Updates To .NET Library For The Export API

We’re incredibly proud of the diversity of applications and tools making use of the Google Analytics Export API. We also know that several of the folks developing these tools have been asking about our .NET client library and requesting sample code.

So we’re happy to announce we’ve updated the .NET Google Data client library to support all our recent features.

In addition, we’ve added 2 reference examples for both the Account Feed and Data Feed which show how to pull advanced segment, custom variable, and goal data from the API. As you can see from the examples, this client library makes pulling data from the Export API incredibly easy.

Now that the .NET developers among you have this library, what will you use it for? Fancy visualizations? Automated reporting? Extreme data mining? Let us know in the comments, or bounce a few ideas off your peers in the GA Data Export API group!

Posted by Alexander Lucas, Google Analytics API Team

Marketing Through a Recession

One of the fundamental tenets of marketing is, "Those companies that emphasize marketing during a bad economy recover faster and emerge stronger when the economy improves."

It's been proven time and again through case studies in numerous industries, but when it's YOUR institution ... facing shrinking spreads and changing regulations ... the gamble seems awfully risky. If only we had some apples-to-apples statistics to prove it...

Thanks to a Callahan and Associates article released on May 10, we now can base our marketing decisions on relevant data.

This study looked at the marketing expenditures of 645 credit unions and segmented them by:

• Institutions that decreased marketing expenses
• Institutions that kept marketing expenses relatively flat
• Institutions that increased marketing expenses

The study then compared these groupings based on factors like: loan growth, deposit growth, checking growth and member/customer growth.

Click here for the actual article

The bottom line is that those institutions that increase marketing are more likely to experience:

• Higher loan growth in all areas (except mortgage). In fact, those that increased marketing were the ONLY group to experience positive auto loan growth.
• Higher checking growth
• Higher IRA growth

With the onslaught of negative media towards the "Too Big to Fail" banks and the positive national coverage of credit unions and community banks, the environment is better today than it ever has been for you to position yourself for growth. You don't necessarily need a big bank budget to take market share, you simply need to make yourself part of the community conversation.

Awareness and differentiation can drive growth. And when you partner with a marketing firm with a ROI Guarantee, there's nothing left to chance .. and the upside is positioning your institution correctly ... moving forward with expert help at your side!

Inset is a chart from the referenced CreditUnions.com article

AdWords system maintenance on May 13th

On Thursday, May 13th, 2010 the AdWords system will undergo maintenance from approximately 6:00PM to 6:30PM PDT. While you may not be able to sign in to your accounts during this time, your campaigns will continue to run as usual.

While, AdWords system maintenance typically occurs on the second Saturday of each month, this update was delayed due to the Mother's Day holiday in the U.S. last weekend.

We'll continue to update you via the blog as we always have, but please make note of the May 13th date and of our scheduled maintenance further down the road.

Posted by Dan Friedman, Inside AdWords crew

New keyword targeting feature for advertisers in the UK and Canada

Today we're introducing the broad match modifier, a new AdWords targeting feature that lets you create keywords that have greater reach than phrase match and more control than broad match. Adding modified broad match keywords to your campaign can help you get more clicks and conversions at an attractive ROI, especially if you mainly use exact and phrase match keywords today.

To implement the modifier, just put a plus symbol (+) directly in front of one or more words in a broad match keyword. Each word preceded by a + has to appear in your potential customer's search exactly or as a close variant. Close variants include misspellings, singular/plural forms, abbreviations and acronyms, and stemmings (like “floor” and “flooring”). Synonyms (like “quick” and “fast”) and related searches (like “flowers” and “tulips”) aren't considered close variants.

The graphic below illustrates the relative reach of different keyword match type strategies. As you can see, modified broad match keywords match more searches than the equivalent phrase match keyword, but fewer searches than the equivalent broad match keyword. Match behavior also depends on the specific words you modify. For example, the keyword formal +shoes will match the search “evening shoes,” but the keyword +formal +shoes will not.

(click for full size image)

During initial tests, advertisers who mainly used phrase and exact match found that adding modified broad match keywords increased campaign clicks and conversions, while providing more precise control than with broad match.

Modified broad match keywords have a traffic potential closer to phrase match than broad match. If you mainly use broad match keywords in your account, switching these keywords to modified broad match will likely lead to a significant decline in your overall click and conversion volumes. In order to maintain these volumes, we recommend keeping existing broad match keywords active, adding new modified broad match keywords, and adjusting bids to achieve your target ROI based on observed performance.

If you're in Canada or the UK, you can log into your AdWords account to start adding modified broad match keywords today. You can also use the AdWords Editor or the AdWords API. For more details, examples, suggestions on usage, and answers to many common questions, visit the AdWords Help Center.

This feature is currently available to advertisers in Canada and the UK as an open beta. We’ll be listening closely to feedback to help determine future product direction.

Posted by Dan Friedman, Inside AdWords crew

The tide will turn...

Good morning and HAPPY MONDAY to everyone....

Thank God its Monday!

Today really is a good day.  Sunny, not windy and will be getting warmer...plus my daughter is getting back to a good plateau in her health!

Now, for the update...later this week, we will be launching an exciting new service for bankers around the country and the timing is based upon my belief that the tide has begun to turn and there are plenty of bankers that are looking to charter a new course and the investment community is seeing the opportunity, too.

De novo banks typically open in areas where a void has been left or created.  Closed banks, merged banks, growing markets...all ripe for a de novo bank.  With many execs displaced in mergers, the executive operational talent and drive to start a bank is richly available. 

Here is a chart of de novo bank start-ups in the last couple of years.  You can see they have fallen, but the rise is about to occur.  MarketMatch will be there to help with our expertise and focused assistance!

As you can see, there are parts of the country that flourish with de novo bank openings... keep your eyes open for our announcement later this week.

Have a GREAT MONDAY!

Bruce

Banks Can Accelerate Revenue Growth by Managing Digital Experience

According to the March issue of the McKinsey Quarterly, digital channels can assist companies in unifying the customer experience and help move customers from interest to loyalty. In the article, "Four Ways to Get More Value From Digital Marketing", David C. Edelman discusses how companies can increase revenues through a better coordination of the digital end-to-end experience (see exhibit).

By focusing on the capture of a larger amount of Internet traffic through improved mass media key word positioning and SEO, increasing customer engagement through easy to navigate sites and targeted messaging, converting more of the digital leads to sales with strong offers and building digital loyalty through online and offline channels, revenues can be optimized.

The article discusses how marketing investments need to be proportional to the influence they will have on the consumer's purchasing decision. But any shift in investment will only yield results if the channels are integrated and coordinated and if the appropriate metrics are established linking investment to performance. This may require marketers to move out of their comfort zone and to step back from tactical, day-to-day execution and take a more strategic view of where to invest and make changes.

AdWords system maintenance, cancelled

The AdWords system maintenance, previously scheduled for May 8th, has been cancelled.  If you saw a message in your AdWords account alerting you about the scheduled maintenance, please disregard it. 

Post Posted by Daniel Friedman, Inside AdWords crew