August 28, 2006
#1 SherpaBlog: Why You *Must* Track Delayed Search Impact -- Real-Life Story
I've seen a 180-degree change in marketers' attitudes toward
search marketing in the past 12 months. Last year, marketers we
spoke to in nearly every industry were busy expanding their
search campaigns from hundreds to thousands and even tens of
thousands of keyterms. The long tail was very much in fashion.
However, as 2006 has worn on, I'm more often hearing a new
refrain. In part driven by excesses of 2005 as well as rising
click costs, many marketers now tell me their revised SEM focus
is about tightening focus.
If you're cutting your search budget to target only keywords with
immediately obvious ROI (i.e. where clicks convert on the first
visit), first consider this real-life story that Michael DeHaven,
Ecommerce Marketing Manager at CareerBuilder.com, told me:
"We were beginning to cut the majority of our paid search budget,
because we were struggling to get any ROI at all. Too many
employers who clicked didn't buy on their first visit."
But, before the final SEM budget decision was made, DeHaven asked
the tech team to create a new longer-term tracking system that
combined multiple databases -- initial search tracking cookies,
ecommerce activities, the site's registered user database and the
business development and call center's CRM systems.
Measured results were beyond dramatic.
"For one paid search team, there was maybe $10K in immediate
revenues. When we evaluated it after 15 days, it was $120K. When
we looked at the delayed impact 30 days out, there was about $1.2
million. Going further out to 45 days, it was over $3 million. It
blew me away when I saw this."
That one revelation not only changed CareerBuilder.com's SEM
plans, but it also propelled the marketing team to revamp the
home page and email tactics they had in place to convert those
delaying employers. Look below for Sherpa exclusive Case Studies
on both of these revamp projects.
I hope you find this data as inspirational as I do.
BTW: Do you have interesting stats of your own tests to share
with the Sherpa community? We're accepting posted comments on
*all* MarketingSherpa stories and Case Studies now at our site so
that you can share your know-how with the community. Just click
on the "Post a Comment" link on any story.
To comment on this blog in particular, here's the link:
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article.php?ident=29684
(Note: Marketing vendors and consultants, please don't be self-
promotional in your postings. Thanks.)
Anne Holland, President
Feedback(at)marketingSherpa(dot)com
MarketingSherpa, Inc
P.S. As always, our Case Studies and articles are open access for
about 10 days. Then they go into SherpaLibrary where you can
research for a small fee. The links always remain the same.
CASE STUDIES
#2. B-to-B Home Page Design Tests to Turn More Clicks Into Accounts
SUMMARY: Does your home page already have pretty good, clean
design? CareerBuilder's home page for employers did. Then, a
newly promoted marketer decided to change it.
Discover his A/B test results (potentially worth millions in
business account revenues). Includes the answer to the big
design debate -- text-heavy links vs short copy with
attractive graphics:
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article.php?ident=29681
(Open access until Sept. 2nd)
#3. How to Raise Email Newsletter Clickthroughs by Testing Content Types
SUMMARY: Do you sweat for hours over a hot keyboard trying to
come up with fascinating content for your next email newsletter,
only to wind up with slim clickthroughs?
Get inspiration from this story of a marketing team who
experimented with topics and headlines until they grew story
clicks from 1.5% to as high as 14%. Yes, includes samples:
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article.php?ident=29682
(Open access until Sept. 4th)
#4. How to Measure Search Campaign ROI -- 4 Stunning Lessons Learned From Motorola's New SEM Scoring System
SUMMARY: If you run paid search ads, but actual purchases
happen on a third-party site -- or even offline -- how on
earth can you measure campaign success?
For a new phone launch this spring, Motorola's team
invented a predictive scoring system to determine which
search ads really work ... and which just get a lot of
worthless clicks.
Includes four results that may surprise you:
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article.php?ident=29680
(Open access until Sept. 2nd)
PRACTICAL KNOW-HOW
#5. Special Report: MarketingSherpa's Practical Podcasting Guide for Marketers
SUMMARY: Podcasting is about to celebrate its second
birthday and we don't know of a marketer out there who
isn't at least mulling over the possibilities.
Here's our handy guide, including:
-> Surprising data on listener demographics
-> 3 Mistakes to avoid
-> 5 Rules for podcast content
-> 4 Tips to create commercials that get results
Plus, loads of handy hotlinks for vendors, blogs and info:
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article.php?ident=29679
(Open access until Sept. 1st)
#6. Fame Briefs: Three New Awards for Women, Tech Innovators & Transgender Ads
Here's a quick listing of the latest marketing, ad and PR
awards you can nominate yourself for.
http://www.MarketingSherpa.com/sample.cfm?contentID=2632
(Open access = permanent)
#7. Help Wanteds: 63 New Jobs & 2 Seekers Available
The past week's new posts including jobs at AmEx, NBA, Gap
and Amazon.com. Plus, learn how to post your own opening.
(Complimentary service).
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/sample.cfm?contentID=2522
(Open access = permanent)
#8. New Book Offer: 'The Powerful Process for Discovering What Your Customer Really Wants'
Ever wonder what the key is to marketing products to customers?
Paul Cherry has. In his second book, 'The Powerful Process for
Discovering What Your Customer Really Wants,' he does the dirty
work for us to figure out the answer. Because he is an educator
(he teaches more than 3,000 professionals a year in his training
organization), the book is not only informative, but also easy
to read.
Through illustrations of examples, sample questions and
exercises, Cherry shows how to connect with customers. It is
precisely this focus on real-life situations and not on
hypothetical instances that makes this book worthy of marketers'
attention.
Cherry demonstrates how to be a superior listener by selecting
certain key words from customers' language and using them to
generate further discussion. This way, a vendor can ask questions
that a customer can relate to; they are based on the customer's
own concerns. Samples of different question types, such as
"vision questions" and "pay-off questions," exemplify this
practice.
The most important element of Cherry's approach is the emphasis
on creating an emotional connection between customer and vendor.
Since sentiment is a major motivating factor that vendors should
be adept at focusing on feeling without causing the customer to
experience discomfort. He elaborates more on this tricky
situation in his technique of the "lock-on question."
Cherry donated five copies for Sherpa to give away. Toss your
name into the hat here to try for one.
http://sherpa.bookoffer.sgizmo.com
(Ends 09/03/06)
+ Last week's book offer:
These five lucky marketers will get their own copies of 'Tricks
of the Podcasting Master':
- Roberto Atienza, IBM, Hong Kong
- Sarah Farebrother, Gazette Communications, Cedar Rapids, IA
- Alicia McBride, Friends Committee on National Legislation, Washington, DC
- Stefanie Scott, AchieveGlobal, Tampa, FL
- Craig Schwartz, Abacus, San Diego, CA
P.S. Did a friend send you this? Go Here for your own copy - it's award-winning, useful, and complimentary.
P.P.S. Got questions, comments, or ideas for editorial?
Email Editorial Director Tad Clarke at TadC(at)marketingsherpa(dot)com
or call Customer Service at (877) 895-1717 -- thanks!
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