Annoyances

There has been a lot of debate in 2007 about whether of not Traditional Ad Agencies “Get” Search and it seems like we have not seen the end of it yet. Here is a recap. The initial statement that Ad Agency don’t “Get” Search came from Gord Hotchkiss, which was soon followed by a counter argument article, Some Agencies DO ‘Get’ Search by Mike Margolin. Chris Copeland add to the discussion this week with his article titled ”2007: The Year Traditional Agencies ‘Got’ Search” and criticize Gord’s point of view by saying that persuasion happens in search. Ouch! Please take a minute to read the last article from the series: Persuasion On The Search Results Page. Gord hits the problem right on the head.

This whole debate reminds me of a discussion I had a few months ago with a top executive with one of the largest advertising agency in Canada which I wish I could name. The individual (and everyone else around the table) wanted to call a Search Marketing business “Intercept”. I tried to convince them otherwise by saying that search marketing is not about changing or altering the course of user intent. We rather reinforce, support user intent but we never work against it. Here are some more thoughts.

Definitions:
Intercept: To stop, deflect, or interrupt the progress or intended course of: intercepted me with a message as I was leaving.
Persuade: to move by argument, entreaty, or expostulation to a belief, position, or course of action.

Do you see how similar those 2 definitions are?

The Ad Agency Model is based on persuasion
According to many, and this is the point Gord makes in his latest jab on how we can’t persuade on the search result pages. Since the traditional Ad Agency model is based on persuasion, most people who work in Ad Agencies are trained to think that they need to persuade their audience. They want to attract their target customers’ attention while they are doing something else. That is called interruption advertising. They want to change, re-orient customers’ course of action. Even when they (ad agency execs) go online, they still want to persuade their audience. They are trained to do this. What I have been telling them for years, “You are no longer targeting them, you are being targeted” (and your message should be changed accordingly). The persuasion model no longer exists. RIP. Then again, who consciously wants to admit that their business model was based on the false hypothesis that consumers want to be targeted and persuaded. The whole Ad industry is shaking. You either want to persuade your audience or you use user intent without making any attempt at changing their course. Pick your side.

Over the holidays, I had a spirited discussion with my friend Mario Beaudoin and his lovely girlfriend Manon Gartside about why there is a lobby against search marketing and how dichotomous the advertising market becomes. Like Al Gore said in his movie which is one of my favorite quotes: “You can’t make someone understand something when his/her salary depends upon not understanding it”. This issue became clear and resemble in a lot of ways other scenarios we have seen in history: “Search Marketing is to Traditional Advertising what the Electric Car is to Conventional Cars”. You either want to keep running your SUV with little regards to the environment or you join environmentally-friendly organizations and market your business with search marketing. Unfortunately, there are more people in the first category. Sometimes, you just can’t be on both sides and this debate is a symptom of this reality. Coldplay had a good line in one of their songs: ask yourself, “Am I a part of the cure or am I part of the disease”.

Ultimately, the marketplace will decide who get it and who don’t.

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I have been receiving newsletters lately from ForestEthics, a non-profit organization that focuses on preserving endangered forest in Canada. In their last few emails, they were fiercefully attacking Sears Canada for their environmental policy with regards to the printing of their well known and heavy catalogues. Since 1880, Sears has been famous for their catalogues, but now it is 2007 and Sears must face this new era of climate change and recognize their role in it. They produce around 425 million catalogues every year - and the paper is coming from Canada’s Boreal Forest.

Change can happen. A few months ago month, Forest Ethics got a new commitment from Victoria’s Secret for adopting a more sensitive environmental policy with the printing of their catalogues.

Forest Ethics Activist Campaign against Victoria’s Secret in 2004:

See more about it on VictoriaDirtySecret.net

I personally love to support these initiatives. What is the link with Search Marketing? I think Google has brought up an environmental solution to an economic problem by allowing customers and suppliers to meet online as opposed to a paper-based support. It seems like more and more people are making this analogy with regards to search marketing. I hear it everywhere now in each Online Marketing conference. Not only will you get a better return on your advertising investment by doing Search Marketing, you will also save trees and the environment in the same way. What’s not to like? I can’t wait to see major companies like Sears Canada, who are selling thousands of products, adopting search marketing best practices with thousands of search terms. 

Now it is Sears Canada’s turn to adopt such environmental policy. As such, since the holiday season is just around the corner and so is their first International Day of Action on the Sears Campaign - you are invited to protest! On Tuesday, December 4, people across Canada and the United States will be taking action to tell Sears that they’re on our collective naughty list and it’s time to be nice to our Endangered Forests.

People are gathering in Vancouver (BC):
In Vancouver, we will be gathering at the downtown Sears outlet at 701 Granville St. from 12:30-1:00PM to send a message to the department store giant to stop cutting Canadian forests for their catalogues. Please call 604-724-4307 or send en email to Neil Monckton: neil{at}forestethics.org, if you can join ForestEthics on Dec. 4 over lunchtime at the Vancouver Sears outlet. Details are below:

Date: Tues., Dec. 4
Time: Lunchtime, 12:30-1:00PM
Location: Sears Canada, 701 Granville St. (northeast entrance at Georgia and Granville)
Contact: Call 604-724-4307 or email to RSVP

Tell Sears you don’t want a Wishbook, but that we’re wishing they would stop destroying Canadian forests! For more info, please contact Neil Monckton, ForestEthics Senior Organizing Associate - British Columbia. If you can’t attend the Vancouver event, please consider staging your own action at your local Sears outlet.

Remember: there are alternatives to reach your audience without printing catalogues and destroying our forests. Thanks!

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A friend of mine sent me this great article today by David Meerman Scott from Web Ink Now on why you should avoid working with Advertising Agencies to develop your site. The article presents a few reasons why Ad Agencies are so bad at it. It also provides examples. Here they are:

Reason #1: Ad Agencies focus on aesthetics over information.
Reason #2: Ad Agencies focus on the wrong part of the sales cycle.

I know I talked about this a few times lately, but please allow me to add a few of my own:

Reason #3: Ad Agencies can’t communicate (they don’t listen).
Reason #4: Ad Agencies don’t realize they are being caught lying.
Reason #5: Ad Agencies don’t care about online users.
Reason #6: Ad Agencies treat you like a consumer rather then a person

I believe that in order to communicate properly, you have to be a good listener. Listening is the basis of all good communication and at this, I think most Advertising Agencies fail dramatically. A few months ago I wrote this post summarizing my thoughts on why the Next Ad Agency must listen. Online users are now in control of most of the talking. They are empowered and they are using this power to communicate. Who needs an Ad Agency to “communicate” manufactured stories to us, while we are sharing real stories and experiences between one another?

Feel free to read the article on why you should avoid an Ad Agency to build your site. If you need good partners to build or redesign your site, please let me know, and I will point in the right direction.

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It is with a lot of regret that SEMPO Canada announced last week that Nurun / Ant Interactive decided not to renew their SEMPO membership and therefore withdraw from all SEMPO-related activities involving the growth of Search Marketing in Canada. They simply stated that they were not getting enough of this relationship and this position was shared by every member of the Nurun / Ant Interactive team. In an industry that is in development, especially in Canada, I would like to take a moment to ask for your feedback on the nature of these relationships between SEMPO but especially the underlying expectations that business people may have in regards to SEMPO, SEMPO Canada and the Canadian Search Marketing Industry in general.

It is becoming a common understanding that the Canadian business community expects more out of this industry than they contribute to its growth. We are facing a scarcity of Search Marketing talent in Canada since very few schools, colleges or universities have a search engine marketing learning curriculum. The industry does not regenerate itself yet, which is why it is adequate to raise the question why we would see such a major icon in the Canadian web economy leaving our organization.

I have been working hard to launch and support SEMPO Canada in order to create an entity that anyone can call upon when they need support on Search Marketing and as such I would like to ask you for suggestions, criticism or any type of input that you may have so that we can fulfill your expectations in a way that would entice you to stay in and contribute. In the long run, everyone will benefit from it.

We are all in this together.

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I have been wanting to talk to you about this Futurelab article for a long time. It reminds me of the day I was working for an ad agency myself and we were pitched on the great value of placing banner ads on Canada.com for one of our clients. Since I have never been a fan of banners ads, or any kind of online ads for that matter because everybody I talk to hate them or ignore them, I ask the rep this simple question: What is it that you did to generate that much traffic to Canada.com? The rep answered without hesitation that they have been working heavily on generating good content, optimizing the site for search engines, implementing link exchange programs and so on. I ask: Have you ever done some form of Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising to generate traffic to your site? Hell no! We get all our traffic for free from the organic side of search results. So, have you purchased any banner ads to promote your site then? Are you crazy! This is way too expensive and the ROI is not there. You see where I am going here… The Ad Agency model is no different than this scenario and is full of disconnects that do not make any sense.

Here is an excerpt from the article that I love:

TIP 2: DIFFERENTIATE YOURSELF
“Here’s a challenge.  Look at any list of major international agencies and tell me in one word how each truly differentiates itself in the marketplace.  If you can get beyond half a dozen unique value propositions, I want to talk to you ‘cause I ain’t seein’ them.  Everyone has large networks, everyone is creative, everyone has the best people and everyone has a bunch of awards on their wall.

Now look at this from a client’s perspective.  Here’s an industry which claims to advise brands on how to differentiate themselves in the market place, yet can’t get beyond bland whiter than white rethoric itself.

Rather than chase every budget-dollar through a middle-of-the-road positioning, agencies should clearly state what they are about and live by it.  Clients should be made to love the agency brand or hate it, yet not even contemplate the commodity purchasing indifference they display today. After all, if you can’t make your own agency stand out in the crowd, how do you expect your customers to ever take you seriously if you claim you can do it for them?”

It is brilliant. There are 7 Tips for Ad Agency Survival in the article. Please make sure you read it and stop wasting your money on the archaic advertising model unsupported by key success metrics.

If you want to learn more about how I can help you generate more revenues from core online marketing tactics, such as Search Marketing, feel free to contact me. 

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I love airshows and yet I haven’t seen one in years. I think I was 9 years old the last time I had a chance to see the Snowbirds. The whole family was in Quebec City and we waited for 2 hours before they finally show up. When you are a kid, 2 hours seem like a month! So now, being grown up and all, I did not even know what to expect but I decided to take a road trip to Abbotsford for the well known Abbotsford Airshow. It was the 45th edition so everything was in place for a lovely afternoon.

I have to admit, between the current Canadian & US AirForce planes and their historic equivalents laying on the ground, the air show was definitely the most interesting part. And yes, the snowbirds were there, I was thrilled like the last time I saw them. Seriously, they are great. They made a heart in the sky with exhaust smoke on a Celine Dion’s song. So nice. To tell you the truth, I am rarely patriotic about Canada but the sequence where they made a pass with the Diamond Formation was absolutely spectacular. The picture was quite nice too:

I have some more. You can find all my pictures of the Abbotsford Airshow on my Picasa account.

That was for the sweet part. Concurrently during the same event though, armed army officers are walking around their army vehicles and dozens of information booths to recruit new Canadian forces personnel. They were giving away inflatable sticks that kids were beating each another with. I understand the concept of sponsors for that kind of events and the connection between the planes and the Canadian army. But, it is absolutely necessary to teach kids how to use guns during these events? Is it just me who finds it odd? Check it out, I took some pictures that are quite revealing:

The Abbotsford Airshow is a family event and I have serious reserve with regards to the relevance of having that many Canadian forces information booths, with guns that kids can try. And oh, I almost forgot, every 15 minutes, you could hear the sound of a real machine gun. Very entertaining. That deserves an adhack. 

Yeah, I know. It has nothing to do with search. But this topic is important enough to mention. Comments are welcome. 

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I have seen this kind of situation many times over the years but this one is perfect. 2 weeks go, Gord Hotchkiss, the most renowned search expert in Canada made a blunt statement saying that Canadian advertisers have their heads up their ass and that Canada is clueless about search marketing. In his article, Gord explains that he was in an hotel room during Search Engine Strategies in Toronto and made a few obvious searches such as Ontario vacations, Ontario resorts, Toronto vacations, Ontario getaways and Ontario holidays in an attempt to see if Ontario Tourism would appear on the radar. Zip. According to Google Trends’ keyword research tool, these are the most common searches for Ontario, by a substantial margin. Any half-decent search marketer would conclude based on this 30 second experiment that a major chunk of the search marketing opportunity is wasted and that Ontario Tourism is clueless. 

Now, Ontario Tourism defends itself and they are saying that Gord’s claim was “wildly inaccurate” and that Ontario Tourism does in fact have “an extensive search program.” Really? According to the most recent article on this episode that is called “ ‘Doing Search’ Only Counts If You’re Seen” it’s one thing to say “we’re doing search” internally—and it’s a totally different thing to have the searcher realize that yes, you’re doing search. There is a fundamental disconnect there which is why most Canadian search experts agree that Canadian advertisers aren’t clueing into the power of search. They are missing out on obvious opportunities and they don’t factor in searcher behaviors.

Maybe the budget was limited which is why they could not include head terms (aka. heavily searched key phrases). A little more digging in the way their advertising budget is used allowed to discover that most of the advertising dollars go to TV and print (loads of it apparently) and the goal of this campaign is to drive traffic to the site. Yes, you read it right. What a waste! Here is the quote on how the budget is used:

But in this case, are budgets really limited? Let me share some things I was able to dig up on Ontario Tourism’s site. First of all, the tourist bureau is doing print (lots of print) and TV (lots of TV). The goal? To drive people to its Web site. Full-page 4-color ads are running multiple times in over 70 dailies and weekly newspapers and 9 magazines. One 4-color full-page ad in the Toronto Star would run about $54,000 (there’s a certain amount of guessing here, as print rate cards are really a mathematical exercise in confusion and frustration). Circulation of the Toronto Star is 350,000 (on an average day). An excellent conversion rate for a newspaper ad would be 0.5% That means, ideally, 1,750 people would actually visit the Ontario Tourism website. Now, I have never in my life seen a newspaper ad convert this well, but even if it did, that would be a cost per visitor of $30.85. If the ad doesn’t work that well, the average cost climbs dramatically. And you pay whether or not the ad works.

And it goes on like this. The complete experiment, supported by key research and shopper behaviors, concludes that, according to 97 out of 100 people who are using search to find the official site for Ontario Tourism, the tourism bureau is not “doing search.” Read the full article here and please start making sense with your advertising budget. Otherwise don’t be surprised to make the headlines and potentially not in a flattering way. Make sure you blog about it so everybody knows.

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Please do yourself a favor and stop working for a second. Here is a common scenario I hear all the time regarding entry-level SEO (Search Engine Optimization) project. The way the project is presented clearly points out how unreasonable business owners can be when they lay out the web strategy for potential online success. Yes, I am talking to you and potentially a lot of people you know. I seriously don’t want you to lose your business and I really want to help you but please listen to me carefully. This information is free and can save you thousands.

Business owners come up to me and say: here is my site (in a very competitive market).
I am a small entrepreneur with no (or very small) budget. What can you do? How much would it cost so that I can rank higher up in search results? (at the top if possible) I am guessing they expect me to say, for $2,000 I can bring you to the top. I know that for $2,000, it will only scratch the surface and it won’t meet their expectations. Since $2,000 seems too much for them sometimes, what are the options?

What strikes me at first is that people start an online business without knowing the kind of forces they are up against. They count on me to explain the force and magnitude of the obstacles on their path and the likelihood they can succeed online. Some people call it market research. And please don’t shoot the messenger. They don’t seem to have a good understanding of their online competition and how much their competitors might have been investing to deserve the position they currently uphold at the top of search results. There are so many sites on the Internet, what makes you think that YOU deserve the right to be #1? If you think I am crazy, wait until you read about my vision for developing an online presence. In a nutshell, there are so many sites out there that it needs more and more resources to accomplish what used to be easier, years ago. Or if you prefer, what used to require $1,000 to get a decent position in search results, now needs more like $10,000. The intensity of the players is increasing. And, there are only 5 spots that matter in SERPs (Search Engine Results page) according to the latest study on the Golden Triangle. Do the math: thousands of competitors, 5 spots. Be serious.

Therefore, if you don’t have the funds to invest to earn your way to the top in your very competitive category, here are your options as far as I see them:

* Refocus your business on a very niche market (and niche search terms) within the global market
* Team up with your competitors (coopetition)
* Go for the top: invest heavily in your web strategy, site content, design and search marketing (organic, paid, link building) or
* Abandon your site! (and do something else)

I am saying all this because there is request that came to me today in the Ringtones business. I once promoted ringtonesusa.com from a previous job so I know first hand how difficult it is to promote a site in this category. You compete with giant carriers with behemoth budgets. There are thousands of players worldwide. There are thousands of entrepreneurs with more money to invest than you which would also be more knowledgeable on how to build an online business. Can you match that?

The bottom line is, since we do market research before you start a brick-and-mortar business, you also need to do market research before you commit your hard-earned money in an online business. Traffic is the crack-cocaine for an entrepreneur in the web world and it needs (way) more than $2,000 to get to the top. If you can’t match (or exceed!) the level of investment of your online competitors, team up with them or do something else.

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Something happened this week. I have been laid off from a major Canadian ad agency which was trying to clue in on Search. I have seen it dozens of times over the last 7 years but this group is especially resistant to change. Their advertising code of conduct does not leave room to question & reconsider their spending habits and underlying beliefs. And then, as I am reconnecting with my Small Search Marketing shop from my home office on a full time basis, the first article I read this morning is coming from Gord Hotchkiss who makes a blunt statement about the advertising industry saying that Canadian advertisers have their heads up their ass. This is not a typo! He goes on in the article by saying:

“By common consensus with most Canadian search marketers I’ve talked to, Toronto seems to be the epicenter of the orifice that Canadian advertisers have lodged their collective heads in. The city doesn’t get it, the province doesn’t get it, the country doesn’t get it. When it comes to search, Canada (with a few exceptions) is clueless.”

Unfortunately, I could not attend SES Toronto this week but I completely agree with this statement. Major Canadian Advertisers are not even close for getting it and they would do anything to avoid the confrontation. According to ComScore research, Canadians spend lots of time online: Canadians are top with 40 hours, followed by Israel with 37.4 and South Korea with 34. The U.S. is in 8th place with 29.4. Canada also leads the pack in online reach, with 70% of households wired. This time, the U.S. comes in second with 59%. Average pages viewed per visitor? Canada comes in tops with 3800. The U.K. is second with 3300 and the U.S. clicks in with 2500.

Want more numbers? Check this out:

* Canadians spend $28.05 in online advertising per Internet user. The US spends $71.43.
* 21% of Canadians media usage is online, but it gets 6% of the budget.
* In contrast, newspapers and magazines get a 7% share of total media usage, but capture 42% of Canadian ad budgets,
* The U.S. spends almost twice as Canada per capita on search marketing.

It is too bad I did not have a chance to go to SES Toronto and share this point of view with Gord. What I am most interested in at this point is what we could do to change this situation. If you have any ideas, please send them my way. Because, we are going to have to keep trying, collectively. Read the full article here.

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Apparently, the controversial 2012 London Olympic Logo has created a stir in the British population. Please me know what you think.

I ain’t any design expert but it makes us proud our Vancouver - Whistler Olympic logo wouldn’t you say? According to the recent press release, the 2012 logo might receive a few rounds of iterations in the next 5 years. The original version cost 400,000 pounds or $843,870.81 CAD. So far 48,615 people have expressed their disagreement publicly.

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I was very surprised and pleased today when I came across a really cool video on this post made by Microsoft to reconnect with its customers. It is called the breakup and presents a couple arguing over their communication issues. In this exchange, the woman, who represents the consumer side, is complaining about the lack of 2-way dialogue with the advertisers. On the other hand, the guy, narcissic at best & representing the advertiser’s point of view, is trying to convince her that he knows what’s best for her. Hilarious! I found it great (although the topic isn’t) since I talk about this kind of behaviors in a previous post about user centricity & the Search Marketing philosophy. I have to admit: I really like to criticize advertisers who do not engage in a 2-way dialogue with their customers and I get especially irritated with those who have a self-centered attitude in the exchange they want to initiate. The video presents just that and I love it! Please pass it around.

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I came across a blog post about the current image of advertising in North America that stroke me. Listen to this: according to a recent study recently published in Adweek, the Advertising industry suffers an image problem. The study reveals that only 10% of the consumers surveyed consider advertising ethical. This percentage is only 1% more of perceived ethic than used car salesman. 

The global advertising industry on Monday committed to improving its image and regulating itself as it battles growing anti-brand and anti-corporate sentiments. The World Federation of Advertisers said it wants to give consumers more of a stake in advertising by boosting the complaints process and generating more feedback.

In another study, they asked consumers about which industries should be regulated more. Here are the top 5 responses, in order:

* Water pollution,
* Toxic waste,
* Air pollution,
* Advertising
* Nuclear facilities.

That gives a very strong indication about where consumers are at with regards to their response level to advertising.

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