Search is the Objective

Search is currently a line item on a plan. It is assumed to be a list of keywords that are bought on Google and Yahoo. Therefore, the logic goes, that because Fathom equals Search, we therefore must equal keyword buys on Google and Yahoo. Wrong.

Fathom is a search marketing company. But is search marketing buying keywords? No way! Search is the objective, not the tactic. Whenever we approach a search campaign, we must put on the shoes of the consumer - our client's target audience. What problems are they seeking to solve? How can our client's products and services help the consumer solve problems? What resources do consumers trust for their information? Where are they searching beyond the search engines? Can we get placement on these locations for free or do we need to pay or can we do both?

Take the act of buying a CD. This example is used over and over to cite how the web brings to bear a simple process for consumers to make an impulse purchase. I agree that the web simplifies the purchase process, but how much of an impulse purchase is it? Put your consumer shoes on and think about what goes into making that decision to purchase.

• Was it a friend's recommendation?


• Did you see the band on Saturday Night Live?


• Was it a recommendation on Last.fm?


• Are you going to buy a CD or an itunes? Single or the whole album?


• Did you read a review on Billboard.com or see the band on the cover of the magazine?


• Was the music featured on the OC series finale?


• Was the lead singer featured on the Smoking Gun for some lewd conduct?


• Did the band win a grammy?


• Was the singer a rags to riches American Idol or Rockstar?

Think about - does a search start with a search engine? Not at all. So why does so-called search marketing start and end with search engines? The consumer does not think in so linear a way, so why should we?

What is Process?

Many businesses speak of Process reverently and often declare the need for more of it, but why, when we try to implement it, does it always appear to be so elusive?

A series of steps that can be completed in succession and lead to one specific, measurable outcome is the typical definition of Process. The problem we have is that this definition is largely based on principles developed in manufacturing businesses, not services businesses. Where we struggle is when in a Marketing Services company, we try to work in the same linear fashion as an assembly line.

Because a services business is not producing one tangible widget, it is very difficult to assemble a linear, repeatable process. So, what is Process in a services business? Here is my attempt at defining it:

"The logical, repeatable and renewable succession of defined deliverables."

Here is what I believe is required to build this vision of Services process. These are in order based on dependency - meaning that I believe that each of the following needs to developed in succession and that skipping / leapfrogging any one will render the overall process inoperable.

1. Common Vocabulary: Without a common vocabulary, a discussion using the same words can often have different meaning to each participant. This common vocabulary is the foundation of institutional success because it breeds alignment in language and culture which are the building blocks to any successful service.


2. Defined Scope of Work (SOW): The scope of work for each engagement details the deliverables required to meet contractual obligations. Over time, SOWs begin to look very similar as a foundation for process is created through 1st: disparate hypotheses, 2nd: proven best practices and finally: institutionalizing standards.


3. Defined Roles: Defines owners of specified deliverables


4. Defined Responsibilities: To define specific outcomes that Owners are accountable for


5. Defined Procedures: Defines how each responsibility is to be completed. Procedures are developed using, once again, the same process that SOWs evolve: 1st through disparate hypotheses, 2nd through proven best practices and finally, institutionalizing standards


6. Workflow: The last piece, but often the first people try to tackle, is the logical assembly of these disparate parts into a unified workflow. I believe, the best way to approach this is to sequence deliverables once each of the preceding five items are defined.

Chasing the Holy Grail

AUTO-OPTIMIZATION is a BIG FAT MYTH that advertising people and marketers keep wasting time chasing as the holy grail of marketing. Process automation is where the true efficiencies lie in the next 10 years. Here is why I disregard, as fluff, claims of Auto Optimization:

I truly believe that marketing is becoming more and more data driven BUT what really is marketing optimization? Think of the printing press as an analogy. While a printing press automated the process for printing newspapers, magazines and books, it did not automate the creation of content. Time Magazine, The New York Times, The World is Flat all required people to stop and think before they created and then they needed to stop and think before they revised.

What is advertising? The creation and distribution of content that entices a potential customer to try or buy your product. Data, automation, and analytics can be employed to make smarter decisions using less resources, but at some point someone needs to create a campaign. For advertisers, can they really automate marketing? Search ads? Email? Landing pages? Promotional tie ins? Call center scripts? Direct mail pieces? Not a chance. But you can automate the collection of all disparate information and provide a robust toolset to evaluate, analyze and make smart decisions about what messages and processes worked best – Fathom’s toolset… but also Google’s too (and Omniture, Coremetrics, and a slew of others).

By its very nature, you cannot auto-optimize marketing to achieve superior results over the long term. You can only auto-optimize to capitalize on short-term market discrepancies. Marketing is about sticking out in a crowded marketplace of options. If all marketers’ campaigns are automated using the same predefined/programmed methodology, then how does one stick out? They do not; like inflation, the richer we all get, the more average we individually are.

This goes back to the idea of advertising as content. You need the right combination of unique content and unique distribution to have a truly differentiated marketing campaign and at this point, without real artificial intelligence and reams of valid data, humans are the best computers to make those decisions – we can make an emotional leap of faith that computers can not.

For example, by now you have probably heard about the 1984 Obama / Hillary ad on YouTube. I bet you could explain to someone the reasoning behind why this ad caught fire and has been viewed 1.9M times in a week while others languish in obscurity, but I bet a computer or data feed could not. That is why Humans are still the reigning killer app in marketing... despite the lack of readily available, great tools.

Meeting Alert: Marin County Plan considers low-income population surge in Tam Junction

3/20 UPDATE: The meeting was a huge success for opponents of the Housing Overlay Designation in Tam Valley. The Tam Community Center was packed to capacity with overflow crowds into the parking lot. One key issue that came up was that people were frustrated about not knowing this plan was in motion. Send them to Marin Modus - links and information are always here! Below is a followup note from Curry Eckelhoff, President of the Tam Valley Improvement Club.

That was a wonderful meeting last night and it was fantastic that so many of you attended! You should be more than excited that Supervisor McGlashan came right out to tell you that he will not support any Housing Overlay Designations in Tam Valley. That is a HUGE step in the right direction! We still have more to accomplish in regards to the CWP and the Tam Planning Area but this is a major development. I believe the presence of you at this meeting really brought this issue to a head. Thank you...

As you know the Planning Commission hearings are going on right now and will be for the next few months. Letters from you are great, at this point, but when the Supervisor's hearings start we really need you to appear to give support to Charles and to the speakers from the different groups. I will be in touch in advance to let you know the dates. I know it is difficult for you to take a day off from work but we really do need you to be there to show the force and support you showed last night. Again---thank you!

---------Original--------
According to the Tam Valley Improvement Club, 'Tamalpais Valley is an unincorporated community of approximately 2,800 households, plus small businesses located in southern Marin County between the cities of Mill Valley and Sausalito.'

In the previously discussed Marin County Plan ('Your Land, Marin County's Plan - 12/12/06), there is a provision that would pave the way for development of low income housing, in Tam Junction and surrounding Tam Valley areas, increasing the population of the area by 1500+. If you live in Mill Valley, Homestead Valley or Tam Valley, there are significant traffic congestion, environment and housing value implications that should be understood before this plan is approved.

There is an informational community meeting for residents, hosted by District 3 Supervisor Charles McGlashan, on Monday 3/19 at the Tam Valley Community Center from 6pm to 8pm. The Marin County Planning Commission will meeting April 9, 2007 at 9:30 am at the Marin County Civic Center, Planning Chambers, Room #328 to dicsuss finalizing the plan.

Maps of Proposed Land Use (PDFs):

• Tam Junction
• West of Laurel Way
• Tennessee Valley / East of Shoreline

UPDATE: Link to the 1992 Tam Valley Plan that the Tam Valley Improvement Club endorses instead of the new Marin Countywide Plan.

What I Read

Every day I read an immense amount of information. Not because I have time, but because I know it is important to understand there is a vibrant, energetic, and creative world beyond Fathom Online. Taking in information from many different sources helps my own creativity in solving challenges each day at work. Here's a sample of what I read (usually before 9am each day). Now that I list it out, it is amazing how much information the web makes available to me each day. 50 to 100 years ago business magnates would brag that they read five newspapers a day to keep up to date... that's nothing now.

Print

• San Francisco Chronicle
• Time Magazine
• Harvard Business Review
• The Economist
  

Web News (via RSS)

• Digg.com
• Reddit.com
• CNN.com
• Washingtonpost.com
• Newsweek.com
• StatePress.com
• Espn.com

Blogs (via RSS)

• John Battelle: BattelleMedia.com
• ValleyWag.com
• TechCrunch.com
• OnStartups.com
• avc.blogs.com
• smallbusinesshub.com
• Bill Simmons
• Mark Cuban: blogmaverick.com
• Dean Baker: prospect.org/deanbaker
• bayesianheresy.blogspot.com
• strangeconomics.blogspot.com

Marketing News (via Email)

• Clickz
• Mediapost Daily
• Search Insider

Now we're getting somewhere: The 100 MPG Car!

The SF Chronicle had a great story in the Sunday Insight section about converting hybrid vehicles to a higher MPG by charging the batteries externally. CalCars is leading the charge to convert standard hybrid cars to 100 MPG efficiency machines. To outfit your Toyota Prius will cost approximately $5,000, according to the Chronicle, which would equate to an MSRP of $27,175. Not a bad price to save the earth, right?

The Prius PHEV appeals to the consumer who either a. cost aside, believes in saving the environment (or reducing reliance on oil - foreign or otherwise), or b. believes gas prices will continue to climb over the cars 10 year life to the point where hybrid cars deliver such savings as to justify the premium cost of the car. As my previous post on efficient cars evaluated, option b is a stretch and therefore, option a is the likely reason to purchase a Prius. The knowledge, and perhaps showmanship, of saving the earth by driving a fuel-efficient car is worth the premium to the average Prius owner.

This begs the questions, "Why do you need to have a high dispoasable income to save the environment?" Understandably, we would have less pollution without any driving at all (which is free), but assuming that the world will not give up driving over night, we need a solution that appeals to people's wallets right out of the gate, not over the long-haul. Prius', at the current price point, are less unobtainable by the poor or young adults (16 - 25yrs) without financial assistance (beyond a standard loan package). However, it is the young and poor, who could drive the environmental movement to a tipping point where green policies are the norm, and non-green policies require the premium. Sure, elites can create a trend, but accessibility is what creates the norm. In this case, accessibility is driven by price with style, not style with a price.

Don't read between the lines to find that I do not support this effort. I wholeheartedly do. What I am uncovering is that there is a clear opportunity in the market for a product that reaches a target market that current wants to be green but does not have the means to be green - this is a big opportunity and someone needs to (will?) seize it.

3/12/07 UPDATE: Other people are talking...

• http://blogsearch.google.com/blogsearch?hl=en&client=news&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=%22efficient+car%22
• http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/03/the_car_the_aut.php
• http://www.autospectator.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=8040