Just a few days after launching Google Website Trends, Google revealed the real purpose of all that nice new data: Google Ad Planner. Launching just yesterday, it is "a research and media planning tool that connects advertisers and publishers." In plain English, Ad Planner enables you to find websites for placing your ads based on behavioral ad targeting and demographics. Figuring out where all that data is coming from has people—including me—scratching our heads. But, I’m getting ahead of myself.

How does this thing work? Well, it’s still in private beta, but from what I can gather, you give Ad Planner the demographics or favorite web sites of your target audience and, according to Google, the tool will…

...return information about sites (both on and off the Google content network) that your audience is likely to visit. You can drill down further to get more detail like demographics and related searches for a particular site, or you can get aggregate statistics for the sites you’ve added to your media plan.

This also sheds some light on how Google is planning on integrating with the recently acquired Double Click.

Continue reading "Does Google Ad Planner = Privacy Concerns?"

Banner advertising has long been the bane of web surfers around the world.  Garrish, annoying and ineffective, it’s rare that a campaign actually expresses any level of creativity or effectiveness.

As social networks entered the scene - ripe with rich, detailed demographic data about each and every user - advertisers simply couldn’t resist. But, an odd thing happened on the way to targeting users in online communities. No one clicked on the ads.

It seems once inside the walled garden of Facebook or among friends on MySpace, users weren’t in any mood to search for new mortgage rates or purchase airline tickets and avoided the ads at all cost. In the latest attempt to earn more clicks through banner advertising on social networks, the social media advertising firm SocialMedia launched "social banners," which create banner ads that incorporate you or your friends into the ad. CNet writes:

For example, instead of a banner advertising The Incredible Hulk movie, a social banner would ask which of your close Facebook friends, among a short list, you’d like to invite to see the movie. Or a social banner might inform you that a friend Jim just ranked Iron Man with three stars, and it might ask to "click here to buy tickets at Fandango."

While the intent may be, "to make ads suck less in social networks," said Seth Goldstein, founder of San Francisco-based SocialMedia Networks, this move could bring a backlash similar to the Facebook Beacon uproar from last year. The privacy issues that arise are incredibly complex.

Continue reading "Social Banner Ads Continue to Frustrate"

Dave Balter of BzzAgent published a must-read book about Word of Mouth Marketing earlier this week that is definitely worth your time. You can either pick your up your very own copy at Amazon for $45, or you can grab the free e-book version right here. While it may seem like a no-brainer, the purchased version does at least include a limited edition original piece of artwork by Seth B. Minkin.

I read Balter’s Word of Mouth Manual Volume II last night - it’s a quick read at just 119 pages - and it’s chock-full of helpful case studies and ideas about how brand and marketers can be a part of their customers’ conversations without doing what they usually do: absolutely destroy any meaningful dialogue. Even the strategy for promoting the book itself is a strong case study on how to work with bloggers in marketing a book. Balter worked with 20 top bloggers to distrubte the e-book for free and get folks talking about the book and his ideas.

Continue reading "The Word of Mouth Manual"

One week after the new iPhone’s debut, some of the most intriguing buzz centers around the development of native mobile applications. For marketers and brand managers alike, this poses one the best opportunities in a long time to create meaningful brand engagement.

Up until now, the excitement over mobile marketing had been trying to deliver relevant ads to various handsets. But the iPhone offers up a more relevant and useful platform for brands to develop applications that provide a real value for their users (And for those of you who track this blog, you know we love marketing ideas that provide a service for customers).

Continue reading "iPhone Helps Turn Marketers into Problem-Solvers"

For those of you who think Google is set on taking over the world, add this to the list: Google pay-per-click ads will now show up on Yahoo! search engine results. The two companies signed a 10 year deal thus further increasing Google’s dominance in the paid-search world.

AdAge put together a great article summarizing a few of the details and I would encourage you to read it.

While this deal is causing fear of rising CPC costs, increased government scrutiny, and Yahoo! becoming more reliant on Google; there are also a few pros such as small business being able to advertise on both Google and Yahoo! from one platform and Google learning from Yahoo’s successful display advertising techniques (especially with Google’s acquisition of DoubleClick).

This won’t affect the consumer for at least another 3 months as Google and Yahoo! have agreed to delay implementation to allow the Justice Department to read the fine print. Hopefully, it wont be Senator Ted Stevens doing the reviewing (see below).

 

Continue reading "Google and Yahoo! Join PPC Forces"

Not able to attend BlogPotomac? Not to worry - we’ve got all the live video goodness of the event you can handle. Sponsored by Livingston Communications, Viget Labs, and WordBiz.com, Inc., BlogPotomac is this year’s premiere social media marketing event for greater Washington DC. Check it out:

 

Online Video provided by Ustream

One of my favorite tools for the online marketer is Google Website Optimizer. I’ve been planning on writing a post with some solid case studies regarding Google’s Website Optimizer; but in the meantime, I just wanted to let our readers know that Google is hosting a website workout contest.

What is a website workout? Here is the official explanation:

Our consultants will work with you to discover ways in which we can increase site performance. Using Website Optimizer, our free website testing and optimization tool, a team of experts will work with you to determine the page layout, headlines, images, and text that will drive the most business from your site.

The short of it: You can win a chance for Google’s team to optimize your website using Website Optimizer.

The deadline for entry is June 17th, so check it out here!

 

By Josh Chambers & Ryan Moede

It’s easy to spot the two schools of thought in marketing and advertising today.  You’re either a "new school" marketer (you think Twitter is going to save the world), or you’re an "old school" marketer (you still double-click on hyperlinks and think TV spots are the future). The two groups don’t seem to communicate—and, worse yet, they actually seem to dislike one another.

In a recent discussion with Lisa Throckmorton from Speakerbox, we were talking about that very thing—the polarization of old school and new school marketing. Long story short, we decided it might be a good idea to get a few DC marketing professionals together with a variety of backgrounds to toss around ideas on how to navigate the current marketing waters—marketers who value traditional marketing, as well as who "get" newer online marketing. The "middle school" as Lisa called it.

Yesterday morning was our first gathering—and, we have to say, it was a blast. It was encouraging to hear other marketers resonate with the discomfort surrounding this polarization and hear their insight on why that is, and how we can move past it.

Continue reading "Our First “Middle School” Marketing Gathering"

Within the past week, Weezer's newest music video "Pork and Beans" has been viewed more than 5,000,000 times. Is Weezer that popular? Or do they just get it?

Most of us can burn hours with friends on YouTube. The conversation usually starts with, "Yeah ... but have you seen this one?" and then YouTube glory ensues. And yet, even with seemingly universal YouTube awareness, so many YouTube campaigns just straight bomb. What is Weezer's secret?

Participation!

Weezer is participating in the YouTube world by referencing -- and paying tribute to -- content that other community members have created. By showing they understand and care about the rest of the community, they have engendered a positive vibe, added value to others, and in the process promoted their new single. Unlike your standard "shove-it-down-their-throats" marketing, Weezer *gets* that marketing itself should make our lives better.

Also, this video was put on YouTube by the Weezer channel. They're giving the video away for others' enjoyment. They're not concerned with copyrights, whether it's being used properly or not, or who is watching it. They put the content out there for others to enjoy and have fun with, and it's paying off.

With references to YouTube hits like Afro Ninja, Numa Numa, Miss Teen USA 2007, Evolution of Dance, and Diet Coke and Mentos (to name just a few); the Pork and Beans video is a tribute to user-generated content--and it's awesome.

Not only that, but I kind of dig the crunchy guitars and catchy tune. Enjoy:

 

It’s easy to spot the advertising and marketing today done by companies who simply don’t care about delivering valuable marketing to their customers – companies too content with interrupting them with annoying, trivial messaging.
Some, however, are beginning to see the light.

There may be several names for it, but no matter what you call it, there is no doubt that brand marketing must deliver value. Some like to think of it as marketing with meaning. Others have dubbed it branded utility (something I’ve written about before.) Still others prefer marketing as service.

No matter which way you slice it, brands are beginning to realize that the best way to make their product and advertising stand out amid the unparalleled noise is to simply provide value through their marketing. In the past, it may have—at best—been possible to satisfy a customer with trivial marketing and advertising if at least the product delivered. But now, customers expect both the information selling the product and the quality of the product to live up to their promise.

FastCompany’s Bill Breen writes, "Overloaded by sales pitches, consumers are gravitating toward brands that they sense are true and genuine. Hunger for the authentic is all around us. You can see it in the way millions are drawn to mission-driven products like organic foods."

Continue reading "Market Like You Mean It"