Microsoft’s new SEM toolkit

I might be Johnny Come Lately on this, but I just downloaded Microsoft’s adCenter Ad Intelligence Plug-in for Excel. This is hands down, the best Keyword research tool I have ever seen. I have used them all: Wordtracker, Overture, Google…oh yeah and my own two hands. But rather than exporting lists, searching for dupes, copying and pasting them into Google’s Traffic Estimator to gauge cost, then compiling and formatting them for your own use within each engine UI but also any client proposals, Microsoft (for the first time that I have experienced) has come to the forefront in SEM research tools with their latest excel plug-in, Ad Intelligence, that outperforms any of its competition. It’s one of many new tools they recently unveiled to assist online marketers make more informed, strategic decisions (http://adlab.msn.com/alltools.aspx).
The search keyword research tool utilizes a simple wizard to allow you to generate not only keyword recommendations based on root phrase, site domain or topic, but it also generates estimated impressions, clicks, avg. position, CTR and Monthly Cost! If that weren’t enough you can also select keywords you’d like search query volume for by geographic area and basic demographics.
The days of researching and launching keywords and messaging without much communication with the client are slowly coming to an end. With more and more client-side marketing personnel familiar with search engine marketing, we have been tasked with presenting our research in a more traditional manner…outlining keywords, their potential ad group designation, target demo’s, spend potential, and more… And finally a tool is in the marketplace to help us accomplish this.

Night On The Town With WWE

So, face it - as an interactive agency, there are some perks that come along every now and then. The latest adventure was a M2I's group outing to fantasy land....Wrestling fantasy land!

Thanks to WWE.com and our online sales rep Stacy (she was the BEST hostess ever) for the opportunity to witness in person one of the top U.S. spectator sports.

You know the saying, you learn something new every day? Well, here's my learnings from the field trip...

1. I got a totally different perspective of wrestling fans. From my observations, I would guess the demo is: Middle America: 18-54, Middle Income, Single Men and Married Couples w/ Children, High Propensity for Brand Loyalty (Am I even close Stacy??)
   
2. Giants DO exist....check out these guys...I am having nightmares that Kane is coming for me and that Batista wants to be my friend
   
3. I knew that I was being drawn-in and wrapped up into the soap opera when I heard myself yelling "Bring It On!" and chanting for the defeat of someone dressed like J.R. Ewing in speedos. Again, the nightmares continue...

Happy Hump Day Everyone!!

Project Update - Where there's a will....

...we will find the way.

So, you may have noticed that the first installment of my project blog at the end of May was not followed by any updates? It's not because the project hasn't been worthy of an update - rather, there was nothing that could be said.. until now.

Now, I can tell you that the project has found its path and once again, we are all marching to the deadline.

After a most successful kick off and the momentum of a very enthusiastic team behind it, the client's direction was reviewed and ultimately, the project was halted and then reset.

After the first week back, we all feel productive again.

Upon the completion of this project, I'll share what we've learned in greater detail - as there are some great lessons for any agency to take away from our experiences with this project to date. For now however, I'm going to kick off the first weekend in many weeks with a beer to go along with our team's rekindled optimism!

Cheers!

My first few weeks here...

This is the fourth week for me here at Mediatwo…I feel that enough time has passed for me to intelligently post a few of my thoughts thus far, so here goes…
In the past month I’ve relocated my family and started a new job. I came from a large agency up in Detroit where I worked on multi-million dollar automotive accounts. A bit of culture shock was certainly expected when I accepted a job at a small agency with accounts a bit smaller than Ford. But I’ll chat more about that in a minute…
My choice in coming to Mediatwo was an easy one. I was invited to come visit MediaTwo in April while I was on the job hunt. I was welcomed by a friendly group of Interactive savvy folks. I got the agency introduction, agency tour and was able to sit and talk with the media group and compare what they did to what I did and see if a match was to be made…
As you can assume by me posting this blog, a match was made and I joined the group. What a smart bunch! And for the culture shock…..everyone here knows what they are doing! The Interactive account folks actually know Interactive! And better than that, they are experts at it! My media peers are hands down some of the most knowledgeable in the industry. The design folks are equally as talented and unique. I love the format…In order to work here, you must know, or be highly motivated and interested in the Interactive biz. The expertise and knowledge that this agency holds is remarkable and priceless. I love how I can engage in a free and open conversation and can almost always count on someone to have feedback on any comment, issue or concern that I have. The productivity that I’ve seen in the past couple weeks has blown me away! When everyone “gets it”, things move faster and much more gets accomplished. At a large agency, I felt like half the job was educating my peers with what I was thinking, feeling, and trying to get accomplished. Here at Mediatwo, that is one step that need not be taken. Things move fast around here, good thing I was ready to swim on day one!
I can see that I will learn tons from my peers here at Mediatwo, and I look forward to teaching them a thing or two from my past experiences back in Motown. The atmosphere here is open and with my hunger to always learn and grow, this seems to be a great fit for me.

Google Ad Planner

There has been a lot of hype around the launch of the Google Ad Planner. Many questions have surfaced; Will it replace ComScore and/or QuantCast? Is Google trying to steal agency business, etc., etc., etc.....

Well, I've gained access to the Beta for Ad Planner and I am here to voice my opinion. First of all, I don't see it replacing anything or anyone - I'm sure most online strategists will agree - the more the merrier. Each tool - @plan, AdRelevance, Hitwise, ComScore, QuantCast, Alexa, QuantCast and Google Ad Planner all have their role to play in a media strategy. A good media strategy takes information from all of these sources into account and looks for the most effective way for the advertiser to achieve their online marketing goals and objectives.

Once the strategy is in place, the media plan itself should be based on data (and a pinch of planner intuition). First there is the publisher data -placements, pricing, creative formats. Next, publisher data needs to be paired with forecast data; either from historical client results, Media Two historical results or planner experience. Once the plan is compiled using the numbers, it is usually clear which pubs have a shot at being successful in meeting the goals.

Most importantly, no online direct response campaign should be left alone, the real work is "after-the-buy ". This is where the best interactive agencies distinguish themselves and where Media Two prides itself. Third party ad serving provides the data, but it takes human experts in interactive to continually optimize the campaign.

So, my opinion, Google Ad Planner is just another tool, use it to compile your research. It will never replace the human factor that is necessary to run a smart online marketing campaigns.

Everybody's Doing It, Why Aren't You?

I have been thinking recently about Media Two Interactive, our current clients and future clients. This reflection involved me asking "What Advertiser Would I Want to Work With", as well as, "Who Do I Think Media Two Can Help" take their business to the next level. It is somewhat the same question, but there is a difference. I was able to put together a solid Top 10 list of companies that I would love to help grow their business online. This list read like the "Hobbies and Interest" section of some online dating site (Interests - Golf, Fitness and Wellness, Technology, Long Walks O... ok, not that). So, if anyone from ClubCorp happens to stumble across this blog, call me! We could do great things in the online space, as two of my passions come together, Online Marketing and Golf.

As for the second question, Who Can Media Two Help? That's simple, any advertiser who is not spending the industry average of 10% of their marketing budget on the Internet. The trends speak for themselves (Online Ad Spending Should Grow 20% in 2008). Online ad spending has already surpassed Radio in the overall marketing mix (Internet to Surpass Radio in 2008), and will soon leap Magazine advertising. The time is now to get onboard.

Maybe you handle your online marketing in-house or maybe your longtime agency handles your "one-off" online initiatives. That's fine, but if you marketing mix doesn't include a 10 - 20% budget allocation to online marketing, then you're a candidate for expanded efforts. With one of our most successful clients, Media Two grew their online budget from less than 1% in 2006 to 49% in Q3 2008. I think that's worth repeating. 49% of the total marketing budget went to online in Q3. So, jump on in, the water feels great!