Media Week

Nice to see The Sunday Life Show at the weekend giving a balanced view on social networking. Too often the dramatic music starts up and shadowy figures can be seen huddled ove computer keyboards giving the illusion that most of us are up to no good on the web after the sun goes down.

In this feature they did interview some guy who’d had a fake page put up about him saying all kinds of nonsense and that can happen. Apparently it happened to Alastair Darling too, although at the moment I’m sure he has little time to be writing on anyone else’s wall as he tries to figure out what to do with the omens the credit crunch has written on his!

I was very impressed with the guy from http://www.getsafeonline.org – didn’t catch his name – but thought he gave an upbeat and realistic assessment of the situation.

11m folks engage in social networking in the UK and it’s a fantastic medium for contacting people and keeping in touch. But there is a darker side which users have to be aware of. It just needs some common sense. “Be careful not to share information with people that you wouldn’t share at a bus stop!”

According to their figures 25% of us share confidential information like telephone numbers, email addresses etc. 15% have not secured it so only trusted “friends” can view their details.

Social networking sites do much to ensure safety and privacy but there’ll always be ways some shady characters will find to exploit them.

As digital people, with a better understanding of how it all works, we should be doing out bit to ensure our friends and family are made aware of how to be more secure online. Users themselves also have to spend a bit of time educating themselves too.

If we don’t want a nanny state then we all have to take responsibility to get safe!

The Sunday papers were littered with inserts touting products for the festive period today - 19th October!

Heavily discounted items were being offered by M&S, The Book People, The Cotswold Company and WHSmith.

They've probably been listening to the IMRG who said that consumers will be shopping earlier this year in order to spread the cost.

The Money section in the Times felt a little thin this week though. You'd have thought they could have rustled up more than 10 pages of advice when there are so many folk struggling to make ends meet!

The hour and forty-five minute journey from Richmond to the Docklands was the only negative experience I had on Wednesday when I visited and spoke at the Affiliates 4 U conference and expo.

Well organised, busy (even after a 4am bedtime for many the night before) and choc-a-block full of great content.

My session on PPC and ROI was attended by about 150 folks who came to hear some tips from Dixon Jones and my colleague Tor Crockatt – thanks for the great feedback everyone!

There’s no doubt that affiliate marketing is thriving and even more so in these lean economic times where merchants are looking for more performance driven options and lower costs.

Kieron Donoghue, Doug Scott and Jamie Wood from UK Web Media in the “Meet the Super Affiliates” were certainly very aspirational. Keen to expunge the traditional image of affiliate marketers as being spotty back-bedroom spammers they have proved that being professional, adding value and having a keen entrepreneurial spirit can pay dividends. Not sure Jamie liked it being called out that he’s worth £18m but I managed to get a beer out of him later that evening anyway!

That said, there is a divide between those doing it on a larger scale and some of the guys out there who are just starting out.

During the “Affiliate Doctors Live” session, where website owners put their websites up for scrutiny to a panel contain such SEO experts as Dave Naylor, Joost de Valk, Marcus Tandler and Chris Garrett, some of the sites suggested were quite frankly appalling. They had bad navigation, layout, design and content but were unfortunately ranking well in the search engines. When several of the website owners were asked for the most basic metrics they didn’t know and I wondered where they’d been for the last few years.

But I guess that’s why they were there at the conference, to get some advice on how to be better marketers and improve the user experience.

Hats off to Matthew Wood and the team for a great show!

Hoping someone can explain how product placement advertising works? What's the process and how much does it cost?

The reason why I ask is in preparation for filming Escape To The Country in a couple of weeks, my girlfriend and I have been told by the BBC not to wear any logos. When they filmed the pre-amble we weren't allowed to mention we worked for Microsoft and they were careful not to show which brand of laptop we had on the coffee table.

However, earlier this week on Jamie Oliver's Ministry of Food there were blatant plugs for Royal Mail, Morphy Richards, Apollo Travel and other named local companies.

Is it because it's ITV, would those companies have paid for that?

Just interested as I'm ignorant of such things but amazed at the diametrically opposed approaches by the channels.

While in Devon this weekend visiting the folks, we went to watch some friends in the Commando Challenge run by the Royal Marines. We assumed there’d just be forty or fifty gluttons for punishment covered in mud, gasping for air and littering the assault course.

But how wrong we were!

There were hundreds of people from all over the south west gathered to run this three mile gauntlet for charity. All these people were young, fit and, dare I, say happy! – even after being sheep-dipped!

Where did they all come from I thought? Why are they not in London with us cool cats? Do they not know the streets of the big smoke are paved with gold?

If I’m honest I felt a little green with envy. At 36 I feel a little old to be going out and painting the town red three times a week! The area around Victoria Station where I work is lacking in character but not lacking in noise, pollution and all round nastiness!

Don’t get me wrong! The office is nice and the people great but I want to wake up and walk to work or even cycle without the threat of death around every corner.

There are a load of businesses in digital advertising that have done very well without having to hit London with their office space budget.

Agencies have established themselves in Manchester, Yorkshire, Cornwall, Sussex, Warrington, Telford, Milton Keynes, Norfolk, Cardiff and Edinburgh to name but a few.

So even though there’s apparently some economic crisis at the moment, in a couple of weeks time I’ll be going down to Sussex with the girlfriend and a film crew in tow to check out some houses with the help of the BBC’s “Escape To The Country” show.

We emailed them on a whim a few months back and they said yes! So we’re off to the green and pleasant land to find a gaff to commute from.

I know Media Week readers are established far and wide so I ask you:

What are the advantages of working away from London? Do you get more done? Better way of life so better quality of work? Any advice for someone about to set up home in the country?

BTW – I’m not leaving Microsoft – just moving out of London!

I'll be teaming up with Dixon Jones and the fabulous Tor Crockatt next week at the Affiliates 4 U Conference and Expo in the Docklands.

The session is about improving ROI on PPC campaigns:

"The expert panel will examine the fundamentals of paid search strategies, covering link and display text, the future of demographics and the quality score, and keyword research tools for affiliates."

If you're having trouble with campaigns check out some of Tor's Keyword Research Tips.

It should be a cracking seesion so hope to see you there on 15th October at 11am!

Yesterday’s announcement by the IAB that online advertising continues to grow is great news for the industry in these uncertain times.

In the statement we learn that in the first six months of 2008 advertisers spent nearly £1.7B on internet marketing bringing the total share of advertising spend in the UK to 19%.

Needless to say “search” grabbed the lions share growing 28% year on year to claim over 58% of the digital media mix.

Writing on the adCenter Blog yesterday, I was keen to hint that there’s still some way to go yet.

The first half of 2008 was over three months ago and things have got a lot worse in the world.

But the indications are that online and search will still see growth in this half of 2008 as marketers are made more accountable by their superiors, and so in turn plough money into where the accountability is.......and that’s online!

I was at a conference last week - www.nmalive.co.uk - speaking about search and the downturn – the advice was to hold tight and keep your nerve.

A downturn is the perfect time to experiment, learn and build for the future when all this hullabaloo gets sorted out.

Some advertisers will have undoubtedly been spooked and pulled some budgets or lowered CPCs – it’s a shame but it gives others the chance to leap in and capitalise.

Check out this quote from the IMRG:

“Highlighting the current economic slowdown as the key influencing factor, 68% of shoppers said that they are more likely to shop online for Christmas presents this year, with 77% of shoppers planning to carry out about half or more of their Christmas shopping online (in 2007 it was 56%).

This is influenced by the belief in the competitive prices available online, with 79% of respondents satisfied with the competitive pricing available from e-retailers.”

Your customers are going to be online this Christmas............will you?

While watching (ahem) Midsomer Murders on Saturday I was struck by a question raised by DI Barnaby – aka John Nettles.

When discussing a potential blotting paper clue with his police side-kick he said:

“Who writes letters these days?”

I immediately thought well I do and then realised....NO....I don’t!

The odd “thank you” card might get sent after a dinner party or weekend at a friend’s house, and the lucky few in the birthday book might get a Clinton special now and again, but that’s it.

My handwriting has always been appalling but is now worse with all this infernal typing one does on a daily basis......so little time and so little practice.

I never have to worry that someone might pilfer the notebook that I occasionally write in because I know they wouldn’t understand a word of it anyway!

Have we forgotten the art of letter writing in this increasingly time-poor electronic age?

I remember at school looking forward to running down to the post room to see if the SWALK-backed letter to my latest convent school crush had been reciprocated.

Are those days over or is it all keyboard generated mumbo-jumbo we have to contend with?

I’m going to start handwriting some posts and sending them in to Rich Sutcliffe to type up and publish.

Do you think he’ll mind?

A couple of weeks ago The Search Works asked me to kick off their client summit – The Search Sessions – at the fabulous Vinopolis by the river in London.

Honoured as I was, I thought it both polite and in my interest to stay on for the rest of the day and hear the other speakers. Very often I learn a great deal from being at these kind of affairs as I pick up nuggets of information or different points of view that are both thought provoking and provide interesting content for this blog and articles I write elsewhere.

The Search Works content did not disappoint.

Jeff Revoy and Dominic Allon were there from Yahoo! & Google respectively and provided talks which were informative and entertaining to say the least.

My favourite session was addressed by Gary Reid, TSW’s new Director of Search Performance.

Now there’s something comforting about a northerner talking about online marketing. Maybe it’s the southern bar steward in me, but I find the accent so organic and at odds with the cut and thrust of agency-land in the big smoke that a new level of trust is surpassed. If anyone gets a chance to hear Dave Naylor speak you should. He’s from Ripon!

Anyway, Gary’s talk was: “On The Edge of Search – The New Economics of Organic Search” and in a nutshell was approaching the subject of online/offline marketing integration and suggesting many companies hadn’t quite cracked it yet.

Gary gave a couple of examples where TV taglines gave spurious and in some cases brand-damaging results in the organic search results pages.

I’ve mentioned recently about how brands are battling on the box for our online time and it’s a crucial thing to try and do seeing as TV and Online have proved to be Better Together.

Gary’s tips:

- Pass consumers between channels with clear calls to action
- Develop a cross media message that is suitable for search

Ensure the call to action is:

- Easy to remember
- A product feature or benefit
- A slogan or marketing message
- A top performing key term
- Built around a key term you can dominate in SERP’s

Things to avoid:

- Don’t use URL’s in traditional media
- Avoid new phrases/generic phrases
- Don’t assume you can easily get a good position for a generic key term
- Don’t forget to assess the search landscape for possible threats
- Don’t discount possible competition for key terms you make popular

Not sure about not using URLs in traditional media. This is pretty new stuff so surely two bites of the cherry would be better than the chance of no searches or direct visits at all?

Maybe Gary will chime in and clarify.....

I may be guilty of being a “search” guy through and through, but I cannot see how the channel cannot be at the heart of every marketing campaign helping drive consumers through from awareness to purchase.

Making sure your product or service can be easily found is the whole point of marketing surely?