Google's Latest Enhancement: Demographic Targeting

No doubt that Google's latest enhancement to Adsense and Adwords is neat. The latest update allows marketers to select specific websites within Google's ad network--if you don't know which sites are in the network, there is a tool that allows you to submit specific phrases and terms, and Google displays the sites that complement your phrases. In addition, you can target sites based on demographic profile of your audience (age, gender, income)... Here's the catch: this program is not a pay per click program--its a CPM impression program.. I got suckered into selecting one site within their network that delivered 65,000 impressions in the course of 6 hours...which is implausible given the 'product' that I was promoting on behalf of a client. But, the good news is that Google's network includes a wide spectrum of high profile and credible sites--the frequency by which the ads are displayed is merely a function of the price you are willing to pay for 1000 impressions.

Professional Services Marketing

Excellent excerpt from last month's CMO ...for all of those law firms looking to hire marketing execs.

Throw your brochures away. Peek in the dark closets of many professional-service firms and you're likely to find cartons of unopened marketing brochures gathering dust. Why? They missed the mark.

Too many brochures, websites and direct mail pieces focus on the professional-service provider, not the client. Clever slogans and images swallow up precious real estate that should be used for what clients really want: help with their problems.

If your marketing material doesn't directly address clients' business issues, you might as well throw it away. Stress instead how your firm solves specific problems. That will get the attention of the right clients. And your practitioners will want to use the material instead of relegating it to the broom closet.

Harness the power of feet on the street. What's the professional-service marketer's secret weapon for carrying the company's message to the market? Your practitioners.

The needs of professional-service clients vary too widely for generic marketing.

The best companies are able to create evangelists of their people—in essence, thought leaders who enthusiastically spread the firm's point of view through multiple but coordinated channels to existing and prospective clients.

With the liberal use of low-cost, high-return marketing tactics like nonsponsored speaking opportunities, e-newsletters, blogs, webinars and surveys, the leading firms take full advantage of their experts as part of their marketing and sales processes. Clients want to know what your practitioners can do, not what you proclaim they can do.

Existing clients get the biggest slice of pie. In professional services, clients are the richest source of new business and referrals. For that reason, focus roughly 60 percent of marketing resources on cultivating those relationships.

Some companies have elaborate client-specific marketing strategies to generate new business and develop referrals from their clients' circle of influence. They measure the ROI of client-specific marketing by observing if the efforts result in incremental revenue.

You must also invest in prospective clients. Use 30 percent of your marketing efforts to reach prospects in your target market(s). Save the final 10 percent for building visibility in the business community.

It's not a refrigerator. What do you need a fridge to do? Keep items cold. Refrigerators vary in size and price, but the basic functions are standard. Not so with professional services. Ten clients who need tax help, for example, probably all need different types of help. The needs of professional-service clients vary too widely for generic marketing. So a critical guerrilla marketing principle applies: One size fits none.

Tailor marketing to meet the precise needs of clients and your market. And don't waste time and money trying to be too clever. You're seeking clients, not marketing awards.

Answer the tough questions. Before using resources for any marketing program, ask these questions: Why do we need this program? Is it aligned with client needs? What are the desired results? How will we measure effectiveness? How will the company be involved in rolling it out? Is there a better way to use these resources?

CMOs must answer these questions and be able to pull the plug on any initiative that is not generating business. Marketers can't solve all the problems facing those selling professional services, but as Peter Drucker said, "The aim of marketing is to make selling superfluous."

Cheerios To Start The Day

White House Breakfast

Dick Cheney and George W. Bush were having breakfast at the White House.The attractive waitress asks Cheney what he would like, and he replies, "I'd like a bowl of oatmeal and some fruit." "And what can I get for you, Mr. President?" George W. replies with his trademark wink and slight grin, "How about a quickie this morning?" "Why, Mr. President!" the waitress exclaims. "How rude! You're starting to act like Mr. Clinton, and you've only been in your second term of office for a year! '' As the waitress storms away, Cheney leans over to Bush and whispers..."It's pronounced 'quiche'

In-Store, Place-Based Media

Sam Walton's famous insight into advertising (paraphrase)--"...maybe 50% of advertising is effective; if only one could figure out which half of the advertising really worked..."

Ok, a bit dated perhaps--as there are now a number of measurement tools that can actually determine the effectiveness of certain types of advertsing...dedicated 800#'s tied to specific print and TV placements, and the internet clearly provides tools to follow a shopper directly from an ad into a shopping cart...But lets face it, the bulk of most advertising spends are directed to wide-net extended reach 'channels' (traditional network TV and print ads)--the effectiveness is hard to track, but are justified because a marketer exec can say to his boss ''Hey--our ad reached 20 million viewers yesterday".. Yeah..maybe some of them are even gauging the impact by reviewing real-time sales data and noticing whether those ads had any real impact..but lets face it...there's a trend taking place..and its about time...and its about place. I've said this before..and Aribtron's latest study, published on Friday, says it all.. "nearly a third of shoppers reported making an unplanned purchase after seeing a product advertised on a retail digital signage network." In-store and place-based advertising makes dollars and sense because the message is being delivered at a single moment in time when the consumer is most responsive, most impacted, and most likely to make a purchase decision...

Duh! Prospecting in Gold Mines; Not Haystacks

If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times...the best source of new customers is leveraging your existing ones...You can cut your advertising budget in half, direct that money to customer service and relationship managers, and if you don't seen a noticeable (more likely quantum) leap in new sales over the next year, I'll eat my hat, turn in my passport and move to Mars.

Here's the excerpt from Forrester's latest poll...."That’s why “recommendation by relative/friend” comes out on top in just about every survey of purchasing influences. ....more than 90% of consumers trust “recommendations from consumers,” while trust in various types of ads runs from about 40% to less than 10%." Click on the link to read the article

MISTAKING A MARKETPLACE 'VOID' FOR A MARKETPLACE NEED

Brilliant article from today's AdAge profiling the do's and don'ts of branding--whether re-vitalizing an established product, or more likely, introducing a new one.

Sirius Gets Serious with Sponsorship/Promotion Strategy

Noteworthy to profile Sirius Satellite Radio's recent sponsorship/customer acquisition strategy at Detroit's North American International Auto Show. Per link to news story--their marketing gurus are thinking out of the box with a box--and leveraging outsized point-of-entry ticketing 'kiosks' that are being deployed at Detroit, as well as a string of other major consumer auto shows.

The large scale platforms, provided by a company called WalkUp Systems seem ideal for advertisers of all kinds, as they incorporate large plasma screen video and plenty of real estate for static signage; place-based media applications that complement ticket back advertising opportunities for these massive audience events; Detroit Auto Show attendance is estimated at 750,000 and upcoming New York Auto Show will attract more than 1.2 million.

Sirius Radio scored a coup at the Detroit Auto Show this week, and owned the front door media by blanketing the platforms with static signage and broadcasting a selection of entertaining video spots as tens of thousands of visitors stood in ticketing queues to purchase their show entry tickets. A perfect way to drive the attendees to Sirius's exhibit inside the auto show, insiders say that Sirius merely needed to acquire less than 100 new subscribers to justify the cost and ROI for the advertising placement. Kudos to Sirius..Very smart marketing!!

Google Takes On Uncle Sam

With Google's Eric Schmidt move this week to challenge government investigators requests for user information, MediaPost's "MediaDailyNews" is one of several channels that are running daily editorials and comments...

Here's the crux of the story: The effort is part of a government campaign to revive an anti-pornography law, the 1998 Child Online Protection Act, which the Supreme Court struck down two years ago. The law attempted to ensure that only adults visited porn sites by requiring that visitors register, or use access codes, before gaining entry to such sites. Now, the Bush administration is back in court, trying to prove that these requirements are the only realistic way of preventing minors from accessing online porn.

What remains unclear is why the government would need records from Google--which is, after all, a private company and not an investigative arm of the Department of Justice.

Here's one reader's feedback that I thought made for good reading...

"I'm actually thrilled that Google has thrown down the gauntlet, as its high time that Uncle Sam (well, lets face it, George W. & Co.) be called to task for its ever increasing, and more than alarming 'interpretation' of the government's constitutional powers and selective appreciation for what constitutes individual rights.

No doubt that the majority of Americans, including myself, believe that child pornography is abhorrent. Those that disseminate it, are indeed supplying the fuel that drives child molesters directly into our communities. And notwithstanding freedom of press issues, those that publish or distribute this material should at the very least, be subject to much more stringent penalties than what exists already. A firing squad would be fine with me.

But the fact of the matter is, this isn't about the government's attempt to track child pornographers on the internet, or even perhaps trying to find the sickos that are downloading the content. There's a much bigger picture, and Eric Schmidt knows it, even if he ultimately regrets taking a heroic stance on privacy issues when other Internet titans (Bill Gates, Terry Semel and Jon Miller) are unabashedly acquiescing to government inquiries for internet user information. After all, its not good for business to turn down Uncle Sam.

The government is attempting to enforce a law that was struck down by the Supreme Court two years ago. Its almost unbelievable how brazen the abuse of power is becoming.. no different than how George and Dick are instructing their private police force to interpret the Patriot Act--which was intended to protect us against terrorists (and all of those WMD's in Iraq) in much the same manner as a James Bond "00" license.

And if not flashing the Patriot Act badge, government prosecutors have become hell bent on using any tactic to thwart those whose morality is not in line with George, Dick and the handful of others that have their finger on the red button. Hundreds of examples, and each today, the abuse of power becomes more frightening.

Whether altruisticly trying to stand up for what he believes is right, or as others contend, merely trying to use his bankroll to protect the secret sauce of Google's search technology and the underlying powers that now rests in the hands of one of the world's best capitalized corporations, the fact remains that Schmidt is putting himself into the cross hairs of what could prove to be an arduous battle. And its one that his billionaire internet brethen have chosen to avoid. After all, the government has proven that it will go to all lengths to pursue anyone that challenges their wisdom, taking a chapter from the playbook of a fellow named Putin.

Paul Allen Folds His Cards; Gives Up Online Casino

George W & Co. trumped Paul Allen today, as the billionaire folded his cards and agreed to pay a $7 million settlement for running Internet casino advertising in The Sporting News. No doubt, this settlement may throw a wrench in the wheels of progress for those that have been enjoying increasing revenue by accomodating an assortment of online gambling marketers. Will prosecuting those with advertising platforms stagnate a multi-billion dollar global industry that grows each day, and where more than 70% of the players are US citizens?? I guess Paul Allen knows that it doesn't make sense to play against a loaded deck. Can you spell 'prohibition'?

Now, if George and Dick wanted to use the settlement money to actually buy and send body armor to our boys overseas, I'd be less critical..But we know that isn't going to happen.

Its All About ROI..

If you're the type that believes in re-reading the Bible as a means to remain ever-reminded about basic tenants, than this link will be worth your time. 6 short paragraphs for marketing and sales gurus handed down from generation to generation---and each section provides age old wisdom that is both timely and inspiring. How to increase sales? Start from within and leverage every one of your employees. Than tap into the group that represents your absolute best sales rep: your satisfied customers. Duh... Much more pithy and pertinenet prose--click on and enjoy!