Last Wednesday I attended an Atlanta Interactive Marketing Association meeting entitled-- Search Marketing: Finding the Value Beyond the Online Click to Conversion. Moderating the talk was John Cattarulla Director, Strategic Accounts, Yahoo! The panelists included:
Ron Belanger
VP of Agency Development, Yahoo!
Roku Coryne
Senior Metrics Consultant, Google
Jason Fisher
Group Director, 360i
Ron Belanger from Yahoo! began by explaining that when employing search marketing we want to put products in the path of search behavior.
He did a great job of looking at Search in an nontraditional way. I was prepared to hear a little more about search engine optimization tips, but he talked more about using Search in a social media/public relations sort of way. I think this is a good indicator that the delineation of business, marketing, advertising and public relations is blurring more every day.
Belanger discussed the need for organizations providing its customers' support online. He calls this a post-purchase opportunity to maintain a relationship with the customer. When your customer has a question about your product they will likely turn to the Internet to research the answer. You want your organization to be first with the answer. What a great way to convey your organization's messages first and upfront.
He also discusses a case study from Hellmann's Mayonnaise. They partnered with Yahoo! and used search in a campaign to change the perception of mayo. They wanted to banish the bad rap of mayonnaise (particularly Hellmann's) and educate their public that mayo is in fact a "real food" with "real ingredients." When one searches "real food" in Yahoo! Hellmann's Yahoo Real Food Group appears at the top of the search results (paid and unpaid). It is a social network that allows users to trade recipes, discuss health topics, and view videos. I can't remember the exact numbers, but overall it was a very successful campaign.
Raku Coryne's presentation was very entertaining! She attributed many of her ideas to Avinash Kaushik, and likened bounce rate to scent. Scent in the way a bloodhound finds its prey. If a bounce rate is high it has no scent. It doesn't have the stickiness factor to retain visitors, and then you have a problem.
She also said Kaushik likes to compare Web analytics to Angelina Jolie. "Web Analytics is like Angelina Jolie: It’s sexy, it kicks butt, and is a goodwill ambassador!"
Coryne said that she liked to compare Web analytics to Oprah. She said bounce rate is like Oprah because it can tell a good story.
She also explained the importance of two numbers: 4 and 25.
4 words= average number of words in a search engine query
25% of search in Google each day have never been searched before
From this she explained Chris Anderson's Long Tail.
She also said Web analytics were useful in eliminating the HIPPO. The Highest Paid Person's Opinion. She said the HIPPO often makes decisions based on his/her opinion, and that Web analytics eliminated this. One cannot argue with the information and statistics gathered from Web analytics. If the HIPPO likes one landing page, but users liked the other (tracked with Web analytics) the right answer is obviously the landing page that actually worked.
I found it very useful to think about search in a creative way. You must have a general idea for how it works if you are using it in a campaign, but it has many applications other than just "being number one." I also like how Coryne presented metrics as non-intimidating. It really helps to know that the simplest metrics can be the most telling and actionable.
For more information and pictures, check out Dan Greenfield's post about the meeting. I came upon it after doing a search on the meeting's topic-- how appropriate.
