Facebook CPC advertising, which started to gain traction with advertisers last year, resembles the
early days of paid search marketing. Launching a campaign is done in a do-it-yourself interface, and that interface is where bidding is established, payment is done by credit card, ads are created and messages targeted. Also akin to paid search circa 2001 is that the execution of a campaign is mostly a manual process (as of yet there is no API).
As we saw with search, there is no doubt that Facebook’s features and tools will become more sophisticated and radically improve over time. Facebook would surely like to monetize its 450 million users, and we know there are enhancements to the program already in the works. With the attractive CPC pricing model, Facebook and would-be Facebook advertisers are lined up and waiting to sync up with APIs or at minimum, get easy access to reporting and some kind of bid management tool.
Looking into the future, could Facebook CPC ads ever become a force to be reckoned with in the media mix, matching or even exceeding paid search as a proportion of total online spend?
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Search is a big channel. There are die-hard people in the SEO world who never think about paid search as part of search…it’s advertising they say. There are PPC jockeys who have disdain for anything that doesn’t have an easy metric and a quick way to A-B test. Anything else is squishy, they say.
Well, any debate that pits natural search vs. paid search is missing the synergistic whole.
It’s all SEARCH.
Search is about the traffic that comes from results to specific queries. And while there is a difference between the way paid and natural search works, as a marketer, it may help you to think of them as a single channel, because they work together so well.
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Google has implemented a new policy affecting Internet pharmacies, HMO pharmacies, chain drugstores, and mass retailer pharmacies. Such companies must now be certified by The National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP) through its Verified Internet Pharmacy Practice Sites (VIPPS) program in order for Google paid search keyword campaigns to be approved. This policy extends to keywords associated with any merchandise on a website that sells pharmaceuticals – not just pharmaceutical products.
For those still awaiting VIPPS certification, Google shut down all keywords across all campaigns beginning last weekend. Many companies were affected by the policy and few were prepared. The implications of what Google would do and when they would do it were not clear enough. A week later, many of these companies remain dark on Google paid search. A great deal of revenue has been and continues to be lost while these pharmaceutical companies scramble to rectify the situation.
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This year’s report on paid search performance underscores dramatic improvements for retailers in Holiday 2009 compared to 2008.
PM Digital’s 4Q & Holiday 2009 Rewind report has been released with a look at paid search performance for retailers during the 2009 holiday season. And as the study quickly points out, what a difference a year makes. With 12 months’ distance from the bleakness of late 2008—a season in which e-commerce holiday sales actually dropped—online shoppers in 2009 seemed ready to buy with a renewed commitment to enjoy the holidays.
While research firm comScore cited 5% growth for online retailers, PM Digital’s clients saw paid search demand grow 19% on average. Clicks, conversion and average order value were all up.
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Below is the second installment of our trade show roundup with thoughts and recommendations for some of the key conferences for online marketers.
Internet Retailer – Internet Retailer currently hosts two key shows each year – the Web Design & Usability Conference which was just held last week in Orlando, and the larger Internet Retailer Conference & Exhibition in June. This year’s main conference will be in Chicago from June 8-11. If you are actively involved in web design, the February show would be valuable to attend. For more general retail info, I am a big fan of the June show. It draws a huge crowd (great for networking and exhibiting), and there is a ton of great content. Our clients also rate this show highly for value and time well invested.
Shop.org – Shop.org hosts several conferences throughout the year. The best known and largest of all the online retail shows is the Shop.org Annual Summit in the fall. This show has frequently been held in Las Vegas , but it’s moving to Dallas for 2010. The change is unfortunate as I predict they are going to take a hit on attendance. The Mandalay Bay venue in Las Vegas was much loved and Dallas pales by comparison. The Shop.org shows have the reputation of being extremely retailer-focused, as opposed to eTail which is more vendor-focused. Shop.org has retailer-only days and retailer-only events. But despite their somewhat heavy-handed non-vendor stance, there are many sponsorships available to vendors, although some (like the vendor-hosted tables on retailer-only day) come with a pretty hefty price tag.
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I am frequently asked which of the industry trade shows are worth attending. While PM Digital can’t attend every event, we do have better visibility to these shows than most, so below is the first of two installments that cover our thoughts and recommendations on the ever-expanding online marketing conference landscape.
Because PM Digital has a heavy penetration of retail clients, we attend many conferences in the retail category as will be evident in this roundup. The list below takes into account that there are generally three reasons to attend trade shows: 1) networking, 2) keeping current, and 3) investigating new technologies.
eTail - eTail hosts two big shows each year. eTail West (which starts today) is the larger and runs from February 22-24 in Palm Desert; eTail East will be held in Baltimore from August 9-12. I personally love the timing of the February eTail show since it’s the first big event after the holiday season. People have had a few weeks to relax and breathe, but they also recognize that now is the time to launch new initiatives in order to maximize the next year-end holiday. Attendees are definitely looking and researching at this conference.
A common criticism of the eTail shows is that it seems partial to vendors rather than retailers, and this manifests itself in sessions that occasionally sound like paid commercials. Many of the session panels include vendors, and there are some big keynote slots given to vendors (and as a vendor, we are aware that there is a cost to speak at this show as well as some of the other events). I once left a multivariate testing session and found one of the companies represented on the panel was also the manning the exits with one-sheeters. I haven’t seen anything that blatant happen in a while but it’s a good example of how eTail developed its vendor-first reputation. The August eTail conference is very convenient if you are on the East Coast, and I’ve found it attracts a high-level retail attendee. It is much smaller than the West Coast show.
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PM Digital will be at a few of the upcoming retail and search engine marketing shows. If you’re going to any of these, we’d love to see you. Please stop by!
Here is the information on where we’ll be:
February 22-24, we will be at eTail West 2010 in Palm Desert, CA. Our booth is #11.
March 2-4, we will be at SMX West in Santa Clara, CA. Our booth is #310.
March 10-12, we are a sponsor at the Spring NEMOA conference in Boston, MA.
March 22-26, we will be at the Search Engine Strategies conference in New York City. Our booth is #215.
As with every conference and exhibition we attend, our focus is clear…to learn more about the industry trends, and to see our clients and business partners. If you are unable to attend any of these shows, we’ll be sure to pass along any insights or important information we learn from each conference.
Safe travels and hope to see you there!
Until now, cable companies held a lock on “triple play” as a marketing phrase to indicate a consumer’s package of digital services, including phone, traditional cable and Internet access. Alas, social media has emerged as a (welcome) new threat to multi-channel marketing’s status quo and should be allowed to grab the “triple play” title (after all, cable has added a 4th play anyway — high-definition — with speculation of a 5th play in 3-D still to come).
Take the Lupus Research Institute’s Shady Ladies gala last Saturday night in Wellington, Florida. The goal was to stir awareness for a deadly disease that mostly affects young women. The evening event included dinner and good fun but, also, had silent and live auctions for celebrity sunglasses (Bruce Springsteen and Patti Scalfia, the Kardashians, Tom Bergeron of Dancing with the Stars fame, Beyonce etc.), as well as a few fashion pieces.
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Welcome to the new world of internet intimacy and the acceleration of image-based search.
I watched the unveiling of the Apple iPad with some genuine excitement the other day. At the end of the presentation, I can honestly say that I was underwhelmed. The iPad is just a big iPhone…so what?!?
And then I thought…wait a minute…the thing is a big iPhone…that changes everything! (Well, not really, but it does have some interesting implications.) What has really resonated with me is the concept of intimacy. With Steve Jobs demonstrating the iPad from a cushy looking chair, engaging the internet with his finger, it dawned on me what has just happened. The internet became a much less cerebral place. No longer is your interactivity with content tempered by mouse navigation, the internet reacts to your finger. It is instinctual, organic and perhaps even a little impulsive.
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What Apple’s latest announcement means to marketers.
Tomorrow is a huge day in our lives as marketers. I’m taking a not-so-wild shot at this not because I love Apple products (I don’t) but because their ability to transform entire industries by re-thinking how people want to live their lives is stunning. Apple’s new tablet product will be launched and, with it, the typical hype and expectations are at a fever pitch. And, they should be. Although the Kindle from Amazon was a game-changer for the content industry, it hasn’t really changed the lives of marketers as Apple’s launch will.
The new Apple product will be far more than a device. It will integrate multiple forms of content into a single destination and do what all of us have wished for since we started buying cellphones and computers for personal use. Voice, music, video, print, data, calendars and phone are all going to be experienced through this technology.
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March 11, 2010 11:14 am
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