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SES Chicago 2007 – Should Kevin Ryan Make a Hammer Video?

During the universal search session, the usefulness of video in regards to boring business items was discussed. Kevin Ryan asserted, “Should I make a video of me hitting myself with a ball peen hammer?”

I’m sitting here in Kitty O’Shea’s in Chicago and Jim Hedger says “Yes, I would pay to see that!”

Greg Jarboe says, “I’d advertise on that video because the video would get a lot of cheap hits.”

What do you think? If enough people agree with Jim, maybe Kevin Ryan will be making his hammer debut on Youtube!

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SES Chicago 2007 – Bryan Eisenberg – Redefining the Customer Conversation

Bryan Eisenberg gave a great talk on the multitude of issues surrounding the challenges of successful customer conversions and conversation.

Marketing (r)Evolutions

Mass advertising on passive customers was what used to work.

People sleep while watching TV, hard to pay attention to advertising when sleeping.

Sleeping while surfing the Internet is not something that happens.

Godaddy.com Super Bowl XL TV commercials didn’t use the same model on the web site. Did Godaddy leave money on the table.

Money is better than traffic.

Apple had to give rebates due to word of mouth on iphone pricing.

Marketers still think customers are dogs.

But search puts the power of when and how in their hands (the sonsumer).

Overcoming sales friction – 85% of car purchases start online – you arrive knowing more than the salesman in many cases. Attack of the blogs – Consumers trust other consumers more than marketers. 54% resist, 56% avoid, 69% block ads – yet we still want to buy.

Customers will control the conversation. People have forgotten how to have relationships.

The web is a major influencer, a mere 26% of consumers were SATISFIED with the experience. They are missing the BASICS. Conversation rates are continuing to fall.

All new brands are based on the experience model. Invest in the customer experience.

We are obsessed with the how many, not the who. This needs to change.

Customers desire great and meaningful experiences.

SCENT, ads must think it has scent to be useful.

80% of traffic dies off within three clicks.

GEICO – connects the story…

Zafu – bras in launch video didn’t match website.

Usability – Frederick Winslow Taylor is the father.

We are all connected and customers will control the conversation. It involves persuasion architecture!!!

Traffic generation is about money. Don’t imitate your competitors. It’s the tiny pieces that matter. Focus on making your service better.

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SES Chicago 2007: Asia, Japan, China, Australia and Eastern acific

Moderator:
Kevin Ryan, Vice President, Global Content Director, Search Engine Strategies and Search Engine Watch
Marketing Speakers:
Motoko Hunt, Founder, Japanese Search Marketing Strategist, AJPR LLC
T.R. Harrington, Director of Strategic Direction & Product Development, Darwin Marketing
Erica Schmidt, Global Director of Search, iProspect (slides where unreadable)

Motoko Hunt, Founder, Japanese Search Marketing Strategist, AJPR LLC

87.5 Million on the Internet
68% penetration
Mobile taking off in Japan, SNS, Blog, Video

Yahoo! allows keyword assist in Japanese.

Searchbox is telling you the words to search online offline.

Challenges of language includes spelling variations, no spaces segmenting word.

Translators don’t know SEO. Keyword research must be redone as the usage rates can be highly variable. Japanese keyword Research is critical.

Shopping, payment options, “Osaifu-keitai”, Points (not coupons) are prevalent.

T.R. Harrington, Director of Strategic Direction & Product Development, Darwin Marketing

Baidu – 68% search traffic in China

The way Baidu displays ads first – you might not see a natural listing on page 1 at all!!!

Ad platform differences – CPC, Budget, # of clicks, content network, campaign report, geo-target, keyword insertion

Paid Search – higher click through rate, faster CPC price increases, relatively few optimization variables

Natural Search – keyword selection methodology, traffic estimation tools in China unreliable (Google says not to use Google analytics there).

China still has low penetration of credit cards and most transactions happen offline and therefore aren’t trackable.

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Illinois Traffic Alert System Launches

I’m going to O’hare airport today to pick someone up, so as usual I check the Chicago area traffic page. I noticed something new in the upper right hand corner that stated IDOT free email alert system is available at http://www.iltrafficalert.com.

What you’ll find on that site is a rather revolutionary tool that allows you to set a custom alert for the expressway of your choice based on traffic speed. If the data is accurate this could be highly useful. Let’s say you normally leave to go somewhere at 6:45AM based on normal traffic. This tool apparently allows you to set up a 6:15AM alert if the road was moving below 20MPH so you could start your trip earlier. Sure this tool could still be more granular in both speed and in picking the exact section of road you want on that expressway but this trend towards a self-service, but a micro-controlled alert is nothing short of revolutionary compared to the traffic radio mass distribution model.

Chicago area commuters can now set up their own alerts here. I’d be interested in hearing about people’s usage stories and potential suggestions in the comment section, perhaps IDOT is listening. 🙂

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Downtown Chicago Marshall Field’s Rally Sunday

200px-Marshall_Field's_logo.svgCHICAGO – You’ve seen me write about the Marshall Field’s name change in the past. I only have one thing to add at this time that should send a chill down your spine:

I’ve learned that certain merchandise that was once carried by Kmart, yes Kmart, is now carried in the landmark Marshall Field’s store that is presently labeled Macy’s.

There will be a rally at noon Sunday to bring back the great name of Marshall Field’s, prior to the NY Gaints game against the Bears in downtown Chicago (60602).

Jim McKay had this to say about the Black Friday Marshall Field’s protest:

How successful was it? Over 8,000 leaflets and over 1,300 buttons were distributed on State Street over the two days. Friday’s distribution exceeded our previous busiest day (Saturday, December 23, 2006) by roughly two-and-a-half times! Part of this was due to an unprecedented number of shoppers on State Street. Another part of this was simply those former Field’s shoppers who came to check out what was happening in the building that used to house their favorite store and were unhappy. They came in droves to get leaflets in buttons. At more than a few times, people stood in line to get leaflets and buttons from us. A couple of times, the lines were 10-12 people wide, although 5-7 people wide was more typical. That’s right–people waiting in line for buttons that say, “Forever Marshall Field’s” and leaflets explaining why it is important to continue boycotting Macy’s until Marshall Field’s is restored in service and quality as well as name. It was quite unprecedented. What’s more, there were those who picked up a leaflet or button or both and then came back minutes for even hours later with other family and friends to get more.

Amazingly, it appears the movement to bring back Marshall Field’s seems to be growing stronger over time in Chicago!200px-Marshall_Field's_logo.svg

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Remember to 301 Redirect If You Own Your Domain Typos

I typed in facebooks.com this morning by accident. Got a dead page. So I looked to see if it was registered and sure enough it was. I’m completely amazed they aren’t 301 redirecting the typos that they own for user experience and other purposes!  

Registrant:
 Facebook, Inc
 156 University Ave, 3rd Floor
 Palo Alto, CA 94301
 US

 Domain name: FACEBOOKS.COM