Our AdWords engineering team is conducting planned system maintenance today starting around 10:00 am Pacific Daylight Time (17:00 GMT). We expect to conclude around 8:00 pm Pacific Daylight Time tonight (03:00 Sunday GMT).
Your ad campaigns will continue to run as usual during this time. But you won't be able to log into the AdWords interface, access or make changes to your account through the AdWords API, or sync changes using the AdWords Editor. Also, any automated rules or scripts scheduled during this time will not run. Additionally, automated rules scheduled to run daily will not run for the entire 24 hour period from 8 am on September 22 to 8 am on September 23 Pacific Daylight Time.
We apologize for the inconvenience.
We’ll update this blog post when maintenance is complete.
Update (4:59 pm PDT / 23:59 GMT): Maintenance was completed early and all systems should be back to normal. Thanks again for your patience.
Saturday, September 22, 2012
Friday, September 21, 2012
Join Learn with Google at SMX East in New York
SMX East kicks off in early October, and we hope to see you there. Stop by Learn with Google’s in-conference event on Wednesday, October 3; we'll have speakers across Google Search, the Google Display Network, and DoubleClick Search, with question and answer sessions following each presentation. Come hear how Google can help make the web work for you!
Day 2, Wednesday, October 3
Also, you can hear from other Google speakers throughout the event:
Day 1, Tuesday, October 2
Day 2, Wednesday, October 3
The full SMX East agenda can be found here.
Still haven’t registered? Enter discount code googleEast12 (case sensitive) and save 10%. Expo passes are free and get you into the Learn with Google in-conference event.
See you in New York!
Day 2, Wednesday, October 3
- Evolving Paid Search (10:45am - 11:45am): In our opening session, Head of Search Ads Marketing Mark Martel will be sharing Google’s perspective on the direction of paid search, and what search marketers will need to be doing in the coming years to stay on the cutting edge and capture the greatest share of opportunity.
- Richer Tools for Targeting: Search and Display (1:30pm – 2:30pm): Elliot Nix, Head of Media Solutions, Technology, will share how remarketing can help you extend beyond your normal search, and help refine your messaging plus boost relevance for customers and potential customers – wherever they’re browsing – to see even higher returns.
- DoubleClick Search: The power of platform for the next step in search marketing management (3:30pm – 4:30pm): Sr. Product Manager Anthony Chavez will dive deep into how DoubleClick Search helps marketers and agencies running some of the world's largest search campaigns more efficiently and effectively with DoubleClick Search’s campaign management, reporting, and optimization tools.
- Winning the moments that matter with local, social and mobile strategies (5:00pm – 6:00pm): Close the day with heavy snacks, drinks, and a presentation with Tim Reis, Head of Mobile & Social Solutions, who will cover how you can reach users in the moments that matter with effective social, mobile and local solutions from Google AdWords.
Also, you can hear from other Google speakers throughout the event:
Day 1, Tuesday, October 2
- How To Play In The Exploding Mobile Ads Universe, 3:30pm - 4:45pm
Google speaker: Tim Reis, Head of mobile and social solutions, Google
Day 2, Wednesday, October 3
- Getting Ahead With Google+, 10:45am - 12pmGoogle speaker: Kari Clark, Product Marketing Manager, Google+, Google
- Pagination & Canonicalization For The Pros, 3:30pm - 4:45pm
Google speaker: Maile Ohye, Senior Developer Programs Engineer, Google Inc. (@maileohye)
The full SMX East agenda can be found here.
Still haven’t registered? Enter discount code googleEast12 (case sensitive) and save 10%. Expo passes are free and get you into the Learn with Google in-conference event.
See you in New York!
Social that Adds Up
Earlier this week HootSuite Enterprise hosted Adam Singer, from Google Analytics, to share how you can use Google to measure social performance. With over half of people talking more online than they do in “real life”, digital social media is a critical platform for marketers, but how do we measure its impact?
Most marketers use platform metrics as performance indicators, but often they cannot be linked to sales. Engagement is the easiest and often the most measured social metric in terms of followers, fans and comments. However, revenue is often the more important (and more difficult to measure) metric that can help marketers determine an ROI for their social media efforts. Google offers two solutions that can help drive social media performance: Google+ and Google Analytics social reports.
Building relationships on Google+ may improve other parts of your marketing plan. Google+ is integrating social in all the Google products marketers already use, which can help them drive deeper engagement with their target customers, be more relevant by offering social recommendations when customers need them most and remain accountable by providing transparency of how their ad dollars are performing.
With Google Analytics Social reports you can tie your social media to metrics you care about. Here are some top tips Adam covered in the webinar:
- Find something you can measure (micro or macro-conversions) and sprint in that direction. Focus on how separate channels can drive different types of site actions, which can be tied to a value you determine.
- Measure success criteria directionally. Benchmarks are uncommon and do not necessarily translate across products, services or industries.
- Create your social posts with a measurement goal in mind. Be sure to include a call to action to inspire your audience to act.
- Understand and connect with your audience differently across the different networks. Try not to post the same thing on each platform, customize and use what works best.
Thank you to those who could join, if you have any questions feel free to reach out to Adam (+AdamSinger on Google+) or watch the webinar recording here.
Posted by the Google Analytics Team
Stat Source: Socialnomics, 2009
The Art of War...and Marketing (Part 2)
This is Part II in a series of blogs that breaks down each chapter. The brief chapter summaries are from Wikipedia, but the marketing commentary is all MarketMatch!
5. Energy explains the use of creativity and timing in building an army’s momentum.
The first 4 chaptershave helped you to FOCUS. In chapter 5, we build MOMENTUM! We finally get to creative!
The key to any quality creative is to speak in your target’s language and to your target’s needs. Do NOT speak financial mumbo-jumbo and do NOT focus on your products. Think of it this way … do you know that friend who always talks about themself and never asks you about your interests? The one who talks AT you and not TO you? Pretty annoying, huh? Don’t be that guy!
(See “Get Emotional” and “Communicating with Your Creatives” for more info. Click here to see samples and get inspired.)
6. Weak Points & Strong explains how opportunities come from openings in the environment caused by the relative weakness of the enemy in a given area.
Remember the Competitive Analysis in Chapter 1? Well, you have to keep an eye out all year. You may need to make tweaks to your plan based on what’s going on around you (this is also another reason to keep the branches involved like we discussed in Chapter 4).
Your competition is going to make moves: open branches, close branches, increase rates, add fees (thank you Bank of America!), etc. You don’t need to act on every change, but you should be aware of them and be able to quickly assess if it’s worth your response.
7. Engaging The Force explains the dangers of direct conflict and how to win those confrontations.
Direct conflict, in this instance, is point of sale. This is all about staff training and providing quality point of sale tools. How does your staff present your products? Do they fulfill the promises made by your marketing? Does product presentation align with your brand position? Do you track cross-sells by employee? Does your staff ask qualifying questions so they can recommend appropriate products? Do they know what questions to ask? (Click “5 Steps to Sales Success” for more specifics) Does your staff simply read brochures verbatim or do they provide value to customers? Do they treat customers as if the customer were a guest in their home? Is it standard to write a hand-written "Thank You" note for every new customer and product?
It is your job, as the voice of the customer, to ensure that the customer experience is exceptional.
8. Variation in Tactics focuses on the need for flexibility in an army’s responses. It explains how to respond to shifting circumstances successfully.
The key is not to blindly follow your marketing plan, but to be ready to deviate if market conditions and opportunities dictate. You may get a call from a vendor selling a better mousetrap. You may have an opportunity to partner with an organization or move into a new market. There may be a natural disaster in your market. It could be anything.
Knowing exactly how to react comes back to having clearly defined objectives. If you’ve spelled out the handful of measurable objectives that will define success this year, then all you need to do is ask yourself how each new opportunity or shift in the market will effect those objectives – and can an adjustment to strategy help leverage these changes to better fulfill the objectives?
9. Moving The Force describes the different situations in which an army finds itself as it moves through new enemy territories.
When entering new markets you need to:
- Understand the situation: Who leads in market share and share-of-mind? Why? Can you combat it? What is the awareness level for your institution? Map your current customers in the new market. Are there pockets of high-concentration? How many competitive branches sit between those pockets of concentration and your branch? What are the economic trends in the new market? Where do people from this new market hang out?
- Generate excitement: The bottom line is that you need butts off couches and into your branch. What is the most effective way to create a buzz? In the past, MarketMatch has used “street teams” to get the word out; teaser campaigns prior to branch opening; creative cash offers; one-day holiday events; and guerrilla marketing to fill branches.
- Measure: You’ll want to keep a close eye on growth. Where are new customers coming from? How did they hear about you? What products are they opening? Are your current customers referring?
There you have it ... how the first 9 chapters of The Art of War can help you take over the marketing world. Remember, with great power comes great responsibility. I trust that you won’t go all Napoleon on us with this information!
Keep an eye out for Part 3 of The Art of War…and Marketing.
With more than 130,000 visits worldwide, we hope that you enjoy this blog. If you find it helpful, please share it with your colleagues. Also, check out our YouTube Channel for short video blogs about financial marketing.
We bring these marketing philosophies to community banks and credit unions nationwide, and would love to bring them to your institution too. Contact us to see how.
MarketMatch is also a nationally and internationally requested speaker. Contact us to bring our marketing ideas to your next conference.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MarketMatch is a marketing firm, dedicated to the credit union and community banking community. We utilize knowledge-based strategies to help you FOCUS on the right story that will generate the greatest MOMENTUM and prove the best RESULTS with our written ROI Guarantee.
Thursday, September 20, 2012
How to Customize New Header Feature on Twitter
Did you know there is a new feature on Twitter with a rather simple name (called a “header”, seen above) that gives you even more room to customize your Twitter profile page? It launched this week (9/18/2012) and is a great space to further enhance your personal or biz brand!
Prominently located on the top right-hand side of your profile page, the header space measures approximately 464 pixels wide by 232 pixels tall. In other words, significantly larger than your profile photo size (in fact, as wide as your tweets displayed on your profile).
This tutorial is going to walk you through the simple process of customizing your Twitter header. After all, the more opportunities you have to set yourself apart on Twitter, the better.
How to Customize New Header Feature on Twitter
- Go to Settings>Design when logged into Twitter.
- Look for “header” area on right-hand side of “design” page.
- Upload your header image (the space measures 464 X 232 when cropped, but Twitter recommends you start with an image larger than this so you can scale up or down and move around within the space.
- Change the overlay color to black to allow your bio text to be more legible.
- Save and review your new design.
Things to keep in mind when uploading your new Twitter header:
- The image you upload will have your profile photo and bio layered on top of the space. That mean’s nothing too busy, and avoiding text unless you are a Photoshop wiz.
- Since the text on top of the header space is white, your best bet is to go with a darker image.
- Opt for sleek, understated designs. You already have your profile photo and background working for your brand. Although the header space is great real estate, things can get a bit busy pretty fast.
Laura is a marketing professional and blogger who has been active in social media since 2005. If you enjoyed this post, please consider subscribing to this blog via Email or
RSS. Laura also runs an Inspired Living blog, LauraCatherine.co and can be found on Twitter (@LauraCatherineO), Facebook, and LinkedIn.AdWords Editor users: Upgrade to version 9.8.1 before October 28, 2012
As we announced in June, AdWords Editor versions 9.5.1 and 9.7.1 will no longer be supported after October 28, 2012. If you continue using version 9.5.1 or 9.7.1 after this date, you'll encounter errors downloading accounts, posting changes to campaign settings, or checking changes. To avoid these issues, please upgrade to the latest version (9.8.1) at your earliest convenience.
You can upgrade to version 9.8.1 through the auto-update prompt that appears when you run AdWords Editor. To preserve unposted changes and comments, select the "Backup then Upgrade" option in the prompt. You can also download the latest version from the AdWords Editor website.
For a complete list of version-specific changes, please see our release notes. To see which version you're using, go to the Help menu > About AdWords Editor (Windows) or the AdWords Editor menu > About AdWords Editor (Mac).
The Art of War...and Marketing
The Art of War is an ancient Chinese military document attributed to Sun Tzu a high-ranking military general, strategist and tactician. It is composed of 13 chapters, each devoted to one aspect of warfare. It is commonly known to be the definitive work on military strategy and tactics of its time.
These writings have helped countless military leaders win land, riches and infamy … and in a wonderful twist of irony, we will focus on how it can help you win your customer’s hearts.
Over the next several blogs, we will break down each chapter. The brief summaries of each chapter are from Wikipedia, but the marketing commentary is all MarketMatch!
1. The Calculations explores the fundamental factors that determine the outcomes of military engagements. By thinking, assessing and comparing these points, a commander can calculate his chances of victory. Habitual deviation from these calculations will ensure failure via improper action.
When creating an annual plan or a campaign, calculations are vital. At MarketMatch, when we begin work with a new client (and periodically throughout the engagement), we look at several fundamental factors before putting pen to paper on a plan or Zenning-out in creative meetings. Every tactical element should be based in strategy and your strategy should be knowledge-based.
- Financials:You can learn a lot from looking at your financials. Review the last 2 years. How are you trending in deposit growth? Loan growth? Checking? Customer/Member growth? Where are your deposits and loans coming from? Does all of this align with your business objectives?
- Market analysis: Market analysis goes way beyond basic market share. Compare market share growth with deposit growth in your branches. Keep in mind that you can see significant deposit growth that barely moves the market share needle because of the size of the total market. Beyond market share, who makes up your market? How’s the income? Job market? Have new employers entered or left? What are the average ages? Are there geographic “pockets” of key demographics? What do traffic patterns look like around your branches? Where does your key demographic hang out?
- Product suite: Take an honest, outsider’s survey or your products (quit for a few days if you have to). Are there any gaps between what you offer and market needs? Do you offer too many accounts? Is there real difference between each checking account? Can your staff clearly define that difference?!? Are you up-to-date on electronic account access? Where are you on price (you should not necessarily be the lowest or the highest)? How does your product suite compare with the competition?
- Communication audit: As objectively as possible, take a look at all of your customer touch points. Is there consistence of look, tone and message? Have you looked at your ATM screens lately? Do your brochures focus on benefits? How are your brochures displayed/distributed? Is your web site easy to navigate? Do you talk “to” customers or “at” them?
- Competitive analysis: One of the first things we typically do in a new engagement is secret shop our new clients and their key competition (see "Lessons from 100 Bank Experiences" for more info). How does your sales/service culture compare? Where do you rank in “share of mind” or awareness? Who’s outpacing in growth and who’s declining? What are their key messages? Do they compete on access, price, products or service? Are they local or out of town? Overall you’re looking for a market need where you have a clear advantage over the competition. The key is differentiation.
2. The Challenge explains how to understand the economy of warfare, and how success requires winning decisive engagements quickly. This section advises that successful military campaigns require limiting the cost of competition and conflict.
This is where you get your budget! How does your marketing plan tie to the overall business plan? Clearly define your objective. Each objective should tie to a key financial measurement. If you grow your customer-base by 5%, how will that impact the bottom line? How will new checking accounts impact non-interest income? How will it effect loans?!? You should be able to estimate the financial impact that your plan will generate. Show anticipated ROI (see "What's The Big R.O.Idea" for more info). If your budget increases, your results should too. And if it decreases … what results do they want to eliminate?
3. The Plan of Attack defines the source of strength as unity, not size, and discusses the factors that are needed to succeed in any war.
The key here is UNITY!
- Unity in branches. Your “main” branch should not feel special. The branche furthest from your “main” branch should not feel left out.
- Unity in departments. Are your business units individual silos (see "Breaking Down the Silos" for more info)? Is there a process in place for business units to refer? Can retail staff talk about commercial products? Do they know what Wealth Management’s best prospects look like?
- Unity of message. Whether you have two branches or 20, the customer experience should be the same in each of them. From the call center, to the teller line, to new accounts, to loan closings, are your processes and expectations the same across the institution?
4. Positioning explains the importance of defending existing positions. It teaches the importance of recognizing strategic opportunities, and teaches not to create opportunities for the enemy.
Each market is different. It is important for the branches to have some flexibility in their local positioning. A marketing mantra of mine is to “give creative the freedom of a tight strategy,” but you can also give the branches the freedom of a tight brand! If your brand position is clearly defined, your branches should be able to operate under the brand umbrella while still focusing on what’s important in their unique market. By allowing branches certain autonomy, you can position your institution as THE local option against larger banks who seem impersonal under cold corporate mandates and create local opportunities.
There you have it ... how the first 4 chapters of The Art of War can help you take over the marketing world. Remember, with great power comes great responsibility. I trust that you won’t go all Napoleon on us with this information!
With nearly 130,000 visits worldwide, we hope that you enjoy this blog. If you find it helpful, please share it with your colleagues. Also, check out our YouTube Channel for short video blogs about financial marketing.
We bring these marketing philosophies to community banks and credit unions nationwide, and would love to bring them to your institution too. Contact us to see how.
MarketMatch is also a nationally and internationally requested speaker. Contact us to bring our marketing ideas to your next conference.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MarketMatch is a marketing firm, dedicated to the credit union and community banking community. We utilize knowledge-based strategies to help you FOCUS on the right story that will generate the greatest MOMENTUM and prove the best RESULTS with our written ROI Guarantee.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)