• by Steve Baldwin , October 13, 2008

I spent two days at SMX East last week, and it was a somewhat surreal experience. The last time I dragged my carcass through the Javits Center was PC Expo during the dot-com boom. SMX was held in the subterranean concrete cavern of the North Pavilion, an exhibit space representing less than a 10th of Javits' exhibit space that still managed to dwarf SMX' 40 or so exhibit booths (now I understand why most search events happen in hotels, whose smaller spaces manage to make them look much bigger than they actually are).

From a vendor/exhibitor perspective, search trade shows present a frustrating conundrum. You want to be there because there's always a chance that an actual prospect will show up, and you can have a meaningful conversation about the services you offer. The problem, however, is that the way the search industry's big shows are set up guarantees that this will almost never happen. I'd guess that three quarters of the attendees at these events are flat-out newbies hired to manage search internally. What attracts them to these shows is the chance to immerse themselves in the various "boot camp" sessions offered, and return to their employers "knowing enough" about search to run internal campaigns. I spoke to several of these newbie search managers and they positively glowed with enthusiasm about "how search is going to turbo-charge my company's business."

The problem, of course, is that a little knowledge -- the kind you can get from sitting in a couple of sessions -- is a very dangerous thing. Anybody can buy clicks, but getting these clicks to actually work for you is among the most maddeningly tough tasks you can undertake. Sadly, I know exactly what's going to happen in the next few weeks as these fresh-from-SMX-boot camp search managers fire up Adwords, upload their keyword lists, and wait for the Google Profit fairy to grace their bottom line, and the inevitable cycle of SEM Grief begins to set in. The first stage will be Denial ("this can't be happening!"), then Anger ("Google is a crook!"), Bargaining ("maybe if I fix my landing pages people will buy from us"), Depression ("it's too late to cut my losses now"), and finally Acceptance ("paid search doesn't work at all").

Don't get me wrong: there's nothing wrong with educating the business masses about search. Our current economic woes will cause marketing retractions and marketing shifts, and it is likely that search -- the most measurable, targetable, and (potentially) efficient marketing channel yet devised -- will continue to gather steam. We in the U.S. must incubate a talented core of people who are qualified to run this thing we call SEM, as well as continue to lead in terms of developing the kind of technology that can intelligently translate business goals into search success.

Someday, I'm sure that SEO and PPC best practices will be formally incorporated into the general curriculum of business schools, colleges, and perhaps even high schools. Nobody will be able to get an MBA without demonstrating the ability to manage, or at least oversee, a successful search campaign. Until that happens, however, we must rely on the trade shows, but as I've indicated, I think these shows paint a partial, misleading picture of what's required to win. At their best, they present tactics and strategies that are obsolete (or soon will be obsolete, thanks to Google, which changes its algorithm twice a day now). The so-called "secrets" they hawk aren't secrets at all -- after all, what vendor in his/her right mind would reveal to the multitudes the actual practices they use to get their clients an advantage? At their worst, they encourage exactly the kind of "get rich overnight" thinking that's led to some much pain in the real estate sector.

We can do much better, but time is short. I don't think the SEM industry is a fad, a craze, or a scam, but if we don't start presenting a more accurate picture of what search is about, including all its terrible budget-burning pitfalls, we shouldn't be surprised if the rest of the business world continues to regard us as a strange cult consisting of the same kind of "geeks bearing formulas" that Warren Buffet so sagaciously warns against.