Notes and Thoughts on Grocery 2.0

As more advertising budget dollars are shifted to online efforts, search marketing is becoming an essential part of an online strategy. Search marketing is a method of internet marketing that seeks to promote websites by increasing their visibility on search engine results pages (SERPs)  through search engine optimization, paid placement, paid inclusion and paid search. Though paid search is only one aspect of search marketing, its popularity has increased as it allows for a quick setup and can be managed by either an agency or in-house. Free tools from Google make it easy to set up campaigns and get on the search results pages quickly. Once established, your paid search campaign will produce quantifiable results in as little as seven days. Paid search campaigns can be used to achieve many goals, from increasing brand / online awareness to selling products and services. Regardless what your goal is – if you’re not advertising with the search engines, you should be.

So you want to try paid search? The first step is to choose a search engine and set up a campaign. Below are some quick tips to get your campaign up and running:

• Keyword Research – Knowing what terms customers associate with your brand, product/service is essential. Once you have identified core and assist keywords on your own site, check out your competition. Checking a site’s keyword density with the SeoQuake toolbar or SpyFu is a good place to start.
• Creative – Be creative and clever with your Ad Copy. Writing text ads can be hard – look at other text ads in the space and see what your competition is using, and then write something that stands apart from the rest (while still conveying the message of course).
• Landing Pages – Never be more than 3 clicks from completing the desired action. If the goal is to have users sign up for a newsletter, put the form on the landing page. Landing pages should be simple and designed to produce the desired action within three clicks.
• Geo-Targeting – A million eyeballs is better than a thousand, right? Not with PPC. There is no use in spending money on eyeballs that will not convert. If your flower shop only delivers within a 20 mile radius, set your campaign to only target that area. Do NOT waste your impressions on unqualified individuals that decrease ROI and lower your CTR.
• Pre-qualify with Ad Copy – If you’re only selling $40 red widgets, say that in your text ad. This will help weed out searchers who are searching for the $20 blue widgets.
• Iterate & Test – Think the first headline converts better than the other? Test it. And then test it with the copy. Combine different copy with different headlines and test that too.

Search marketing requires continual tweaking and refinement. Monitor what goes on in your space and apply it to your campaigns. Google Alerts can notify you of current articles, postings and blogs about your product. Read the comments and join discussions to see which benefits matter most to your customers, then incorporate them into keywords and copy.

Remember, search is constantly changing and affected by external influences. It reflects what’s going on in society, the market and, your customers head; how people think and what’s important to them – your campaigns should too.

Good luck & happy bidding!
Elise

I looked up the meaning of relevance in the online version of the Merriam-Webster dictionary. The second definition was poignant: the ability (as of an information retrieval system) to retrieve material that satisfies the needs of the user. Of course I thought of Online Grocery Shopping (OGS.) How better to describe OGS. A way for users to retrieve grocery items using an online system. The first meaning was also interesting; practical and socially applicable. A practical set of tools to get what I really need – food – for what I really want – save time and money.

I thought of this because of my 16 year old son. He’s brilliant. He does not know the world without a cell phone or a computer. They are everyday appliances or tools. His generation doesn’t just use the Internet, they count on it. The same way I have counted on the grocery stores being open when I need, he and his buds don’t know why they would not be able to make purchases via the Internet whenever they want, especially food – ever see a group of 16 year old kids eat? Yikes!

Relevance. What are you doing to keep relevant for my son and his generation of Internet users, eaters, and shoppers?

Dave Dec

Consumer satisfaction with the top 100 e-commerce sites dropped 3 percent this spring versus the same period in 2008, according to the Top 100 Online Retail Satisfaction Index from ForeSee Results and FGI Research. Sites like apple.com, dell.com, crateandbarrel.com and toysrus.com all showed decreases, most likely due to an increasing lack of customer focus in an industry that’s been strongly affected by the weak economy.

“When times get tough some retailers continue to focus on the customer, others go into their cost-cutting mode. It’s more about not improving,” said Larry Freed, Foresee Results President and CEO.

Those who have benefited most have capitalized on shifting consumer concerns for affordability and convenience. Discount retailers like Costco, Target and Wal-Mart, and others, like grocery e-commerce site Peapod.com, showed significant increases in consumer satisfaction versus last year.

Consumers expect to be catered to by retailers, through enhanced value in product offerings and consistent online services. “A valued customer pays back dividends, not only in loyalty, but in long-term recommendations,” said Freed.

Although the report, which analyzed data from over 20,000 respondents, covers only 94 e-commerce sites, retailers should consider the findings indicative of what their consumers expect from them to be satisfied with their shopping experience. Furthermore, retailers should consider who is currently exceeding those expectations.

When consumers make their recommendations, are they recommending you or your competitor?

Rachel

The rise of digital advertising, in all forms, has forced advertising agencies to build up internal resources to handle the non-traditional and increasingly diverse workload with which they are faced. Ad Operations, a department that didn’t exist twenty years ago, requires traffickers and analysts at the very least, not to mention inventory managers and billing and reporting specialists. In an economy where advertisers and, consequently, agencies look to maximize profit by consistently streamlining operations, maintaining in-house ad operations staff is becoming less favorable than outsourcing.

Several companies that specialize in ad operations exist to allow agencies to outsource work when they are busy and not worry about being overstaffed when they are slow. While they solve the agency problem of staffing, they also provide problems of their own. Problems with insertion orders and incorrect ad tags, delayed turnaround and disconnect with advertiser and agency objectives (especially with reporting) proliferate with outsourced ad operations.

To retain and win customers, agencies need a reliable source for ad operations work. In a recent Brandweek survey, CMOs expressed disappointment with their company’s current digital skillset, as well as that of their agency. “Respondents to the survey found their current ability to access ROI and metrics on their digital marketing lacking and rated their companies behind the curve. Many said they would have to look outside the company for help, whether that means hiring new employees or relying on ad agencies-though the marketers said they weren’t happy with their current agencies either.”

Instead, advertisers and agencies should look to the online publishers serving their campaign to provide ad operations support. Publishers provide several benefits to agencies without in house ad operations departments. They are close to the campaign and the advertiser’s objectives, understand the tech and data behind digital advertising, have the resources to provide timely trafficking, reporting, contract management and billing support, and share in the common goal of optimizing performance with limited waste. In addition, some publishers, like MyWebGrocer, provide graphic design, creative optimization, real-time reporting and constant campaign support that are invaluable to the success of online advertising campaigns.

My suggestion to advertisers and agencies looking to streamline ad operations is go to the source. Ask your online publishers what they can do for you. You may be surprised.

Rachel