Technology Marketing by Tatum MarketingJust another WordPress weblog

It’s been a while since I wrote about trade shows as a market tactic, so you might be interested in reading an article I recently wrote for Sales and Marketing Management magazine. Read more about it here: Escaping the Money Pit.

Lately I’ve been looking at many technology pay-per-click campaigns – both as part of our PPC Management service and our Marketing Coaching program. Here’s one of the first recommendations I almost always find myself making:

Take a closer look at your ad groups – you probably need to reorganize them.

Ad Groups, for those of you who don’t know, is the way Google lets you cluster similar keyword phrases to separate them from non-similar keyword phrases. They’re called “ad groups” because the same ads are used for each keyword phrase in the group. Other major search engines let you do the same thing.

If you don’t know too much about how pay-per-click advertising works, it makes sense to cluster keywords phrases according to the main category word(s) used.

For example, in our marketing business it makes sense to arrange keywords in groups according to topic such as websites, pay per click advertising, search engine optimization, technology marketing and so on.

A software company with a contract management product would likely arrange keywords in groups such as contract management, business proposals, supplier management, etc.

This is a reasonable place to start. But it’s not enough because it doesn’t take into account where the searcher is in the buying process and this has a huge affect on what specifically the searcher is looking for, which in turn affects what kind of ad and landing page will appeal to him or her.

Let’s go back to my Tatum Marketing example. An ad group called “PPC” could include a wide range of keyword phrases from just plain “ppc” to “ppc consultant” to “how do I manage my PPC program”. If I want to reach people searching on each of these keywords I can’t reasonably do it with the same ad.

Why?

Because the person searching for “ppc” is very early in the buying process – if he or she is even a prospect at all. This person is probably looking for a definition. He or she is not going to be interested in clicking on an ad about PPC management services. (Note: it’s unlikely that I would include such a broad term as “ppc” in our pay per click campaign. I’m just using it here as an example).

The person who searches for “ppc consultant”, on the other hand, might very well be interested in finding out about our PPC Management Services. And the person who types in “how do I manage my PPC program” has made it clear that he or she is a do-it-yourselfer and would probably be more interested in a PPC management product.

This is another example of the importance of understanding the intent of the click, which I wrote about a couple of months ago.

A successful PPC ad program requires that you make your keyword groupings more granular than most technology marketers (even PPC agencies) seem to understand. Keep dividing your ad groups until you have shorter lists of tightly related keyword phrases, offer ads and landing pages geared to the people searching for these phrases, and you’ll see your ppc results soar.

Technorati Tags: pay per click, keywords, search marketing, technology marketing

We talk a lot about how critical it is for technology marketers to be highly visible online. But is there a difference in being visible to people who know you and people who don’t?

The answer is “yes” – mostly because these people use different search terms to find you.
Your clients and others who know you are very specific with their keywords. They are the ones who search for your company name, your product name and maybe a very specific product description. They know what they’re looking for; they just need a little help getting to your website.

Prospects on the other hand use broader terms because they don’t know about you yet. They use keyword phrases that tend to describe a category or a problem.

To give you an example, in our business, clients and people who know us – or know of us — tend to use search terms like “Tatum Marketing” and “Susan Pascal Tatum”. Those who haven’t met us yet are more likely to find us by searching on “software website design” or “pay per click” or “technology marketing consultant”.

Why should you care about this?

For one thing, the use of these different types of keywords gives you a clear sign of where the visitor is in the buying process and therefore a good idea of what kind of information they’re looking for.  At minimum, you should be organizing these keywords into separate ad groups in your pay-per-click advertising program.

But Avinash Kaushik, author of “Web Analytics – An Hour a Day”, frequent speaker and analytics evangelist for Google, takes it one step further. In a recently posted article on his blog, Occam’s Razor, Kaushik proposes that brand-type keywords are best used for search engine optimization (SEO) while category keywords are the best place to focus your paid search dollars.

Actually, I’m over-simplifying a little. Kaushik writes in detail (2200+ words) about the “head” and “long tail” of your keyword phrases. Since most of you don’t have time to read a 2200+ word document I’ll summarize it for you here.
Kaushik defines the “long tail” and its application to search marketing as “lots of key phrases [that] individually account for little traffic by themselves but collectively all those key phrases often could account for a huge amount of traffic”.

He suggests that you plot the keywords people are using to find your website. (This information is generally easily found in your web analytics report.) You’ll find that a small number of keywords – usually around 10 – account for most of your visits. This is the “head” of your keywords list and a great place to focus SEO efforts.

The rest of the keywords provide visitors in much smaller numbers and these form the “long tail” of your keywords.

If you’re like most technology marketers, you’ll find that your “head” consists mostly of brand-type keywords – the ones your customers use to find you. And your “long tail” is made up mostly of category words – the ones your prospects use to find you. This is the best place to focus your PPC dollars.

Makes sense to me. How about you?

Technorati Tags: keywords, pay per click, ppc, technology marketing, web analytics

Do some aspects of a pay-per-click ad drive more clicks than others?

A recent Business-to-Business Search survey from Enquiro Research shows that yes, some parts of a pay per click ad are more “important” than others for generating clicks from technical buyers. I think it’s more accurate to say that certain aspects of your ad come into play before the others.

We’re talking about business technology marketing here, but this information holds true for any kind of pay per click advertiser.

The first factor is ranking. This is the order in which pay per click ads are listed. It determines whether or not your ad gets seen and by how many people. Although it isn’t necessary to be in the number one spot, you’ll get much better response by being ranked in the top six. If you don’t achieve ranking on the first page (generally 8 to 10 ads), far fewer people will see your ad so none of the other factors matter.

The second factor is relevance. Does the ad provide what the searcher is looking for? If I’m researching a learning management system for my company and you’re marketing an online university, you’re not really relevant to me. I’m not going to click on your ad no matter how great your headline is. (But, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing since I’m not in the market for your product anyway.)

Next in line are the specific parts of your ad. First is the headline. Headlines on Google Adwords ads are in larger, blue, underlined type and any words in the headline that match a keyword used by the searcher will be bold. Searchers tend to scan the headlines looking for words that exactly match what they’re looking for.

If the headline passes the searcher’s relevance test, he’ll pay attention to the two lines of description. And if he’s still interested, then he’ll look at the display URL – which is generally the company or product name.

Some searchers are looking for specific brands, and in these cases the ad’s display URL takes on more importance than the ad text itself. Of course, this makes a difference only if your brand is well-known. Most new and smaller pay per click advertisers don’t have this luxury.

To summarize, here’re the factors in order of “importance”.

1. Ranking (or placement)
2. Relevance
3. Headline
4. Body text
5. Display URL

I emphasize the word “importance” because really all of these factors are important and well worth testing. Fortunately, that’s easy to do.

Technorati Tags: ppc, pay per click, search, advertising

Pay per Click advertising (PPC) makes it dangerously simple to waste a lot of money. I see it happening all the time. We could blame it on Google Adwords – which makes it deceptively easy to set up a PPC campaign and leads advertisers to believe that the whole thing is a cake walk. But, even many so-called pay per click pros are taking a very lazy approach to campaign management.

Effective PPC campaign management is time consuming – especially if you’re managing your own campaign. But lazy campaign management means money is being burned – your money.

Here then are the 6 most common ways to waste money with pay per click advertising. These are in no particular order.

6 Best Ways to Waste Money with Pay per Click Advertising.

1. Buy only a few, very broad keywords. There are two things wrong with this approach. The broader and more generic the keyword, the more diverse competition you will have and the less effective your ad will be. Also, searchers use an amazing number of different keyword phrases to find the same thing. They will also vary their keywords according to where they are in the buying process. You need to think of all the phrases your prospects might use to find a product like yours. This goes beyond simple keyword phrases such as “purchasing automation” or “software development”.
2. Run one ad at a time. Seemingly minor changes in a pay per click ad can make a significant difference in click-through rates. Search advertising networks such as Google Adwords make it a no-brainer to test ads against each other. This is the only way to know what works best.
3. Send click-through traffic to your homepage. Getting people to click on your ad is ultimately useless if you can’t get them to take whatever action you want them to take. An effective homepage has many jobs to perform and therefore can’t be perfectly optimized to convert your click-through traffic. Instead of sending click-through traffic to your homepage, send it a specialized landing page.
4. Set up one landing page and let it run. Just as with pay per click ads, it’s often easy to test different versions of a landing page to find out which one produces the most conversions. There is no way to know which landing page is most effective unless you test.
5. Put all of your keywords in a single category and show every searcher the same ads. One of the most important requirements to get searchers to click on your ad is relevance. Your ad must match what the searcher is looking for. The person who searches on “project management software” and the person who searches on “task management software” may ultimately buy the same application; but at the time of the search, they are in two very different frames of mind. By organizing your keywords into separate categories you can deliver ads that are relevant to each.
6. Let your campaign run on autopilot. Search advertising is very dynamic – other advertisers change their strategies; new competitors come and go; your prospects change their search habits. You have to stay on top of this. An effective pay per click campaign manager will monitor click-through and conversion rates and will consistently update your keyword list.

These are the money-wasting mistakes I see over and over again. What about you? If you have a favorite mistake, let us all know by posting a comment.

Technorati Tags: pay per click, ppc, traffic, conversion, technology marketing

If you’re focusing all your technology marketing efforts on reaching out to new prospects and not worrying too much about how visible you are to anyone looking for you, stop right now! The ease with which your prospects can find you is critical.

Today’s business technology buyers are very proactive about seeking a solution. In asking hundreds of business executives how they chose a new vendor or technology, MarketingSherpa found that a whopping 80% of decision makers believe that they found the vendor. Only 20% said the vendor found them.

This means that putting yourself in a position where you are easy to find is becoming more important than (dare I say it) email blasts, traditional ad campaigns and direct mail programs.

Think of it this way. As MarketingSherpa says “Instead of hunting down new prospects, you are the prey they are hunting”. So, put on a big orange vest, wave your arms around and make sure they can see you in the jungle of competition and other distractions.

But seriously, how do you do that?

1. Start with the search engines. That’s where your prospects – around 65% of them – start. Identify your best key words and do what you can to rank high when someone searches for those key words. (I realize this is far easier said than done and we’ll go into the “hows” of it in another post.)
2. Create value-packed white papers and syndicate them on sites where your prospects go to research new products.
3. Become a thought-leader. Write and place articles on websites, in newsletters and in publications your target market reads. Launch a blog. Participate in roundtables and speak at trade events.
4. Win some awards.
5. Do everything necessary to make sure your current clients are thrilled with you and your product. Create a formal referral program to help them get the word out about you.

Am I saying that you can stop actively seeking new prospects? Heck, no. Twenty percent of your prospects will buy from a vendor who found them. And those might easily be your most profitable opportunities.

Technorati Tags: target marketing, technology marketing, awareness, visibility