Week Six Journal Entry

In preparation for my post this week, I read the article from the May 22nd issue of Wired Magazine titled Secret of Googlenomics: Data-Fueled Recipe Brews Profitability. I believe this article sums up the amazing revolution that Google has introduced into the advertising world perfectly. Years from now we are going to look back at Google as the true innovators of this new market place, defining the course it has taken with precision calculations and most importantly a credible way to demonstrate the effectiveness (or lack thereof) of key word search advertising.

In my later years of undergraduate work I often found myself asking “what differentiates one search engine from another?” Each seemed to get their results to you in a timely fashion and the interfaces appeared to be relatively similar, but as I have evolved and began to form a more acute eye about presence online and adverting I have started to see the differences. In the Wired Magazine article the author discusses how Google has worked to make their advertising less obtrusive. So often the majority of advertising we are exposed to is dictated to us and rather blatantly: billboards on a clean highway, radio commercials after every third song, TV commercials after eight minutes, pop-up ads on a webpage. Google has found a way to surface their advertising content subtly, yet effectively. They are able to get advertising to users that are looking for specific items. This approach is extremely effective in a few different ways. Advertisers will want to advertise with Google because they know that Google is going to surface their ad only to persons searching on terms that relate to the ad they have placed. The likelihood of users clicking on this ad, learning more about a product and converting to a potential action is far more likely than that of a pop up or banner ad on a website. Essentially, Google is getting ads to interested parties as opposed to addressing all of the eyeballs of the site. The other side of this story is that Google has a pedigree among its customers in that individuals using Google to search know the consistent look and feel that they will experience and know where ads versus searched content will be located. This trust that is created between the customer and Google is extremely valuable, so much so the term Google is now part of our common parlance and is even defined by Merriam-Webster as “ to use the Google search engine to obtain information about (as a person) on the World Wide Web.”

Google’s approach to the keyword auction was again something I struggled with but the more I was exposed to it, the more understood. This method is rather ingenious in that it gives maximum value to Google but also allows Google to source the crowd to dictate that value of a particular word and position. This tactic once understood can be successfully implemented by and advertisers with a specific budget so that they can efficiently spend their advertising dollar on those words that will give them the best chance for conversion

The other item that I have always struggled to understand until recently was why Google invests in so many products and then gives them all away: Gmail, GoogleDocs, GoogleMaps, GoogleEarth, GoogleCalendar, YouTube, etc. The fact that they more eyeballs Google can get onto the web, the better chance they will be able to sell advertising and keywords. Google has created a suite of tools that are high quality, easy to use and integrate very well with one another. Google launched their own browser this year, Chrome that is set to compete with the behemoths in the browser world, Internet Explorer and Firefox. This desktop application will allow users to now surf the web with a tool powered by the Google engine and bring users that one step closer to Google search and in turn one step closer to clicking on those sponsored ads and generating revenue for Google.

Week Five Journal Entry

One of the clear cut advantages to online marketing, sales and communications is the ability to measure the actions taken. Any well devised strategy must include a way to measure results and more importantly, interpret those results to help understand how well the advertising is working and if you are reaching your key constituents. At our agency we surround all of our strategy with several key pillars, least of which is metrics and analytics.

Google has been leveraging online metrics for years, leading them to the top of the mountain in online search. Google knows so much about the different audience segments that use their tools and Google knows how to help their clients reach these audiences. Google offers a free product to web developers named Google Analytics (http://www.google.com/analytics/). This tool brings an enormous amount of data to those individuals responsible for driving traffic and awareness about a particular site across the World Wide Web. Essentially, Google has provided the keys to the kingdom to individuals that come from an analytical slant, but as with any strategy it is not just the data but how the data is synthesized and understood.

Analytical data and metrics are key in understanding who comes to see your site, where they came from, where they are located, how long they stayed on the site, what did they see while on the site, etc., etc. Capturing this information is the first step in massaging messages and advertising presence. Often time’s clients are looking for “hits” or “page views” but these statistics do not provide the holistic view of how a page is found and viewed.

As analytics and metrics are extremely important to measuring activity on a site, understanding the targeted segment and researching the market are equally important. Content is extremely key when marketing online. Understanding what attracts visitors and keeps them engaged on your site is at the core of the majority of online strategies. This is accomplished through online research about the targeted audience and what will drive them to your site.

A popular example today of an audience that highly sought after and targeted is the Mom segment (also known as mommy bloggers). This highly influential group is very selective in the material that they read and often rely on recommendations from peers and other bloggers. Communicating to this group is extremely important as Mom’s online are making many decisions for their family and now more than ever are doing their shopping, errands and research on the computer. To be able to market correctly to these Moms means that an agency needs to perform very solid research to understand how to reach them. Research about particular trends, chatter and perception are extremely important if a company intends to package an online marketing strategy to a group that is very sensitive about what they read and see. Today’s online marketer understands the importance of reaching groups like Moms, whether it is through contests, giveaways, influencing blogs that they may read or by packaging the information in such a way that it hits right at what is important to this group. All information needed to strategically communicate with this group and others must be obtained through thorough online research about what is important to the targeted group.

When developing on line strategy, it is important take a heuristic approach that supports all of the work with highly valued metrics.

Week Four Journal Entry

The online marketplace in the music industry is truly an amazing phenomenon for several reasons, least of which is the time it took to develop the market. Music stores like iTunes and Amazon have taken the concept of the album and completely reinvented it by offering songs individually to users as opposed to a bundled package. This concept is truly unique and could only be accomplished via digital platform as the cost to package and distribute single tracks from every album would not be profitable.

The online platform has also presented several other opportunities to consumers that were not available before in traditional music stores. In iTunes, the user has the capability to sample portions of songs. This is a huge advantage to these online platforms in that users can now have a chance to listen to some of the “B side” tracks that do not get radio airtime but may be a very marketable piece of the album. There is no doubt that Apple and Amazon are generating more sales of their music offering by allowing users to listen to samples of songs prior to purchase, for free.

In addition to the sampling aspect, iTunes has taken advantage of crowdsourcing by allowing users to comment on artists and music in addition to sharing the popularity of tracks in the iTunes store. This information is readily available in the store and can help consumers make decisions about tracks that they are looking for, what is popular and what their peers think about the music. iTunes as also taken the crowdsourcing to another level in that on the artist pages in the iTunes store, Apple not only lists the offerings from a particular artist but they also list top songs from that artist, videos related to their music but more importantly they list what other listeners also bought. Often this list is composed of music from the same genre performed by similar artists. This information is easy to leverage as the store is already accumulating this information but it also helps consumers broaden their pallet of what they like while also helping Apple generate more sales with minimal additional effort. Such tasks would be nearly impossible in a traditional music store as albums were often cataloged alphabetically. Sometimes albums would be categorized by genre and then alphabetically, but even then a traditional music store does not have the capability to flex the index of music that it is offering where as online store can flex this information with ease and minimal cost.

Building on the iTunes store, Apple has been able to put point of purchase in the hands of their consumers with iTunes stores available on mobile devices like the Apple iPhone. With developers constantly creating applications for the iPhone, there are numerous ways to engage consumers with these devices and drive them to a point of sale. The iPhone application “Shazam” is an excellent illustration of this concept. This application has been developed to allow the user to launch the application, hold the iPhone close to a speaker that is playing a particular song and the application will listen to the song for a brief moment. Once the application has listened to the song it then takes that audio excerpt, analyzes it and determine what track was played and what artist was performing it. From there, the user is then presented with several options to purchase the track, save it to a list or share it with a friend. This unprecedented point of sale in the hands of the user at all time is revolutionizing the industry. It has also overcame a hurdle that consumers often experience when thy here a track but to not know who the artist is or what album the track is on. The digital storefront for music will continue to innovate and push the limits with regards to copyright law and what artists consider to be acceptable distribution of their music.

Apple iTunes is truly embracing the digital marketplace and integrating it across all platforms.

Week Three Journal Entry

Application of the long tail theory is extremely noticeable in key word advertising in the large search engines such as Google and Yahoo!. Key word advertising is an interesting marketplace in that it is an auction for keywords. Keyword advertising can be an expensive prospect for many of the same reasons that purchasing TV or billboard media can be expensive. Broad terms are searched on more often the specific key terms, often those found in the end of the long tail. A key word such as “handbags” will likely have a high auction rate because of the frequency that users search for handbags. Advertising on this keyword may be very expensive because users may often click on the term but if they do not find what they are looking for when they get to your site, the advertising expense has been accrued but the transaction did not take place.

I think that examination of the long tail in the key word advertising field is really making companies and their agencies take a hard look at what they are trying to sell, to what demographic and what attributes of their product differentiate it from their competitors. Research and understanding of the analytics behind keyword searches is critical to maximize your online spending. The long tail can be a very powerful place to spend money because the users that are searching on these key terms are more likely to have an understanding of the product genre and will be more likely to convert into a purchase or drill deeper into your site form more information.

Our society seems to be becoming more of a society of customization and specialization. As we studied last week, much of this is coming from the actual consumers as they are now being sourced by corporations to help develop and specialize products. This specialization and customization lends itself to the long tail where more unique products and services may reside. Getting users to these products is now more practical than ever before with powerful search engines indexing billions of pages of content.

The pharmaceutical industry uses the long tail logic in search engine marketing extremely well. There hundreds of drugs on the market that address cancer symptoms. Marketers need to be able surface their content on very specific key terms to ensure they are getting the most from their keyword search dollar. Terms in the long tail are often more specific about the treatment, type of ailment and type of remedy being sought. These key terms are more likely to have lower prices because they are not as heavily searched on so the cost per click will likely be lower. This gets right at the point illustrated in discussion in that less people may be searching on these specific terms but those that are, are more likely too perform the action that you attracting them to do. Whether that is product purchase, requesting for more information or requesting a sample of the product. These are the users you want visiting your site and you are more likely to attract them by investing dollars in strategic key research and analysis and then advertising on those terms that have been identified. From there, you need make sure your site is easy to navigate, accommodating and containing useful information. These are topics for another day!

Week Two Journal Entry

OK, so I am going to purchase the book Crowdsourcing. The introduction that I read this week was fascinating and I feel extremely excited to read this book given that it seems as if we are right in the middle of this movement that is ever changing. Years ago I struggled to understand the open source movement, particularly in the software development world because I could not understand why individuals would contribute to something like Linux of Mozilla without being compensated. As the movement has progressed I now understand the true sense of community that is created and how such collaboration can be rewarding and inspiring, and in some cases compensated.

Crowdsourcing has already become a very powerful tool in digital marketing. Creating a platform to allow users to submit their own, personal touch on traditional products creates a sense of customization and uniqueness that can truly mobilize the consumer and garner interest in a particular product or service. At my agency, we launched a program for Clorox called “Redesign Clean” (http://www.redesignclean.com/) which solicited consumers to submit designs for a new Clorox wipe. This program engaged the community and also created awareness about the product launch. By creating a contest that allows users the ability to customize the box, what was normally a sterile container for wipes now has a unique design look and feel to it and is something consumers would like to have on their counter.

Similar contests have taken place recently to motivate consumers to demonstrate their design capabilities and show off their talent. Jose Cuervo 1800 tequila (http://www.1800tequila.com/) conducted a bottle design contest where artists could submit their designs online for the wrap on a tequila bottle. The application used is very cool in that when your artwork is submitted, it is rendered on the bottle as it would appear if produced. A $10,000 prize was offered to the winners of the contest and the bottle would appear in a national advertising campaign. This program was a great success because the “crowd” is being utilize to bring design elements to the bottle (not changing the product contained within), information about Jose Cuervo products is being surfaced to the many visitors coming to the site and information about the participants is being captured and helps Jose Cuervo better understand their target demographic.

Utilizing the crowd is a fascinating way to engage the community. As mentioned in the introduction to Crowdsourcing, you do not have to be a an expert in a particular field to contribute to the knowledge base being developed and users feel a sense of empowerment by participating in these communities. Hopefully when I fulfill my obligation to my MBA, I will be able to find some time to become active in the open community!

Week One Journal Entry

The first week of our clinic has exposed the students to one of the most powerful tools available to businesses, digital media. Having a digital marketing and communications presence is key because of the on demand nature of the content and the ability for consumers to experience the content on their own time and in a repeatable fashion. As a Director in the Digital group at Fleishman-Hillard International Communications, my job day in, day out is to continue to push the use of digital communications and strategy for our clients.

In the book “Always On”, the author details the resistance for some CEO’s and CMO’s to fully embrace the digital media space. Often, these individuals see traditional media (TV, print) as the key areas to market and advertise. In communications we often experience some of the same resistance. Often the resistance is the result of the individual operating outside his/her comfort zone. But a key point that we often illustrate to our clients is the ability to attach very powerful metrics to digital communication/marketing that can clearly demonstrate a return on their investment. In addition to usage and conversion metrics, agencies can capture information about these visitors that can help better refine the target demographic that is consuming the media being produced and allows the company and the agency to better tailor their messages to convert these visitors into consumers.

Marketing in the digital space also provides consumers an unprecedented experience. Online marketing and communication can allow visitors to interact with a product or service in a way that print or television advertising cannot. Leveraging online product simulations, videos and augmented reality can bring a product or service to life for the consumer and then immediately take the consumer to a point of purchase. Having this capability is a tool that executives and marketing teams have not had before and with the dynamic nature of the digital space, messaging and product information can be changed with ease. In addition to the experiences, key word advertising in the major search engines can surface content about a product or a service to those that are already online looking for this information.

I am truly looking forward to participating in this course. My experience as digital media professional in the communications industry comes from a college education that included software development and general business acumen in addition to years of experience working as a professional and continuing my education by reading and learning from my peers. I am very interested in being exposed to how academia is studying this space and the trends that are being uncovered and the pedagogy being developed.