Google's influence on search engine marketing doesn't stop with brands exploiting benefits in paid-search and product listing ads (PLAs). It is augmented by the way companies like BrightEdge are developing platforms for ad agencies and brands. The latest change pushes marketers that are focused on organic search results to optimize content per channel, rather than keywords, on landing pages, videos, articles and other marketing materials. Omnicom Group's Resolution Media highlighted the fundamental shift earlier this week with the introduction of the business unit Content Continuum, but Jim Yu, BrightEdge CEO, believes Google isn't the only force driving the change. Consumers searching for local content influence the transformation too, as more search is conducted on mobile devices using location-based services. "Searching for ATM machines years ago would return a definition on Wikipedia and a list of manufacturers," Yu said. "Today, that search returns locations based on your location, along with numbers of local bank branches attached to that machine." Research firm comScore estimates that Americans conducted 17 billion core searches in August, down 3.6% sequentially. Google sites ranked first, with 11 billion, followed by Microsoft with 2.7 billion and Yahoo with nearly 2.2 billion. Relying more on content puts brands in a position to tell stories supported by search engine marketing, similar to the way brands do with social, display and video advertising. At the BrightEdge customer event on Wednesday, Leo Haryono, head of SEO at Macy's, talked about how they know the organic page doesn't always rank immediately, so they run PLA ads and let the organic results catch up, according to Yu. BrightEdge built out features that allow marketers to analyze trending topics in Twitter and optimize content based on that information. It also introduced Page Manager, providing insight on prescriptive and actionable page-based SEO best practices. Paid and organic analysis allows marketers to measure and maximize total ROI from both channels. The platform also offers conversion forecasting for keywords, along with potential savings from paid search due to better organic rankings.
Looking to keep you kids occupied? Parents have no trouble giving them a mobile device.Fifty-six percent of parents give their mobile device to their child for entertainment purposes at least once a day -- according to Mojiva, a mobile ad network.Mobile is used more frequently when it comes to shopping for children. Seventy percent of parents are "comfortable" purchasing items for their kids using their mobile device.Almost half of parents that had previously purchased products for their child use their mobile device instead of visiting a brick-and-mortar store or using their computer. Another 18% says they do this with some frequency, with 25% having no problem in spending more than $50 on a single item for their child. Fifty-seven percent of parents have previously downloaded or added an application or a Web page on their mobile device for their child to use.Amy Vale, vice president of global research and strategic communications for Mojiva, stated: "The opportunity for brands to reach parents on a daily basis through mobile advertising is incredible -- especially given the amount of time that families now spend on their smartphones and tablet devices." Image by Shutterstock
IgnitionOne and DataPop moved forward on a deal to support Google product listing ads (PLAs) as the engine converts Google Product Search into Google Shopping. The companies follow Adlucent, Didit and Kenshoo into supporting paid-listing ads. DataPop offers expertise in semantic language optimization, according to IgnitionOne President Roger Barnette. "About 15% of the conversions we track come from Google Product Listing Ads," he said which has the potential to increase as brands pay more attention to optimizing them. IgnitionOne added a feature in its Digital Marketing Suite (DMS) to integrate Google Shopping Product Listing Ads side by side with search, display and Facebook. The integration also allows marketers to combine attribution capabilities to track and optimize bidding across all media channels. The deal with DataPop brings in feeds for semantic and bid optimization for cross-channel attribution, allowing marketers to allocate media budget to gain the most from dollars spent. Marketers also have an option to view custom attribution profiles. Brian Green, VP of marketing at Adorama, works with Adlucent and in mid 2011 signed on to use PLAs. The bidding and optimization work similar to traditional paid-search ads, but offer more opportunities to include consumer recommendations, images and other content. Adorama sees a higher conversion rate with PLAs compared with paid search, but it depends on the product. "We have had success in terms of revenue," he said. "The industry has a lot to learn now that Google Product Search is becoming a paid-for service. Brands don't necessarily need a company to manage product feeds, similar to comparison shopping engines." PLAs are more about managing search ads with images, rather than submitting product fees with cost and pricing, Green said. He said marketers need to look at the ads as valuable real estate with the ability to manage the text, the description, and the image, as well as target different things with messaging in the feed.
A clear majority of new email subscribers are unengaged with email marketing programs, according to second-quarter data from Epsilon and the Direct Marketing Association’s Email Experience Council. In fact, nearly two thirds -- 59% -- of new subscribers in an average list had opened, or clicked on, any messages since signing up. The latest findings are not all bad for marketers, however. Open rates for “triggered messages” -- which are deployed as a result of an action or trigger such as “Welcome,” “Abandon Shopping Cart,” “Thank You” and “Anniversary” -- were 95% higher than standard marketing emails. That represents an increase over the previous quarter (75%) and the previous year (82%), according to Linda Woolley, DMA’s acting president and CEO. “While the average business-as-usual email volume decreased 6% in the second quarter of 2012, we’ve seen a 14% increase in triggered email volume,” said Woolley. “This illustrates that direct marketers are evolving their email contact strategies.” Still, triggered messages only accounted for 2.6% of total volume, according to Epsilon. Among all marketing emails, non-bounce rates remained strong at 95.9% during the second quarter of the year, while open rates decreased slightly quarter-over-quarter (down 2.5%), but increased 15.2% year-over-year. For its broader findings, Epsilon looked at some 7.3 billion emails across multiple industries sent in April, May and June of this year.
Online affiliate network Ads4Dough will pay $1 million to settle charges that marketers in its network used "fake news" sites to dupe people into purchasing acai berry as a weight-loss supplement. Ads4Dough also agreed to tightly police the affiliates within its network, in order to settle the case. The deal resolves a Federal Trade Commission complaint alleging that Ads4Dough (also known as Codeadium) acted as an intermediary between affiliate marketers who created fake news sites and online retailers who sold acai berry as a weight-loss supplement. The marketers allegedly created sites with domain names like nbcreports.com or usahealthnewstoday.org. Those sites duped consumers by carrying "the names and logos of major broadcast and cable television networks," according to the FTC. The sites also offered supposed news stories touting the benefits of acai berry as a weight-loss aid. The complaint and settlement, unveiled on Wednesday, is the latest in a series of cases brought by the FTC challenging marketing efforts for acai berry. Most of the other cases have targeted the companies that allegedly create fake news sites, but the FTC also brought a previous case against another affiliate network -- IMM Interactive, previously Intermark Communications. Ads4Dough promised that in the future, it will require affiliates to provide marketing materials -- including ad copy, photos and URLs -- in advance. The company also said it won't pay for leads or sales if an affiliate uses materials that were disapproved. Ads4Dough also promised to terminate any affiliate that uses fake news sites in the future.
Just watch the Super Bowl ads each year and it’s pretty clear that marketers feel laughter is a calling card. But with broadly targeted products, creative development takes time to discover the interplanetary middle ground to reach both Mars and Venus. Nielsen research indicates that males and females embrace ads with different types of humor. Using a study of millennials ages 13 to 34, Nielsen found that males like “slapstick, edgy, sarcastic” comedy, while females appreciate an “off-beat, but not mean-spirited” approach. Of course, humor isn’t the only area where males and females react differently to 30-second spots. With characters in advertising, males like “normal guys” and “exaggerated situations.” Females go for “happy situations” and an “I could be her” tack. Which might explain why females like themes that highlight “strong female celebrities” and “having fun.” Males go for “competition” and/or “extreme imagery.” With tonality, females like liveliness and “hip music,” while males go for a “whimsically humorous” approach. According to new Nielsen data, females in the 18-to-49 demo watch about 11 hours more of TV a month than males. In a 2-to-17 segment, TV viewing is about the same between the genders. Males 18 to 49 do consume video on the Internet and mobile phones slightly more than females. Image by Shutterstock
Following this week’s unveiling of the iPhone 5 (a.k.a. the “Tall iPhone”), I was curious to see how Google and Bing search results would look like when “iphone 5” was entered. Long story short, Google’s Web crawlers apparently do not think Apple.com deserves a spot on the first page, but does display a paid ad right at the top. On Bing, surprisingly, Apple.com is the 2nd organic result with no paid ad showing. What’s more mind-boggling is the fact that an “ipod nano 7th generation” search query on Google shows apple.com as the top organic result. Maybe this is Google’s way of getting back at Siri, which pretty much bypasses all Google services when providing answers. I wonder how much Google raked in from “iphone 5” clicks… unless the two have a side deal. In summary: · Google’s Web crawlers have feelings that override algorithms. · Apple does not currently advertise on Bing. · Bing has better organic results than Google at least for “iphone 5.” · http://www.bingiton.com/ this is my new obsession and would highly recommend everyone to give it a try.
Let me start by confessing I am not a big fan of Apple. I never liked the user interface on Mac (probably because I have been a PC guy from the get-go). The iPods I got over the years all sucked (most especially the Nanos). They broke down within hours of the warranties' expirations -- and Apple, despite the phony "I am here to help you" facade at the stores, is just as unresponsive to problems as any other tech company. By contrast, the much-maligned Zune has worked perfectly for me from the start. So it was not hard for me to stay with BlackBerry when iPhones exploded on the scene. The rest of the family all migrated to iThis and iThat, while I bang away on my Dell and Bold. It’s yet another indicator to my kids that I am older than the Ice Age that I have not gotten an iPhone. They are all about what is "cool" and au courant. I was too at their age. But now I am about function over form, and can survive just fine with Sony headphones instead of Beats and a hardback book rather than an iPad or a Kindle. So I noted with amusement that in all the hyperbolic coverage of the newest iPhone, Apple changed the charger cord, rendering all previously purchased charger cords obsolete. Oh, you can spend something like $30 each for an adapter that will link your old charger with the new iPhone. Now, I am not an expert in electronics manufacturing -- but I suspect those adapters cost Apple about 15 cents each to have mass-produced in China. You can do the math on the markup. And having one won't cover you for the various charger cords you have squirreled away in places like your overnight bag, your briefcase, your office and the one beside your bed. So when you calculate the cost to own the new iPhone, don't just try to outguess what your new pay-for-consumption data plan will look like, because it delivers the Internet something like 10 times faster than before, tossing in a hundred or so bucks for adapters. Oh, and the new hardshell -- since the dimensions are JUST slightly off from previous versions of the iPhone. For those of you who cannot confess your addiction (and make amends by switching over to a different smartphone to escape the perpetual Apple churn of "new" versions -- it should just warm your heart to see that the most recent model can now be had for $99), you might want to check into some sort of rehab facility specializing in talking you down from the urge to run out and buy the next shiny new object from Apple. With any luck, the company’s stock will drop, and we can stop all this nonsense about Apple being one of the biggest, most influential companies in the history of the equities market. Who knows -- the newfound humility just might prompt the top-level execs there to tuck in their shirts the next time they appear onstage. But probably not. It’s just not cool.