An interview with James Collins
As part of our briefings on Big Data and new software services to help marketers, this interview with James Collins at Stickyeyes, introduces their new software and analytics tool called ‘Optimum Inteligence’. The service arises from a need for online marketers (Search specialists, Specialists and Executives) needed help in analysing and understanding their data, the market they operate in and access to technology from Paid and Natural Search Software.
James shares his views on ‘Big data’ related to SEO, the benefits for companies and how Optimum Intelligence has evolved and where they are with it’s release.
Q Why do you think Big Data is such a buzz word this Year?
‘Big Data’ is no doubt the marketing buzz word of 2013, and understandably so, given the importance of accountability and report ability of marketing activity. This is…
Using 'Rel=me ' to tell Google you are YOU.
As an online brand, you would ideally want to have control over your brand name search results pages (SERPs). By control I mean all the results on the first page should ideally be your owned entities, whether it is your website or your company social profile pages.
ASOS are a prime example of this. The online fashion powerhouse pretty much owns its brand SERPs (apart from the blended news & Guardian page), as you will see below:
ASOS brand SERP
Google has little trouble distinguishing that @asos is the genuine ASOS Twitter page because there is an overwhelming number of digital markers indicating that this is the case. The same goes for ASOS’ other profiles that rank on page one. However, not everyone has the authority and…
Twitter moves to a more Google-like intent-based keyword targeting
Value/Importance: [rating=4]
Recommended link: Twitter blog announcement
Twitter has offered interest-based advertising for some time, but we’re notifying this is a big deal since from today it offers targeting based on intent shown by keywords in a similar way to Google AdWords.
The way this works is that when someone tweets and it contains a targeted keyword, a promoted tweet can be delivered as this example of a request for a coffee coupon shows!
BrandRepublic reports that several companies looking to drive awareness and transactions have used the approach including Everything Everywhere (@EE), MicrosoftJapan(@SurfaceJP), Walgreens (@Walgreens) and GoPro (@GoPro).
For GoPro, which offers wearable and gear-mountable cameras, engagement rates as high as 11% were seen and more than two million impressions after testing keyword targeting in timelines across four marketing campaigns.
This advertising is not…
The John Wayne view on marketing attribution
'You’ll never know where you’re going until you know where you’ve been.'
– John Wayne
Within the marketing technology community, we find ourselves speaking on the topic of marketing attribution a lot. It’s constantly on the front burner of every modern CMO – how do I do more with less? How do I demonstrate ROI from my various channels, tactics, campaigns – and then boost it? How do I not only defend my budget, but make a data-driven case for more?
Make my day, pilgrim
It’s not just market competitiveness that’s driving this pressure. It’s becoming a cliché to point out the ever-increasing crush of customer behavioral data today – from digital properties, mobile devices and apps, social media, third-party sources, offline transactions, and so on.
Marketers have more data than ever, and technology vendors are scrambling to…
How to avoid Google+ being another push channel
Last week, I attended BrightonSEO where one speaker asked an interesting question showing how agencies manage social media channels for their clients:
"How many people here manage Twitter profiles for clients?"
> Around half still raised their hands
"How many people here manage Facebook pages for clients?"
> Slightly more than half of the room raised their hand
"How many people here manage Google+ accounts for clients?"
> Three quarters of the room raised their hand
I know it was an SEO conference and there are obviously search benefits for Google+ pages, but can this be correct?
Hmm...
We now know that Google+ is catching up with Facebook in terms of active users, and that keeping on the right side of the search giant is a must, but are brands really taking that much notice of the social network?
Well it seems so. 75% of the top 100…
Carlsberg Somersby Cider Viral Video campaign takes the perfect 'Apple' takeoff
With summer on the way (hopefully!) this new campaign has achieved over 1 million Youtube views, so it seems to have some of the impact it was looking to achieve thanks to taking a risk with using humour. We love it too, so at the end of a hard week, put up your feet and enjoy its creativity!
Thanks to John Newton for recommending this via LinkedIn - this Somersby Cider video - in his words - 'Loving the Somersby cider ad. Perfect apple takeoff. Hits the target market right between the eye'.
This one minute video with the strap line 'Less apps More apple' relates a tongue firmly in cheek product launch similar to the hype a new Apple phone or IPAD. We love the symbolic interpretation: single…
How to identify rogue affiliates using advanced segments
This post will explain a technique that online retailers can use to save some badly spent money. It will also be of interest to affiliates, to website owners, and may spark a couple of ideas for anyone looking to get more usable information out of Google Analytics.
The post covers 4 things:
Rogue "Brand bidders" - what they are, why they cause a problem, and how they waste money.
A few tactics rogue brand bidders may use to sneakily make thousands of pounds.
How to spot the problem using Google Analytics.
A couple of bonus tips on how you could extend & automate this.
(more…)…
A quick guide to finding out
A recent article published on Optify highlighted some surprising data on use of PPC which stated:
57 percent of (B2B) marketers spent no time on Pay Per Click, and only 4 percent spend more than 15 hours per week.
I found this a surprising statement and it made me wonder if experiences shared by marketers who "fell out of love with PPC" has led to B2B marketers abandoning the channel all together? I hope not, I don't believe it is about all or nothing in PPC, I think you can find that sweet spot where you target spend carefully to get the return on investment you need.
The data from this survey certainly suggests there are missed opportunities in Pay Per Click using AdWords.
The Optify data also suggests a decline in sites using Paid search.
…
Understanding the significance of search enables commercially-minded business marketers to construct websites that rise to the top just when prospects and customers are looking for them.
Think about your own information searches online. You use words and alter them, add to them or remove them to better refine the results you receive. Having a search engine optimisation strategy for your business helps to provide a structured approach to identifying the words that your customer and prospects use to then position your products and services to meet their needs. This is achieved by improving your visibility in search engines for the most relevant queries that people are using. If you are interesting and relevant enough, they may take an action to find out more.
Using an industrial b2b example, the mining products company Atlas Copco, we can see how a structured approach to on page optimisation can pay dividends.
Keywords
Keywords are critical as they…
4 key issues to consider in raising your profile through your online content marketing
The pitch process has changed out of all recognition. The days of agencies pitching for each project and clients constantly searching for new agencies are (thankfully) a thing of the past.
Clients are looking for longer term partnerships with fewer agencies. That is a great thing for client retention and agency financial planning. But, it is potentially bad news for the new business development team. With fewer pitches, the game has changed.
The role of business development is to build long term relationships with the Marketing Directors and Procurement teams who manage the tenders, so that they are on the next long list to be considered for the pitch. These relationships are ideally built on personal interactions, but inevitably they will start…
