Here's Why I Don't Make New Year's Predictions!

As we get ready to say goodbye to 2008 and ring in the new year, I will avoid the temptation to make any predictions—at least not in print for the entire world to criticize in hindsight. 

A case in point.  Here are some of the worst predictions that were made about 2008.   These were all events that affected each of us financially, personally and politically.  You just can’t make this stuff up.

1.     "A very powerful and durable rally is in the works. But it may need another couple of days to lift off. Hold the fort and keep the faith!" -- Richard Band, editor, Profitable Investing Letter, Mar. 27, 2008

(At the time of the prediction, the Dow Jones industrial average was at 12,300. By late December it was at 8,500.)

2. AIG "could have huge gains in the second quarter." -- Bijan Moazami, analyst, Friedman, Billings, Ramsey, May 9, 2008

(AIG wound up losing $5 billion in that quarter and $25 billion in the next. It was taken over in September by the U.S. government, which will spend or lend $150 billion to keep it afloat.)

3. "I think this is a case where Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are fundamentally sound. They're not in danger of going under I think they are in good shape going forward." -- Barney Frank (D-Mass.), House Financial Services Committee chairman, July 14, 2008

(Two months later, the government forced the mortgage giants into conservatorships and pledged to invest up to $100 billion in each.)

4. "The market is in the process of correcting itself." -- President George W. Bush, in a Mar. 14, 2008 speech

(For the rest of the year, the market kept correcting and correcting and correcting).

5. "No! No! No! Bear Stearns is not in trouble." -- Jim Cramer, CNBC commentator, Mar. 11, 2008

(Five days later, JPMorgan Chase took over Bear Stearns with government help, nearly wiping out shareholders.)

6. "Existing-Home Sales to Trend Up in 2008" -- Headline of a National Association of Realtors press release, Dec. 9, 2007

(On Dec. 23, 2008, the group said November sales were running at an annual rate of 4.5 million -- down 11% from a year earlier -- in the worst housing slump since the Depression.)

7. "I think you'll see (oil prices at) $150 a barrel by the end of the year" -- T. Boone Pickens, June 20, 2008

(Oil was then around $135 a barrel. By late December it was below $40.)

8. "I expect there will be some failures. I don't anticipate any serious problems of that sort among the large internationally active banks that make up a very substantial part of our banking system." -- Ben Bernanke, Federal Reserve chairman, Feb. 28, 2008

(In September, Washington Mutual became the largest financial institution in U.S. history to fail. Citigroup needed an even bigger rescue in November.)

9. "In today's regulatory environment, it's virtually impossible to violate rules." -- Bernard Madoff, money manager, Oct. 20, 2007

(About a year later, Madoff -- who once headed the Nasdaq Stock Market -- told investigators he had cost his investors $50 billion in an alleged Ponzi scheme.)

10. A Bound Man: Why We Are Excited About Obama and Why He Can't Win, the title of a book by conservative commentator Shelby Steele, published on Dec. 4, 2007.

(Mr. Steele, meet President-elect Barack Obama.)

Sometimes as bank marketers we have to go against the grain even when conventional wisdom, from pundits both inside and outside the bank, is telling us otherwise.  We have to continually balance the market realities in which we operate against the validity of the information we are receiving.

As I contemplate 2009, the only prediction that I can safely make is that I’m sure that I will have plenty of grist for this year-end blog next December.

A happy, healthy and prosperous New Year to all!

Cheers,

Nick Vaglio, CFMP

Our Top 10 for 2008

2008 is coming to a close, and we want to leave you with our favorite posts for 2008. The posts were chosen based on FrankRank, and represent the team's favorites over the last year.

1. Introducing Google Ad Planner
   There was a ton of interest in the tool, and the post announcing it was the most read post here on Inside AdWords for the whole year.
2. Improvements to Ads Quality
   This year, we made two big changes to how we calculate Quality Score and rank ads. This post explained the new changes in detail.
3. Build your own display ads in minutes
   We liked this post as it showed off a new tool that helps you broaden your advertising campaigns easily.
4. Keyword tool updated with search volume
   A theme for this year's top posts is providing our advertisers with more information to make their advertising decisions. The keyword tool updates definitely fit in with this theme.
5. Announcing Google Insights for Search
   Like the keyword tool, Insights for Search is another useful tool for your business.
6. Tie: New ways to look at Search & Content Network statistics and Separate metrics for Google and search partners now available
   Both these posts announced improvements to AdWords reporting that had been heavily requested by advertisers.
7. New features in Website Optimizer
   The new features addressed some of the top requests for Website Optimizer.
8. Use keywords and placements together on the content network
   This new feature gave advertisers better control over their advertising on the content network.
9. Groundhogs, Seasonality, and Trends
   A fun post looking at how you could use Google Trends to plan your campaigns around seasonal traffic patterns.
10. Announcing the Search-based Keyword Tool
    Another tool we released this year. The Search-based Keyword Tool helps you locate missed opportunities for advertising campaigns.

That's it for our top 10 for this year. We'll be off celebrating the holidays for the next two weeks, so you won't see any posts from us. We'll be back here blogging in January. Have a great holiday!

Posted by Trevor Claiborne, Inside AdWords crew

Who is Your "Uncle Dave?"

“'I might have to make a visit to Uncle Dave,' which is what people in Ouray say when they need to take a loan from the local bank, Citizen’s State, whose chairman is named David Wood.”

This is an excerpt from Twilight of a Mountain God, an article about Rick Trujillo - who said the quote - in the January, 2009 Runner’s World magazine.

Trujillo is part mountain goat … his trail running accomplishments, tenacity, endurance and downright stubbornness made me say, “Wow.”  Then I got to this quote and said ... well, let’s just say it was more than “wow.”

Sure, the city of Ouray, Colorado has fewer than 1,000 residents – but any community bank or credit union in ANY city can have an “Uncle Dave.”  It can be your chairman, president, or branch manager.  Even in a metropolitan area, a community institution can have the "Uncle Dave" of the neighborhood surrounding the branch.

Essentially, Uncle Dave is the community’s go-to-guy when it comes to banking.

Think of the power of having an Uncle Dave … especially in this economy with money transferring and trust wavering. 

My goal for 2009 is to begin to create at least one Uncle Dave (this type of rep won’t come overnight). 

You just need to:

• Have the right Uncle Dave – someone who can represent the bank or credit union well and “own the role.”
  
• Be the first to market – it won’t do to be the second Uncle Dave in the market
  
• Be consistent – Uncle Dave is a THE community banker
  

If you have an “Uncle Dave,” please share some thoughts about it in this blog.

Have a very merry Christmas and happy holidays.

Take care,

Eric

Analytics, AdWords, and Big Spenders

In the spirit of the holidays, we would like to offer tips on how to increase visibility into your e-commerce performance and your advertising spend using Google Analytics. For many, seasonality influences purchasing decisions and affects business revenues. Analytics can help keep a close eye on your advertising spend and e-commerce trends to run a cost conscious business.

We recommend 3 simple methods captured in the videos below. You can find these videos and more on the new Google Analytics Youtube Channel.

1. Use Google Analytics to track your e-commerce activity. As an e-commerce site, you likely want to know who is visiting your site and the goods they are purchasing. By enabling E-commerce tracking on your site, Google Analytics will provide vital metrics including overall revenue, revenue per product, average transaction amount, and more.

Coupled with our Motion Charts feature, you can easily see how the the products trend over time by various dimensions including: revenue, quantity, and average price.

2. Identify your high spenders to better target your website promotions and ad spend. With additional information on ROI for keywords and spending trends, you can focus your efforts on the traffic you care about the most.

3. Link your AdWords and Analytics accounts to track ROI, Revenue per Click, campaign and keywords performance. Added benefits include drilling down to the ad campaign, ad group, and keyword levels for goals conversions and e-commerce transactions.

And don't forget, even a few minutes a day with Google Analytics can help your website.

Posted by Melissa Hsieh, Google Analytics Team

Hispanic Marketing Trends: 2009 and Beyond

The future for Hispanic marketing in the United States is bright, full of "dualities" and opportunities. The future is indeed bright. While the media propagates bad news as their way of attracting attention, they ignore the positive trends in the economy. Hispanic marketing is one of them.

1. Economic crises are not new to Hispanics… Hispanics should be more optimistic in comparison to other cultural groups, thus leading the recovery with optimism... that is our only choice

2. On the other hand migration misinformation and increasing discrimination are setting a negative tone for the role of Hispanics in the US... the voices of negativism can not prevail

3. As a consequence of the above marketers should emphasize achievements and contributions of Hispanics to raise self esteem and build brand equity

4. Faster acculturation. Marketers should place more emphasis on what unites Hispanics beyond language. More leadership potential and higher aspirations for the future can mean a major transformation

5. Identifying the core of the new and emergent multicultural society… third culture…

6. A growing emphasis in communicating in Culture, while communicating in language will stabilize

7. A stronger emphasis on lifestyle segmentation as opposed to sheer acculturation

8. Increasing cross-over from Hispanic products and brands to the overall population… the Hispanization of America

9. Increased used of technology, particularly the Internet… over indexing in several categories… and this goes for all emerging minorities--- Hispanics are leading in the use of social media, and social media marketing is a great vehicle for incorporating Hispanic sensitive brands in the culture

10. Better appreciation of the consumer bicultural chemistry in the home… English and Spanish incorporated in the decision making… more collective than individual decision making

11. Almost 2 million Hispanic owned businesses… more of a focus on BtoB

12. Integrating marketing efforts in corporations and avoiding the marginalization of ethnic marketing… targeting needs to be more inclusive and precise

13. More cause marketing… as these consumers are increasingly green and socially aware

14. The future is in grassroots and high-touch marketing

AdWords Editor 7.0 for Windows and Mac

This week, we released version 7.0 of AdWords Editor for Windows and Mac. The new version includes the long-awaited first page bid estimates and keyword Quality Score, along with several updates to the Keyword Opportunities tool. Version 7.0 also provides the option to enable usage tracking, which lets Google collect anonymous statistics to help us improve AdWords Editor. Learn more about these and other new features in the release notes.

If you're not already using AdWords Editor, you can visit our website and click 'Download AdWords Editor' to get started. If you're an existing user, you'll see a prompt to upgrade to version 7.0 the next time you run the application.

Important: Existing AdWords Editor users will need to download their accounts again after upgrading to version 7.0. We've discovered an issue with the automatic upgrade feature (the 'Backup then Update' option in the upgrade prompt), so please refer to these special instructions to save comments and uposted changes when you upgrade.

If you'd like to wait to upgrade, you can click 'Don't Update' in the automatic update prompt.

To learn more about the benefits of using AdWords Editor to manage your ad campaigns offline, please refer to these frequently asked questions. Also, comprehensive instructions and tips are available in our Help Center.

Posted by Emel Mutlu, Inside AdWords crew

Tis ALWAYS the Season!

This time of year makes me even sappier than I already am. I reach out to family members I don't hear from often, I drop a dollar or two in the red kettle every time I pass (and have the cash!), I donate food to food banks and toys for children. I watch parades and movies and act like a child every time I see Santa.

Then it dawned on me...as a society, why do we only do this once a year. The feeling of paying it forward is so extraordinary.

So, is there a lesson here for us marketers? You better believe it.

Reaching out to your family should not happen exclusively by automatically generated letters that go out on holidays and birthdays. What about the letter you write or call you make to say "I just wanted to say hello and congratulate you on your daughter making the honor roll." Would reaching out like this cost you more? Nope. Maybe a little time, but what would it mean to your customer (i.e. family)? It would mean that you care and you are paying attention.

I know that many institutions "Adopt a Family" around the holidays and you and your coworkers pitch in and go shopping for the family to provide them the best Christmas ever. What about the families in your community that suffer a loss...loss of a job, loss of a loved one, loss of a home. I'll bet they could use a little help at some point during the year too.

What I am saying is that there are so many ways we can do special things throughout the year, with a little effort and very little out of your budget that will go a long way for you and your institution. Just think about the publicity (not that I am encouraging being a vulture with a camera or an ambulance chaser) you could generate.

The concept of paying it forward is something we believe can speak volumes of how you do business...not to mention help to create customer evangelists! And creating customer evangelists is priceless.

It is ALWAYS the season for giving back. Do something extraordinary in March too.

Jenna

L'introduction d'un nouvel ami: the Google Analytics blog in French

Bonjour! We couldn't be happier to announce a new Google Analytics blog for all you francophiles - le blog officiel de Google Analytics (en français)! This is a companion blog to this English blog and it will be linked to from our French homepage, via the "Blog" link. Take a look to read the very first post!

The French blog will have translated and localized versions of important posts from this blog, such as feature launches and integrations. There will also be practitioner posts and announcements, such as case studies from the French-speaking market and techniques for analyzing data that might be specific to the online industry in France or other French speaking countries. It will also be a place to find out about French analytics events that are happening. And it will not just be localized towards the French-speaking markets - it will be a good read for everything Google Analytics, written in French.

Google Analytics managers Nat Criou and Serge Descombes will be your chief correspondents on the blog, and there will also be contributions from French-speaking experts. Nous espérons que vous apprécierez!

A+!

Posted by Jeff Gillis, Nat Criou and Serge Descombes, Google Analytics Team

New and improved account management pages

By now, you've probably noticed the account management pages you see when you log into your Google Analytics account. The pages have been updated to provide you with easier access and monitoring capabilities to your accounts and profiles. Now it's easier to manage and monitor your accounts and profiles, and also easier to see areas requiring attention because you can also glimpse at key performance metrics up front, right upon login. We've bubbled up snippets of meaningful data with clear visual cues and cool icons so you can quickly get an update if you don't want to completely dive into reports.

(Click to enlarge)

With the new navigation scheme, we've added the ability for administrators to rename accounts and profiles directly on that page and have introduced a profile locator functionality to help increase efficiency and ease of account management.

You can also:

• Easily navigate from account to profiles by just clicking on the account name (and back with Overview)
• Better understand the hierarchy relationship between accounts and profiles and quickly find their webproperty ID
• See key loyalty and success metrics for all your accounts and profiles, and sort by any of these metrics
• Use the "Find Profiles" locator box or "starring" functionality to quickly find and navigate to a desired profiles and accounts, regardless of how many there are. No need to sift through pages of irrelevant content.
  

It's all about ease of use. For example, now, with a glance, you can determine positive or negative changes in account performance and quickly pull up the reports for a specific account. Additionally, administrators can rename account and profiles directly in the account management interface, without a lot of drilling down.

We hope that the new interface will save you a lot of time. Enjoy!

Posted by Nat Criou, Product Manager, Google Analytics

Google Analytics YouTube Channel

When we launched additional enterprise class features in October, we created a few short videos to help people get started using the features. Your feedback on these videos and their popularity (over 70,000 views so far) has inspired us to create more educational videos.

Today, we're pleased to announce the Google Analytics Channel on YouTube, a one-stop source for the latest Google Analytics-related videos. If you're looking for a beginner's guide to interpreting and acting on your data, an introduction to motion charts, or you want to learn how to perform placement targeting in 60 seconds, you can now find it at youtube.com/googleanalytics. And, just to prove that we don't take ourselves too seriously, we'll add the occasional music video :)

We'll continue to listen for what you want to learn about and work on adding useful videos to the channel. If you want to be sure that you always stay up to date, you can subscribe to the Google Analytics Channel or even add an iGoogle gadget to your homepage.

Posted by Melissa Hsieh, Google Analytics Team

Quick tip: Use keyword matching options with negative keywords

Today, we'd like to highlight a campaign management tip from the AdWords Help Forum: Using keyword matching options with your negative keywords.

You may already know that keyword matching options allow you to specify how the keyword should interact with users' search queries to help you target your ads more effectively to potential customers. But did you know that in addition to your regular keywords, you can use keyword matching options with negative keywords as well? Since negative keywords filter out unwanted ad impressions and clicks, using matching options gives you more precise control over which queries to filter out. To learn more and see examples, please read the full post in the AdWords Help Forum.

Posted by Emel Mutlu, Inside AdWords crew

2009 Resolutions

Well, we’re 14 days from “The big day.”  Then we have 5 December days that might as well not exist … then New Year’s Eve.  So I thought I’d take his time to skip straight to New Year’s Resolutions.

Among the office parties, branch parties, management lunches, friend’s gatherings and family get-togethers … consider some of the following resolutions for ’09:

 “In 2009, I resolve to…

• Measure ROI on all major campaigns and on my marketing efforts overall (at least monthly or quarterly)
  
• Write at least 3 personal note cards per week to key commercial prospects
  
•  Test variables (target, message, offer, mailer dimensions, etc.) on at least 2 direct mail campaigns
  
• Get an idea from at least one non-bank related retail example ... and use it
• Better use segmentation to stretch my marketing budget and increase results
  
• Conduct a benchmark awareness study in Q1 and a follow-up study in Q4 … and show a positive trend!
  
• Focus as much on the delivery of the promise (front line practices and sales techniques) as I do on the marketing message itself (external communication)
  
• Improve internal communication of bank objectives, goal progress and brand messaging/delivery
  
• Form a marketing advisory board of targeted customers to critique all messaging (ads, web site, direct mail, etc) from an outside, non-banking perspective
  
• Read/attend every trade pub, industry blog, and webinar that I can get my hands on to stay on top of the industry – and not just read the marketing articles.
  
• Read at least one non-industry related marketing book
  
• Attend the ABA School of Bank Marketing & Management … Get my CFMP certification
  
• Have more fun at my job because there’s nothing better than being a marketer!
  

Now, I need your help!  Please post a comment to this blog to add your own’09 resolution or to comment on any of the ones above.

Good luck making it through the next few weeks and enjoy the holidays.

Take care,

Eric

(Ad)Word of the Day: Optimization

Seasoned AdWords users know that to have successful campaigns you need to do more than simply set them up and let them run. To get the most out of your campaigns, you should consider optimization, today's (Ad)Word of the Day. 

According to the AdWords Glossary, optimization is the process of modifying your ad campaigns to improve the quality and performance of your AdWords ads. This often involves changing the contents and settings of your campaigns and ad groups and editing your keyword lists and landing pages.

Optimization can be as simple as adding new keywords relevant to your campaign, or can be as involved as adjusting your CPC bids and rewriting your ad text. By optimizing your campaigns to improve your keyword Quality Scores, you can help lower your ad's costs without losing your position on a search results page. 

If you'd like to learn more about optimization, here's a guide from our AdWords Help Center.

Posted by Christian Yee, Inside AdWords crew

Santa Tracking with NORAD and Google Analytics

We write this blog post with what can only be described as holiday giddiness. First, we're writing it from the North Pole with the help of Santa's Elves (they are spell-checking as we write), and second, we've teamed up with NORAD, the North American Aerospace Defense Command, as well as Santa Claus himself. Where could this possibly be going? Well, NORAD is using Google Analytics on their incredibly popular NORAD Tracks Santa website!

As you may know, NORAD provides aerospace warning and control for North America 365 days a year. This U.S. military department is tracking what's going on up above (so you don't have to constantly crane your neck). And on Christmas Eve, you better believe NORAD is keeping a close eye on Santa's flight.

Why is this so important? Just ask any child. Children everywhere – both naughty and nice – want to know where Santa is on the 24th of December.

NORAD began tracking Santa's flight in 1955 when children started calling into a military phone number on Christmas Eve to find out where Santa was. Ten years ago, NORAD launched the website, which has evolved each year. A continuing partnership with Google started in 2006 – read about it on the Google blog. Last year, NORAD started using Google Analytics to record traffic stats for the website. They were very pleasantly surprised – the numbers were an early Christmas gift.

Preparation and Planning

The website rolls out in two phases. Phase one went live on December 1st, and lasts until Christmas eve; it features the history of the Santa Tracker, a countdown to take-off, updates from Santa's Village, and holiday-themed games – a new one released each day – which can be found under the Kids Countdown area - pictured here:

Phase two, on Christmas Eve, will display a map showing Santa's launch from the North Pole at 4:00a.m. MST and will track him in Google Map and Google Earth imagery, live and in real time, as he makes his trek around the world!

Initially, the Santa Tracking team at NORAD implemented Google Analytics last year because they simply wanted to see how many visitors came to the site. But they got a lot more out of it. We spoke with Major Stacia Reddish, NORAD Tracks Santa Program Manager, after Christmas last year. "For us, 2007 was a benchmark because we didn't have analytics data before. It will be really interesting and useful to compare last year's statistics to this year's." Last year, the website was featured in 6 languages and it literally got traffic from all over the world, which NORAD learned from Google Analytics. "In 2007 we had visitors from 212 countries and territories with the majority of traffic from the US, UK, and Canada," Major Reddish told us. "We logged almost 11 million visits!"

Last year's visits to NORAD's Santa Tracking site came from
almost every country on the planet, denoted by areas in green

This year, they expect even more.

Major Reddish said that Google Analytics has been invaluable for planning and evolving the site. For instance, last year, the team made a goal to translate the site into at least one additional language for this year. But which language would be most helpful to visitors? Google Analytics reported that visitors from China spent twice as long on site as the average. So Chinese was chosen as the additional language option for 2008.

Analytics data has also helped with staffing projections for the site and for Christmas Eve. By seeing how many people clicked on the "contact us" link last year, for instance, NORAD could figure out how to scale volunteer, phone and computer needs for Christmas Eve. "Google Analytics was really helpful for our planning purposes since the traffic on the site is so big on December 24th," she said. "Last year, we could project what it would be like by the amount of traffic coming in before then. And it will really help as we staff up for 2008."


Both this year and last, the site was designed and built by Booz Allen Hamilton, another corporate sponsor. In addition to the overall traffic numbers, Google Analytics data helped them design the site. They used browser and connection speed data to optimize for visitortechnographics and they chose to hold over the site's most popular games, replacing those that got less usage.

The countdown to Christmas Eve

Even though the project is strictly for fun, a lot of effort is put in to get the word out and support the site. Last year, in the days leading up to the launch of the website, and then again before Christmas Eve, three press releases were issued as well as two media advisories. Finally, on Christmas Eve roughly 1000 volunteers report to Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs to help answer phone calls and emails from children asking where Santa is. Last year, over 90,000 calls were answered and over 10,000 emails were responded to on Christmas eve.

'Twas the night before Christmas

On Christmas Eve, attention on the site really kicks into high gear, with television news networks in the US and Canada including CNN.com, FOX national news, ABC, CBS, NBC, CTV, and their affiliates, cover the site live. Last year, because of Google Analytics, NORAD was able to add to the buzz on the 24th by giving reporters almost real time traffic statistics, updated hour by hour. They were able to enrich the story with details, including the fact that the time-on-site average had risen to 5 minutes.

Major Reddish raved about the geographic reporting. "The map overlay is so great. An Italian reporter asked us how many people came to our site from Italy, and we were able to tell him. He was impressed and decided to do a story. It's important for media to know where the interest is coming from, and it's also great information for our department."

This year, they're going to look at key performance indicators as well as the incremental usage the Chinese language generates. This data will help them make accurate projections for next year, when Santa gives a hearty, "Ho, Ho, Ho!" and launches into the Northern sky once again! We're sure NORAD will be prepared. But back to the important stuff: at time of this posting, according to NORAD, there are only 14 days, 11 hours, 47 minutes and 5 seconds to go until Santa gets flying, and counting! We hope you and yours enjoy every second.

Happy holidays from our team to yours!

Posted by Jeff Gillis, Google Analytics Team, and Laura Melahn, Geo Team

An update to the AdWords alcohol policy

As many of you know, we're constantly evaluating our AdWords program policies to keep them current and effective. This means making changes from time to time by either adding new policies, such as the endangered species policy, or updating existing policies, such as the Display URL policy.

This fall, we changed our policy around beer, for the first time allowing advertisements of its sale in the U.S. via AdWords. And starting today, in response to advertiser feedback we've received over the years, we'll permit the advertisement of hard alcohol and liqueurs that target the U.S.

To comply with the updated hard alcohol and liqueurs policy, advertisers must promote the information about hard alcohol and liqueurs that their websites contain, such as recipes and brand messages. Ads that directly promote the sale of hard alcohol and liqueurs are still not permissible through our program. In contrast, advertisements for beer may directly promote its sale.

For example, under the hard alcohol and liqueurs policy, you might market to individuals searching for helpful and relevant alcohol-related information by promoting holiday cocktail ideas or the caloric content of popular spiked beverages. Under the beer policy, you might state a specific sales promotion for a great winter ale.

Hard alcohol and beer manufacturers can now take advantage of online holiday traffic and initiate campaigns that appeal to their target audiences.

Plans to expand this updated alcohol policy to other countries in accordance with local regulations are expected in the coming weeks. For more information about the alcohol policy and other AdWords content policies, please visit our Advertising Policies page.

Posted by Amanda Kelly, Inside AdWords crew

Extending your AdWords Campaigns to the G1 and iPhone

Today, we're announcing a new campaign-level option that allows you to extend the reach of your text and image ads to show your AdWords ads on the T-Mobile G1, the iPhone, and other mobile devices that have full (HTML) Internet browsers. This new option will now allow you to display your ads specifically on these devices, create exclusive campaigns for them, and get separate performance reporting. We hope this option will help you more effectively reach your audience with the right message at the right time.

G1 and iPhone ads have many of the same benefits as our standard mobile-format ads, such as allowing you to deliver mobile-specific calls-to-action and reaching your audience when they're on the go. Showing ads on the G1 and iPhone also has additional advantages for your advertising. Users are performing a lot of searches on these devices, and searches are likely to go up during the holiday season. Last Christmas, the iPhone drove more traffic to Google.com worldwide than any other mobile platform.

Unlike standard mobile ads, you don't need to format your ads for mobile phones to show your ads on the G1 and iPhone. Because the G1 and iPhone have full Internet browsers, you'll be able to display your standard AdWords ads and landing pages on these devices without having to modify them.

With this new option, you're opted-in to show ads on the G1 and iPhone, and you're also eligible to show on additional devices that use full Internet browsers as these devices enter the market. If you want to change your settings to only show ads on G1s and iPhones or to not show ads on these devices, follow these steps.

If you're running standard mobile ad formats, they won't be affected, and they'll continue to run on mobile phones with mobile (WAP) browsers. If you're interested in learning more about mobile advertising in general, you can see past mobile advertising posts on the Google Mobile Blog.

Posted by Amanda Kelly, Inside AdWords crew

Blog Series #2 -- Making Marketing Relevant

Relevance. Webster's defines it as "connected to the matter at hand. Pertinent." I believe relevance means that "it ties to my life." Relevance is also in the eye of the beholder. However, as a marketer, we know that we can influence relevance and that without it...we are a complete after thought -- if that much.

Being relevant starts with understanding who your audience is...from an internal and external perspective. Determining what their needs are (asking them) and then communicating in a manner that resonates. Resonates is an important word when it comes to relevance. Your message has to "hit home" to create relevance and connect to your target audience's life.

The concepts you need to analyze for your organization....

• who is our target?
• what is their need (individual and collective)?
• what is their reference point?

Once you determine these items...you can begin to craft a communication tone and message. the last item is perhaps the most critical...their reference point. This simple (yet complex) idea is that each of our customers and prospects has a reference point for us. It may be through a parent, their work, their friends, or through media. The reference point is the fulcrum of their balancing point with us...the starting point to creating, enhancing or cancelling a relationship with us. We have to know their reference point to better understand their needs, buying behaviors and the influences in their life.

The relevance of our marketing starts and ends with our communications. Facebook. MySpace. ING. Zappos. There are new breeds of communication delivery everywhere...some include a financial implication directly, but all impact us in some way. If we chose to target the millennials...and we decide to use Facebook. We could be committing a major misstep. The new communication tools come with a new set of rules. Get to know them.... talk to millennials that work for you, bank with you, or have a reference point with current customers of you.

The best relevance message includes:

• clear connection to the reference point
• clear connection to their need
• clear connection to the future

You have built the uniqueness of you, your organization and your brand....now take that uniqueness and ensure it is relevant to your target.

In these times, relevance matters. Being at the right place at the right time matters, too. Here is an article about being a community bank in today's economic times...this is the RIGHT place and RIGHT time for community bankers!

Cheers!

Bruce Clapp

Smarter...Faster...Better

In the current global financial crisis, the average worker is being asked to produce more in the same amount of time at basically the same salary.

Today’s bank marketing professional faces a similar dilemma.  In an era of shrinking budgets and ever increasing responsibilities, we are being asked to produce more with greater results and to do it in less time with fewer dollars.

Now more than ever, bank marketing professionals must search for innovative ways to work smarter…faster…better!

Smarter...

• Acquire the market and industry intelligence and knowledge to enable you to become a “smarter” strategic partner to your customers
• Acquire new customers more efficiently and cost-effectively through better targeting and more innovative profiling of prospects
• Apply more clever and creative tactics in order to outsmart the competition.

Faster...

• It used to be that the big ate the small.  Now the fast eat the slow!
• In today’s connected world, customers expect products, services and information to be delivered in a fast, convenient and hassle-free way. 
• The ultimate profitable survivors in the highly competitive financial services industry will be those who react the fastest to market and competitive conditions with the right products and services to meet the exact needs of customers

Better...

• Your people, products and customer service must be better than the competition in the eyes of customers and prospects
• Companies that have earned the reputation of being better than their competition recognize that it is a daily process.  One bad day can begin to unravel a long-term positive effort.
• Bank marketers must get better at recognizing where profitable opportunities lie before everyone else does

While this may be easier said than done, we owe it to our customers and employers to work a little smarter, faster and better than the competition to deliver the results we all need to keep growing in a trying economy.

Cheers

Nick Vaglio, CFMP

Hispanic Marketing - What’s Next?

Having spent over 30 years in Hispanic marketing, I have been fortunate to see the evolution of this fascinating market. I founded one of the first multicultural market research companies, Hispanic and Asian Marketing Communication Research, and experienced first hand the explosive growth of a market and an industry. Now, as the Founder and Director of Florida State University’s Center for Hispanic Marketing Communication, I am training the next generation of Hispanic marketing leaders and I am continually asking, “What’s next”?

Marketing experts have been heralding the reign of digital communications for years, but few are aware of the importance of Hispanics in this digital era. Through my research dating back to 2000 when I conducted the study “The Digital World of the US Hispanic” and now as a professor at Florida State University, I have discovered powerful insights regarding Hispanics and technology in our research program “The Multicultural Marketing Equation.”

The fact is that Hispanics, along with other emerging minorities, are leading the technology revolution in this country.

Hispanics are one of the fastest growing and most active segments of the online population. They are using technology to enable social connectivity and enhance their cultural identity. In a recent study that I authored, I found that Hispanics, regardless of language preference and age, are more likely to be active on social networking sites than non-Hispanic Whites. Hispanic market growth and technology adoption are converging, making digital communications the next frontier in Hispanic marketing.

The Twelve Brown Bag Luncheons

If you can believe this, I actually started to blog to the tune of "The Twelve Days of Christmas." That had the potential to be the worst blog on the planet Earth!!!

So, how about this...I will just tell you want I wanted to say without being all "cute" about it.

Times are tough. For everyone. You are being challenged to do more with fewer resources and your budget has probably been cut a few times. And I am going to go out on a limb and guess that you cut "education and training" first because it won't interfere with your marketing strategies. But that's tough. You need to stay on top of the game and come up with creative and fresh ideas.

I think we have the solution for you...MarketMatch is launching the Brown Bag Lunch Series! Beginning on January 16 at 1:00 PM EST and continuing on the third Friday of every month (same time and place), we are offering FREE "roundtable" style conference call webinar discussions. We will moderate, but the conversation will driven by you. All you have to do is pack a lunch and dial in.

We will be there to make sure you aren't dialing in to dead air space. The MarketMatch team will serve as a panel to share ideas and get the conversation rolling. We will also take turns lending our expertise to the various topics.

So here's the skinny...Topics include:

• Marketing Relevance
• E-Marketing and Social Media
• Generating Deposits
• Branch Promotions
• Bringing Retail to Financial
• Generating Consumer Loans
• and that's only half of them!

To learn more about the Brown Bag Luncheon Series, or to sign up, click here! We hope to "see" you there!!!

Do something extraordinary today!
Jenna

Google Analytics Seminars for Success December 8 - 9, 2008 in Montreal

Seminars for Success have been so popular in the US that we're now expanding to Canada! Come join one of our lead instructors, Justin Cutroni, Director of Analytics at EpikOne for a Google Analytics Seminars for Success in Montreal December 8 - 9. Whether you are an analyst or tasked with configuring Google Analytics this seminar will help improve your overall understanding of Google Analytics.

Perhaps you have questions like, "What reports should I be looking at for my business and what do they mean? How do I configure goals? What is an acceptable bounce rate?" If so, then Seminars for Success Montreal is for you. For only $249 U.S. per day this seminar offers tremendous value.

Day 1 focuses on Google Analytics reports and data. Justin walks through almost every report and shows how you can use Google Analytics to gain meaningful data insights. Day 1 will also cover many of the new Google Analytics analysis tools including Advanced Segmentation, Custom Reports and Motion Charts.

Day 1: Introduction & User Training

• Introduction to Web Analytics
• Google Analytics Reporting Features
• Sharing GA Data
• Custom Dashboards
• Understanding Site Visitors
• Tracking online marketing campaigns
• Evaluating site content and user navigation
• Understanding Goals and Conversion Funnels
• Website testing with the Google Website Optimizer

On Day 2 Justin really digs into how Google Analytics works and how to configure it correctly.

Day 2: Advanced Technical Implementation

• GA architecture overview
• Learning about Regular Expressions
• Improving your data with filters
• Setting up Goals and Funnels
• Implementing E-Commerce Tracking
• Configuring Custom Segmentation
• Introduction to Event Tracking
• Tracking websites with multiple domains/subdomains
• Code customization

Ready to learn how you can improve your Google Analytics skills? Register here!

See what some past attendees are saying about the Seminars for Success:

“The course was outstanding. Going through all the functionality in a structured way with such a good presentation style has been incredibly worthwhile. Highly recommended!”

“This course is an unbelievable value. Now I’ve got a scalpel, where I had a hatchet prior. Awesome amount of info here—I’ve used GA for 2 years, and I never knew what I didn’t know. Now I do!”

“Great seminar for geeks AND non-geeks interested in creating actionable website metrics.”

“I learned more in this seminar than I have in all of the time I’ve spent playing in Google Analytics and reading books.”

Posted by Eva Woo, Google Analytics Team

New Ads Quality videos

Ads Quality is important for you, our advertisers, as it directly affects your ads' position on the page and how much you pay for your ads.

Over the past few months we've made some big changes to improve how we calculate Quality Score and how your Quality Scores are displayed in your account. One of these changes was the transition from minimum bids to first page bids. To help explain Ads Quality and these changes, we've just released two instructional videos that walk through the basics of Ads Quality and the transition to first page bids.

The first video, Ads Quality Basics, provides a general introduction to Ads Quality, including an overview of Quality Score and answers to some common questions about Ads Quality. If you don't know how Quality Score works, this is a good video to watch.

The second video, Ads Quality Updates, goes beyond the basics and gives more detail on the recent changes made to Ads Quality. If you want to know more about how the change from inactive keywords to first page bids affects your campaigns, we recommend this video.

Posted by Emel Mutlu, Inside AdWords crew

Making Marketing Matter

Greetings...

I trust that everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving holiday with the mandatory activities of overeating, taking a nap and shopping!

I thought I would kick-off December with a series of three blog posts that comprise a visual that we use quite often...we refer to it as the "Making Marketing Matter" graph. As you can see from the image, we believe that there are three separate and distinct components.

Let's start at the beginning...being unique!

Uniqueness is banking...almost sounds like an oxymoron...unless you are a marketer! We know that our bank or credit union is different...truly different. Not just by having "the best staff" but by tangible differences. Maybe it is a shorter loan processing time period, perhaps we hand deliver check orders, maybe our monthly statements come with a 48 hour delivery guarantee. Whatever the tangible differences are we know them, right? Well, if you said yes, proceed forward! If you answered, well?? Then you need to take an honest assessment of your institution, your staff, your products, your competitive marketplace, and refine and define your true differences.

Uniqueness, in our thought, has to have an edge to it. Have a definable characteristic, be measurable. The uniqueness also has to be true to your organization. One that truly is reflective of "who" you are and "what" you deliver, all balanced against the reality of can you do it repeatedly and consistently! We believe these are two fundamental variables that many people undervalue. Consistency and repeatability define a brand and also then define the organization and its people. As you know, it is also the other way around...the organization and its people define it consistency and repeatability!

Your challenge...find your uniqueness, quantify it, ensure it is consistent and repeatable and then get EVERYONE on board to understand what it is and why it matters!

Being unique is one thing...making sure that uniqueness has value in the eye of the customer is something else. That is relevance...we will get to that one is my next post!

Cheers!

Bruce Clapp

Seminars for Success, Now for Website Optimizer

You may have heard of Seminars for Success. It's a full day of hands-on training on Google products like AdWords and Google Analytics. We've heard requests for more in-depth training on Google Website Optimizer. If you don't know about it, Website Optimizer is a free tool that helps you increase your site's conversion rates by testing different versions of your website's content.

If you want to learn about website testing and how to increase your website's effectiveness, then this course is for you. The course covers how to run your first experiment, best practices in landing page design, and advanced testing strategies.

We're now offering Website Optimizer Seminars for Success with four sessions scheduled around the US:

• Washington DC - December 4 - Register
• Seattle, WA - December 10 - Register
• Las Vegas, NV - January 23 - Register
• San Jose, CA - February 11 - Register

Website Optimizer Seminars for Success are led by Google authorized Seminar Leaders. They're experts in the field of website testing and on Website Optimizer. If you want to start increasing your conversion rates, now is the time to sign up.

Course materials will be provided to all that attend. And, if you sign up at least 7 days in advance of a Seminar, you'll receive a $50 AdWords credit. The Washington DC Seminar is coming up next week, so be sure to register your spot.

If you'd like to be notified when Seminars for Success are happening in your area, you can fill out this form.

Posted by Dai Pham, Google Analytics Team

Display ad builder best practices

Last week, we posted about recent improvements we've made to the display ad builder. Now we'd like to share some best practices for using the tool. Hopefully these tips will help you get off to a running start with your new display campaigns:

Customize your ads to make them stand out. Here are some ways you can do that:

• Choose the color scheme of your ad, like the background and font color, to align it with your unique product and brand.

• Ensure text and images are a proper fit. Review all available ad sizes for each template to ensure that the text displays properly and images fit the ad slot. Upload images and logos that fit the recommended specifications we display as you create your ad.

• Try out different templates. You can see which one yields the best performance and optimize accordingly. 

• Consider transparent PNG graphics. They can make your ads look more professional by matching the background of both the image and the ad.
  

Consider separating your display ads into their own ad group. This will allow you to:

• Set unique bids for your display ads. For example, you may want to bid more competitively for you display ad, since it has to rank high enough to place above the other ads competing for the same spot.

• Use unique keywords for your display ads, without impacting the performance of your text-only ad groups, especially those running on search as well as the Google content network. 

Double-check your ads to ensure they meet the following criteria:

• Your display URL should be visible. If it's the same color as the ad's background color, it won't be visible to the user.

• Uploaded images should be less than 50KB. Otherwise your ad won't be eligible to run.

Now that you're armed with these tips on creating effective display ads, please try out the display ad builder and let us know how it's working for you. If you want to learn more about the tool, please visit the display ad builder site.

Posted by Emel Mutlu, Inside AdWords crew

Getting Answers -- Fast

It's 10am, you've got a fresh cup of coffee, and you're excited to implement your latest Google Analytics-related idea. Today, you'll be setting up your ecommerce reporting or perhaps re-examining all of your keywords with the help of Motion Charts. You begin working and suddenly, you're not sure how to proceed. You have a question, and you need an answer -- hopefully before your coffee gets cold and your inspiration runs out.

A quick search of the Help Center yields an article that only partially addresses your question. You need help from someone who has already worked through this particular roadblock.

We're pleased to announce that, as of today, you have a new way of quickly getting the help you need. We've launched a new Forum within Google Help that allows you to ask questions about Google Analytics and have them answered by both Google employees and other Google Analytics users. You can easily identify answers from Google Employees, top contributors, seasoned posters, or new posters. The "Best Answers" (as voted by the community) gain the most visibility so that everyone can share valuable information. And a list of "Related Questions" comes up even as you are typing your question.

If you are in the forum to help other users, it's easy to find questions that need answers. Based on your contributions, you can be distinguished as a Top Contributor or seasoned poster. The old Analytics Help Group will still be accessible for information searches, but is closed for additional posts. This will allow the Google Analytics support staff to focus all their efforts on your new forum.

Now, back to work, before your coffee gets cold!

Posted by Melissa Hsieh, Google Analytics Team

Cyber Monday is next Monday

You may not know it, but the busiest shopping day of the year, Black Friday, is shortly followed by the biggest online shopping day of the year, Cyber Monday. This year Cyber Monday falls on December 1st, and a little preparation can help you make the most of the day.

Here's a few tips to help you prepare:

• Check your budgets, and consider increasing them. You're likely to see increased traffic and you won't want to exhaust your budget early on a day when there are so many potential buyers.
  
  
• Give customers peace of mind about shipping times. One of the most stressful parts of online holiday shipping is not knowing if a present will make it in time. Be up front about delivery dates and let customers know ordering deadlines for gifts to make it in time for the holidays.
  
  
• Promote any special offerings in your ad text. If you have a holiday special that differentiates you from the competition, be sure to showcase it in your ad.
  

The holiday shopping season continues beyond Cyber Monday, and we hope all these tips can help you attract more customers this winter.

Posted by Trevor Claiborne, Inside AdWords crew

Professionals: Online Course on Hispanic Marketing - Spring 2009

After four successful semesters, an online course in Hispanic Marketing Communication will be offered again this Spring by the Florida State University Center for Hispanic Marketing Communication. The Center, headed by Dr. Felipe Korzenny, is pioneering education in Hispanic Marketing Communication.

The online course is available to anyone interested and is particularly recommended for professionals currently addressing the Hispanic market, or those who would like to start a Hispanic marketing initiative. The course, during the last four semesters, attracted students from many industries across the United States and provided a forum for learning and discussion about strategy that enriched the practice of many these professionals. The course has become an opportunity to share experience in an integrated framework.

Students in the course have testified that participation in it enriches their experience via online discussions with other professionals, case studies, readings, and guest lectures. Joining the group is more than studying the discipline because it encourages thinking and sharing of practices and ideas. The course creates synergy for communication and links professionals that otherwise could not meet each other to discuss their common Hispanic marketing problems and solutions.

The Spring 2009 session has duration of fifteen weeks (classes begin January 6 and end April 24) and includes topics such as language use, Hispanic cultural insights for marketing, and case studies relating to Hispanic marketing. The course will also address research and marketing strategies. A certificate of completion will be issued to all non-degree seeking students who satisfactorily complete the course, and eligible students can receive three hours of undergraduate/continuing education credit. THOSE INTERESTED ARE ENCOURAGED TO APPLY IMMEDIATELY AS REGISTRATION IS LIMITED. REGISTRATION IS OPEN NOW! For application information contact Jennifer Boss at inquiries@campus.fsu.edu or by phone at 850 644 7551.

Google TV Ads program targeting enhancements

Today, we announced new improvements to the Google TV ads program targeting feature. With program targeting, you can reach more customers when your message is most relevant, which means you're more likely to see better results.

Simply enter a keyword related to your product or service, and we'll provide you with a list of relevant TV programs to choose from. You can access this feature during the 'Target Campaign' step when setting up a TV campaign.

To learn more about how this works and to watch a demo video, check out the blog post on the Traditional Media Blog.

Posted by Emel Mutlu, Inside AdWords crew

Display ad builder: Wider availability and improvements

We recently announced the launch of AdWords display ad builder, and now we've made it more widely available and easier to use. Display ad builder is a tool that lets you create and customize display ads, allowing you to easily expand your AdWords campaigns beyond text advertising. We've had an overwhelmingly positive response from our advertisers so far, so we're happy to announce that the tool is now available to advertisers in the UK, Ireland, and a number of other countries.

In addition, based on your feedback, we made improvements to the display ad builder to enable greater customization and make building display ads even easier:

Image picker: You can now choose from previously uploaded images when creating your ads.

Real-time editing: See what your text and other customization edits look like, automatically -- without having to click the 'update preview' button.

Quicker way of seeing available ad sizes: You can see which sizes your ad can run in for each ad template without having to complete the ad creation process. You can also preview how your customization choices affect each size.

Additional templates: Choose from even more templates for customizing your ads.

We think these improvements will help you more easily and efficiently create engaging display ads. As always, we welcome your suggestions on how we can improve the display ad builder.

Next week, we'll post best practices to help you build effective ads with the display ad builder. In the meantime, you can view our tutorial video or visit the display ad builder site to learn more.

Posted by Emel Mutlu, Inside AdWords crew

Beta Testing News: An Updated AdWords Interface

We've just asked a small group of US advertisers to start testing an updated web interface for AdWords. (If you're in the test pool, you'll see an alert when you sign in to your account.)

We're testing changes to the ways that AdWords advertisers see and manage the data in their accounts. These changes should make it easier to tackle common tasks, like navigating between campaigns and editing keywords across several ad groups. We hope the updates will give advertisers clearer insights into their ad campaigns and simpler ways to act on those insights.

To answer a common question: The updates we're testing won't affect how ads run. Bidding, ranking, Quality Score, and the other key AdWords performance fundamentals are not changing with these updates.

We've started advertiser testing very early, while we're still working on changes to the updated interface, so that we can make adjustments based on comments from our testers. That's one reason why this test group is pretty small. We'll gradually increase the number of advertisers testing the updated interface (and make it available to international testers) in the coming months. We'll be sharing more details about key features along the way.

In the meantime, if you'd like to be considered for the test, please submit your AdWords account information on our beta sign-up page and we'll contact you when we're ready to add you as a tester.

Posted by Amanda Kelly, Inside AdWords crew

If You Don’t Look Up, You Might Just Loose Your Head.

While I was on my morning trail run, I got to thinking.

There was a light coating of snow on the ground, the morning sun was just starting to peak through the tree limbs, I was following the soothing flow of a creek and I literally had miles of woods all to myself … and I was missing it.

I realized that, in order to not break an ankle, my eyes never left the path 4-6 feet in front of me.  I could have easily run right by a deer, coyote or hawk and never notice it because I was more concerned with the occasional rock and root in my path.

Don’t get bogged down by the rocks and roots in your day … take some time to look up and enjoy the journey.

In trail running, you need to look ahead to plan your route or you could end up doubling back to avoid a downed tree … or worse, get crowned by it.

Don’t loose your head.  Take some time to look ahead of the day-to-day “rocks and roots” to see what other obstacles or opportunities might lay ahead.   

Take care,

Eric