Who’s Paying Attention to Marketing Basics When Buying Halloween AdWords Ads?

If you do a simple search of Google for the word Halloween, you’ll notice that plenty of companies are throwing down big bucks for positioning. How much, you ask? According to the tools in AdWords, the one word “Halloween” will cost you $0.33 to $0.50/click. Your clicks will run from 1,388 to 1,743 per day, so that’s going to run $470-880 during the Halloween season run-up. For a month of ads in positions 1-3, you might spend $14,000 to $27,000 on ads.

So position #1 in my sample search goes to Universal Studios (see image above.. this is not an actual AdWords ad for this page – fake out! It was real when I originally searched, though). They’re advertising their Halloween Horror Nights event at Universal Studios in Los Angeles (or El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de Los Angeles de Porciuncula – which is the original name of the city… which interestingly can be abbreviated to 3.63% of its size: L.A… but I digress).

The audience is probably teenagers, college kids, wild adults and brave youngsters dragged in by their older siblings, no doubt.

The ad leads with an economic benefit and a promise of being the “most terrifying” event in the area.

That’s kinda good. I would expect it to be scary, but there are probably some better benefits/dreams/visions lurking just below the surface that could have been used in the ad. As I recall, Halloween, theme parks and thrill rides were all about cuddling up to the girls (at a certain age). I’m guessing that this demo fits that profile. If they could insert a teen dream twist in there, it would be even more provoking or compelling. Something like “Defend your sweetie from the most ghoulish thugs in Southern Calif”… or even something Freudian, like “a night that will make you want to run home to Mama.”

The savings pitch could come after that. Here’s the landing page that the Universal Halloween horror nights link ends up at. Let me know what you think of the effort there by posting comments below. I like the testimonial at the end, but I’m not sure the main body text is so motivating.

Position #2 goes to BuyCostumes.com. I like the fast shipping benefit. We all know how last minute costume shopping goes. Selection benefit is good, too. Simple but strong.

OrientalTrading.com is in position #3. Selection and discount are the benefits they’re touting. I’m betting that their ad changed to “fast shipping” as the 31^st approaches. A better approach might describe the end-result benefit and combine that with the economical/discount factor. Something like, “Delight the little ones with discount Halloween treats. Rapid, one-click check-out.” They could also put in a low price guarantee. That’s always reassuring. The last sentence I suggested is something I like to see, because we all know how tedious and slow shopping cart processes are.  It would be a good differentiator when competing for Web business with the likes of Target.com and SamsClub.com.

Target’s in spot #4. It’s weak, but a lot of their branding comes pre-loaded, anyway. What I mean by that is that their benefits are well known by most. You can drive there and find supplies and costumes in stock. They have great prices. You know what you’re getting… etc. You’d think they might have some fun with their ad, though.

The next two – for fairplex.com and SamsClub.com – don’t really bring anything new to the party.

What do you think? Are these companies using AdWords to their fullest potential? Should their ad agencies be fired for “phoning in” the copywriting? Your comments are welcome below.

Last December, social media icon and wine guru Gary Vaynerchuk experimented with several advertising channels to boost www.winelibrary.com’s wine sales. The offer included free shipping and was promoted via three different “media outlets”:

1)     Direct mail (snail mail)

2)     Billboard (traditional outdoor)

3)     Twitter messages about the promotion

Which one was the most successful? Any guesses?

Drum roll….

The direct mail campaign, which cost $15,000, brought in 200 new customers. The billboard ad, which cost $7500 netted 300 new customers. And, the Twitter campaign, whose costs were undisclosed (I can only assume that this would relate to Vaynerchuk’s hourly rate or some deconstruction of his speaking fees), brought in 1,800 new customers.

This is pretty impressive. Most companies could easily justify a Twitter approach, especially if their employees managing the campaign work for a reasonable hourly rate. Even at $200 an hour, an employee logging a couple hours a day scheduling targeted tweets on something like  www.tweetlater.com would pay off. When it comes to reaching people, the numbers are tilted in favor of Twitter. There are some caveats, however (see below).

Consider this: Twitter itself is a target audience of sorts. Gary Vay*ner*chuk’s audience is very tech savvy and connected via social media platforms, tools and social networking sites. If you’re not familiar with GaryVee, I’d suggest doing some googling to figure out who he is. He’s a major force in the “new marketing” biz.. as well as the wine industry.

So, someone like Vaynerchuk can get a lot more mileage out of something like Twitter. His audience is expecting to see him there.. eagerly anticipating his every tweet. A lot of companies don’t have this luxury.

That said, a campaign to build an audience on Twitter couldn’t be a bad thing, right?

Once your audience has some gravity and size, you can pull off promotional campaigns like Vaynerchuk’s. What’s the ideal size and quality of this audience? I don’t know. I’d like to see some research on this. It’s the one thing that’s often overlooked in social media discussion circles.

What are your thoughts? 10,000 followers? Two-thirds of which are involved with the product, brand, solution or issue? (please comment below and share this link via the ShareThis icon)

Technology executives, marketing managers, creative directors, sales people, CMOs, VPs and CEOs all have one thing in common. You have to sell despite the current economic climate.

You can’t just turn off the bull-horn and expect to save money by being quiet, though. That’s a recipe for disaster.

I’ve detailed this elsewhere, demonstrating how the smart companies actually gain market share during recessions or depressions. So I won’t belabor that point any further.

So, how do you connect with customers when they’re so resistant to new spending initiatives? How do you generate better leads when customer budgets are shrinking?

Here a quick, high-level run-down of the pertinent answers.

First, you should show them:

• How your solution saves them money.
• How your solution helps them make money.
• New ways to make money.
• How your solution helps simplify their business.
• How your solution helps them reduce head count (painful as that subject may be).
• How to eliminate wasteful activity.
• Real life customers you’ve helped do all of the above (as case studies)

I can help you do this by writing your white papers and customer case studies, which are crucial lead generation pieces.

The next question you should be asking is: How do I find people that are interested in these topics (with respect to my solutions/products/services)?

I have several different approaches to this last question. Some are social media related, some involve emailing people, some use good old-fashioned direct mail, some utilize Google Adwords and Facebook ads.

If you’d like to explore these topics in more detail and create a marketing campaign that gets immediate results, please give me a call at 949-515-3510 or email me at dunn@qualitywriter.com.

P.S. I have a really efficient system for carrying out these types of direct marketing plans. Please give me a call or email and I’ll tell you how I automate direct response campaigns with my assistant.

P.P.S If you end up hiring me to write some content for you, there’s zero risk. When the copy drives sales it’s essentially free. (All it takes is one extra sale to absorb your writing costs. You can’t lose.) Plus, I personally guarantee my work. You get a full refund by just calling up and telling me where I missed the mark and what I could have done better. I need you to tell me at least five things we could have done better. There’s one little catch: If you decide to keep the copy and continue using my services, I’d like you to give us a referral to one of your colleagues who you think can benefit from our services. Easy.

Yes, times are tight. However, as marketing managers, creative directors and sales people, you still have to sell. I’ve detailed this in other posts and showed you how the smart companies actually gain market share during recessions or depressions. So I won’t belabor that point any further.

Here are the important issues:

How do you connect with customers when they’re so resistant to new spending initiatives? How do you generate better leads when customer budgets are shrinking?

Here a quick, high-level run-down of the pertinent answers:

• Show them how your solution saves them money.
• Show them how your solution helps them make money.
• Show them new ways to make money.
• Show them how your solution helps simplify their business.
• Show them how your solution helps them reduce head count (painful as that subject may be).
• Show them how to eliminate wasteful activity.
• Show them real life customers you’ve helped do all of the above (as case studies)

The next question you should be asking is: How do I find people that are interested in these topics (with respect to my solutions/products/services)?

I have about 10 different approaches to this last question. Some are social media related, some involve emailing people, some use good old-fashioned direct mail, some utilize Google Adwords and Facebook ads.

If you’d like to explore these topics in more detail and create a marketing campaign that gets immediate results, please give me a call at 949-515-3510 or email me at dunn@qualitywriter.com.

P.S. I can help you start figuring out what your prospects are looking for in just a few simple steps. And, conveniently, I’m a marketing writer that can help you develop content that drives sales.

P.P.S. I have a really efficient system for carrying out these types of direct marketing plans. Please give me a call or email and I’ll tell you how I automate direct response campaigns with my assistant. You, too, can do big things with very few people.

If you’re interested in technology trends, I wrote an article for D-Link about RSS photo feeds. This kind of application is simple, like ring tones – hence the title of the article. Yet it’s so much more clever and elaborate.

I write blog posts for D-Link from time to time, and this is the latest one. Which reminds me… are you blogging about your products and services? It’s a great way to communicate with consumers, explore new ideas and uses for your products, and learn from your user/consumer community.

Marianne Kolbasuk McGee wrote a great article on Web trends in the November 26, 2007 issue of InformationWeek. There is so much going on in this market.. the mind reels. Here’s a taste from the lead:

“The old days of companies tightly controlling a marketing message are gone…The interactive forces of the Internet – including social networking sites, online discussion boards, and blogs – are arming consumers with tools that can quickly and exponentially spread the word to other would-be customers if a product stinks or a company blunders… Companies such as Charles Schwab and OnStar are creating Internet platforms to literally read the minds of consumers, seeking out insights that directly drive their new product strategies.” [my emphasis]

This reminded me of AdWords, of course. AdWords is great for driving business or clicks to your site via general advertising techniques. However, what a lot of people don’t realize is that AdWords is a great tool for testing promos, floating new ideas, and reading the minds of consumers. And it’s cheap!.. given the right niched-out keywords.

The article details various ways companies like FedEx, eBay, Schwab and others are using the social connectivity of Web 2.0 (I hate saying Web 2.0, but I did, shame) to their advantage. FedEx’s CIO Rob Carter says, (paraphrased from the article) “The explosive growth of this connectivity has been ‘completely underestimated’ in how it will affect society and markets.” I concur.

The article also talks about some fascinating new trends, like having your Second Life avatar or character purchase things for you or book reservations for you online. I know, that sounds crazy. But think about it. Why the heck not? If you build the right character, with all your tastes, desires, wish lists and so forth, why not set him free on a shopping spree? I’ve never played Second Life, but I assume there are vendors in there, like Amazon.com. (If you know how this works, please comment below and enlighten us.) FedEx’s Carter comments in the article, “Second Life has enough momentum to make us wonder: What if this identity I’ve built could spill over into my daily life and get things done for me?” Your avatar would be like an information robot – tuned to all your preferences and guided by “business rules” that determine decisions.

Carter extends the concepts further, saying, “The greatest opportunities lie in socially networking corporations together – horizontally, across business processes, which don’t necessarily live within your four walls anymore.” Great example = Gaming like Second Life supporting commerce like FedEx and Amazon.com.

The article describes how some companies like OnStar use Nielsen BuzzMetrics to analyze how they’re performing in “consumer-generated media.” This is another hot topic, worthy of another post, probably.

There’s a cool story about Dell’s celebrity advertising campaigns, too. I’ll blog more on that later, too.

In the mean time, read the article. It’s a mind bender.

The following comes from the Online Marketer Blog:

“Not only are 1 in 4 internet users consulting reviews before purchasing offline, but they are willing to pay more if the service is ranked as excellent. It seem that after the year of exuberance that was all about Facebook and twitter, business is finally getting around to answering the question of how social media effects ROI.

“..Users that [sic] sort the list of products by customer ratings spend 41% more than users who search with other methods like popularity or price… Emails that feature customer review content receive 50% higher clickthrough rates.”

Here’s the main article, titled Good For Consumers (And Businesses): Social Media Gets A Glimpse Of Measurable ROI.

So.. for online marketers, it’s now more critical than ever to be building review/social functions into your Web sites and product pages. Customer service performance counts bigtime, too, of course.

And, as consumers, we have to make sure we maintain clear, critical thinking when checking product reviews. I’d like to see some some numbers about the veracity and integrity of online reviews. How much of it is “bro” reviews? How much of it is genuine? Are really nasty reviews the result of competitor campaigns? That would be interesting, yet difficult to quantify.

This is an advanced tip that concerns Google Analytics and link tracking. If you don’t know what those are, I’d suggest taking some time exploring Mark McLaren’s site, McBuzz.com (you can ask him questions, too, of course). McBuzz has a good mix of resources concerning SEO, SEM and Google Analytics. He offers video tutorials, articles and so on.

Ok – so link tracking.. or more specifically, Urchin Tracker scripts for Google Analytics. First the why: As an online business, you want to figure out exactly where your traffic is coming from and which links on your pages are getting clicked. You can do these kinds of things with regular Web pages and Google Analytics. This is especially useful in situations where you educate customers and prospects about your particular products and industry then drive them to your product listings.

There are several ways to analyze traffic. This post covers just a couple (and links to an article that shows you exactly how). Google Analytics is very robust and does more than what’s covered here. With GA, you can set up goal pages, track conversion success, and figure out exactly what’s working on your sites.

Let’s say you want to figure out who’s clicking on what links in your site. Google Analytics works if you set up pages within your site as conversion goals/targets. However, if the links are external, you can’t place the Urchin Tracker code into someone else’s page. If that’s something you’d like to track (which is often the case), then take a look at the following link for the solution. This is from Sulli’s Google Analytics Tips and Tricks by SkiSulli. He shows you the right script to place into your pages and recommends some ways to set it up. As you’ll see, he also shows you how to make this work for email or “mailto:” links. If you want to figure out how many people are clicking on your email address link (and when, how fast, etc), then this is a great solution.

You can then track all of this activity automatically from within Google Analytics. As you get a better sense for what’s driving traffic to your listings, you can then tweak your pages to get better conversion rates and more business to your product purchase Web pages and sites.