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Posts Tagged ‘Bandwagon’

I noticed this tweet from Chuck Gose yesterday and it referenced an article on the New York Times website called “Email: Press Delete.” Every so often we all see these types of articles that make the cry “email is dead!” and suggest that we should look at the habits of the younger generation to see how we will communicate in the future. Chuck thought this was tiresome and stated that email is not going away and I tend to agree.

The reason I disagree with Sheryl Sandberg (Facebook’s chief operating officer referenced in the article) is because no one seems to talk about how communication habits change as we get older. The typical argument behind the “email is dead!” bandwagon is that the younger generation does not use email because they are on Facebook instead. While that may be true, let’s fast-forward 5 years. Right now, that 17-year-old is probably not on email as much as Facebook. However, what happens when that same person is now 22 and is looking for a job after graduating from college? How will she communicate with potential employers? Probably email. When she lands a job, what is one of the first things she will receive? Probably a company email account.

What we’re also forgetting is how tightly email is still integrated into the authentication process on various websites. How do you log into Facebook? With your email account. Many websites use email as a username and all of them require an email address to register. Email is still the universal inbox for many people and will remain so.

Will the next generation communicate differently than today’s professionals? Absolutely. Will they stop using email and conduct all business over Facebook? I doubt it. Email is still fast, efficient, proven technology. Great email marketing firms like Indy’s ExactTarget know this and are seeing fantastic results from utilizing email as a marketing medium. At SpinWeb, our own email newsletter is a significant component in our communication strategy.

Let’s stop jumping on the “email is dead!” bandwagon and instead learn better ways to use it effectively. I would love your comments below.

This post was written by Michael Reynolds

Michael is President & CEO of SpinWeb. SpinWeb creates professional websites for businesses and nonprofits. Michael conducts regular educational workshops and seminars and is available for speaking engagements on the topics of Internet marketing, technology, social media, business development, extreme productivity, and networking.

Did you know Douglas Karr's book is coming out in August? You can pre-order Corporate Blogging for Dummies now on Amazon. Check out our new site, Corporate Blogging Tips, to find out what events that we'll be speaking at.

Got an event? Let us know that as well - we're looking forward to going on tour later this year.

Don't forget to follow @corpblogging on Twitter or become a Fan on Facebook!

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President Obama reported this week that BP has initiated $50 million dollars in advertising. The Whitehouse and the President have been all over this move, rightly criticizing the company for spending money on attorneys and commercials rather than putting the money elsewhere.

While the media has jumped on the bandwagon, they’ve been mocking BP’s Tony Hayward for being a part of every commercial, interview and public relations event on television, in print and online. BP has even launched a YouTube channel specific to the crisis, starring none other than Tony Hayward.

Tony Hayward has already made some huge gaffs – including stating that he just wanted to get his life back – wording that pierced the very hearts of those 11 rig workers that were lost in original fire. Some people are calling for Tony Hayward to get fired, some are even calling for the government to take over the company.

Why would Tony Hayward continue to be the face of BP?

It’s quite simple from a public relations perspective. BP is gambling on Tony Hayward to be the fall guy for the brand and the company. For the next year or more, we’re going to see a lot of Tony Hayward. He’s not going anywhere (unless this ploy makes the headlines). BP will surely rebrand after the crisis – but between now and then, every commercial with Hayward with it, every interview with Hayward, every ludicrous sound bit with Hayward and every advertisement with Hayward puts distance between the stockholders, the company, and its current CEO.

At the end of the day, Tony Hayward will be paid handsomely for being the BP martyr. Mark my words that the platinum parachute that’s being developed right now will make the corporate hall of shame. Stockholders will gladly pay it, though, since Hayward’s martyrdom could insulate some of the losses when this crisis is over. The new CEO will come in, badmouth the old, reposition the company, and begin sucking billions out of the ground again.

The problem is that there’s a long line of culture and management in BP that has led to this disaster. Witnesses have already stated that BP management on the oil rig were not only aware of the safety issues, they argued with Transocean (owners of the Deepwater Horizon) prior to the explosion. The goal was to get the oil out as quickly as possible to get those dollars flowing… regardless of safety. Tony Hayward may be at the top of that chain, but there’s many more within the organization that are responsible.

If it weren’t so disgusting, it would be a brilliant public relations move. BP will return to profitability (or be bought by another oil company), Hayward will retire wealthier than he ever imagined, the President will not get re-elected, and the people of the gulf which are dependent on its natural resources will never recover in their lifetime.

BP Logo is an entry from the BP Logo Design contest from Logo My Way.

This post was written by Douglas Karr

Douglas Karr is the founder of The Marketing Technology Blog. Doug is President and CEO of DK New Media, an online marketing company specializing in social media, blogging and search engine optimization. Their clients include Webtrends, ChaCha and many more.

Did you know Douglas Karr's book is coming out in August? You can pre-order Corporate Blogging for Dummies now on Amazon. Check out our new site, Corporate Blogging Tips, to find out what events that we'll be speaking at.

Got an event? Let us know that as well - we're looking forward to going on tour later this year.

Don't forget to follow @corpblogging on Twitter or become a Fan on Facebook!

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It seems as though Quality Score has fallen off the blog bandwagon here lately, but I’m here to say that the Quality Score and the Quality Index is still here and more important than ever.

One big problem that I have seen in many new accounts that have either transitioned from other search marketing agencies or in-house employees is the inability to accurately determine when to pause an under-performing ad text and exactly which ad to pause when testing. Pausing the wrong ad or making a decision to pause something too early can have a detrimental effect on your Quality Score.

Most PPC advertisers should know that the Quality Score is mainly based off how well your keywords relate to your ad text and landing pages. There are other factors that affect Quality Score but this is the main one.

It makes a lot of sense if you think about it: Google will make the most money on ads that have higher click-through rates. Ads that have high click-through rates get a lot of traffic, so it makes sense for Google and Yahoo, etc to reward those with higher click-through rates over others. The way they reward you is that if you have a higher click-through rate, you’ll receive a lower page one minimum bid. This means that if you follow their rules, do all the things that get you a great Quality Score, then you’ll be able to place higher in the search engines results pages for a lesser cost.

Too many times I see ads that are paused or deleted that over time have a much higher click-through rate over other ads that are currently active. This tells me that people are not properly testing their PPC ads to determine a statistically valid ad winner. And let me just say, if you’re not testing your PPC ads, then read this PPC for Beginners post already, geez!

Go back into your Adwords account, click on your highest volume campaign and ad group, view your ads, and change the date range to show one whole year of stats. Check all of your ads and see if the ads you have active currently really do have the higher click-through rates.

If they do, great! If not, then you may need to reassess how you determine when to pause or delete and under performing ad text.

1. Go further back in time. Most people just look at past seven day stats or month-to-date stats. Go back further in time to get a more broad view of how well an ad has really performed. If you’re looking at a shorter data range certain seasonality or ebb and flow of traffic could have made the performance of an ad change. But the longer the data range you use the more those seasonality and ebb and flow of traffic changes affect the overall outcome.

2. Know when to make your move and when to wait. The more clicks you have on an ad text the more accurate your ad stats will be. If you only have a few clicks on an ad, that will skew your results. It’s like taking a survey of 100,000 people versus only 10 people. Obviously, those 10 people only represent a small number of the population. However 100,000 people will represent a larger population of people who think the same way. Don’t pause or delete your ads too soon. If there isn’t enough click volume then wait until there is enough volume so you can make a statistically valid decision.

3. Use the statistical calculator. Using the Teasley statistical calculator will assist you in making an informed decision on if and when to pause or delete an ad. Where it says ‘element 1’ and ‘element 2’ is where you will enter your ad text stats. ‘Mailed quantity’ is where you enter your impressions and ‘# of responses’ is where you enter your click data. Below it will show you the response rate (click-through rate) for each ad.

And below that you will get either a percentage of confidence or a ‘not very’ confident that the two elements will continue to perform in the way they are performing currently.

In conclusion, you may want to go back and double-check your ads to be sure you have the ad with the highest click-through rate showing. Of course you can then test different variations of your better performing ad to achieve an even higher click-through rate to improve your Quality Scores.

And next time you run through your PPC accounts looking to pause or delete ads, be sure to follow the steps above and remember more data will represent more accurate results. In the end, your helping yourself gain additional traffic with high click-through rate ads, but you’re also improving your Quality Score which can lead to lower minimum first page keyword bids.

Check out The Adventures of PPC Hero: Heroic Feats of Pay Per Click Management at http://www.ppchero.com/. Copyright © 2007-2009 Hanapin Marketing, LLC.