internal, 3-5 external

Of course it is always reassuring to know that Fuze's MessgeCenter systems are still state of the art in terms of data collection, message craft, and statistical analysis.  Do you use them?  You really should.  Call us!

WBV

(another treo post - sorry for the typos)

Ad:Tech San Francisco Session: State of the Agency

 

Tom Bedecarre - CEO, AQUA (hiring)
Martin Reidy - President, Modem Media
Ralph Folz - CEO, Molecular (web consultancy), freestyle interactive (creative), iProspect (search), all ISOBAR companies

-------------------------------
Client Perception:
» clients want to be "digitally led"
» no longer acceptable to not have a strong interactive presence
» projects are becoming MUCH more complex
» traditional agencies won't go away but it is hard to ignore that because they didn't have their act together...audiences shifted online and they missed the boat
» agencies aren't going to be able to fake it.
» new niche...online video - possibly video only agencies
» stop thinking the web is "cheaper" than traditional...it isnt...its more effective.
» agencies will be increasingly paid for their time and thought leadership vs. Media commission or markup...cant do it (and prove it) you lose.
» people will want stability, strong & smart, have scale, and agencies that will be around.
» lead with business problems & solutions
» building environments that allow consumers to interact longer with a brand in a useful way. Reebok running example.

TAKE AWAY'S
» work more friendly with agencies (the good ones)
» be the best agency in the digital age
» everyone is hiring
» agencies who have no digital foundation will need to buy their way into buy their way into digital...or time will pass them by
» I started to think for a while that we needed to grow traditional...doesnt seem wise.

(another treo post - sorry for the typos & grammar)