Content is King, Usability is Queen. Wanted to make sure this article had a longer life than a Tweet. Very good post from Daniel Waisberg via SearchEngineLand.
Google has just announced a major revision to their AdWords advertising copy rules. You will now be able to use trademarked words in ad copy. Until the change was made, trademarked terms could only be used by owners of said trademark or by permission from the owner of the mark.
Google argues on its blog that barring non-trademark owners from using trademarked words is, in a way, a little silly, pointing to a supermarket ad in a newspaper as an example.
“Imagine opening your Sunday paper and seeing ads from a large supermarket chain that didn’t list actual products for sale; instead, they simply listed the categories of products available — offers like “Buy discount cola” and “Snacks on sale.” The ads wouldn’t be useful since you wouldn’t know what products are actually being offered. For many categories of advertisers, this is the problem they have faced on Google for some time,” the company wrote.
So, let’s boil this down. Sure, if I’m advertising - let’s say Ping golf clubs - I’d like to be able to include other golfing brands in my ad, i.e. Callaway. It’s all about comparing and contrasting. No harm, no foul, right? Not necessarily.
Google is going to run into cries of dissent because advertisers will now be able to buy ads that show up whenever someone searches for the brand of a competitor. Search for Coke, and Pepsi could come up. So what? Well, if you’re not Coke or Pepsi, and have a much smaller marketing budget, you’re going to be pissed off when one of your main competitors (or annoying ankle-biters) comes up in a search for your company. Until Google made the policy switch you were allowed to use competitor’s trademarked names in your list of keywords for each ad, as long as the trademarked name did not appear in the ad. It’s a practice that’s largely frowned upon, but has been employed, but mostly by let’s say “less than couth” marketers.
Why the change in policy now? Is it just the natural evolution of the AdWords product, or is Google in search of new money in light of a slowdown in ad revenue? Your comments are welcomed.
Having worked for a leader in the web content management space (Clickability), the plight of newspapers is a topic near and dear to me. Helping bridge the gap between life and obsolescence is something Clickability is helping major papers ranging from the Philadelphia Inquirer, Minneapolis Star Tribune, to the San Francisco Examiner achieve.
The theme isn’t necessarily a new one, but has been garnering additional attention over the past year, as the economy has tanked and more papers have had to cut staff, editions, or ultimately cease to exist in print form. Price Waterhouse, in cooperation with the World Association of Newspapers, has published this up-to-the-moment report. Click here to download the 56 page pdf.
Recommendations for newspaper companies from the report:
Remember back when Palm Pilots were all the rage? Remember how easy it was to exchange contact information? Have an iPhone? Want that ease again? It’s free. Download at the App Store. I did. Happy bumping! Maybe we’ll bump into each other somewhere.
[note: clicking on image will load itunes]
I’m a long-time customer of Trader Joe’s. If you’ve ever been to a Joe’s, you probably agree; there’s not another grocery chain like it. Great (sometimes eclectic) products and great customer service make just about every shopping trip to Joe’s a pleasant experience.
So last week - coming home from a Joe’s trip- I had website design on the brain. A few days earlier I had talked to a friend that was about to embark on a site overhaul, and we chatted on the “must haves” for the new site. What made Joe’s so successful? Could I adapt their successes to my website design notes idea? Here’s what I’m thinking:
What Trader Joe’s does well:
1) Easy-to-navigate store. All the TJ’s I’ve ever visited have a terrific, intuitive store layout. Aisles are never too high, so you can always find what you need, quickly. Is everything in logical order on your website? Are the menus intuitive? Do the hierarchies make sense? Is the information too dense? Bottom line: can your prospects and customers get in and out quickly - finding everything they need?
2) Easy to use. This is a follow-on to easy-to-navigate. Compare a Trader Joe’s store to a typical big box grocery chain. Which one is easier to use? Are there too many products shoved into an already crowded aisle? Are new check stands opened when the lines get too long? Your website has to be easy to use. Too much clutter and Flash (can’t believe how much Flash is still being used) and you’ll lose visitors.
3) Frequent changes to the offering. Trader Joe’s does a really good job in bringing in new products - it’s one of their charms. Making a new discovery is part of the fun of shopping at Joe’s. Sure, probably 90% of their stock is static, but there’s enough change to keep each visit interesting. How often do you make content updates to your site? Search bots (not to mention human visitors) love updates. Refresh content on your site - not drastic changes - Google measures content changes to determine how fresh or how stale a web page is. Note, Google tries to distinguish between real and superfluous content changes. Keep your site fresh and real!
4) Demos. Trader Joe’s offers product samples every day. In fact, each store has a dedicated bar area just for sampling. Not every technology site can have a demo or trial offer, but at a minimum, use a walk-through, recorded webinar,or podcast as an offer.
5) Customer Service. I consider customer service at Trader Joe’s as good as Nordstrom’s. There’s no hyperbole here either. Customer service at Joe’s is fantastic. Maybe it’s the workforce’s attire: t-shirts, Hawaiian shirts, jeans (I’d be happy with that uniform) that make everyone a shiny, happy person. Or maybe the managers have a certain personality they’re looking for, but these grocery store employees are usually very helpful, and go out of their way to make your shopping experience enjoyable. As for your website - can a prospective customer or customer find an FAQ list easily? Does the FAQ make sense? Are the most important questions answered there, or was the list a check-off on a long laundry list of must-haves back when you were designing the site? If you have a search engine function, does it work correctly? How many times have you been to a site where a query on the most basic of terms, yields a horrendous and dated response?
Lastly, if information can’t be found on the site, how easily can someone contact a support or sales rep? Do you promise an answer within 24 hours? Is someone manning the phones?
I’m sure there are other lessons your site can learn from Trader Joe’s that I’ve missed. Please comment them.
Ladies and Gentlemen, we have liftoff.
Welcome to Build Brand, Drive Sales…my blog.
What? Why? How? After weeks, months, well - years - of not blogging, I’ve decided to bite the bullet and start posting my thoughts, marketing tips and tricks, and ruminations on the world of marketing.
Why the name? Well I think building brand and driving sales is what marketers “do” in the purest of definitions. Whether you’re advertising, putting on an event, optimizing a site for search, running PR, tweeting, or demand generation - the end game is to build your brand and drive sales of said brand.
My goal of this blog is to provide timely, interesting, and ultimately actionable information for people interested in all facets of professional marketing. You may be thinking, “great, another marketing blog. What’s he got to offer that Seth Godin or Guy Kawasaki hasn’t already said?” You’re just going to have to tune in to find out.
-Serge Rubinstein
Marketer
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