Digital Marketing and Technological Insight

I just read an article on AdAge.com that talks about how Microsoft is going after Google with a new ad campaign and a new search engine called Bing. It seems like every few months there is the next “Google Killer” that promises to revolution search. Remember Cuil? Now the buzz is on Wolfram Alpha. The issue isn’t whether or not Google is the best search engine in regards to relevant results - it comes down to the fact that Google is good enough.

The software giant (Microsoft) is set to launch an $80 million to $100 million campaign for Bing, the search engine it hopes will help it grab a bigger slice of the online ad market. That’s a big campaign — big compared with consumer-product launches ($50 million is considered a sizable budget for a national rollout) and very big when you consider that Google spent about $25 million on all its advertising last year, according to TNS Media Intelligence, with about $11.6 million of that focused on recruiting. Microsoft, by comparison, spent $361 million. Certainly Google has never faced an ad assault of anything like this magnitude.

I love the name Bing for an online brand but hate it for the name of a search engine, how soon before we start seeing ads with “Bing! Your search is done” everywhere? Putting the name aside will Microsoft’s Bing be a better search engine? Possibly. Will the average user actually stop using Google because Bing is better? Probably not. Google is firmly entrenched as being synonymous with searching online and that won’t go away anytime soon. Google has the brand association that can not be bought …as long as people continue to  “Google it”, no other search engine stands a chance.

So what should Microsoft do? They should focus their ad campaign on being #2. Admit defeat, crown Google the king and go after Yahoo’s search share. A “We’re #2″ ad campaign will not only be effective but probably save the company millions. But Microsoft has billions in cash so they will have no problem spending whatever they want  - can’t wait to see all those articles talking about how they spent $100 million and upped their market share only 2%.

BING!

In this world of instant, on-demand, online gratification and 24/7/365 shopping very few things surprise me when it comes to e-commerce. In fact, I have basically come to believe that the almighty dollar is the only thing that matters to any, and every, company doing business online. Is this wrong? No, it isn’t - it is just how it is. However, this is why my whole perspective changed so dramatically this past weekend when I went to the website of a popular camera and video store called B&H Photo and Video. I am sure many of you are familiar with their “super center” in NYC - basically it is THE place for anything related to photo and video equipment. Being in the market for a new digital camera their website was the first place I thought of visiting…when I went their Saturday afternoon I was surprised to see the below message on their homepage:

Knowing how much business B&H does online I was very surprised to see that their website was “down” during such a peak time for shopping. I thought this was odd, but not totally out of the ordinary for an e-commerce site. However, after surfing around their website I came across the following message: “Please note that B&H does not process web orders from Friday evening to Saturday evening.” This message linked to the exact times they will be “down” for the next few weeks. Being “down” for this specific time period rang some bells in my head and I knew it had something to do with the Jewish religion (excuse my ignorance). After digging around I quickly realized that one of the most comprehensive and popular destinations in their category wasn’t taking orders for Shabbat. For the uneducated like me, Shabbat is the 7th day of the Jewish week and a day of rest in Judaism.

This completely blew me away. As you can see from the below screenshot, the option to checkout, no matter how many items you put in your shopping cart, was taken away. I attempted every conceivable way to purchase something on their site and it was impossible. I was certain their would be some sort of delayed ordering process in place…but nothing that I could find. During the Shabbat you could browse their website all you wanted but if you wanted to order something you had to wait.

The amount of money lost during the 24 hour +/- time period of Shabbat  is significant, however it is obvious the owners of the business could care less about the lost revenue and focus more on their core religious beliefs and principals. You have to admire this no matter where you stand when it comes to religion or business. How many e-commerce executives would be able to make this call? Not many.

This is the first time I have seen or heard of this - I would love to hear about any other examples of e-commerce websites having planned “shut downs” for religious or similar reasons.

Recently Google launched a new “options” feature  on their search results page.  After clicking the “Show Options” link a new left navigation opens that allows  the searcher to “slice and dice”  search results into more relevant chunks. Searchers can now focus their results by videos, forums, reviews, time or even a more visual representation.

So what does this mean for search behavior? Not much. How many general web searchers do you think will actually take the time or care to refine their search results? I would guess a tiny fraction of the millions of people who come to Google.com to do a search. Google’s success is based on its simplicity - other search engines have been giving visitors options for years and none of them caught on. People want instant gratification and are used to trusting the results Google puts forth. Why do you think the vast majority of people barely scroll below the fold or click to another search page? Hint: it isn’t because they found the most relevant search result.

From an SEO perspective this doesn’t change anything either. A good SEO strategy should already include Videos, Forums and Product Reviews, so if anything this just reinforces the importance of how SEO goes beyond just on-page optimization and linking.

There are two main questions I hear over and over again when it comes to Twitter…both of which revolve around the same theme of how do “I or we” use it? From a individual  perspective the question becomes more about what the person is looking to gain. From a business perspective things get a bit more complicated but the objective becomes clearer.

I have heard plenty of positive stories and have had my own success using Twitter from a business perspective. Whether for pure traffic generation, customer service, revenue or just general communication - it is clear Twitter is a powerful took every company should be taking advantage of.

Below is a quick list I put together of  ways companies can utilize Twitter (in no particular order).

• Coupon Promotion. Have a coupon or discount code? Why not put it on Twitter and let your fans become your marketers by retweeting and posting. An even better idea is to generate a Twitter exclusive coupon.
• Promote limited time offers. “Only 3 hours left to save an extra 25% off our top products!”
• Online Reputation Management. By using Twitter Search you can monitor mentions of your brand and address any potential issues.
• Customer feedback / reviews.
• Out of stock alerts. Have a hot product that is selling well? Let your followers know there is only a limited quantity left.
• Job recruiting.
• New product alerts
• Shopping advice. Who doesn’t love a good “Here some of our favorite  summer shoes” type links?
• Be the expert. Proactively engage the Twitter audience through Twitter Search. If you are a sock company and someone is asking about socks - answer their question! Not only will you gain a follower you might gain a customer as  well.
• General company news and announcements
• Message testing. Before launching an advertising campaign why not get instant feedback / reaction from your followers first?
• Company fun / random facts.
• Tips and advice related to your companies business.
• Links to new content / blog posts.
• Question & Answer sessions.
• Company stock quotes.
• Market research
• Customer Service
• Promote email
• Promote profiles on other social media services.
• Direct communication from company executives.
• Interesting news and articles not from your company but related to your business.

Should a company take on everything listed above? Of Course not. But, every company who has a Twitter presence should at least be doing a few.

What are some of the other ways companies can use Twitter?

Starting this weekend Google will be running a Chrome commercial using Google TV Ads on various networks. Below is the commercial that will be running…will this actually get people to install and use Chrome over FireFox & Internet Explorer?