On 3rd April 2014 Google announced that the clock is ticking until they automatically upgrade all Product Listing Ad campaigns into Google Shopping Campaigns. The timeframe they have outlined is August 2014. Therefore we recommend that you make this switch manually before the end of July as otherwise Google will take the liberty of doing it for you. Shopping campaigns were released in beta mode in October 2013 and then fully in February 2014. There are many aspects to shopping campaigns that are consistent with product listing ads: The ads are matched to user searches based on your product inventory data feed that you send to the Google Merchant Centre rather than being triggered by keywords that the advertiser sets. From a shoppers perspective they look identical - the ads show an image of your product, the product name and price and there is the option to add…

Home page examples featuring simple persuasive designs for desktop and mobile experiences

Creating simplified, focused Landing Page is a standard approach for digital campaigns, particularly for engaging a prospect to get ROI their first visit from Google AdWords. But more and more savvy brands are applying the principles of landing page design to their home pages and optimising them by testing to see whether Less is more! An early sign of this trend was from two presentations I listened to way back in May 2010 at theEmetrics Marketing Optimisation summit. Craig Sullivan of Autoglass and Michael Gulmann of Expedia explained how they have boosted conversion through simplifying their home designs as a results of AB and multivariate testing.  Since then, the increase in smartphone usage and popularity of responsive and adaptive web design has given a further reason to simplify home pages. We're not saying this is true in all cases. More complex product offerings may demand a more…

A process and tools to find influencers in international social media

The rise of social media was supposed to democratise the way we share information and in a way it has. Anyone can post information or express their opinion, but in reality some individuals and groups have more influence than others. Identifying and interacting with these key influencers or Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) can really boost your search engine optimisation (SEO) efforts, content marketing or social media campaigns.

Define your topics and research keywords

You will of course want to narrow your efforts to those influencers writing, blogging or otherwise involved in your own sector or area. You'll also want to focus relatively tightly on specific keywords as too broad an approach will be more likely to throw up a whole ocean of irrelevant leads you'll have to wade through in order to get to the good stuff. When looking to engage with influencers…

History Forgotten, History Erased: EU Ruling marks massive win for Right to Privacy Campaigners

Last Tuesday’s EU Court of Justice ruling in favour of an individual’s ‘right to be forgotten’ feels like a harsh blow to Google. The ruling, which establishes the search engine's role as a ‘data controller’ and as such does not extend to media institutions and other online publishers, has divided opinion amongst commentators. Many are worried that by shifting the onus on Google as a controller of data, the EU could be throwing the baby out with the bath water in its attempt to protect press freedoms with the right to be forgotten. Whilst Google is not responsible for the publication of content it has become a vital component of the online media melting pot and as such these distinctions matter.

Damaging attack or vital measure?

To…

6 mistakes that will doom your social media strategy

Sure, you can be active in social media without a plan, but a company that uses social media marketing without a clear idea of what they want to achieve, and the steps they need to take to get there, is usually going to waste a lot of time and money, without seeing a return. I think that a written strategy document is crucial for online success. But of course, not all social media strategies are created equal! Many times, the factors that make the difference between success and failure do not just concern what is in the document. Equally important are the steps companies take before and after compiling it. Here are some of the mistakes I've seen with social media planning which I look to make businesses aware…

Book review: Watertight Marketing - Delivering long-term sales results by Bryony Thomas

We know from our research published showing how businesses manage digital marketing, that many businesses don’t have a defined marketing strategy. In fact, more than half of businesses we surveyed (56%) didn’t have a marketing strategy, an even higher proportion than the 46% who didn’t have a digital strategy! So when Bryony Thomas offered to share her advice on approaches to use a more planned approach to marketing, I was delighted to be able to publish these to help marketers looking to create a marketing plan. The techniques Bryony has shared in her popular series of posts on marketing planning on Smart Insights are based on the techniques she recommends in her book Watertight Marketing: delivering long-term sales results which I have been taking a look at recently to review our marketing approach.

The Watertight marketing approach

The book gets off…

Tools and techniques to review the impact of the latest Panda algorithm update on organic search traffic

Value/Importance: [rating=5] Recommended link: Search Engine Land Analysis by Barry Schwartz It’s a statement to strike fear into the heart of anyone who relies on organic visits from Google for their business or their clients’ business. Google’s head of web spam Matt Cutts announced today that a major new algorithm update is now rolling out:

Google is rolling out our Panda 4.0 update starting today.

— Matt Cutts (@mattcutts) May 20, 2014 Marketers are bound to be alarmed given the impact of the first Panda update on some sites like this one, highlighted in an article by James Gurd on how to review SEO visits and changes through time.

How to review the Impact of Panda 4.0?

Given the impact on sites throughout the history of Panda outlined below, it’s…

Research from LinkedIn showing how SMBs use social media marketing

This year LinkedIn conducted their own research to understand how SMBs are using social media and the benefits assessed across the goals of Credibility, Connection, Context, Community.  The top-level findings are that 94% of the respondents use social media for marketing and 3 in 5 found it to solve a business problem. 'The main problem for SMBs is lead generation and 63% believe social media is helping them solve this..' Find out more from the infographic below and LinkedIn's small business microsite which has best practice tips and examples specifically for smaller businesses and ideas on personal branding. We have more detailed advice and examples in our Smarter Guide to LinkedIn marketing and we have a free webinar with the author Danny Bermant covering the Latest 2014 LinkedIn marketing techniques.

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Using video for brand storytelling

There is no shortage of people out there telling us that marketing today is all about storytelling, and that if you want people to connect with your brand, you need to tell stories that they can relate to. Of course, this is easier said than done, so in this post I wanted to introduce you to some ways of determining what story you should tell.

Making a video about your product

When you first consider making videos about your product, the natural tendency is to think about making videos that revolve around the product itself - demonstrating its features and benefits. This is our connection to traditional sales-focused advertising talking. Here is a Fairy Liquid advert that anyone based in the UK of 30+ years should remember. It is a good example of a product-focused advert that clearly shows some awareness of the importance of ‘story’ and emotional connection –…

Best practices for managing CRM implementation projects to avoid the common sources of failure

CRM projects are well-known for high failure rates since there are many different obstacles along the way that can derail the initiative. In this article I will look at some of the typical challenges and ask experts how problems can be avoided. Some of these obstacles to projects occur as a direct result of poor preparation. For example, in a study of over 500 individuals involved in CRM projects by Forrester Research, two-fifths (40%) reported that some of the biggest challenges they encountered related to CRM strategy, such as a lack of clearly defined objectives. Other CRM obstacles are tools-related. In the Forrester study, a third (35%) reported that they had experienced challenges related to technology deficiencies,…