This Thursday, hundreds of marketing communications professionals will gather in person for "Authentic Communications 2008: Beyond Web 2.0, What's Next?" The day-long conference will feature technologists, PR professionals and online marketing gurus, each with a different take on how best to deliver authentic communications in today's world of consumer-generated media, employee blogs and Facebook pages. In a prep call for my panel, I realized how fruitful the conversation could be when extended beyond the search and social media clique.
AKQA, a digital-marketing agency, has announced the launch of a new business unit called AKQA Search. "We've always done search, but as a digitally focused agency, we really want to make sure we have all the assets and technologies that make us as effective as possible," said Scott Symonds, executive media director at AKQA.
Over the past year, some Internet marÂketers have noticed that the Web, once a global network to connect people around the world, is now subject to the regional decisions of ISPs, governments and search engines, which engage in "filtering" or censorship of content. For the online marketer, this means that dollars spent on international SEO, social media, display and e-mail campaigns and so on may be futile if a government or corporation chooses to stand in the way.
BrandBuzz director of integrated media Kenneth Nippes worked with Town Sports International to push a new online trial gym membership offer. The campaign saw success by using search engine marketing.
Google released its first quarter results for 2008 last week, citing revenues of $5.19 billion, a year-over-year increase of 42% and a 7% increase from the previous quarter. "We're obviously pleased with another strong quarter," said Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, in a conference call on April 17.
Although search marketing spend increased significantly over the past year, there may be a slow-down ahead, according to a report from SearchIgnite, a search management software company. Year-over-year, in the first quarter, search marketing spend increased across all three major search engines by 28.5%, according to the report.
Think back to the last time you grilled steaks. Did you make an effort to cook those T-bones to the liking of each of your guests? Of course you did. Good hosts always make an effort to know the preferences of their invited guests and strive to meet their expectations. Suzy likes her steak medium rare; Joe only eats his charred. No hoofed meat for Amy, but finned is ok.
The DMNews Essential Guide to Search Engine Marketing
In 2006, WebVisible hired Nielsen//NetRatings for a benchmark survey examining Internet consumers' use of search engines to find local businesses, particularly those in the service industry, such as dentists, plumbers and carpet cleaners.
