Blog & Website Marketing Resources
Time Spent: 15 minutes
$ Made: $0
Main Focus: Nothing of value
Overall Value (1 to 10): N/A
My Thoughts: I finally broke down and emailed Shoemoney support asking if I could have access to some of the videos they’ve been teasing me with for several days now. They got right back to me, but it wasn’t with [...]
Thank you for subscribing to Blueverse!
Day 6 – Shoemoney System Review
A 302% increase in projected profit in a challenging economy is driven by simple changes to PPC ads (with zero net new marketing spend). A brand-battering string of safety recalls is announced by an auto company built on quality. What can we learn from these dream and nightmare scenarios?
Toyota’s image problems have already been written about from every imaginable PR and branding angle. So I’ll avoid the obvious lessons and focus on that thin line between the success we started this piece with and the failure that has sent Toyota scrambling. Namely, what went wrong in example 2, what went right in example 1, and what does it mean to today’s CMO?
The world’s-largest automaker is well known for its practice of kaizen, a.k.a. continuous improvement, a.k.a. “the relentless pursuit of perfection.” Any worker is empowered to stop the assembly line because he spots a flaw. Yet, as Matthew DeBord writes in The New York Times, this system may have allowed Toyota’s executives to become overconfident in the system itself and its front-line practitioners.
Creating a culture that leverages the testing-optimization cycle
Overconfidence may have been Toyota’s problem, but you might be tempted to accuse the B2B marketer that drove that 302% increase of the opposite – they tested some of their most profitable online marketing campaigns. Not only did they challenge what already worked, their culture of testing forced them to constantly reevaluate every assumption they made for their entire marketing campaign – from the PPC ads to the landing page to the checkout process right up until recognized revenue.
And in the end, they made changes to some of their most profitable campaigns. They didn’t stop at what one would call “marketing kaizen,” continuous small experiments that challenge the model; they brought in a traditional “command and control” function to oversee the entire testing process and make sure each piece worked together for a greater whole. The solution, you could say, is kaizen and control.
This begs the question…how are you guiding the testing-optimization cycle occurring right now in your marketing department? And how are you using these tests to improve your overall marketing spend?
If you can’t answer these questions, and are unsure of how to leverage the strategic advantage of the testing-optimization cycle’s ability to generate fast, flexible, and accurate insights into how your brand is performing in real-world conditions, read on. I’m going to give you three quick reasons to schedule a meeting with your key marketing managers today.
Strategic Advantage #1: More return on investment
ROI is a dirty word to some marketers who aren’t able to come up with real, solid numbers. And in one sense, can you blame them? Who really knows how money spent on media that does not have measurable results moves the needle? Branding works because, well, because it just does.
And branding is just the tip of the iceberg. How well do you understand the real-time performance of your marketing campaigns?
The online testing-optimization cycle produces fast, scientifically validated results to continuously monitor how all marketing spends change interaction with your brand in the actual marketplace. Beyond that, it helps you track, measure, and improve every penny you spend for a fraction of the cost of your overall marketing budget.
A key word above is – improve. As the name “cycle” suggests, testing and optimization used in tandem drive real gains. For our B2B marketer referenced above, the huge ROI increase came in part because it did not involve one extra dime in media spending. The testing-optimization cycle helped them follow the Peter Drucker maxim of “…doing better what is already done.”
Strategic Advantage #2: A real-time competitive advantage
As the economy emerges from a massive recession into a possible growth pattern, behavioral economists have been breathlessly discussing the emergence of a “new normal” in enterprise and consumer purchasing patterns. The implicit underlying threat to CMOs is, “What worked yesterday is now obsolete. Adapt or perish.”
For the CMO that has already embedded strategic use of the testing-optimization cycle in her organization, this new challenge is nothing…well…new. She realizes that the marketplace is an ever-morphing beast that she must constantly tame. And she relishes the advantage that real-world, real-time data gives her over “predictive” focus groups and surveys (what consumer really contemplates the color of a logo that deeply?)
I don’t use this CMO as an example of what I think you should do, I’m suggesting that this is what your competitors are already doing. Since our marketing research laboratory was established in 2001, testing and optimization have grown explosively. Your organization is likely doing this somewhere – whether it has risen to your level of attention or not.
The challenge is to gain the flexibility from this wealth of real-time information to strategically shape your marketing plan as it unfolds.
Let’s go back to our B2B marketer that more than tripled profits using the testing-optimization cycle. A key point to remember is that they didn’t simply do some research on the front end and then launch this campaign. They dynamically tested and changed every element of the campaign while it was live and real customers were interacting with it. Continuous improvement comes from continuous testing and optimization, not one-time research that lets you “set it and forget it.”
Strategic Advantage #3: Clear justification for your existence
This last point is meant to hit you in the gut, and I’m sorry if the blow is a bit harsh. According to a SpencerStuart bluepaper entitled CMO tenure: slowing the revolving door – “It’s jarring to note that the average tenure for CMOs at the top 100 branded companies is just 22.9 months. Compare this to CEOs, who are in their positions, on average, for 53.8 months.”
The executive search firm goes on to state, “Even when CMOs and the top management teams share the same expectations, CMOs who are unable to clearly articulate their goals and then post results in a public scorecard will make themselves a target for elimination.”
The testing-optimization cycle is a great base for that public scorecard. You gain direct line of sight into how your campaigns are performing and have data to show how changes you make throughout the process generate ROI.
Not only do these metrics justify your decisions and provide credibility to your organization, they boost your viability at budget time as well. The testing-optimization cycle helps you determine the greatest opportunity for your campaign, how to take advantage of it, and, when done right, arms you with persuasive summary profit analyses and ROI projections to show how marketing is truly an investment…
From MarketingSherpa: CMOs face a considerable challenge if marketing is viewed as an expense rather than as an investment – especially at budget time. Tony Barr, a marketing consultant who has spent the past 13 years in B2B marketing leadership positions, says he’s faced that challenge. “You really have to frame marketing as an investment, and the way to do that is to develop a set of metrics that help you demonstrate that marketing is delivering a return,” he says.
How to gain control
As long as every board of directors in the country expects never-ending growth, every CMO will have to deliver continuous marketing campaign improvements. By gaining control over the testing-optimization cycle, you take the keys and sit in the driver’s seat of your marketing campaigns, steering and accelerating as your campaigns unfold in real time.
And beginning is easier than you might think. Someone, somewhere in your organization has likely already started putting the testing-optimization cycle to use. So start by conducting a survey of your organization to see exactly what’s being done and how fragmented it is. Then call your key leaders together and focus on a strategy that uses this initial work as a launching point for a holistic approach to generating marketing campaigns driven by financial performance.
The, most importantly, keep at it. This is a cycle. It allows you to continuously monitor and continuously improve all of your efforts. Each new success you achieve is not an end in itself, but a new base camp to climb from.
Related resources
Super Chief Marketing Officers: Ensuring Survival of the Fittest in the Online World
We’ve been looking at how to start a PPC agency. Obviously, there is no shortage of competition. SEMPO lists over 700 members, and a search through Google reveals many more.
How will you differentiate your services from the rest?
Typically, small companies don’t think much about brand. Brand is for the big guys. But whether we formulate a specific brand or not, everything we do – the way we talk, write, execute and interact with clients – is our brand. It’s how people will come to know and identify us. So we may as well give some thought to how to present a unified message.
When done correctly, brand is a powerful means of setting us apart from the pack.
Brand agencies charge a fortune for brand creation, but creating a brand is really just common sense.
A brand good typically has the following elements:
A good brand is a truthful one.
A brand is about creating a sense of familiarity and identity in the minds of the customer. If that identity conflicts with who you really are, then your brand will suffer as a result.
For example, if you’re a small operator, don’t pretend to be a big one. Prospective clients will see through it soon enough. If you’re offering premium services, at premium prices, then all your communications with clients need to be exemplary, as does your performance. Take a long, hard look in the mirror and ask yourself what you do really well? What genuine benefit do you provide? What sets you apart from the rest?
All clients want to find a provider they trust, so any brand message you’re sending out must be consistent with the way you execute.
In The Invisible Touch, by Harry Beckwith, the author outlines the rule of three.
People will typically remember three, or less, things about you.
What are they?
For example, when asked about Microsoft, most people say “big, techy, and rich”. Ask people about Apple and they’ll likely say “creative, fun and cool”. Harley Davidson – “male and rebel”. Or words to that effect.
Try to think of your brand in terms of three desirable qualities. Apples brand is stronger than Microsoft’s in this regard. Decide what those three terms are, and let them flow through every communication you have with people.
In a study of website credibility, the study found an interesting, although not unsurprising, thing. People judged the trustworthiness of a website by what it looked like.
This may be irrational, but looks do count. You might feel that such irrational perceptions don’t distort your view of reality, which may well be the case, but it’s safe to assume that many prospective customers will judge you by appearances.
If your website looks authoritative, then that’s how people will perceive you. People will draw conclusions from your web design, your logo, how you answer the phone, how you write emails, and your copy. What clues are you sending out? What brand qualities do you want to get across? Are they consistent with how you act? They should inform all aspects of what you do. Style really does count.
Such matters of style don’t get talked about a lot in the tech business, but examples are all around us. Why is the iPhone such a hit when other phones do something similar, and at lower cost? The answer lies in design and positive brand values. Style shouldn’t matter, but it does.
Beauty and elegance do have a function. They make us smile. They make us feel a little better. When trying to serve your client, does it get better than that? Ask yourself how you can make your clients feel better about using your service. Anyone can offer PPC services, but how many can make clients feel good about using them?
Obviously, this is not just about face value, you also need to execute in line with your brand values, too. Let your brand values permeate everything you do, and you’ll set yourself apart from those offering typical PPC services, which are hard to differentiate in terms of function alone.
Time Spent: N/A
$ Made: $0
Main Focus: Took day off
Overall Value (1 to 10): N/A
My Thoughts: Today I took the day off. Since I don’t have any new videos to watch, I figured I would spend time relaxing and getting caught up on a couple of other blogs. If the 9 videos they’ve been teasing [...]
Thank you for subscribing to Blueverse!
Day 5 – 30 Day Shoemoney System Review
Time Spent: 1 hour
$ Made: $0
Main Focus: A few miscellaneous account setup videos; Week 5 webinar
Overall Value (1 to 10): 1
My Thoughts: Another wash from a progress standpoint. Watched a few videos, but still haven’t been exposed to any content that will show me how to make some good old fashioned green stuff. Seems like [...]
Thank you for subscribing to Blueverse!
Day 4 – 30 Day Shoemoney System Review
Time Spent: 2 hours
$ Made: $0
Main Focus: More fundamental topics; Intro to affiliate marketing; Week 3 webinar
Overall Value (1 to 10): 1
My Thoughts: You’re going to be thrilled when I actually have something exciting or valuable to report. Today, however, isn’t the day. Blasted through all of the fundamental topics. Also got a new video [...]
Thank you for subscribing to Blueverse!
Day 3 – 30 Day Shoemoney System Review
If you’ve been following the MarketingExperiments blog in the past few weeks, you’ll quickly learn that we’re a little obsessed with two things – the real-time, real-world results of online marketing testing and the strong desire to fight squirrels.
No, not literal squirrels with their cute little acorn-filled cheeks. The squirrels we seek to battle are figurative. That is the name we’ve given to that bad idea your boss has that just drives you nuts (pun intended). The “squirrel” is that red herring that diverts your audience’s attention from the main conversion objective. Of course, since squirrels are more personable and cuddly than herrings (not to mention easier to train), that is the analogy we went with for our videos…
To see how our dynamic marketing duo initially tried to fight the squirrel, please watch Part 1 and Part 2 in our ROI-increasing/squirrel-slaying trilogy.
To help you win the budgetary and executive approval to defeat your organization’s squirrels, watch a replay of our latest free web clinic – The Business Case for Testing: How one marketer convinced her business leaders to start testing and drove a 201% gain in the process.
Related resources
Time Spent: 1 hour
$ Made: $0
Main Focus: Fundamental topics; Week 1 webinar
Overall Value (1 to 10): 1
My Thoughts: Since I didn’t have any new videos released to me for today (there are 3 that show up as Coming Soon, but I can’t watch them yet), I decided to start going through the Fundamental videos pre-loaded [...]
Thank you for subscribing to Blueverse!
Day 2 – 30 Day Shoemoney System Review
Most pay per click performance measurement has been at the keyword level i.e. which keyword resulted in conversion.
The problem is this is a blunt measurement tool. It would also be great to know what steps led up to that keyword. For example, did the visitor search on a number of different keyword variations before s/he arrived at that particular keyword. Up until now, this type of tracking has been painful to implement.
However, Google has just released Search Funnels in Adwords, which should make things a whole lot easier.
Search Funnels are a set of new reports describing the Google.com search ad click and impression behavior leading up to a conversion. Currently, conversions in AdWords are attributed to the last ad clicked before the conversion. Search Funnels gives advertisers data on how “upper-funnel” keywords are assisting conversions before the last click. It also enhances basic conversion reporting for AdWords.
So, advertisers can see which searches led up to the purchase, and can bid on these terms, too. Also helps Google’s bottom line, of course, by driving up the cost of keywords that may not be obvious 
For example, someone might search on “Ford lights” and visit your site. They don’t buy anything. A while later, they return to your site after having searched on “Fiesta parts”. They finally convert, purchasing a Ford Fiesta tail light. The funnel would show that the keyword term “Ford lights” assisted in the conversion, even though it didn’t directly lead to the sale.
How is Google tracking this data?
When someone clicks on an ad at Google, Google starts a funnel, although you can’t see it at this point. Search activity is tracked for 30 days. If the user conduct other searches, even if they don’t click on the advertiser’s ad, Google will add those searches to the funnel, so long as the advertisers ad was displayed.
If the user clicks on the advertiser’s ad and converts, then a funnel report is created, and this data is shown in your Adwords account. You need to use AdWords conversion tracking code for this to work. Google is logging the time and date of every search by that user prior to a conversion, and once a conversion occurs, all that data is available in your Adwords account. If no conversion occurs, obviously you won’t see any search funnel data.
Having the ability to track keyword paths across time is going to open up some fascinating data. As Google points out:
Search Funnels also show the “Path Length,” or average number of clicks and impressions prior to conversion, which can help you understand and target repeat visitors. Additionally they show “Time Lag,” or the amount of time it takes a customer to convert after seeing or clicking on your ads for the first time, which can help you determine lead time for seasonal campaigns. These breakdowns can help you understand your customers’ behavior and create strategies around that information.
Now we can track (roughly) how long non-impulsive purchasers take to arrive at a buying decision.
While this shines more light on the keyword research process, there will still be chunks missing. Any search that doesn’t result in an advertisers ad being displayed won’t be tracked. If the user searches elsewhere, using another engine or uses bookmarks or other navigation methods, obviously this won’t show up in the conversion funnel either.
There’s also the problem that assist clicks might not count for much. It might be difficult to establish repeatable patterns when multiple keyword searches are involved. High volume advertisers will probably receive the most benefit, as there is more chance of repeatable patterns showing up.
Here’s a Google walk-through of the reports:
Twitter have announced a new advertising model, called Promoted Tweets.
Promoted Tweets are paid tweets that appear at the top of Twitter’s search results. The promoted tweet is much the same as a normal tweet in that you can retweet it, reply to it, or mark it as a favourite. The only difference is that it is sponsored. The sponsorship is marked.
Promoted Tweets work much like a banner ad – for now. Advertisers pay per thousand views, however the ads also have a type of quality score. Twitter rewards ads that “resonate” with the audience. Presumably ads that don’t resonate get downgraded or dropped.
You will start to see Tweets promoted by our partner advertisers called out at the top of some Twitter.com search results pages. We strongly believe that Promoted Tweets should be useful to you. We’ll attempt to measure whether the Tweets resonate with users and stop showing Promoted Tweets that don’t resonate”
This advertising isn’t available to the public yet, but it pays to watch the system in the pilot stage, so when it does open up, you’ll have a good idea of how to work it. We’ll be watching and reporting on it, too.
That’s if it succeeds.
It will be very interesting to see if this type of advertising translates to social media, especially a service with such narrow functionality compared to, say, Facebook.
Question:
Does Twitter have the depth/volume? Obscure topics on Google can be worth a few cents. How about obscure topics on Twitter? Do they have the volume?
And another question:
Will The Ads Stay Relevant? If you don’t have the volume, then advertising is either not going to display much, in which case the advertisers won’t put much effort into the channel, or Twitter may show ads across broader topics, which may increase page views, but decrease relevance. One way they could get around this is by using demographic profiling, as opposed to keywords. i.e. we know these people are interested in X, no matter what they happen to be talking about at the time, so we’ll show them advertising for X.
And another question – perhaps the biggest issue: will the social media user base go for it?
It is smart of Twitter to stage the roll-out on their search function first. Users who are conversing with one another won’t (I assume) see the ads. People who search have become accustomed to advertising in Google search, so will be more likely to accept it. Once enough people accept advertising as being a part of Twitter, it becomes easier to gain acceptance when rolling it out across other functions.
But this would be a big departure in terms of how Twitter works. People follow people they have chosen to follow. How will they react to seeing Tweets from people they haven’t chosen to follow, namely paid advertisers? No doubt Twitter have considered this. Perhaps they will make a clear separation.
Like with Google Adwords, this is all going to come down to relevance. Or resonance. As deemed by the user.
Interesting times for advertisers. Stay tuned!