Search Engine Marketing... it's not voodoo

There’s still a lot of confusion out there about what a search engine marketing firm does – and doesn’t do – and I think this confusion is holding businesses back or causing people to waste a lot of money on false expectations.

Put simply, search engine marketing (SEM) is just what it says it is: marketing. It’s not search engine sales, or search engine lead generation, or search engine voodoo…it’s just marketing; bringing your products and services to market.

I can bring your product to someone who is searching for it (that’s the market). I can’t force them buy it, or contact you, or stop them from going to a competitor. We can take measures to influence these decisions, such as improving website usability, but SEM by itself does not do this.

This is why it’s so important to look at your web marketing efforts in a wholistic way: SEM works with site design and usability works with copywriting works with social communication. And it should all work together with your offline marketing efforts, as well.

Still confused? Tell me about it in the comments – I’ll answer any question you might have.

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Photo courtesy of me’nthedogs

Search Engine Marketing Voodoo is a post from: RSA Blog

As self-professed social media junkies, we have a pretty robust obsession with keeping tabs on what’s happening right now in all facets of the marketing world. We constantly have our eyes peeled for info about emerging technologies, new platforms, and most importantly, innovative campaigns that mix it up in new ways.

Take, for example, some of the inspiring (or at least creative) work we’ve been passing around the office this week:

• Omo detergent: This Brazil-based campaign is taking the marketing + GPS recipe to a whole new level. The company planted GPS tracking devices in 50 boxes of detergent, which activate when the consumer takes them off the shelf. A promotions agency will follow the lucky buyer home, surprising the family with a video camera and a day of “outdoor fun.” A bit on the stalker side, perhaps, but definitely a new way to reach the consumer.
• Levi’s Walk Across America: This two-minute stop motion commercial nixed the aggressive sales pitch and went viral. It’s a visually stunning piece, and we’re partial to the footage of good old Mt. Rushmore. YouTube views hit nearly 2 million in just two weeks.

  Click here to view the embedded video.

• Domino’s: The pizza chain’s rebranding strategy continues with the admission that food commercials may actually (gasp) doctor the product before filming it. The Show Us Your Pizza challenge encourages hungry people to upload their own pictures of Domino’s pizzas for a shot at cold hard cash. Simple concept, but we give it an A+ for engaging the audience.

These campaigns all incorporate a social element: from the Levi’s video that’s been shared and commented on thousands of times to a dedicated website that will feature footage of Omo’s winners and their stories, social media has become an integral part of the marketing mix for both big brands and small businesses alike. Traditional advertising continues to be a major player for most businesses, but combined with social, the results can be especially powerful.

Of course, social media is constantly changing, which is both exciting (for us) and intimidating (for some of our clients). We see a lot of small businesses that are interested in venturing into social, but they’re nervous about getting started. Should they be on Twitter? What about FourSquare, or LinkedIn, or Facebook? Should they start a blog? What crazy stunts do they have to come up with to be competitive? With new tools emerging as “the next big thing” all the time, businesses are overwhelmed and unsure how to spend their time and money.

Our advice? Don’t worry about tackling every social media platform or replicating million dollar detergent stalking campaigns. Start small – focus on your business goals and pick a tool that will best support your initial efforts.  It takes commitment to build a successful social media strategy, but it doesn’t have to be over the top. Provide helpful information, talk with (not at) your audience, and post often. It’s really that simple!

Still confused about the whether social is right for you? Take a look at the answers to some  social media FAQs Kyle posted awhile back.

Social Media Inspiration: Detergent Stalking and Other Stories is a post from: RSA Blog

When it comes to Search Engine Optimization (SEO), many business owners don’t understand how it works or how to use it – so this week we brought in the big guns to help demystify the process.

The SEO Expert

Woessner, SEO Guru

We had the pleasure of bringing in renowned SEO expert (and one-time RSA intern) Stephen Woessner from the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse to host public workshops and meet with our staff.

Stephen kicked off the week with a seminar for small business owners, sponsored by RSA and AAF Black Hills. More than 40 people turned out to learn Stephen’s 15 simple steps to SEO, and we’ve heard some great feedback from attendees who took home a step-by-step plan for optimizing their sites.

For those of you who missed out, you’re probably wondering what big secrets Stephen revealed. We can’t give you all the details, but Stephen’s book is a great resource for business owners who want to take a stab at doing it themselves. Want to try to do SEO yourself? Here’s what you should know.

Learn SEO

You can learn SEO pretty easily, if you take the time and focus on it. Going through a book like Stephen’s will give you a simple step-by-step tutorial that will have you on your way pretty quickly. There are also vast quantities of resources out on the web on the subject, so there’s really no excuse not to learn SEO if you have the time and it needs to be done.

And even if you don’t do SEO yourself, it’s still a valuable subject to understand, especially when it comes to working with someone else to get your website optimized.

Do SEO Yourself

Yes,  it’s possible to  optimize your own website. The question is how long will it take you to learn SEO, and how much time do you actually have to spend on it? If you are a business owner or in-house marketer,  your schedule is probably already packed.

In order to do SEO yourself, Stephen recommends spending about an hour to an hour and a half per page, per month. So if you own or manage a website of 20 pages or more, you’re talking about more than 20 hours per month of work just to keep it optimized.

Is it worth your time?

In order for your site to reach its full potential, it needs to be optimized. But whether you should do SEO yourself or outsource is ultimately dependent on how much time you have to devote to SEO. It’s possible that your time might be better spent focusing on other aspects of your business or marketing, and hiring someone to take care of the SEO work makes sense. Hey, some people change their own oil – and that’s really cool. But there’s nothing wrong with hiring someone else to do it, either!

Snaps to Stephen

In addition to the AAF seminar, Stephen also hosted a similar seminar for the Black Hills Home Builders Association. We were thrilled to see so many local businesses turn up to learn more about SEO, and a big thank you goes out to all who attended.

Stephen also graciously agreed to spend an entire afternoon letting RSA staff pick his brain for new ideas on maximizing SEO and social media for our clients. Needless to say, we learned a few new things too.

For those of you who attended Stephen’s seminars this week, what did you think? Are you ready to do SEO yourself, or would you rather outsource?

You can do SEO yourself is a post from: RSA Blog

In a brilliant and entertaining blend of traditional advertising and social media, Old Spice simply nails it here.  With a traditional TV spot posted on Youtube, they simply monitored comments on the video, as well as on Facebook and Twitter, and then shot and posted video responses to some of them.

Simply amazing. This has got to be the first time in a long time any advertising, by itself, has made me want to purchase a product!

And they’re still doing it. Prepare to waste your afternoon…

Click here to view the embedded video.

Old Spice Does Something New is a post from: RSA Blog

A while ago I wrote about the idea of being “transparent” or “authentic” in the social web. My theory is that full transparency is actually over-disclosure (and therefore undesirable), and authenticity just means don’t be fake (rather than meaning “show yourself without any sort of filter,” as the word might imply).

This theory applies to social business (use of social media for an organization) as well.

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Transparency in Business

No single person is obligated to tell anyone anything (outside the legal sphere), but good communication demands a certain level of honesty.

For business, depending on the type of organization, you may be obligated to share certain information with employees, shareholders, customers, and the government. The relevant question, however, is where and when to do so.

Much of the information you might communicate to shareholders or employees probably isn’t appropriate for social media. But when communicating with customers, potential customers, and the public at large, reasonably honesty goes a long way.

Some advice:

• Own up to your mistakes, and do it quickly
• Be as quick to acknowledge failure as you are to boast success
• Respond to negative feedback in a constructive way, without giving people the runaround
• Let people know who they are talking to – a person is much more attractive than a brand
• If you post or reblog someone else’s idea or content, give them credit

Authenticity in Business

Authenticity is just as important for business as it is for personal, social activity. If you want real relationships with real people in any arena, a certain level of genuine openness is essential. The difference for business is that authenticity is about the brand, not the people.

We all know what it’s like to see or hear ads that just seem fake, or hear people talk in ways that seem inauthentic (by the way, we’ll help you drive granular methodologies leveraging next-generation applications to integrate leading-edge infomediaries). Our reactions may vary, but I would guess most people recognize this kind of artificiality for what it is, and reject it. No one who talks this way is being authentic.

Some advice:

• Your mode of authenticity will depend on the brand you represent. If your brand is about “quality customer service,” well you better not be treating your customers like an inconvenience
• Likewise if you tell a customer you’ll fix a problem, then fix it – don’t give them the runaround
• Neither should you be telling people you do things you don’t really do. If you sell a product of moderate quality in order to keep to a certain price point, don’t tell people you sell a product of the highest quality
• Don’t lie unless you’re a liar and want to be known as such
• Authenticity doesn’t necessarily mean you have to show the negative side of your organization, but when you’re showing ANY side, make it real
• If you’re ashamed to be authentic in this way, you need to change your business

Growth of social media gives us a new opportunity to expose the real “us” – business or personal – to other people. This is a good thing – it builds trust and long-term relationships.

So if you’re going to embark upon any social communication effort, just get rid of the old business persona of detached, callous, robotic nonsense. Be real.

Social Media and Business: Don’t Be Fake is a post from: RSA Blog

By now you’ve probably heard that RSA is holding a contest this month. It’s ridiculously easy to play and come June 30, you could walk away with $50 in your pocket. Interested? Yeah, we thought so. Read on for all the official rules/details, then head over to our Facebook page to enter.

For years we’ve been playing a little game we like to call Good Ad, Bad Ad. Each month we get together and look through a plethora of fantastic and horrible ads. Some make us laugh, some make us cry, some make us literally spit out our coffee. It’s a great time – and starting today, you can play along.

Just Like us on Facebook, then post a link to an ad or upload a photo/video you find great or terrible – and give us a quick reason why. The winner in each category (good ad/bad ad) at the end of the month will each receive a cool $50.

We know that ‘good’ and ‘bad’ are subjective. That’s why we’re asking you to tell us (briefly please) why it’s good or bad. Want examples? Take a peek.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Heinekin’s Men with Talent: This is a Good Ad. It’s memorable and there’s no question as to what/who the commercial is for. Oh yeah – did we mention it’s hilarious?

Car Dealership Billboard: This is a Bad Ad. Too much copy? Check. Too many fonts? Check. Egregious spelling errors? Check. Contradicting directions? Check!

Fun, right?

Read the rules – then head over to Facebook to post your ad!

• Contest runs from Tuesday, June 1 to Friday, June 25.
• To be eligible to win, you need to Like us on Facebook and submit an ad. Also, you can’t be an immediate family member of any RSA staff (sorry).
• You can enter one ad in each category (Good Ad or Bad Ad) during the duration of the contest.
• Acceptable ads include commercials, print ads, outdoor (photos of billboards, buses, etc) or web banners.
• To enter, post a link to the ad or upload a photo on our Facebook page.
• Each week, RSA staff will choose the best ad and worst ad to move on to the final judging. For the purposes of this contest, entries for the week will be accepted until Friday morning at 8 a.m. MT. After that time, they count toward the following week.
• Contest officially ends at 8 a.m. (MT) on Friday, June 25.
• We’ll announce the winners (one for Good Ad and one for Bad Ad) by June 30. The winner in each category will receive $50.
• No adult content. You know better.

Announcing June’s Good Ad, Bad Ad Contest! is a post from: RSA Blog

What’s better than playing Pacman on Google during the work day? Playing our Facebook contest of course! And guess what, there’s even a prize (a good one, we swear)!

OM NOM NOM NOM

What’s this I hear about a contest?

Throughout the month of June RSA will be hosting an exciting new contest on Facebook. Anyone can enter and anyone can win. Although we can’t tell you all the details right now, stay tuned and watch for the big announcement on June 1.

Like us…or we will hunt you down

Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter to get details on how to participate.

Summer Contest with RSA is a post from: RSA Blog

...since sliced bread.

Q: I get a lot of clients asking me a number of variations of this question: “What’s the Next Big Thing?”

This is good! They’re interested, they’re anxious – they observed the boom of social media and they want to get in on the ground floor of whatever new craze comes along.

A: So here is the answer: it doesn’t matter. The corollary is that no one really knows for sure. Yes, you can speculate all day long – and people have – but the reality is no one knew Twitter was the Next Big Thing until it was.

Well I can tell you the Next Big Thing is data and communication implants, but it’s nothing more than wild speculation. Also, scary.

Among people who are reluctant to get involved in the web, social media, SEM, and mobile marketing, I get the sense they think they’ve already missed the boat, and so they ignore it. They’re waiting around for the Next Big Thing, instead.

Well yeah, you’re missing the boat. But guess what: Das Boot is a ferry – there’s always another chance to hop on and join the party on the other side. Stop waiting around for the Next Big Thing, because if you’re not already involved in This Big Thing, chances are you’ll completely miss the next one.

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Photo courtesy of cogdog

The Next Big Thing is a post from: RSA Blog

Integrated media; balanced marketing

Lost within the maze of our office, sitting in front of his Mac – probably playing video games – is Justin Mather, one of our graphic design veterans.  Last week we bribed him to sit down and spit out a few notes about traditional advertising. Here’s the dirt:

Traditional advertising has been around a long time, much longer than anyone reading this. Today, it still plays a vital role in the success of any business. The technological aspects of marketing are changing fast, but traditional media is still a great way to consistently reach large numbers of potential customers, particularly for local advertisers.

Your logo, brand and image is just as important as it ever was

Keep your collateral materials fresh and updated. For instance, if you are featuring more services or made upgrades to an existing product, you’ll need an updated brochure/rack-card to make existing and future customers aware of this. You must maintain a strong market presence while effectively reaching your intended audience.

Consider this…

It’s true that fewer people are reading actual newspapers (as opposed to online), but fewer is not the same as nobody; and even that depends on your demographic. If you’re trying to reach an older demographic, newspapers work great. Coupons are also a good way to increase traffic. A direct mail piece with a good offer is a wonderful way for you to get more “bang for your buck.” Just make sure to routinely change your offer and the look of your mailer to avoid being overlooked by desensitized consumers.

Even though the possibilities offered by interactive media are compelling, and we’re doing more all the time, advertising in print, outdoor, and direct mail will still have a great impact in any balanced, integrated marketing plan.

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Photo courtesy of aeu04117

Traditional Advertising Is An Oldie But A Goodie is a post from: RSA Blog

Kashi Company...On a mission to keep their branding consistent

Still jealous of our fearless leader’s trip to Florida while we suffered through a mid-spring wintery mess, we cornered Robert into giving us another lesson he took away from the Alliance of Marketing Communications Agencies conference in West Palm Beach.

Takeaway #2: Branding is not just a logo, it’s a means to success

For any new company, success is the ultimate goal – to come out above competitors – but many small businesses often find themselves falling short. One of the biggest mistakes made is failing to understand what a brand is. Establishing a brand is the first crucial step towards true success. Not only is a brand important to the success of your business, it also allows for the opportunity to share what your company is about, who you are and what your business have to offer.

But we already have a logo….that’s not enough?

No it’s not. Your company name and logo represent your brand, yes, but that brand goes much deeper. A brand is the way customers perceive your business and relate to the services offered. A brand also allows your company the opportunity to define a reason for doing business. Finally, a brand proves your effectiveness in marketing to specific audiences through various media outlets.

Before you get the investors lined up and the first product is designed, a clear image of your company brand should be in place. With this, you can easily identify and market towards the correct target audience, attracting the appropriate customer base.

What a clear branding strategy can do for you

“Seven Whole Grains on a Mission.” Chances are, more than half of you already know what brand I’m talking about.

There are multiple factors leading to the success of Kashi Company, but for this staff of 70 people, Kashi is not just a brand – it’s a way of life.

From commercials and cereal boxes to missionary work and recycling practices, Kashi Company is the best example of a company that has consistently remained focused on their goal while building their brand. This focus, dedication and sustainability have followed through to the products produced.

Through successful branding, Kashi has changed the way people view food while remaining true to their goal. Their goal: to provide healthy food through the use of natural ingredients.

A brand and mission that is so strong, it has remained untouched since 1984.

The moral of the story

Having a proper brand with a clear strategy to back it up is not only necessary but is vital to the success of any business.

When a Cool Logo Isn’t Enough is a post from: RSA Blog