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Anova Group is distinguished as a Google Certified Partner

admin — Wed, 26 May 2010 17:13:44 +0000

Google has notified us that Anova Group is now a Google Certified Partner. Anova Group is pleased to join this very select group of companies recognized as a Google Certified Partner. At the time of writing this post, Anova Group is one of only 2 companies in the Charlotte, NC area and one of only 5 companies in the Chicago, IL area Google certified.

For search marketing professionals, the Google Partner Certification is comparable to passing the bar exam for lawyers. The Certified Google Partner and the lawyer have both studied their craft for years and confirmed their technical expertise by passing a set of rigorous final tests. The professional similarity does not stop there though. Once certified both professionals offer a wide range of fee structures to their clients. Some professionals provide services on an hourly basis, some on a retainer, while a select few provide services on a performance basis (e.g. percentage of settlement or percentage of revenue growth).

Anova Group differentiates ourselves from other digital marketing agencies (whether they are a Google Certified Partner or not) by ensuring that our compensation is aligned with our clients’ interests. We accomplish this by structuring our engagements so that on average, 75% of all our compensation comes from performance-based fees. This model let’s our clients know that Anova Group will always go the extra mile to improve our customers’ bottom line results. Furthermore, our clients know that we have the confidence to put our fees at risk and are not expecting our clients to assume all the risks associated with digital marketing.

If you would like a digital marketing partner whose interests are aligned with your business goals, we would welcome the opportunity to speak with you.

Agile Digital Marketing. Are you ready to act and react?

Higgins — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 02:32:31 +0000

I recently read a post about the cultural changes a company needs to make before engaging their customers on social media platforms. The emphasis was on the organization’s readiness to have their dirty laundry exposed and their willingness to implement cleaning strategies to mitigate negative buzz. I found this to be insightful, because many companies do not recognize how much organizational change management is involved in today’s digital marketing environment.

I thought of clients we are working with and the transformations they are making. Many of our larger clients are simply not equiped from either an organization perspective or from a process perspective to react at the competitive speed of digital marketing. At Anova Group, we describe this capability as Agile Digital Marketing. For companies to be truly successful, not only in social media, but also in search, they can no longer take extended deliberate steps to craft their message. They must empower their marketers with key talking points and messages to act and react real-time in the digital space. This means not only responding immediately in social media with the company message, but also creating real-time content around current events to tie their message in a search engine friendly way. For example, if you are a financial investment firm, you should have posted information on how your firm views the current European monetary crisis.

Bay Bridge Construction

In one great example of a company demonstrating agile digital marketing, a news article described how a brand of dishwashing liquid was used as a lubricant when the repairs were made to the Bay Bridge last winter. Needless to say, this news story generated a lot of searches. One savvy competitor brand took advantage and put their brand message front and center by immediately launching new SEM campaigns on relevant keywords. This real-time reaction to a current event allowed them to gain a competitive advantage.

Contact Anova Group if you would like information on how we help our clients maximize their digital marketing investment through Just In Time Digital Marketing.

Wireless Speakers or Celebrity Speakers?

Higgins — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 20:40:46 +0000

Recently, a retailer was seeking to sell very high-end (>$1500) wireless speakers that were highly integrated with Apple’s iPod™. In developing a product’s marketing strategy, we conducted competitive research starting with some basic Google searches. Unsurprisingly, the Paid Search results included the manufacturer, Apple and a number of high-end electronic retailers.

However, the 3rd Paid Search advertisement was a firm specializing in providing speaking engagements involving celebrities even though our searches contained the manufacturer and the word ‘Wireless’. Many marketing professionals would simply dismiss this as an unintended consequence of Paid Search as the speaking engagement firm just bid on keywords involving ‘speakers’ which, of course, overlaps with electronic speakers. After all, what is the harm in having that ad show even as consumers are seeking speakers for playing music?

The harm – not understood by most agencies – is that Google punishes advertisers who are showing ads with low relevance to the consumer. The punishment is not limited to a handful a ‘bad’ paid clicks. The real punishment is that Google charges a higher cost per click (CPC) to achieve the same position in the search results. In other words, your overall ad relevance, drives not only your position but also the costs those advertisers must pay for that position.

At Anova Group, we see situations where advertisers are paying $2.50 a click while only achieving a position of 3-4. Most marketing agencies simply dismiss this as a highly competitive situation. However, through our statistically proven techniques, we are able to improve the relevance of those ads to consumer. Google rewards ad relevance by reducing the costs per click (Anova Group typically sees a 25% reduction) while at the same improves the advertiser’s paid search position.

This example is just one reason on why your return on your digital marketing investment may be sub-optimized. If you are wondering whether your return could be improved, you may want to speak with us about our Digital Marketing Health Check.

Posted by Randy Higgins

Beware of SEM Arbitrage

Higgins — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 13:44:32 +0000

Working with many of our clients to establish affiliate marketing programs, Anova Group has observed a segment that simply drains your profit margins. These are affiliates offering marketing programs involving paid search. Many of these marketers are simply playing arbitrage with keywords that are easily managed internally. For example a client ‘Acme Electronics’ signs up with one of these affiliates and the affiliate starts campaigns on keywords such as ‘Acme Electronics’, ‘Acme Electronics Store’, etc..

The problems with this model are many. First your organic position on your company name will already be high so you can get these customers to your site for free. Secondly, because of high relevance, these keywords will cost you virtually nothing and certainly less than the 10%+ you will be paying the affiliate. Because the visitor is already searching specifically for you, these keywords tend to have high conversion rates that make them attractive to affiliate marketers looking to make a quick buck.

To avoid this pitfall, be sure you understand the business model of the affiliates you work with. Find affiliates that publish content relevant to your targeted customers or email marketers that have lists of customers in segments you are targeting. Finally, perform periodic searches on you domain/business names to ensure that no affiliate is unscrupulously bidding against you for traffic that you are already receiving.

Posted by Randy Higgins