Everyone is moving a little slowly and quietly today. Last night was the Google Glow in the Dark dance party out at Googleplex and they certainly delivered. There was tons to do and see plus everything was FREE!
Moderating the morning keynote once again is Kevin Ryan with Bill Hunt of Global Strategies International and features Randy Peterson of Procter and Gamble, Mikel Chertudi of Omniture and Sharon Gallacher of Neo@Ogilvy
Bill Hunt is currently speaking about companies that do not recognize the power of search and how, on average, only 4% of their media buying goes to search. For web savvy companies this almost the opposite.
Randy states that search can not only generate leads but also the branding value alone makes search a viable media buy. Banners still work but on a more branding level. Enewsletters also work but search actually puts a user in the drivers seat.
Chertudi is now talking about cookie based tracking and how it can be misleading. Visitors can be tracked using a cookie and these cookies can expire after 30/60/90 days or never. A recent study shows that 30% of web surfers clear their cookies every month. This is something to take into account when analyzing data.
Back to Randy and his experience with jumping into the search ocean with some P&G brands only to pull back the reins a little bit. Good research before attempting anything will help you run an effective campaign.
Chertudi is talking about how easy it is to throw data at someone to prove a point but we have to keep one thing in mind – Am I doing what’s best for the company. The talk is on getting credit where credit is due but not stealing credit away because you are a search marketer.
As search marketers we are kind of shunned on by traditional media. Advertisers and marketers have always butt heads but when you throw an online marketer in the mix the old guard doesn’t quite get what we do. Because our media is measurable it is quite easy to just throw a bibles worth of data at someone but don’t let ego get in the way. Always be right and always be fair
Bill Hunt has just raised the point of lead generation to sales and who gets credit. He makes the point that large companies have channels in measuring leads/sales that can be misleading. A paid search listing or banner could have created a contact form submission. Such companies require that people sign off on every step with the sales people getting the final credit for it. This can be misleading as the search/banner could have brought them to the site and the copy may have converted them before they even got to the sales team. This is something to talk about and find a way to measure it and address it.
A great thing to do is to survey your clients after a purchase and ask them when they decided they wanted to buy from you. Most users have already decided that they want to do business with you if you sell products but those that offer services need to be qualified before they use you.
For more information please contact the Search Engine Marketing Team at Schipul – sem@schipul.com