Master of Your Own Domain

Recently, in the New York Times, there was an article published about an unfortunate small business owner who invested a large sum of money in a domain name (already taken) that was related to his business, only to see his site traffic drop off dramatically from the domain name he had been using.

I posted a response on the New York Times "You're the Boss" blog. Here's what I said:

As an online and offline marketing consultant, I advise my clients not to become too obsessed with their domain names. Far more important is how you build your brand and plug your website into your brand. And even when your website is your brand, there are always plenty of variations that will work just fine. Let’s face it, the only people who see intrinsic value in domains are re-sellers, squatters and those registrar companies that want you to snatch up those must-have .co’s “while they last.”

When it comes to organic search, what you do on and off page and how fresh you keep your content (blogging) probably carries a lot more way than the domain name (although I’ve seen an advantage for local search, so if he was trying to sell nuts in Newark, Newarknuts.com can have value). And besides, the search term (nuts) was already in the domain name, so that wasn’t even an issue.

Beyond organic search, using social, paid search and plugging into the so-called Web 2.0 dynamic are better places to focus your efforts and resources than going after the rare “four-letter domain name” which, with all due respect to the people quoted in the article, is pretty much nonsense.

All I can say is "buyer beware."

The Brain Power of Words

A recent article in the New York Times discussed how reading words, in this case as it pertains to fiction, actually stimulates areas in the brain in the same way as real-life experiences. In other words, being exposed to descriptive language, and to a lesser extent evocative multi-media, broadens and enriches our lives by exposing us to new and different perspectives.

This got me thinking: this could be the reason why evocative print, direct mail or brand advertising can have, when done well, an extremely powerful, visceral and emotional effect. There's a lot to be said for behavioral targeting (where for instance you target people who are looking in a search engine for the product or services that you offer) demographic profiling (as with direct mail targeting) or self-descriptive profiling (using someone's Facebook profile to anticipate a want or need) to better target who you're sending your message to. But especially in the case of online search or display advertising, you don't have the time or space to really capture someone's imagination or draw a compelling picture that inspires people to think of new possibilities and take action.

Years ago, before the advent of online marketing, I created an innovative direct mail campaign promoting new car loans for a financial services institution. Not only did it describe in evocative detail the visceral pleasure of owning a new car, we created a "new car fragrance" and subtly embedded it in the letterhead. The mailing beat the control that included the same targeting used to identify potential new car buyers by more than 300 percent in response rate. Clearly, the evocative language and the visceral sensory experience did map areas in the brain that inspired recipients to take action.

Keep in mind the power of language when building your brand or any marketing campaign. Check back for the four key questions to ask when building your brand.

Commonsense SEO That Won't Get You Dinged

Recently at South by Southwest (SXSW) Google’s Matt Cutts talked about an upcoming “over-optimization” algorithm adjustment aimed at those who sort of abuse search engine optimization to game the system. This would included stuffing the page repetitively with keywords, link-buying, automated link building and other tactics that go beyond "what a normal person would do."

But you don't necessarily have to worry about wearing a black hat, grey hat, white hat or any hat at all. By following these practical steps, you can achieve strong search engine rankings, stay clear of the new Google adjustments and sleep well at night:

• Make sure your page title, main headline (h1) and the content immediately under that headline contain the keywords for what you want to be found for
• Write deep, authoritative content about your subject matter, content that people may also want to link to
• Have a blog on your site and post frequently on topics that you want to be known for, using the same keywords as your content strategy
• Foster links with companies that you're affiliated with or with like-minded sites
• Build links by posting comments on other peoples blogs related to your targeted topics and include your URL or reference other blogs (with a link to their URL) on your blog.

There are, of course, other things that you can do but these basic steps will get you results while keeping you in Google's good graces. You can read more about what Google said at SXSW here.

All the Mad Men

The title of this post also happens to be the title of a track on one of David Bowie's great, but lesser known albums -- The Man Who Sold the World. Released in 1970, the title track may be familiar to more people because Nirvana covered it on their MTV Unplugged record and show, not long before Kurt Cobain's alleged suicide.

The reason why I bring this up in a marketing blog (besides trying to snag unsuspecting glam and grunge rockers traversing the Internet) is that the song generated in me a feeling of nostalgia and I began to wonder whether the appeal of Mad Men the show was mainly nostalgia-driven (this is admittedly a circuitous route to get back on topic but I guess it works).

There's plenty of nostalgia to be had, from the cool retro style, the historical context familiar to most boomers and the idea of a bar in your office and drinking that begins no later than noon. But I don't think that tells the whole story.

I think we're drawn to the mythical days of Madison Avenue because they remind us of a time when we connected emotionally to brands since buying is often an emotional decision, or at least has a significant emotional component. In these days of dispassionate algorithms or ever more smarmy and sophomoric Super Bowl ads, we long for marketing that generates a feeling, a feeling that can stay with you for years or come back whenever you read that brand name or hear that jingle.

So when you're trying to connect with an audience or build your brand, remember to speak to the values, experience and aspirations of your audience to generate a feeling. Look for a post on the four most important questions you need to ask yourself when building a brand identity and brand voice that people can connect with.

The Email Marketing Myth

If you listen to iContact, Constant Contact, Exact Target and the plethora of other providers who provide online email marketing programs, email marketing is something you absolutely have to do. Like other must-do trends (Groupon is another but more on that in another post) that alone should get your radar up. Email marketing does have it's place, but it's unlikely to be a major driver of new business for many small businesses.

Email marketing has notoriously been a low response/low conversion medium, but that factor is offset by its very low cost, and if you're doing it yourself that cost is the monthly subscription for your service and maybe the cost of the list. Physical mail responds and converts much better (and God bless the PO because they're now offering free tools to help businesses use DM) but of course costs more with printing, mailshop and delivery costs. That's why, as a business mover, email marketing is really a volume game, a low conversion percentage is OK if you're deploying the email to hundreds of thousands of addresses. That puts it out of the realm of most small businesses.

And because of the growing use of this tactic, getting into the inbox is becoming harder and harder. Email inbox placement rates declined to a record low of 76.5% in the second half of 2011 according to Return Path's most recent Global Email Deliverability Benchmark Report. Translated, that means one out of every four emails don't even make it past the spam filters, let alone opened and read.

Does this mean you shouldn't use the email medium at all? No. Email marketing is great for keeping in touch with customers, building loyalty through coupon offers to repeat customers or developing leads that come through your website.

It's just not the next big thing, and that's probably a good thing.

The Social Role

Recently in my Twitter feed I shared a link of this article that discussed the advantages of search marketing versus social. Predictably the article concluded that you should to both, but in my mind it's really not a case of one or the other or even of doing both to cover all of the bases.

In my view search and social really represent two very distinct dynamics. Search marketing reaches people who are looking for something very specific, often to meet an immediate need. Social marketing is where people share experiences, ideas, likes and dislikes, which can help them discover new options or influence a purchase decision. It can also lead them to a need that they didn't initially realize they had -- what we used to call creating need awareness in the old days of sales.

So you really need to operate in both spheres for two entirely different reasons. If you don't have a strong search presence (paid or organic) you'll miss out on all the people who are in the real-time behavior of looking for a solution that you may offer. If you don't have a social presence, you won't have the advantage of people propagating your sales message for you or bolstering your brand credibility with recommendations.

You also won't get the chance to expand interactions with customers. Search tends to have a very direct chain -- users click over, come to your page and they either buy or they don't. Social gives you a chance to have expanded and ongoing conversations with your customer base -- in fact the best social dynamics often expand a sales conversation that was initiated on the website, eventually returning it to the site to close the deal.

Despite what people may tell you, you'd be hard-pressed to find someone who is successful selling purely through social. And although search can have very predictable cost and conversion metrics, it's only one step in building deep and profitable relationships with customers.

So my take on it is that you should engage in both search and social marketing, but for very different reasons.

Search Marketing, Online Marketing and Branding

Well, it looks as if branding has made it's way into the supposedly dispassionate world of search marketing. Check out this article in the New York Times on a very interesting campaign by Google.

Of course, branding in the online world isn't exactly news -- elements of branding have been used particularly in online display advertising and often in conjunction with offline campaigns. Still, search is supposed to be driven predominately by relevancy to the search and position, but this isn't always the whole story.

I manage search marketing (Adwords) programs for several clients and I've seen a significant difference in campaigns where there is a concurrent brand effort going on versus when there is not -- a click-thru and conversion improvement of 20% or more. So although relevancy may still be the most important thing, don't forget to build trust, awareness and credibility through your brand.

Check back for a future post on the four most important questions to ask when building your brand.