Think with Google comes to ad:tech SF to make the web work for you

More users. More screens. More content. Same time. Same customers. Same goals.

As marketers, it’s a challenge to stay up-to-date on the latest digital media innovations while continuing to manage effective, measurable campaigns. We at Google asked ourselves: how can we help you meet these challenges and move your customers from intent to action? How can we make the web work for you?

Next week at ad:tech SF we’ll answer these questions through a 4-part “Think with Google” series.

Tuesday, April 3rd

• Come hear from John Nicoletti, Director of Agency Development, on winning the moments that matter, making better decisions and operating more efficiently as you grow.
• Dive deep with Bill Kee, Analytics Product Manager, on ways to approach marketing attribution and what Google Analytics is doing to make attribution modeling more accessible.
• Learn about free tools available to help you plan for performance with Jordan Rost, Agency Lead.
• Close the day with Rikard Steiber, Global Marketing Director, Mobile & Social Advertising, on how to use Google+ Pages to maximize your business’ effectiveness and presence online.

Wednesday, April 4th

Global Google Analytics Lead Rachel Witalec will join the discussion on search tactics for making sure content gets found where and when you want it. If you’re investing time in digital marketing you won’t want to miss this.

The complete conference agenda is here. The sessions are open to ad:tech attendees.

Still haven’t registered? Sign up here with discount code GOOGLESF12TB and save 30% off a full conference pass.

Posted by Katie Miller, Inside AdWords crew

Keep thinking Auto

Last week we brought together top marketing executives, industry visionaries, and agency leaders to discuss vehicle shoppers' recent return to the auto marketplace at Google’s Think Auto 2011: Green Light, Go! event.

Speaking to a room full of excited marketers, Guy Kawasaki, author of Enchantment; John Ross, CEO of Shopper Sciences; and Google’s Lorraine Twohill, VP of Global Marketing, gave their thoughts on how to reach the "constantly connected" auto consumer and how this affords greater opportunities to deliver relevant and engaging brand experiences.

In order to share these innovative perspectives with as many people as possible, the event was live streamed on YouTube. If you missed the live stream, you can watch the recorded session on the Google Business channel here. Additionally, be sure to visit our Think Auto site, where you can view presentations and videos from the event.

Posted by the Google Auto Team

Google’s Think Auto Event - Live Stream - June 21st

As vehicle shoppers make a resounding return to the auto market, Think Auto will arm advertisers with new ideas and tools to help capture these shoppers. The "constantly connected" lifestyle of today’s consumer affords greater opportunity to deliver relevant and engaging brand experiences. How do these new consumer behaviors apply to brand marketers' strategies today and in the future?

Tune in and find out as Google's Lorraine Twohill, VP of Global Marketing, introduces five concrete principles to drive both positive brand image and product usage.

• Live streaming begins on June 21, 2011, at 12:35 pm EDT
• Register here
• Following us? Use #thinkevents for this event

We'll reveal new insights on today's automotive shopper during the "Path to Purchase" section, which will uncover new consumer behavior during the vehicle shopping process.

Guy Kawasaki, the final keynote speaker and author of Enchantment, will surely excite the audience as he explores new thinking on influencing and igniting action, both through individual interactions and marketing at scale. Hope to see you there.

Posted by Dan Friedman, Inside AdWords crew

An Obsession with Advertising, Accountability, and Awesomeness

A guest post by Avinash Kaushik

I'm so incredibly impressed with the rapid evolution there's been in the advertising and marketing possibilities available to us. Offline, online, social—there are so many things to do and so little time (and budget!).

One of the absolute delights of online marketing (regardless of type) is the amount of accountability you can bring to your marketing budgets. For example, think about how challenging it is to know how many people looked at your ad in a magazine and took action. In contrast, think about how easy it is to measure the same thing for your digital display ads. How many potential customers were actively looking for cars, saw your ad on TV, and then went to your destination? You can measure this for your search ads. How often do prospects listen to your radio ads completely and then engage with you? You can measure this for your YouTube ads.

I could keep going. It's so exciting what we can measure, regardless of the online channels we use or the measurement tools to which we have access.

And yet, it's heartbreaking how little we bring all this awesomeness to bear upon our digital efforts. So much of our marketing is simply replicating our offline advertising online. And what's particularly heartbreaking to me, the author of two books on web analytics, is how we bring our low expectations of offline measurement to our online efforts.

So let's change this. Together.

UPDATE:

In case you were unable to attend the webinar on this topic last week, here is the recording of what was discussed. Look for more webinars in the coming months on topics such as campaign attribution, mobile metrics, and branding metrics, to name a few!

-Avinash

Posted by Lisa Shieh, Inside AdWords crew