Smarter SEO beats bigger Adwords budgets

It was just a few years ago we were introducing our sometimes skeptical clients to the cost efficiencies of online search in their marketing mix. It didn’t take long for them to become converts, with conversion rates so much higher than press and radio advertising. It was as simple as buying category keywords prospects were searching for when researching a purchase decision. For one client in particular, a cosmedic company, a Google Adword campaign was delivering sales for under $30 when traditionally they were resigned to having to spend upward of $400 per sale using press ads. Like most things in the world today, things have changed very quickly.

Google Adwords not the cheap fix it once was

While our clients were at the front of the adoption curve, plenty of followers have made online adword campaigns much less cost effective. Google is in the unique position in Australia of having a controlling share of the search engine market. While in Asia players such as MSN offer advertisers alternative places to reach prospects, here 90% of all people who search online use Google. So if you are an advertiser, you are competing with every one of your competitors for the same limited listing in a limitless bidding war. If you want to be on the first page of results, the same words we bought for cents a few years ago can now cost dollars. Our client who used to be able to grab sales conversions for $30 and below would now have to regularly expect to pay $150 or more. Meanwhile, newspapers are doing deals, so the gap for many advertisers is closing again. Or is it? What are the advertisers at the front of the curve doing?

Natural search is the answer to gaining exposure online

At UNO we’ve been delivering our clients what is close to free leads for years now using Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) techniques. How does it work? A Google search page has three sections. Paid results appear across the top and down the right side of the screen. This is what advertisers bid against each other for. Yet research has shown 75% of all people who search on Google ignore the paid ads and click on the results in the third area, the natural or organic listing in the main body of the page.

So while the majority of companies are still competing in a bidding war for 25% of the prospects, smart advertisers are using SEO experts to help them achieve a higher listing in the main game, the natural search listings that you don’t have to keep paying for again and again. Done right, SEO for natural search pays long term dividends.

Here is the news in mass media marketing

A few weeks ago I cancelled my daily newspaper subscription. Not because of the increasing use of bad puns in headlines, a direct result of the publisher subbing out writing to young graduates to lower costs and supposedly bring a youthful feel to the paper. No, I cancelled on the day the business section shrunk to just three pages of mostly superficial stories.

I’m not alone, an associate cancelled his subscription because of the increase in typos and doubling up of stories in different sections.  

While once loyal readers are deserting, publishers are desperately trying to entice. The same paper gave me a free 10-week subscription when I signed up to a wine club the following week. I read online free from the same masthead. Since 2001 the Media Alliance estimates that the number of full-time journalists working on Australian newspapers has fallen by 13 per cent or roughly 1000 to 7500.

The hen and egg question of what came first – the thinness of content or the decrease in advertising to underwrite good journalism, is superseded by the issue of where have the readers gone?

Online, just like you.

The news in the last few months is an indication the tipping point is here…there are lists, (found online in seconds) of the latest closures around the world, from Colorado’s oldest paper, The Rocky Mountain News to The Boston Globe.

PriceWaterhouseCoopers latest survey predicts global newspaper decline of 10.2% this year.

What does the decrease in readership of press mean to mass marketers?

Well there’s no refuge in TV. The diminishing returns of this medium in Australia, where the cost per thousand eyeballs doubled over a seven year period while the number of potential viewers declined by 20% means ever diminishing returns for TV ads.

Yet there are still people who spruik packaged TV ad formats that exclaim “Brand News” on TV is more effective? Than what, bad brand ads on TV? Either way, with fewer viewers for greater expense than ever before, the high cost of entry to producing and running ads on TV are driving marketers away. While a FinReview survey of marketers indicated they are sticking with TV ads for their brand marketing, the long term media spend trends show doing the same as before is on the way out.

Australian online ad spend is up 14 percent to an annual $1.4 billion

The smart marketing investment is micro-managed across dozens of touch points, from the web to activation at point of sale.  The smart marketer is looking for measurable results, insightful strategies and creative that cuts through and adds value in a sea of clutter.

You are 31 times more likely to win lotto than click on a banner ad

Here are the stats that show why banner ads deliver the lowest ROI in the digital marketing mix.

1. Over 5.3 trillion display ads were served to U.S. users last year. (ComScore)
2. That’s 1 trillion more than 2009. (ComScore)
3. The typical Internet user is served 1,707 banner ads per month. (Comscore)
4. Click-through rates are .1 percent. (DoubleClick)
5. The 468 x 60 banner has a .04 percent click rate. (DoubleClick)
6. An estimated 31 percent of ad impressions can’t be viewed by users. (Comscore)
7. The display advertising Lumascape has 318 logos. (Luma Partners)
8. 8 percent of Internet users account for 85 percent of clicks. (ComScore)
9. Up to 50 percent of clicks on mobile banner ads are accidental. (GoldSpot Media)
10. Mobile CPMs are 75 cents. (Kleiner Perkins)
11. You’re 471 times more likely to survive a plane crash than click a banner ad. (Solve Media)
12. 15 percent of people trust banner ads completely or somewhat, compared to 29 percent for TV ads. (eMarketer)
13. 34 percent don’t trust banner ads at all or much, compared to 26 percent for magazine ads. (eMarketer)
14. 25-34-year olds see 2,094 banner ads per month. (ComScore)
15. 445 different advertisers delivered more than a billion banner ads in 2012. (ComScore)

Put simply, banner ads don't work

Remember these figures next time a media sales rep tries to sell you a banner ad campaign. Even if it’s free it may not be worth the effort, you’re 31 times more likely to win Lotto.

The A to Z of digital acronyms

Every industry has its acronyms. With this list you will be prepared when dealing with people who speak digital:

AIDA - Attention, Interest, Desire, Action

AJAX - Asynchronous Javascript and XML

API - Application program interface

AOV - Average order value

AR - Augmented reality

ASP - Application service provider

ATD - Agency trading desk

B2B - Business to business

B2C - Business to consumer

CIO- Chief information officer

CLV - Customer lifetime value

CMS - Content management system

CPA - Cost per acquisition / action

CPC - Cost per click

CPL - Cost per lead

CPM - Cost per thousand

CPV - Cost per view (see also PPV)

CR - Conversion rate

CRM - Customer relationship management

CRO - Conversion rate optimisation

CSS - Cascading style sheets 

CTA - Call to action

CTR - Click-through rate

CX - Customer experience

DM - Direct mail (or 'Direct message', in Twitter circles)

DMP - Data management platform

DNS - Domain name system

DR - Direct response

DSP - Demand-side platform

ECPM - Effective CPM

EPC - Earnings per click

EPM - Earnings per thousand

ESP - Email service provider

FAQs - Frequently asked questions

FB - Facebook

FBML - Facebook Markup Language

FTP - File transfer protocol

GA - Google Analytics

HIPPO - Highest paid person's opinion

HTML – Hyper Text Markup Language

HTTP - Hyper Text Transfer Protocol

HTTPS - Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure

IM - Instant Messaging

IMAP - Internet Message Access Protocol

IP - Intellectual property (or 'Internet Protocol')

IPTV - Internet protocol television

ISP - Internet service provider

KPI - Key performance indicator

LTV - Lifetime value

MoM - Month on month

MLM - Multi-level marketing

MVT - Multivariate testing

OEM - Original equipment manufacturer

OS - Operating system (sometimes this is used for 'open source')

PHP - PHP Hypertext Preprocessor

POP- Point of purchase

POS - Point of sale

PPC - Pay per click

PPL - Pay per lead

PPV - Pay per view

PR – Page rank

PV – Page views

QA - Quality assurance

QR Code - Quick response code

QS - Quality score

RFI - Request for information

RFP - Request for proposal

ROI - Return on investment

RON - Run of network

ROR - Ruby on Rails 

ROS - Run of site

RSS - Really Simple Syndication

RT - Retweet

RTB - Real time bidding

RTD - Real time data

S2S - Server to server

SaaS - Software as a service

SEM - Search engine marketing

SEO - Search engine optimisation

SERP - Search engine results page

SLA - Service level agreement

SM - Social media

SME - Small / medium enterprise. (aka SMB = ‘business’)

SMM - Social media marketing

SMO - Social media optimisation

SMP - Social media platform

SMS - Short message service

SOV - Share of voice

SOW - Statement of work

SSL - Secure Sockets Layer

SSP - Supply-side platform

SWOT - Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats

TLD - Top level domain

TOS - Terms of service

UCD - User-centric design

UI - User interface

UGC - User-generated content

URL - Uniform resource locator

USP - Unique selling proposition

UV - Unique visitor

UX - User experience

VOD - Video on demand

VM - Viral marketing

WC – Week commencing

WOMM - Word of mouth marketing

WYSIWYG - What you see is what you get

YOY - Year on year

YTD - Year to date

XML - Extensible Markup Language

I'm sure we've missed a few. Feel free to add your favourites in the comment box.

Where would you advertise if it was YOUR money?

I read recently, most entrepreneurs who are successful focus on realising their business concepts as well and as fast as they can. Worrying about how much money they will make comes a distant second.

Entrepreneurs focus on what the customer needs. The financial rewards follow if they have developed something that truly creates added value for their customers.

The advice industry is different. Advisors focus on what the customer will pay. Financial advisors charge you a percentage of what you have to invest. Not according to how they add value at the end of the financial year, which is what you actually need.

Last year the ASIC mystery shop of 64 financial advisors found only 2 gave “good” advice. 62 gave generic or bad advice, generally in line with their own interests, not the customers. While there’s no regulator doing mystery shopping of ad agencies or media shops, I suspect marketing services “advisors” wouldn’t score much better.

Digital media is commission driven

Media sales is still predominantly based on a cut of what you spend, not a share of your return on investment. Online ad-sales is the same model, just with a bigger margin from your spend. Some online adspace aggregators mark up inventory by 60%. For a 60% markup their computer serving of your ads has very little value add, let alone quality control. Look at this as an example of inappropriate adexchange placement – an ad for the Maquarie Graduate School of Management targeting women:
 

Every medium is out to convince you that their category is the best way to spend your money. They will always have a pie chart to prove it. It’s in their interest to have you spend more of your marketing pie with them. This will increase their commission, irrespective of whether it will increase your return.

For instance, Google Adwords looks a cheap way to buy eyeballs. But if your Adwords campaigner gets into a bidding war for the most popular keywords, you’ll spend more than the same number of leads from less popular search terms. Does the supplier care?

You might think the answer is to use media specialists who charge by time. Like lawyers, they’ll make more the longer their process drags on. More meetings, less decisions, the bigger your bill.

There are now more types of specialists than ever, each fighting for a bigger share of your budget – SEO, PPC, SEM, online content, online ads, email lists, data analysts, mobile, apps, ambient, ambush, experiential, waterproof stickers on urinals…

Which mediums are actually best for your business challenge?

I recommend looking at where to spend a clients’ money from this perspective:

Synergy comes from the right mix, at the right time, with the right creative message. Beware commission driven specialists selling one solution to solve every problem. You’ll get less than you pay for.

Glenn Mabbott
Creative Director & Principal
UNOmarcomms

This article first appeared in AdNews

Survey reveals SMEs fail to measure ROI of online ads

A Yellow Pages survey of 1,800 Australian business owners* has found 69% of small and medium enterprises don’t measure the return on their online ad spend. What’s really surprising in this era of accountability is the finding that only one in 10 base their decisions on where to advertise on the ROI delivered.

What amazes me is the disconnect between business owners increasing desire to do more with less and the missed opportunities these findings reveal.

Advertisers keep telling me they love advertising online because it’s so much cheaper than traditional media. It might be cheaper to buy an adword campaign than a press ad, but are they getting a better return from those clicks?

Do you know which half of your advertising works?

The age-old saying “I know only half my advertising works, if only I knew which half” is just as true of online ad spending as off. The good news is it’s much easier to measure ROI of online marketing than the kinds of activities you used in the past. New technology makes it possible to know what works online and why. Business Intelligence means your spending can truly become an investment with predictable returns.

So if you count yourself amongst the majority of SMEs that don’t have a digital business strategy, maybe you should make it a priority to develop one. After all, there aren’t many things you can do so quickly and effectively that will leave the majority of your competitors behind.

How to measure your marketing ROI

New technologies have also made it much easier to track the performance of your offline advertising and promotion activities. We recently completed another test market campaign for an FMCG customer. In the past it was only major brands that could afford to put in place the kinds of tools needed to measure the ROI of integrated campaigns. Today even challenger brands can track the performance of programs that largely use traditional media because online research, scan data, real time field force reporting and analytics tools are no longer cost prohibitive.

The test and learn approach we have taken with this brand over the last few years has helped lift them above the pack. From being one of half a dozen small players competing for share against a long established multinational, our client is now a clear number 2 in their category. Do you know how much of your marcomms budget is working? There are no excuses because now you can.

* Survey published December 2010

What you don't know will hurt your business. Especially those unknown unknowns

"There are known knowns; there are things we know we know.

We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say, we know there are some things we do not know. 

But there are also unknown unknowns – the ones we don’t know we don’t know."

While you may not like his politics, this famous quote from Donald Rumsfeld preceding the US invasion of Iraq perfectly sums up the dilemma faced by business owners today.

People are punch drunk from 5 years of relentless financial destruction of the world’s capital markets. Meanwhile, technology, and especially the digitisation of the world, has seen the pace of change of commerce reach incomprehensible pace. Is it any wonder business managers are floundering?

Challenger brands are making the most of this time of change to gain an advantage over competitors

Many business owners still think they can wait things out until things return to “normal.” What they don't know is the new model for success demands the ability to try new things, quickly and often.

Renee Todres heads a team of digital specialists at Tipping Point that have been helping businesses transform often complex transactions with their customers into simple ones. From BT to Elle Bache, once complicated business processes are being replaced with simple, intuitive interactions that make customers feel in control. Renee makes a wonderful observation –
"to learn you need to listen to yourself less."

Tipping Points approach is to add value by finding new insights. One way to succeed today is to recognise the limitations of your known knowns. Then seek out specialists that can help you discover the unknown unknowns. Get to know the ones that can help improve your position against your competition. And have the confidence to act on those new insights knowing the biggest threat to businesses today is business as usual. The Aussie attitude that she’ll be right now almost certainly guarantees failure.

I'm not suggesting spending all your energies on research. We’ve all seen managers fall into the paralysis by over-analysis trap. Too much data can actually hinder making effective business decisions. According to IBM’s 2012 global survey of 1700 CEOs, asking customers what matters to them is now more useful than financial analysis.

"Of course we need information and insight, but what we need most is the capability to act on it."
Unit head, Government, Hong Kong

In the words of Boston Consulting, today in business “the spoils go to the nimble.” We have found our challenger brand clients are winning by trying new and interesting things, fast and often. In the past you needed big budgets and big balls to try something different. There are now technologies that allow marketers to test new strategies while limiting financial risks.

As Renee and other niche specialists have shown me, it’s surprising how much there is to know that the big brands don’t, simply because they aren't looking. 

All those for firing the Marketing Managers? Any against?

When they leave the office for the holidays, many marketing managers won’t realise their role may be restructured out of existence in the New Year. Over the Christmas break, CEOs around the country will be re-appraising who is an expendable cost to the business, versus who is an income generator.

Who will defend so many marketing managers when the case that has been building against them throughout 2012 is so strong?

Here is my snapshot of some of the evidence CEOs may be considering as they weigh up whether to fire their marketing managers: 

Evidence A 

Many of the tasks that CEOs thought only marketing managers could do can now be Googled. From 99 Designs to freelancer.com any CEO can buy marketing stuff cheap. Whether it’s designing websites or mailers, SEO or adwords, printing or promotions, everything is just a keyword search away. Who cares if you don’t know which half of your advertising works now you can buy it direct at third world prices?

Evidence B 

According to this year's Roy Morgan annual professions ranking, marketers have failed again to rise much above used car salesmen. What CEO wants someone with less credibility than a real estate agent on their team? Consider this evidence alongside the growth in Australia of the casual workforce and outsourcing generally.

If you must have a marketing manager, why not buy by the hour, save on fixed and overhead costs.

Evidence C 

CEOs have never believed marketers anyway. Fornaise regional survey of CEOs in 2011 found 75% did not value marketing managers opinions at a board level. In July this year the number had increased to 80%.

In November a follow up survey found seven in 10 CEOs hold themselves "somewhat responsible" for marketers’ poor perceived business performance because they have given up on holding their marketing managers accountable. CEOs gave up measuring the performance of their marketing managers. If it isn’t measurable, it won’t be long before the accountants decide marketing managers are an expensive indulgence a lean 21st century business can do without.

Evidence D

Business confidence is at it’s lowest level for four years. More companies went out of business in Australia in the last quarter than any other.

"She’ll be right" is now more wrong than ever. CEOs will have to change the way their business operates to survive. If they don’t know what marketing managers do, it’s an easy place for them to start cutting. As AdNews reported, one recruiter said recently, “companies want to hire revenue generators, and see marketers as passengers not drivers.“

Evidence E

How many CEOs actually know what marketing is? Consider one of the 4 Ps of marketing, price. In the FMCG industry, paying a rebate to Woolworths for a price promotion is still considered a marketing investment, not the sales tool it is.

Evidence F

Consider the other 3 Ps as they apply to businesses today. When do CEOs involve marketing managers in product development, or distribution innovation, or the building of a Business Intelligence driven CRM program? These new silos now fall under Strategy and Innovation Manager or the Supply Chain and Technology Integration Manager or the Chief Information Officer.

Is there a case for marketing managers? 

The evidence doesn’t look good if the CEO doesn’t realise marketing managers can add value by thinking across silos. enabling the parts to work in synergy.

The Fornaise study found CEOs “think marketers have continuously failed to unquestionably and consistently prove in the boardroom that their marketing strategies, activities and campaigns generated actual business growth.”

To grow today you have to become a successful challenger brand. To be relevant today marketers have to champion at the board level the power of marketing to create a challenger brand.

If marketers aren’t in the boardroom, either the accountants, the salesmen, even the IT department will contend they need more of the budget to grow the business. Why not take it from the marketing pot, it’s just an artsy fartsy waste of money after all? Isn’t it?               

12 days of vintage Christmas ads

Have you heard about the uproar surrounding the latest 'sexist' Christmas ad for ASDA in the UK? Here's your chance in case you missed it.

It seems that history is repeating? Here's a fun look at UNO's 12 days of vintage Christmas ads. They certainly gave us a few laughs! 

On the 1st day: What more could a girl ask for?!

On the 2nd day: Should you be tempted to over indulge...

On the 3rd day: What could it be?

On the 4th day: It's the thought that counts!

On the 5th day: The perfect stocking filler!

On the 6th day: Foam filled fun for all the family!

On the 7th day: Taking care of Christmas!

On the 8th day: A shame they didn't make them for dogs too?

On the 9th day: Say it with... spoons?

On the 10th day: We all know that Santa wears red and white because...

On the 11th day: We're sure ASDA would approve!

On the 12th day: Relax in the comfort of your own home

Oh what the heck! One more!

Big businesses' loss can be your gain

In the last few weeks business owners have been warned by the head of one of Australia’s biggest mining corporations that if we don’t change our business models we will die.

So who do business owners turn to for advice? In AdNews the marketing head of one of the big 4 banks reveals agencies don’t get digital. And the CEO of one of the biggest media planners in the country said "anyone in the media industry who claims they know what is happening is lying."

How many consultants does it take to change a light bulb?

Too late, fibre optics and LEDs have changed the market.

Every manager who has grown a business understands the value of seeking advice from specialists, you can’t be an expert at everything. Today we have the added problem that most so-called experts learnt their skills pre-Internet. Most business coaches are dinosaurs, as the world of commerce changes at ever increasing pace, conventional methods won’t save your business if the customer has evolved to a new way of life.

Think biz is tough? It’s even tougher for big businesses

Don’t panic. Unless you are number 1 in your category, you have less to lose by changing the way you play to fit in with the new rules that are being written by the customer. If you are a mid sized business today you have an advantage that in the past was a handicap. Yes, smaller is more nimble. Big businesses with big investments in infrastructure, systems and sunk costs can’t easily re-invent themselves. Think of all those silos of managers in big companies who have to hang in there for another 5 years because their super was decimated. They are a dead weight that slows down change.

Companies falling out of the top 3 in a given year:

Market share leaders that are the profitability leaders:

Forget the past, where’s the future profit coming from?

Most likely from something you are good at now, but not focused on. If you are a mid market player and still in business, you obviously have enough retained knowledge to draw on. Here are some examples of where UNO's clients have found profit opportunities:

• For a manufacturer it was cutting out the wholesalers.
• For a premium winemaker it is leaving Coles and Woollies to the major brands and growing high margin club membership.
• For a financial services B2B supplier it is repackaging bite-sized insights for the consumer market.

Today more than ever, get to know those who know 

What you most need now is a trusted advisor who can draw upon a network of today’s specialists. To grow today, you need to re-invent your model, refresh your offer and relaunch by integrating traditional and new ways to market.

Forget incremental improvements. A few percent saved on input costs and a couple more from efficiency gains won’t save you when the competition pockets a whopping 30%+ of margin by removing an entire step in the route to market.

There’s an idea. Better to do it now, or be done over?               

For a better career, get a life as a sponge

Many people in marketing seem to think they are judged on what they will do this week, while many managers think it’s about avoiding mistakes by doing very little. Rather than worry about what others may think of your actions/inactions in the short term, a recent conversation with a self-made squillionare reminded me of what it takes to become successful in business life. It’s not about you – soak up other people’s experiences.

Curiosity is the key 

This founder of many businesses was as keen to ask questions about my challenges, as I was to learn about his successes.

Creative people continue to take the passive role of waiting for a brief, hoping the application of their current skills to their next project will bring the recognition they deserve. Meanwhile marketing managers act like thought police, determined to minimise all risks on their watch. So the brief ends up something like this: do something safe, measurable (as in lets make sure there are no nasty surprises), something a bit like someone else has already done, and all for less than it cost last time. This lack of desire to explore the unknown is killing creativity in Australia. Yet it’s creativity that builds wealth. Avoiding risk guarantees smaller returns, or none at all. Cutting margins does not create wealth, it just means you’ll spend your way to mediocrity a bit slower.

Today for a business to thrive it has to be a challenger brand. That’s an old company doing things in a different way, or a new one doing new and interesting things. Being a challenger is not about fine-tuning or polishing what you’ve always done. A business that’s in a well-worn smooth groove, just like a career, soon discovers it’s actually in a rut, going the wrong way. New isn’t always better, but better is always new.

If you’re curious to know what it takes to be better at what you do, you’ll do better than your peers. Curiousity, the squillionare says in one of his many books, is what it takes to succeed. It’s more than just appreciating that you don’t know everything. It’s wanting to know what Donald Rumsfeld memorably described as “the unknown unknowns.” Rather than selectively listening to those around you that you feel comfortable with, avoid making bad decisions by seeking out the wisdom beyond your network.

If you’re an art director, it’s time you hung around with some media gurus, marketing managers with entrepreneurs, accountants with digital user experience designers. Innovation after all comes from outside an industry, it’s not found fiddling around with what your category already does. And today if you don’t innovate you and the business will die.

I’ve often explained my life as that of a sponge. From childhood I wanted to know everything about everything. As I’ve met people with passions for things I know nothing about I’ve soaked up drops of wisdom. You’d be surprised what lateral connections from my sodden sponge can draw just the right drop, at the right time, to create an innovative answer. Whatever your role or experience, take every opportunity to learn from others. It helps to be open about your ignorance in front of experts. I’m always asking the silly questions. I usually find if they really are experts, they will gladly share their wisdom. Soak it up.               

What's more important to CEOs - financial analysis, or customer insight?

We now work in a world awash with data. But too much data can actually hinder making effective business decisions. According to IBM’s 2012 global survey of 1700 CEOs, asking customers what matters to them is now more useful than financial analysis. 

"This is now a continuous feedback kind of world, and we need the organizational nimbleness to respond."

CEO, Financial Markets, USA

"Of course we need information and insight, but what we need most is the capability to act on it."

Unit head, Government, Hong Kong

So how can you get to know your customers better? While there is no substitute for face-to-face, the survey found CEOs of outperforming businesses believe social media is the next best way to gather insights. More importantly, these insights are helping them take action.

In the words of Boston Consulting, today in business "the spoils go to the nimble."