Brad Schorr published (on Tamar Weinberg’s blog) a nice checklist of 25 things to look for in How to Select an Interactive Marketing Agency. I found the list to be quite comprehensive, covering the basics as well as questions that a client may not think to ask. Some of my favorites:
#2 Have a Documented Process (and) #3 Have a Flexible Process. Both are key – agencies must have a process they follow (to ensure efficiency, consistency, and quality work/results), but every client’s different, so the process can’t be too rigid.
#10 Value to the Agency - “If you are a small fish in a big pond, you likely will pay maximum prices for minimum service.” As a medium-sized pond ourselves, we agree that this is an important point.
#11 Can They Say No? - “It’s not in your interest to hire yes men. You want a partner bold enough to challenge your thinking and tell you when you are heading down the wrong path.” We have, from time to time, had to tell clients that their baby is ugly. It’s never easy, but sometimes it’s necessary in order for us to do the job we were hired to do.
One point Brad makes that I don’t fully agree with is: Read more…
I know the last thing you need is yet another social media account to keep up with – believe me, I get it! But ignore Google+ at your own peril. It is becoming more and more important in search engine optimization (SEO) for Google:
We’ve covered this — why are we talking about this topic yet again? Because we recently heard inside scoop that Google is increasing the importance of the +1 button in its organic ranking algorithm, and it eventually may count for even more than inbound links!
Read more…
Lee Kantor (Atlanta Business RadioX), Dawn Ely (Corporate Conversations Host & President of Palladium Chief Legal Officers) & Christian Griffith (VP Digital Strategy, Freebairn & Co.)
Lee Kantor (Atlanta Business RadioX), Dawn Ely (Corporate Conversations Host & President of Palladium Chief Legal Officers) & Stacy Williams (Prominent Placement))
If you weren’t able to tune in to hear the livestream of “Corporate Conversations” last Tuesday, here’s an audio clip of just my portion of the show, and here’s a longer clip including the first half with Christian Griffith of Freebairn & Company.
Because once just isn’t enough! 
Tuesday, January 17, 10:00 – 11:00 am (audio available anywhere)
Tune in to Corporate Conversations to hear Christian Griffith of Freebairn & Company and me talk about the growth of digital marketing with host Dawn Ely. If you can’t stream us live, a podcast will be available for on demand listening.
Thursday, January 19, 11:30 am – 1:00 pm (Atlanta)
Join the Independent Counselors SIG of the Georgia PRSA (Public Relations Society of America) for “Marketing your IC Business in 2012.” I’ll be on a panel along with Lynne Andrews of Marketing Expectations, Nora DePalma of O’Reilly-DePalma, and Greg Euston of McGraw Euston Associates. Dan Curran of Curran Public Relations will moderate.
The event will be held at The Ravinia Club and lunch is included. Fees range from $20-$45, depending on membership status and how early you register. More info.
While the world is moving toward more transparency and more data availability, Google recently backtracked on this front. In a move unnoticed by most, Google is now blocking organic keyword data from being captured for searchers who are logged into Google or searching on Google’s secure (https) site. This means that when marketers look at their web analytics, keywords used by these searchers are not displayed, but are lumped together under “(not provided).”
Why should you care? Because taking away this data makes it harder for marketers to measure the performance of their search engine optimization (SEO) efforts. When we know which keywords drive traffic – and more importantly, conversions – we can invest more of our time and effort into those keywords rather than less valuable ones. We can ensure that landing pages are directly relevant to the keyword that brought the searcher to that page. In general, we can continue to hone our efforts and maximize our results.
Read more…
More details keep coming to light as sponsors jump in with donated prizes and such. So here’s the final word on this Thursday’s “Jingle & Mingle” party, hosted by AiMA and SEMPO Atlanta:
Don’t miss the most anticipated Holiday Party of the Season: The AiMA Jingle & Mingle Holiday Bash in partnership with SEMPO Atlanta!
- Where: Tongue and Groove (565 Main Street NE, Atlanta GA 30324 – in Lindbergh Center Station)
- When: Thursday Dec 8th, 6-11pm
- Cost: $25 for SEMPO/AiMA Members, $40 Non-members, or $50 at the door
Bring an unwrapped toy to donate to Toys for Tots and enter for a chance to win a XBox Kinect from Microsoft Advertising Solutions or an iPad2 from Yahoo! And Pandora will unveil a signature cocktail, created just for this event!
REGISTER HERE!
SEMPO Atlanta has partnered with AiMA to cohost their Holiday Bash on Thursday, December 8. It’s been called the “most anticipated holiday party of the season!” Internet marketers of all types will be mixing, mingling, toasting, and generally creating holiday cheer. Don’t miss it!
Thursday, December 8, 2011
6 pm – 11 pm
Tongue & Groove
Lindbergh Center Station
565 Main Street NE
Atlanta GA 30324
Cost: $25 for SEMPO Members, $40 Non-Members, $50 at the door. Register here.
If that isn’t enough Atlanta marketing holiday festivity for you…AMA Atlanta is offering a holiday mixer this Thursday, December 1 at Twisted Taco. More info about that event. Hope to see you at one or both events!
How To: Mobile PPC
Part Two of a Two Part Series on Mobile Search Marketing
Last month we covered mobile search engine optimization; now we turn our attention to mobile search advertising (PPC). As we had said, mobile searches have quadrupled in the last year (source). And this year, marketers in the US will spend over $1 billion on mobile advertising for the first time (source).
Things to Know About Mobile PPC
Mobile PPC campaigns generate, on average, click-through rates nearly three times higher than desktop campaigns…but conversion rates can be much lower, depending on the vertical (source). Google reports that 40% of all mobile searches are related to the person’s location, while Microsoft reports 53% (source). Read more…
Toyota is offering a “collection of popular mobile applications and data services” that’s being built into several of its new models. It’s called Entune and it acts like a smartphone that’s built into the car. In addition to Pandora, Open Table, weather, traffic and such, Bing is included as its voice-activated search engine.
Entune appears to be more evolutionary than revolutionary to me at this point. I mean, if you own a smartphone, you’ve already got access to all those apps while you drive. Although it can be cumbersome to get to them on a loose phone with a small screen while you’re trying to keep your eyes on the road and at least one hand on the wheel. Having Entune built into the dashboard, with a big touchscreen, is probably easier and safer.
What really caught my eye about this is that Bing is the default search engine, not Google. It’s reminding me of the battle soft drink manufacturers have to get their beverages into restaurant chains. If Bing ends up in more cars beyond Toyota, that’d be quite a coup for them. Perhaps some users of “Bing in the car” will transition to users of “Bing out of the car”?
Wired Magazine has a thought-provoking article in its November issue: Why Kids Can’t Search. Its basic premise is that young people are generally good at using search engines…but they’re terrible at evaluating the quality of the results they find. They don’t check the author’s credentials nor question who would publish a particular work or what their agenda may be. As the parent of two teenagers who write a lot of research papers, I can vouch that this is true!
That’s interesting in and of itself, but one paragraph in the story jumped out at me with its broader implications: Read more…
