To target or not to target? Is that even a question?

Online advertising is all about targeting…behaviorally, demographically, geographically (you get the picture). The more ways that marketers can segment their audience, the better; so is there still a need to craft advertisements that appeal to the population at large? Does anyone still broadcast their marketing messages anymore?

Looking to TV outlets for a comparison, there seems to be a struggle between two camps about whether catering to segmented audiences is a wise marketing choice. Take CBS for example. This network has CSI in its arsenal–touted as the most watched TV show across all segments–and is starting to experiment with highly specialized/targeting programming with shows like Swingtown.  The network has a broad reach and is arguably a great route for a marketer to reach a wide consumer base, but today’s Advertising Age article reports that advertisers are shying away from placing ads within Swingtown for fear of being equated with the shows promotion of “unconventional” lifestyles.

From a targeting standpoint, this should be a good thing because the viewing audience is more clearly defined. What if research shows that the consumers of your product are watching this show? Does the general perception matter if you are reaching your target market? I would say that the old adage is false; what is good for the gander is not always good for the goose. Target away advertisers for two reasons: you’ll be more effective and your consumers will appreciate your relevancy.

Why cold call when you can reach someone who is predisposed to receive your message?

Microhoo? How about Facesoft? Or Microhoobook?

The dealings of the Microsoft attempt(s) to purchase Yahoo! are considered old news.  Yahoo! wanted more money, Microsoft said no, and Microsoft eventually pulled its offer (much to the dismay of Yahoo! shareholders everywhere).  Seemed like a sailed ship……apparently not.

Microsoft and Yahoo! are now again in purchase discussions, but this time Microsoft is looking to just purchase Yahoo!’s Search business.  These new dealings are creating a great deal of speculation that Microsoft will purchase Yahoo! Search and then….buy Facebook!

O’ what a twisted WEB they weave.  What would these acquisitions mean for the web world?  Would this actually give Google something to worry about? I would love to hear some thoughts (and some clever new merger names).

Do you need search marketing in a recession?

Bankrate is a great illustration of the good that can come of maintaining budgets for organic and paid search marketing — even in a recession.

As the subprime crisis hit in the third quarter of 2007, Bankrate’s advertisers faced hard times.

Even during that difficult quarter, organic traffic accounted for 75% of Bankrate’s traffic. Meanwhile, paid search brought in 14% of traffic, and partner traffic brought in the remaining 11%.

In the face of the recession, Tom Evans, Bankrate’s CEO, didn’t just maintain his company’s search engine budget — he increased it. And he’s laughing all the way to the bank.

“We believe that organic traffic is less susceptible to competitive market dynamics, and is reflected in driving higher margins to our bottom line,” Evans explained. “Organic traffic continues to grow at double digits …[unique visits] for every single month this year have been higher than the same month last year.”

Furthermore, Evans remarked, “I think the reason we do so well in SEO is we have an enormous amount of content. We have an enormous amount of tools and calculators, and I think we have done a good job from SEO with, we have got literally millions of links into the site and out of the site, and I think that it really helps.”

In other words, rather than gaming the system, Evans recognizes the value of giving searchers — and search engines — lots of great content that naturally attracts incoming links. With its wealth of interactive content, Bankrate is in a great position to continue capturing a superior share of search traffic and qualified leads.

Even in a recession, sites like Bankrate can capture search engine marketing leads at a relatively low cost per acquisition. Realizing this fact is helping Bankrate survive and even thrive during the subprime crisis.

For more about Tom Evans’ take on the value of search engine marketing, visit SearchEngineWatch.

Geary Interactive Named a Top B2B Advertising Agency

Geary Interactive continues to prove it’s ability to provide digital marketing solutions for a wide variety of clients. Geary Interactive was named one of the top b2b agencies by B2B Magazine, and our newly acquired search marketing firm Fathom Online was also named a top search engine marketing vendor.

Why Geary Interactive is Excited About Merging with Fathom Online

With our announcement yesterday about our acquisition of Fathom Online, we at Geary Interactive thought we would share the top five reasons why excited about joining forces.

1. Search engine marketing is growing part of the online marketing mix, and Fathom has industry-leading expertise in this field.

2. Fathom has well-established relationships with all the biggies:  Google, Yahoo! and MSN.  Additionally, they have developed proprietary tools to help track and forecast market trends (Fathom Analytics and Keyword Price Index).

3. With this merger we are undeniably one of the few indepedent, integrated digital advertising agencies.

4.  We now have an full-service office in San Francisco which expands our national reach.

5. Fathom Online is as equally excited as Geary Interactive to capitalize on the projected growth of the interactive industry.

To put it lightly, we are ecstatic about this new partnership, and we cannot wait to move forward and utilize our combined industry know-how to maximize our clients’ campaigns.

Geary Interactive Acquires Fathom Online

Geary Interactive has acquired award-winning Fathom Online, a next-generation search engine marketing and technology services firm. The addition of Fathom strengthens Geary’s existing capabilities and produces one of only a few truly integrated, independent digital agencies. Moreover, Fathom Online advances Geary Interactive’s position in the industry to one of the largest independent agencies in terms of annualized billings.

Launched in 2002 and headquartered in San Francisco, Fathom Online is an acknowledged pioneer in search marketing. The firm’s advanced search engine marketing (SEM) and search engine optimization (SEO) services, as well as its comprehensive digital marketing technology suite, including its Keyword Price Index^® – a modeling tool, and Fathom Analytics – an on-demand marketing intelligence platform, optimize multi-channel, digital media advertising programs to cost-effectively drive business results for B2B, consumer and technology marketers.

“Search engine tactics are the most popular element of a digital marketing campaign. In order to effectively generate search demand and convert customers’ search clicks, the campaign must also include a strong integration with web development, paid and organic digital media planning and data analytics,” said Andreas Roell, president and CEO of Geary Interactive. “The combination of Geary and Fathom Online provides a compelling platform for today’s digital marketing landscape. Together, we offer powerful capabilities and deep relationships with publishers and engines, expanded end-to-end customized marketing solutions, a national presence and extensive industry category experience. Additionally, the combined entity has enhanced growth opportunities and a more diversified customer base, giving us a competitive edge.”

To read more about Geary’s acquisition of Fathom, click here.

The Long and Short of Mobile Video

by Andreas Roell CEO Geary Interactive

For mobile video, the time is now.

Nielsen Mobile reports 2007 saw a 198 percent increase in mobile video revenue, and a 155 percent increase in mobile video subscribers. While impressive, the company also reports that this is only a 3.6 percent share of the entire mobile market. eMarketer projects mobile television subscribers alone will number 462 million by 2012. With better video delivery platforms, faster connections, and flat-rate mobile video plans, are we finally ready for mobile video?

To adequately answer this question, it’s imperative to investigate what’s required for a pleasant mobile video experience.

Mobile devices are everywhere; they’re in pockets and purses across the world. But when a user is experiencing downtime (en route, on-hold, waiting in line) it becomes obvious that cell phones are simply not entertaining. No one ever casually scrolls through their contacts to kill time, or changes their display settings when they have nothing better to do. That’s not entertainment. This downtime is when mobile video can easily fit into peoples’ lives.

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 Article published on March 4 by ClickZ

Optimizing Video Content for Search Engines

By Andreas Roell

Are your videos optimized for search engines? Now that search engines crawl for video content, the same rules that apply to optimizing Web site text now apply to video content. Key words, tags, and content are all a part of the equation that search engines will use to rank your video.

The importance of SEO for video can be summed up in one word: revenue. Most online video advertisements don’t generate direct revenue on their own like pay-per-view, pay-to-own, or subscription video services. Their purpose is to be “propagated across as many services and viewers as possible,” and to do that, videos must be search-engine friendly, according to video search engine Blinkx.

Marketers also need to keep close tabs on how and where their videos are posted. When a video is picked up by an aggregator, the file name, descriptions, tags, and titles should be monitored, and possibly changed, to ensure that every site displaying your video content will drive the most traffic and business to your Web site.

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Article published by ClickZ on February 5, 2008

Indiana Jones finds a Widget

Paramount Pictures is scheduled to release an Indiana Jones widget this week to promote the franchise’s latest installment, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.  According to Reuters, Paramount is counting on the widget to be posted on blogs and social networks to build publicity around their latest movie.

Paramount already released a widget in February to promote the movie, but this time they are upping the ante and integrating a contest into their widget campaign.  The two fans who distribute the widget with the most people wins a trip to the movie’s world premiere.

The Reuter’s article points out that Hollywood is all about generating buzz.  Since this is undoubtedly true, we will more than likely see Hollywood continuing to employ emerging Internet trends to promote their movies.

Geary Interactive’s Andreas Roell on FOX6 news

Andreas Roell was interviewed on FOX 6 News regarding the impact of viral marketing in this year’s presidential race.  Two videos produced by the Black Eye Peas about John McCain and Barack Obama are discussed.  Click here to watch the video.