Biznology Blog: June 2008
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June 30, 2008
An Ending and a Beginning
30 years is a long time. If I didn't know better, I'd suspect that I was getting old. A few months ago, I wrote about my experience taking a couple of my kids to "Take Your Child to Work Day" in April, and while walking through the IBM cafeteria for the first time in quite a while, I suddenly asked myself, "What's a Model 168 doing here?" It took a second for me to realize that it was a museum piece. A relic from a time long ago and far away. But it's also the first computer I worked on 30 years ago when I started at IBM.
While I regaled my kids with stories about how different computers were back then, I was sure I sounded like my dad telling me about what it was like for him long ago. It always sounded to me like "A car cost a nickel, a house cost a quarter..." and I am sure that my kids were rolling their eyes again when they heard how they have more memory in their cell phones than a whole roomful of computers had back when I was starting out.
So, it really was a long time ago.
I started working for IBM while I was still in college, and IBM paid my tuition. I worked the midnight shift, going to school during the day. I was studying Accounting, but I didn't really feel it was my calling. My job at IBM had lots of slack time, so with all these computers around, I just started to write programs for them. I spent more than a decade as a programmer, including a couple of stints in IBM Research, but I never lost my taste for business. After a few failed products—they were good technology but did not sell—I decided to go back to school for marketing, which IBM also paid for.
I really found my niche when I came to ibm.com. I spent eight years there, ostensibly in technical and management jobs, but I got to work on a lot of marketing problems. Because the Web was so new, no one really knew what to do, so if some geek thought he had a good marketing idea, sometimes the marketers went along. It was at ibm.com that I began working with Bill Hunt on IBM's first search marketing campaigns, which resulted on our book together. It was also there that we all learned to "do it wrong quickly," because experimentation was the only way to find out what worked. It still is.
Along the way, IBM named me a Distinguished Engineer, which is an executive level technical position. But I have to admit that the last few years, I've been a lot more passionate about marketing than technology, and my wife Linda teases me that I am becoming an Extinguished Engineer. I still enjoy working in technology, but I'm more likely to be interested in what a business can get from that technology than how it works. Luckily for me, my bosses at IBM put up with me writing and speaking about marketing on top of my day job.
Now honestly, I've had many times where working for IBM was a struggle, but I suspect any job is like that. More often, I felt blessed to be working with such a high caliber of people and to have a chance to work on things I really enjoy every day. I am especially blessed by the way IBM has taken care of my family.
Some of you know that I have four kids, and I love David, Madeline, Marcella, and Dwight dearly. But David, the oldest, is a special case (as in "special education"), because he has Down syndrome. When you take a child with Down syndrome home from the hospital, they give you lots of little brochures about what to expect. (See, for some kids, the parents do get an owner's manual.) Those pamphlets had lots of sobering statistics about Dave being nine times more likely to contract leukemia, among other afflictions. So, I've always felt blessed that Dave is covered under IBM's benefits, which has paid for all of his health care costs, and also covered extras not covered by most companies, such as physical therapy. We've been extremely lucky that David has been as healthy as he he has been, but such is the state of my country that hanging onto health care benefits often means hanging onto a job.
So, part of the reason that I have worked for IBM all these years is those great benefits. And it's also the reason that I'll be retiring from IBM on September 1, because IBM graciously covers retirees, their spouses, and their disabled children with medical care for life. So, even after I retire, IBM will still be taking care of my family and me—IBM will be taking care of Dave even after my wife and I are gone.
So, we've got health care taken care of, but my family has this nasty habit of eating, so they've gently suggested to me that I might want to keep bringing home a paycheck after I "retire." I hope to be able to make a living from writing, public speaking, and consulting. (I'll also do weddings and bar mitzvahs if need be.) But even though I am looking forward to freelancing, after all these years working with a team like IBM's, I want to continue to be part of a winning team.
In September, I'll begin working part-time for Converseon as their Chief Strategist. Years ago, Bill Hunt introduced me to Rob Key, founder of Converseon, and Rob has made room on his great team for this broken-down programmer turned marketer. Converseon is a perfect fit for me, because they support clients in so many areas of interest for me, including search marketing, social media marketing, and reputation management. And after so many years of working with far-flung IBM teams around the world, it's nice to be working for people I can see in person any day of the week.
I admit that it feels a bit odd to be facing this transition. When you do anything for this long, it feels weird to be thinking about something new. But it's also exciting. Although I've worked for the same company for 30 years, when that company is as large as IBM, you have a chance to change jobs frequently, always seeking new challenges and opportunities. In one sense this is no different, but it feels a lot bigger at some moments.
Thanks to all the folks at IBM that made three decades pass so quickly. And thanks to the folks that I'll continue to work with in the next phase of my career. And thanks to all of you who apparently care about me enough to have gotten to the end of this blog post. Even as I look back on what's been, I look forward to what's to come. But at my age, that can really hurt my neck.
Posted by MikeMoran at 2:30 PM | Comments (11) | TrackBack
June 27, 2008
Are You "Tuned In" to Your Business Opportunities?
I was lucky enough to be given a preview copy of a great new book by Craig Stull, Phil Myers, and David Meerman Scott called Tuned In. I got the preview, but it is being published today. It was a very interesting experience to read this book, because I feel as though I understand the authors' perspectives so well already. But even though I know where the authors are coming from, I was still riveted by this book. They tell so many great stories that illustrate their big point, which is that you need to be willing to listen to what's going on around you to really produce a business breakthrough. I found myself sorry when the book ended, because the stories are so helpful in driving the philosophy home, and each story is interesting on its own merits.
I am a big fan of David's, and if you read his last book, you would be too. So, I recognized David's voice in places throughout the book, especially when it explains how to detect the difference between tuned-in and tuned-out marketing.
But I also recognize the voices of Craig and Phil, because I am a certified product manager from their company, Pragmatic Marketing. So when the book differentiates between listening to your customers and listening to your overall market, I hear them. When they tell you that you need to get out and talk to people to identify the ideas that will resonate, I remember hearing in class: "Nothing good ever happens in the office."
So, nothing this book said really surprised me. And that's the real genius of the book. So often, a really great book says something that seems completely obvious—right after you hear it. This book is one of those.
Well of course you need to talk to your whole market and not just your existing customers. Well sure you'd rather have real information on which to base your decisions than "gut feel." Certainly innovation for innovation's sake is doomed to failure.
There are these kind of "Well, duh!" ideas on every page. But they are obvious only in retrospect. Most companies don't act as if these ideas are obvious—just the opposite.
In my last book, I tried to help people take these approaches in Internet marketing. This book has a bigger agenda, where the authors help you see how to succeed in all the parts of an offering, from product development to marketing. And they succeed, both because of these blowhard-skewering truths and because they have a rich set of stories that put these ideas in action.
I was fascinated by the case study for Zipcar, I business I was aware of but had never tried. The way they first identified the needs of city dwellers who occasionally need a car, but don't need the hassles of owning one, was an eye-opener for me. But I was even more surpsied to hear about how they've targeted other groups to help them, ranging from politicians interested in telling a green story to landlords looking to add Zipcars as a differentiator against other rental properties.
Zipcar is just one of dozens of stories that bring the Tuned In principles to life. If you've ever wondered why your company is stultified in its strategy, and why it strangles every successful product idea before it ever sees the light of day, read this book. It will challenge you to transform your company or leave it.
Posted by MikeMoran at 3:32 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
June 26, 2008
Win a Ticket to the Internet Strategy Forum Summit
I speak at many events each year, but the Internet Strategy Forum Summit is something special. I spoke at this event last year and found myself sticking around to hear all the other great speakers. The minute I saw the lineup, I began planning to do the same this year. If you can get to Oregon on July 17 and you're interested in attending this event, keep reading to find out how you can get a free ticket. If you don't think you'll be lucky enough to win a free ticket, I can also get you a 15% discount on your conference fee.
Look at the agenda to see the companies represented. If you don't think you can learn anything about marketing from Disney, Nike, and Intel, then I want to hear you speak. I haven't heard those speakers before, but there's one speaker on the menu that I have heard before: Geoff Ramsey, the head of market research firm eMarketer. Geoff is an extremely engaging and knowledgeable speaker, worth the price of admission by himself.
Oh, and about that price of admission. If you sign up now, use the discount code "MORAN" when you check out so you can save 15% off the regular fee. But if that's not a good enough deal, one lucky reader can get 100% off.
I have one free ticket that I will award to whomever provides me the best "do it wrong quickly" case study to be published on my Web site. Check out the complete rules for the Do It Wrong Quickly Case Study Contest. Get your entry in by July 6. I hope to see you in Portland.
Posted by MikeMoran at 8:03 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 25, 2008
Free Paid Search for Non-Profits
Jim Evans contacted me a while back hoping I could help him with his master's thesis on search marketing for non-profit organizations. I helped him a little bit, and he graciously agreed for me to post his work for my readers. It's long (about 70 pages) but it's a great overview of search marketing research. The most interesting part to me, however, starts on page 37, where Jim talks about Google Grants, a program that provides non-profit organizations with free advertising in the paid search listings.
I had never heard of Google Grants, but the program has been around since 2004. Non-profit organizations can apply to Google and receive a $10,000 per-month spending cap on paid search ads for at least three months. Google apparently gives away tens of millions in free advertising each year.
It sounds good, so if you are a non-profit, pay attention to whether you are eligible. To qualify, you can't be an existing participant in Google's paid search program, and you must be working for a specific kind of cause, such as science and technology, global public health, the environment, youth advocacy, or the arts. Religious and political organizations are expressly ineligible.
Read Jim's paper to hear about specific examples of non-profit groups that are attracting needy people, as well as donations and volunteers, all with Google Grants. There are a few drawbacks to the program—Jim quotes the head of Catholic Relief Services, who is pained at being ineligible because he says "We help on the basis of need, not creed." Perhaps Google will someday review its policy so that religious groups that provide medical, educational, and poverty services would be eligible.
Jim's paper is chock-full of tips for non-profit organizations seeking to improve their search marketing. It's well-researched, and it would probably be useful for mainstream for-profit businesses, too. But that section on Google Grants was an eye-opener for me. If you qualify, it could be just the program your group needs.
Download Jim's paper on Search Marketing for Non-Profits. This research was part of the degree requirements for a MA in Philanthropy and Development from St. Mary's University in Minnesota. Author Jim Evans is a consultant to nonprofit organizations specializing in nonprofit database consulting and software training. Jim can be contacted via his Web site www.bradfordllc.com.
Posted by MikeMoran at 8:50 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
June 24, 2008
Skinflint Keyword Demand Estimating
If you're still lamenting the demise of the Overture Keyword Tool, you'll like the newest Skinflint Guide—it's a procedure to help estimate keyword demand from the free Google keyword tool. My co-author, Bill Hunt worked out this procedure with his team at Global Strategies International. Check out my post on Search Engine Guide to learn more about free keyword demand estimating.
Posted by MikeMoran at 4:04 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 23, 2008
In-House vs. Outsourced Search Marketing
Dave Pasternack of MediaPost's SearchInsider column wrote today about the debate between in-house and outsourced search marketing campaigns. He correctly termed this debate as ridiculous. but I don't think it was for the right reason.
Dave labels the debate ridiculous because the value of external search agencies is well-understood. I guess that's a good point, but it's also true that no agency can do the whole job of a search campaign. They can't be responsible for updating pages, for tracking conversion metrics, or countless other things that your company's staff must do.
So, I think it is a ridiculous debate because no company should try to do a completely in-house or outsourced program.
Unless you are the smallest of businesses, it makes sense to get some expert help on any kind of Internet marketing. If you hire an accountant or a lawyer, you might consider a marketing consultant, too. Or you should at least attend a conference, buy a book, or get some kind of training. It won't be easy for you to keep up with everything going on all by yourself—you already have a job.
But it's equally nutty to think that you can outsource your problems. It's seductive, it's tempting, but it is still wrong. Your accountant doesn't make your financial decisions, even if he does your books. Your lawyer doesn't decide on your deals, even if he reviews your contracts. You can't outsource search marketing (or any other kind of Internet marketing), even though you can outsource certain parts of it.
You need to be involved with your search marketing efforts, because you need to make strategic decisions, because you know your customers and your offerings best, and because you (or your employees) must execute that strategy.
Don't get wrapped up in the ridiculous debate about in-house vs. outsourced search marketing. Instead, take a cold look at your organization to understand what you must do and what you must get help with, and divide the tasks between your team and your agency to get the total job done most effectively.
Posted by MikeMoran at 3:25 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
June 20, 2008
Are You Courting Dealaholics?
On Wednesday, I asked whether your marketing was about transactions or relationships, and got some good reaction from readers interested in exploring this idea further. Coincidentally, JupiterResearch recently came out with a report on Dealaholics, those sharp-eyed bargain hunters with loyalty as deep as today's lowest price. As you think about your online marketing tactics, you need to consider whether you are offering deals that create transactions but no loyalty. What kinds of offers are you making to attract new customers? Do you track the success, not of the offer, but of the relationship?
The Jupiter report notes that single-offer deal campaigns aren't likely to engender long-term loyalty. Jupiter notes that the My Coke Rewards program, which provides value for long-term purchases is more what marketers should be shooting for.
If you think about it, the report makes intuitive sense. Customers seeking deals are likely to continue to do so—you'd think they'd be less likely to stick with your brand rather than seeking another deal the next time.
So, while sweepstakes or discounts might attract attention, and might push some product out the door, you should test to see whether the customers you attract are one-shot deals or long-term relationships. If your Web metrics are oriented only towards sales, perhaps you might want to identify customers so you can calculate lifetime value instead. Remember, not all customers are worth the acquisition costs.
Posted by MikeMoran at 8:34 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
June 19, 2008
Social Media Requires Having Something to Say
In my latest post at Small Business Answers, I help small business people to think about their motivation for looking at social media marketing. Just like good old-fashioned public relations, social media requires having a story to tell and the confidence to tell it. Take a peek at Social Media Requires Having Something to Say.
Posted by MikeMoran at 10:05 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
June 18, 2008
Is Your Marketing About Transactions or Relationship?
I had a very interesting time working with a company the last couple days about how they need to improve their Web site. They are a well-known catalog company with over 60 years experience offline, but they wanted some insight in how to sell more online. I gave them a lot of my standard advice to be more conversational in their marketing, to use metrics as feedback in keeping with their own direct marketing tradition, and to break out of the specialization of their company so that everyone can help marketing. They warmed to most of the advice, but at dinner last night they asked some questions about another expert that they'd spoken to recently—they wanted to know what I thought of what she said. What they told me surprised me.
A well-respected consultant, who I won't name, told this company that every inch of their Web site must be devoted to selling. Because they are a successful catalog marketer, they accepted this advice without much scrutiny, but I told them it was dead wrong.
Now, understand, I don't necessarily think that advice is dead wrong for everyone, but it was a totally off-base suggestion for this company. Although this company is a catalog marketer, they are a premium supplier. They offer services that their competitors don't offer and they are at a premium price point. They should sell online, for sure, but if they look like every other catalog marketer in their business, then they will end up competing (and losing) on price.
Instead, my advice is that they must offer more value. They must be marketing relationships, not transactions. They must emphasize the extra service, reliability, features, and value. They ought to be creating loyalty programs with rewards for their best customers. They should be providing information and online services around their products that justify the high price.
In short, they ought to be emphasizing every aspect of a relationship with their customers at the expense of simple transactions. If they get customers to give permission for a long-term relationship. the customers won't forget to buy stuff from them.
Like this company, you need to think clearly about your company's value proposition before eagerly digesting advice on best practices. Because even if a sales-oriented approach is typically right for a catalog marketer, it doesn't mean it's right for you.
Posted by MikeMoran at 7:36 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
June 17, 2008
I'm Not Trying to Win a Popularity Contest
I once worked for a high-level executive who prided himself in being tough. He worked his people hard and he expected a lot of them. More often than not, he got what he expected. He had been very successful, but he was always dogged by complaints from his employees. He had a vaguely negative reputation surrounding the way he treated people. Whenever faced with this criticism, he defended himself by saying, "I'm not trying to win a popularity contest."
When I worked for him, he was just as tough on me as on others, but I would sometimes remind him that his style didn't always have the best effect on his employees. People are different and respond to different styles—people with choices might decide to work for someone else and you are left only with those that can't work for someone they like better.
He glowered at me and repeated his mantra, "I'm not trying to win any popularity contests." I fixed a stare back at him and asked, "OK, but are you trying to lose any?"
This took him aback, because he wasn't used to anyone talking honestly with him, but I could tell that he was listening. I tried to explain to him that he was losing good people who were doing their best and didn't need to be pushed any harder. He listened to me and he treated me better after that—I think he took my feedback as explaining something about myself—but I didn't notice big changes in the way he treated others.
When I looked at the marketing that his team was doing, it always looked to me like they never took a chance. Like no one wanted to stick their heads above the foxhole because they'd be shot at. And I always noticed that it took a long time for this executive to change course when things were failing, probably because no one was brave enough to tell him bad news.
If this executive sounds a bit like you, you might want to ask yourself whether it's working. The best talent always has a choice about where to work and who to work for. If you are constantly driving people into the ground to "get the best" out of them, then you might be getting the best out of people who themselves are not the best. Because the best work for someone who appreciates them.
Posted by MikeMoran at 4:05 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 16, 2008
Web Marketing Is Not a Video Game
Over the years, pundits have talked about how the generations coming up that have been raised on video games have a different take on digital marketing than us oldsters. Younger folks understand viscerally the difference with experiential marketing and old-fashioned brand marketing—video game experience surely plays a role in this. I'm certain that But my ten-year-old son had an insight today that I hadn't considered.
"Dad," he piped up, "Have you ever noticed that with video games, they always make it possible to win, but that real life doesn't work that way?"
Well, I knew the real-life part, but I hadn't thought about the video game part. And it has explained some behavior that I have seen a few times with folks just too stubborn to let go of their ideas.
I've watched marketers work on campaigns that weren't working, but they wouldn't let go of them. They kept tinkering, kept working, kept tweaking and fussing, but they wouldn't just kill it. They wouldn't throw it away in favor of another idea. It was as if they were sure there was some way to make this work—they just needed to find it.
But my son's right. Sometimes the idea is just not workable. Sometimes we need to give it up, admit it was dumb, and move on to something else. And that's hard. As resistant as some of us have been to the idea of experimental marketing, most of us know we need to do it. But experimentation includes failed experiments that just will never work out.
Can we put bad ideas out of their misery quickly? Sure, it makes sense to try several variations to see if the idea is OK but the implementation was wrong. But eventually, we need to move on when something isn't working.
That stubbornness that serves us well in video games might be misplaced in Web marketing. Because in real life, sometimes you can't win the game and you need to play something else.
Posted by MikeMoran at 10:23 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack
June 13, 2008
How Performics Views the Marketing Landscape
Performics, launched in 1998, is a longtime search marketing agency that was first acquired by Doubleclick and then swallowed whole when Google acquired Doubleclick itself. Many in the industry have decried the conflict of interest in Google owning a search marketing agency, and Google has announced plans to divest Performics later this year. I thought it would be interesting to catch up with Michael Lee, the Director of Strategic Partnerships at Doubleclick Performics, who was a bit reticent to comment on the Google acquisition, but ready to talk about all things Internet marketing.
Me: What's your background? How did you end up in the job you have now?
ML: I began working with DoubleClick Performics eight years ago when it was known as Dynamic Trade. I work on the partner side of our business—overseeing and managing our distribution relationships that include search engines, tier ll, content and other symmetrical adjacencies to search. In addition, my group incubates and onboards new distribution for our search and emerging media divisions.
Me: People must be asking you a lot of questions about Google's acquisition of DoubleClick. What is the most frequently asked question you get and what is your answer?
ML: Typically people ask if anything has changed since the acquisition and the reality is—it's business as usual. We are just focusing on driving results for our clients.
ML: Ninety-nine percent of the time a client will dictate how and where they choose to spend their budget; however, we are here to assist them in making those decisions and provide direction based on our knowledge of the marketplace, new opportunities and our expertise managing online marketing campaigns
Me: What's the biggest challenge you see for marketers as their advertising choices become more and more dizzying?
ML: There are a dizzying amount of opportunities for clients to consider, many of which provide varying degrees of return against high effort, but it's important to expose and test brands and products with new forms of media. I'm a big advocate of testing and incubating new distribution. There is value in being first to market and getting fresh eyes on your brands and offerings. Some of these opportunities may be diamonds in the rough.
Me: How do customers decide between search marketing, display ads, and other choices?
ML: Most decisions come from a return on effort model; if a lot of time is spent on an opportunity that isn't generating a lot of return, it's most likely that less effort and resources will be dedicated toward that opportunity. Another issue to keep in mind is the client's competition and what tactics they have employed in the marketplace.
Finally, we think it's also important to continually think big picture and ask what kinds of opportunities are and will be growing in the future. For example, mobile may not have the highest return for a client right now, but in three to five years the opportunity will be a large advertising initiative.
Me: Can you explain to people what behavioral targeting is and why marketers ought to pay attention?
ML: Behavioral targeting is essentially targeting ads to consumers based on their habits and sites they visit. It's important for clients to understand that the more they know about their consumers (respecting privacy, of course) the better they will be able to advertise and target to them
Me: Do you have any tips to give marketers who might be struggling to keep up with all the changes that happen each year in Internet marketing?
Clients partner with agencies such as DoubleClick Performics in part to keep up with the industry and act as a filter for the new opportunities. We stay up to speed and make sure we bring relevant ideas to our clients. The marketplace is only going to get more complicated and faster paced—we stay on top of that for our clients.
Me: Do you have any predictions for where Internet advertising is going?
ML: It's unbelievable how quickly innovation continues to happen and how quickly things come in and out of vogue. In the future, it's only going to move more quickly with more and more options for advertisers. I don't think my prognostications are earth shattering, but believe that social media, mobile and AdExchanges will be the next most likely vehicles where there will be significant proliferation and participation.
Me: Thanks, Michael for sharing your answers with my readers.
Posted by MikeMoran at 4:54 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 12, 2008
Why Web Marketing Favors Small Business
If you've spent your marketing career toling away in small businesses, and never having enough money to really do your marketing right, fear not. You have enough money now. The Web has provided a boatload of marketing tactics that are cheap or even free. Check out my post on Small Business Unleashed on Why Web Marketing Favors Small Business.
Posted by MikeMoran at 11:02 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
June 11, 2008
Working Your Way through Web Fears
Yesterday, I spoke about how we need to overcome the fear of being wrong to really succeed on the Web. Coincidentally, I had lunch with a market research pioneer yesterday who taught me something about fearlessness. Eric Marder told us that he believes he's the first person to use a computer for market research—back in 1956! But he's a pioneer in other ways, too.
Eric has made a career out of zigging when everyone else zagged. He has steadfastly focused on understanding how to measure why people choose what they do, in contrast to the trend of conjoint analysis. Most researchers try to draws inferences based on what people do rather than by tracking their true motivations. Bucking the trend requires a level of fearlessness, because you will be criticized.
Inevitably, the subject of fear was raised in the conversation. As the waiter brought the check, Eric warmed to his subject and told this story.
Eric watched a high-diving competition once, a little-known sport where the winner is the person who dives from the highest point. He observed various divers taking higher and higher dives until one was declared the winner.
But the most interesting moment came when the winner was interviewed. The announcer mentioned that the other divers seemed rather nervous as the height kept escalating, and asked if he was also. "No," the winner replied. "That's all my coach ever works with me on. If you can overcome the fear, the diving is easy."
Eric amplified the point with another visualization. "Imagine I laid a 50-foot long board on the floor, and asked you to walk across it without stepping off. It's easy, right? But supposed I laid that same board between two skyscrapers?"
Adapting to the Internet, whether you work in marketing or PR or somewhere else, is in part a test of how you respond to something new and risky. The things you need to do are not intrinsically hard—it's the fear that we bring to the tasks that get in the way of our success.
Posted by MikeMoran at 2:53 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack
June 10, 2008
How Can PR People Do It Wrong Quickly?
If you're a veteran PR person who's still chasing after those mythical reporters with a "Press" card tucked into their hat bands, how did you ever find this blog? No, the PR people reading this aren't old-fashioned or antiquated. You might feel hopelessly behind the times in weak moments, but take heart—everyone does. If you're groping for ways to adapt to the new ways of PR, take a look at this interview I did for The Firm Voice, a publication of the Council of Public Relations Firms. But then come back here to find out one more thing they didn't ask me about.
I hope you enjoyed that interview, but I don't think most of you needed it. I think if you've been regularly reading this blog, you have heard a lot of the same stuff before. So, the question is, "What do you need?"
If you already know what to do in your head, but you somehow haven't been able to execute, it could be that the problem isn't in your head. It's in your gut. The pit of your stomach, to be exact.
Most of the folks I know that have not taken action are in some way afraid of the consequences. They might be afraid of taking a chance. Or appearing foolish. Or of what other people would say or think. Or of just not getting it right.
After all, you already know how to do everything right the old way. You have that game wired. Now, that little voice inside your head that says, "This game isn't working as well as it used to" and "Is the world passing me by?" can be safely denied and ignored for one more day, right? Because the fear of stepping out into something new and risky seems a lot worse that the steady drip of effectiveness leaking out of the old ways.
Over time, however, that little drip becomes a flood—a true crisis. At some point, the boss (or the client or the customer) challenges you on this old-fashioned approach and asks about the new stuff because they just read about it in Forbes. Now it's a problem, because you don't know anything about it and you're supposed to be the expert.
It's better for you to get your feet wet now than to wait for the flood. To get used to being wrong. To understand that there are no experts in Web PR, just people who have learned by doing. If you start small, with low expectations, you'll learn enough so that it never becomes a crisis.
Because there are worse things than being wrong. You could be ignored.
Posted by MikeMoran at 3:01 PM | Comments (7) | TrackBack
June 9, 2008
Overhaul Your Site Search Engine
I'm old enough to remember when fathers and sons thought nothing of overhauling their own car engines—back before cars became little IT shops that need specialized equipment to repair. As a certified girly-man, I cringe at even the thought of overhauling an engine, but I do know how to overhaul your site search engine. (You won't even get dirt under your fingernails.)
Search engines are complicated, which means that one size does not fit all. You need to be ready to customize the way your search engine operates so that it best fits your business and your customers.
Each search engine provides different dials to turn and levers to pull, but here are some of the most important:
- Default Boolean operator. We'll forgive you if your first reaction is, "What the heck is a default Boolean operator?" Don't be intimidated by the terminology—the name refers to how the search engine treats multi-word queries. If a searchers enters digital cameras, does the search engine look for pages containing both "digital" AND "cameras"? Or pages containing either "digital" OR "cameras"? It's your search facility, so you get to decide. Defaulting to AND usually provides more precise results, but also more "not founds."
- Rank-factor boosting. Search engines use myriad factors to rank search results. When it's your site search engine, those factors are under your control. Don't be afraid to tweak the weighting of your ranking factors and test the results. Most site search facilities benefit from customizing ranking factors for improved relevance.
- Linguistic and synonym dictionaries. To improve recall, you can request that your search engine expand its matching to include linguistic variants and synonyms of the keywords the searcher uses. Sometimes this kind of expansion can produce spurious results, but you can customize the dictionaries so that only the most helpful related terms are used.
- Country and language filters. If your Web site sells to people of multiple countries or languages, you need to ensure that your search results are limited to the country/language combination they expect. Your conversion rates will skyrocket if you properly filter the right country results for the right person.
Expect your search engine to need some customization to provide optimal results. Now you at least know the basics to pay attention to.
Posted by MikeMoran at 10:24 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 6, 2008
What Percentage of Your Site's Visitors Should Come from Search?
In my weekly column for Search Engine Guide, I address a question I received recently on search metrics. Do you know what percentage of your site's visitors ought to come from search engines? When your Web metrics analyst tells you that number, do you know whether to be happy or not? Find out why this particular search metrics can be problematic to benchmark and to interpret when you read "What Percentage of Your Site's Visitors Should Come from Search?" And see what this gentleman with the distinguished white beard has to do with it.
Posted by MikeMoran at 8:36 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
June 5, 2008
The Sticky Question of the Results Page
Have you been wondering about blended search? Google has introduced Universal Search, and the other search engines have also added videos, photos, blogs, and other content to their search results pages, in addition to good old Web pages. If you've been wondering how these changes affect search marketers, and if you've also been wondering what's in it for the search engines, you'll be interested this column from Revenue magazine, "The Sticky Question of the Results Page." These columns are posted publicly online a few months after they are available to subscribers, so if you want to get them faster, you'll need to subscribe to Revenue Magazine in printed form or online. Some of you might even qualify for a free subscription, so check it out.
Posted by MikeMoran at 10:21 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 4, 2008
So, You Think You Know Google Analytics?
I thought I did. I mean, I have worked with a number of metrics facilities over the years, for big companies and my own personal Web site, so I think of myself as an expert. But Brian Clifton sent me his new book on Advanced Web Metrics with Google Analytics
Brian does a great job of providing in-depth instructions for using Google Analytics. I knew how to use it at the surface level, but this book has given me plenty to chew on to take my analytics to the next level.
Did you know that you could differentiate customers from prospects? I didn't.
I didn't know that you could differentiate whether people click on the image or text link to a page.
I also didn't know that Google Analytics could track conversions by search keyword—I thought you needed a high-end package for that. Wrong.
And I had never even thought about backing up my data. (Stupid, I know.)
I am focusing on the advanced stuff in the book, because that is what appealed to me, but don't be put off if you are a newbie. The early sections of the book are excellent introductions to the most important concepts in Web metrics and how you take advantage of Google Analytics to address them in your business.
My favorite chapter for novice metrics folks is Chapter 5, where Brian walks through each of the ten most important reports of Google Analytics. It's one thing to understand which reports are important, it's another to know how your metrics package works, but it is really powerful when an expert like Brian walks you through both simultaneously.
From this chapter, I decided that I am going to spend more time in my Site Overlay report, because I think a visual representation of what is happening on my site might help me see what's important faster. This report shows you a picture of your Web site and highlights the metrics information on that picture.
It's rare that I see a book that beginners and experienced folks can benefit from, but Brian has pulled it off. And I am happy to finish this review because I have finally finished reviewing all the books that authors sent to me. Now back to the pile that I bought but haven't read yet...
Posted by MikeMoran at 4:27 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
June 3, 2008
Do Web Shoppers Care Only About Deals?
A client expressed his heartfelt belief today about what his Web customers are like--they care only about a deal. They seem to tune out any information except for a direct offer. He told me, to prove his point, that his Web site has nothing but sales information and his competitors take the exact same approach. Why, he lamented, don't they care about our superior service and quality? I think I know why.
I'd like tell a story about a group of missionaries trying to discover the favorite food of the people they encountered. One group returned exclaiming, "It's meat! They love meat!" Another came back and said, "Bread! It's bread!" and so it went through several food groups, which is how things go when you test food preferences with starving people. Whatever you give them, it seems like the only thing they want.
Such is often the case with our Web sites, too. Your customers might be starving for information but you've never provided any, so you don't think that's what they want. You and your competitors have fed them a steady diet of catalog copy and sales pitches and so that's what you think they want. In truth, you might never have tried anything else.
Or, you tried a couple of things that didn't work and then you stopped. So, is the client right when he says that Web customers don't care about superior quality and service? I have no idea. But what I do know is that no one cares about the flabby promises of "superior quality and service."
What does that phrase mean? What is so all-fired superior about your service? Is it your no-hassle return policy? How does that work?
And why is your quality any higher than anyone else's? Don't you sell the same stuff as every other retailer? Or, as a manufacturer, how exactly are your products any better than anyone else's?
I personally believe that to succeed on the Web you need to differentiate. There's only one lowest price, and technology is making it easier and easier to find who has it. If it's not you, then how do you compete? The answer is to offer something other than a commodity. If your site looks the same and smells the same as everyone else's and you sell the same products as everyone else, then why should anyone do anything except take the lowest price?
But I have personally shopped at Amazon to buy the exact same thing I could have bought cheaper elsewhere. Why? Because I trust them to actually ship it when they say they will. Because it was less of a hassle to type in all my information. Because I didn't have to stare the site down to know if I should trust them or to check their return policy. In short, I paid for convenience and piece of mind.
If you are a manufacturer, rather than a retailer, it's even easier. You must be able to explain how your product or service is better than the competition's. And do it with facts, not vague platitudes. What awards have you won? What customer testimonials can you show? Can you show objective evidence that your product is better? Don't tell people, "The #1 in its field." No one cares. Give them information that they can check for veracity.
I believe that, for most products, people are hungry for information. They really want you to explain it to them. They spend a lot of time on the Web looking for reasons why they should buy something and, especially, why they should buy from you. If you give them the rationale they need, you will sell to them, and for a higher price than if you just gave them your standard catalog spiel.
Think about how your catalog sells today. Some sales are made straight from the catalog, but many more are made only after a few questions to your telesales rep on the phone. If you answer those questions on your Web site (and more), how many more people will you persuade?
If all your competitors are offering straight product information on their sites, maybe you should zig when they zag. After all, you can't differentiate by doing what everyone else does.
Posted by MikeMoran at 8:41 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
June 2, 2008
Why Internet Marketing Is So Hard for Large Companies
My wife got a message from the Microsoft Firewall the other day, It was the kind of thing that only firewalls tend to ask about. Microsoft was blocking a program from accessing the Internet, and was asking my wife if that was OK or whether it should allow access. The program? Microsoft's own Internet Explorer. That made her laugh, but it made me realize how hard it is for any company of a certain size to coordinate its efforts. Back when marketing was a relatively small and centralized function, this coordination problem did not affect big company marketing, but now the Internet sometimes makes big (and often medium-sized) companies look silly on a daily basis.
Why does the Internet pose such a challenge? Because coping with the Internet somehow defies centralization, one of the favorite management techniques for large organizations. The Internet shines a light inside your organization, leaving bare for the world to see all of your cracks, fissures, seams, and foibles.
Other ways to interact with customers have not triggered these problems, or at least not anywhere near to the same degree. Think about it. Your shipping department might always have been blithely wrapped in their internal procedures, clueless about what your customers care about and expect. When customers had a delivery question or problem, they called their sales rep, who promised to get back to them with the answer. That rep might have started a frustrating dance with the shipping department on what happened and what we can do, but the customer saw none of this. Even when you put a call center in place to handle such problems, you trained the call center reps to track down the customer orders in the byzantine internal system, and the customer had no idea how screwed up your internal processes are. They had no way to know that 20% of your orders were delayed.
But what happened when you launched your Web site?
At first you used it as a sales brochure, but soon you realized that you needed to offer e-Commerce. And then you realized that you needed the Web site to instantly communicate the expected delivery date even before the order was placed! And then allow the customer to check up on any order anytime after that, and they weren't willing to wait the five minutes they did on the phone! Your systems can't handle any of this.
And the Web team decided that, because there are so many complaints about delays, the order status page should explain in detail what the steps are for customers to take, so that they'll be less frustrated. Unfortunately, this enhancement to the user experience ensures that customers get the impression as to how widely these problems occur—a tidbit sure to be considered when they decide whom to order from next. It's one thing to experience a delay, quite another to see evidence that what happened to you is treated as normal by the company.
So now the shipping department is front and center in your customer experience. In the old days, you could centralize the customer contact to your sales force or your call center. You used people to paper over whatever problems you had with processes and technology, to mitigate the frustration your customers experienced. No more.
Now, many departments that never had any customer contact are taking their typical frustrating experiences and unleashing them directly on your customers instead of on their fellow employees. The shipping department, the rest of your fulfillment team, your IT group, and many others are now suddenly exposed.
And it's not just e-Commerce. Just about every form of marketing involves people who thought they had nothing to do with marketing. I've written before about why big companies struggle with search marketing, but it goes deeper than that. While search marketing requires Webmasters to correct their Web servers, know that blogs require your deep company experts to learn how to operate in public, and that one hate site can totally change the job of your PR person. Many forms of Internet marketing require deep involvement of people who are not marketers.
To cope with the Internet, a large company is forced to face the fact that they must coordinate but they can't centralize. Unlike sales forces or call centers, centralization is not an option—you'll never have a blogging department. Instead, you must coordinate people scattered throughout your company to become your bloggers.
The problem is that coordination is hard, and big companies have never been terribly good at it. Big companies are good at command and control—they set policies that govern what people do, but they struggle more with jobs that can't be controlled. (Just try to control blogging and see how well that works.) Internet marketing requires a lighter touch—coordination—through evangelism, mentoring, and other organizational techniques, such as my favorite: Management by Embarrassment.
Challenge your shipping department to transform their procedures to make customers happier rather than merely shaving costs. Get your IT team to see that improving your customer experience gets them the recognition and funding they've craved all these years. Exhort your PR team to galvanize the rest of the company to participate in blogging and other image-building techniques, rather than trying to control them.
Be a mentor, not an enforcer. Be a trainer, not a cop. Be a facilitator, not a general. If you can figure out how to work across your company's silo functions so that you influence what many other people do, you might suddenly find that customers will give you a pass on what still goes wrong, because they can see everyone is at least trying.
If you don't, expect to see your customers laughing at you, not with you. And expect them to describe themselves as former customers.
If you receive this newsletter once per month but are left wanting more, you could be reading these rants every day. Sign up for the daily Biznology blog as an RSS feed or by e-mail and other options.
Posted by MikeMoran at 1:18 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
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