Oriol Gifra

On February 19, 2016 Google confirmed that search results pages on desktop will no longer show text ads in the right sidebar. Instead, as many as four text ads will display above the organic listings, and three text ads will show at the bottom of the page.

Reading different articles and expert opinions most of them suggest to keep calm, because at the end of the day it only seems to affect around 15% of the total click traffic and even less. Only 14,6% of clicks went to the side bar ads.

Furthermore, this change only is affecting to desktop Google version.

In my opinion after many tests finally Google decide to launch this version because:

• It generates more revenues for Google
• Is more responsive., more mobile friendly
• Keeps sidebar free of content, that can be used for valued content such recommendations, Google Shopping, etc…

But for my the #1 reason is revenue. I don’t think Google went to that decision if it would not generate more profit for them. From outside viewer, I see Google can generate more profit in 3 ways:

• Getting bids up, as there is less ad space offering
• Generating more clicks above the fold, as there now no chance to click on the side, and because organic in many screen ressolutions comes hidden below the fold.
• As SEO lose weight, less Adsense payments to be done, as less clicks are captured in SERP’s

As a conclusion, I would say from my point of view that we are facing in the coming months:

• Higher ad pricing
• Less SEO impact

Let’s see the near future.

Recently I attended to a mentoring session about StratUp financing.

One of the topics a liked the most was How to valuate an Stratup (Pre-Money Valuation), specially in its seed stage.

After discussion, the conlusion was that it will depens on the market (demand, offer, interest).

After researching a little you can find some interesting infographics I sahre with you here.

Visit the source and explanation of the above infigraphic clicking here.

Also, in spanish version and for Spain, it exist this infographic. Let’s say I have some doubts of how here are valuated ideas and seed companies, but… I share it with you as well (for spanish enterpreneurs).

See source and comments here.

It also may be interesting for you this article about WhatsApp acquisition from Facebook. Mark Zuckerberg paid $19 billion for WhatsApp in cash and stock.  WhatsApp has 450 million users. Hence, Facebook paid $42 per user. Is that price high or low?. Read the article here.

Finally, want a calculator 🙂 .. check out here.

Before starting a new project or investing in a new marketing campaign think twice how good and different are you.

If your service or product is excellent you have 50% of effort done. People will help you spread your brand through recommendation.

The other 50% of the effort you should try to work is to answer the question; why you and not your competitor?

The answer is differentiation.

Take a look to this old but still useful video of Seth Godin:

It is curious to see that very few people within the marketing world to copywriting art. Yes, it is an Art!, as it has a creative side… but anyone can learn a lot reading from the experts.

We keep being humans (at least some of us :-), what it means our emotional side of decision making is important.

Good copywriting impact directly to emotions. Let me share with you 8 Great Rules from Eugene Schwartz, one of the best copywriters ever.

1. Be the best listener you ever met.

Just listen to what the market is saying. Eugene Schwartz used to get into a taxi and start interrogating the cab driver, because that’s one good way to tap into what the market is saying. Watch the top 10 box office movies. Even if you don’t like it, watch anyway because that is what the market is thinking and feeling. When you do that, you:

(i) Write copy that directly targets their minds

(ii) You are able to market your products more effectively because you know

2. Work extremely intensely, in spurts.

This is increases your productivity. Focus all your energy on one thing, don’t multi-task, and then move on to the next thing when you’re done.

3. Never “create”- know the product to the core and combine the details in new ways.

Hold the product until it surrenders its strength to you. Know it inside out. You don’t have to create anything new, but you do need to find all its existing strengths and combine them in new ways to present it to the public.

4. Write to the chimpanzee brain – simply and directly.

You should write for the 8-14 year old. Don’t make assumptions.

5. Channel demand – never sell.

You do not create desire for your product. You take an existing demand in the market, and you channel it into your products. So for example, for a market that is into weight loss, you don’t create a desire to lose weight.

6. Think about what your product “does”, not “is”- and demonstrate this.

Talk about the benefits, and talk even more about the emotional benefits. Let the features take a back seat.

7. Make gratification instantaneous.

In the copy or marketing itself, the prospect should already begin to get gratification, or feel like they are already getting something from you or your product.

8. Failing often, and testing big differences, shows you are trying hard enough.

It is best try to, thant don’t do!. Today differentiation is a must.

Guess the most searched phrase in 2015 in Googler for “How to…” in Spain?… yes!. How to be Happy?.

If you take a look to the Global trend at Google Trends on this topic (happiness) you will find an increasing number of searches over time searching the answer for the same question.

What’s happening in our 1st class world?. Probably this is a complex and long answer, but I just wanted to share with you here this trend because as people is getting more and more unhappy it increases the opportunity for that “increasing happiness demand” for brands.

Beyond what ourselves can do (that is a lot!)  to think about how we manage our life to be more happy, I think brands have a huge opportunity to help make people more happy in their unhappy daily life!.

Love your family, friends and customers. They need it more than ever!!!

The reputation marketing field has evolved from the marriage of the fields of reputation management and brand marketing.

Recently myself experienced two very different customer experiences:

On one side I travelled with my family for Christmas Holidays. Before travelling I choosed though Booking.com a small hotel in a small town north Catalonia, at the Empordà Area.

My decision, like thousands of others made by people like me looking for an hotel (or restaurant or any other product or service) was based upon the hotel rating at Booking.com. And I can said it was correct the rating and the hotel was very nice place to stay.

According to a research most of  consumers read customer reviews, and trust those reviews as much as personal recommendations.

Key ‘Takeaways’ From Research:

• 92% of consumers now read online reviews (vs. 88% in 2014)
• 40% of consumers form an opinion by reading just 1-3 reviews (vs. 29% in 2014)
• Star rating is #1 factor used by consumers to judge a business
• 44% say a review must be written within 1 month to be relevant
• Only 13% of consumers consider using a business that has a 1 or 2 star rating
• 68% say positive reviews make them trust a local business more (vs. 72% in 2014)
• Consumers are becoming more concerned about fake reviews

This is a good practice to take care about your customers, the servie your provide to them… as they are not only payers… they are trully your brand ambassadors and salesforce.

The opposite side of my holidays I experienced yestarday, on 31th Dec. I went to Junior Sports Club, my Sports Club were I and my family used to go. Because it was the last day of the year they reduced the normal opening schedule closing before as it was an normal day. I fully undestood that.

My surprise came when I went to do some cycling in the morning, because as explained they closed in the evening. They did not allow my to access because I only pay for afternoon-evening access. Although it was a special day (last day of the year) an they has closed at the time I use to go, they did not allow my to access.

After arguing with receptionist it was not possible to access, so I decided quit as a customer.

I expose this personal case here, because I think it is useful to analyze from the reputation marketing point of view.

The unfair decision taken by the Junior Sports Club  has the following impact:

• Lose a customer of around 1,500€/year value (access fee + other year expenses such restaurant, etc…)
• Born of a “maleware” brand ambassador, who instead recommending the Club, will probably do the opposite (do not recommend =avoid this place). This time of consumers are very dangerous, because is not that they do not recommend, it is that usually when asked they do the opposite, recommend “to do not (go/eat/buy)”.
• It cost 7 times more get a new customer than loyalize.

The bad reputation spreading is very dangerous and the risk depends basically on to 2 factors:

• Degree of activity of the angry customer, who may want be active in writing, rating and sharing/spreading his bad experience with everyone on the internet.
• Degree of influence, it is, how connected is the customer on Social Media. Has him many fans/followers?

Recommendations to deal with Reputation Marketing crisis:

1.Create an excellent Customer Care assistance, where customer is first. It means:

a) Fast and personal assistance

b) Fast and excellent problem solution

c) Avoid arguing with the customer.

d) Problem should be seen as a “brand free advertising” opportunity if it is solvented and customer goes from angry to happiness fast.

2.  Solvent the problem first, then manage it internally

Avoid problems go outside. Solvent problems first & fast, and then manage it internally.

3. Time is key

Act fast, in Real Time. Time runs against you as it gives customer the chance to start trying manage the problem by himself and his way, and usually it is the starting point of the bad reputation path.

Nowadays it seems there is a fashion for shaping up. Running seems to be one of the best options to shape up.

My opinion (and I let it for time coming written here 🙂 is that running is not a fashion. It has come to stay for a long long time as running has many many demonstrated benefits:

• Active Body, Younger Brain: bit.ly/1S5TvWj
• Our running nature is inside us, it comes from ancient times as demonstrated by Christopher McDougall: bit.ly/1JfZGAC
• It seems runners live longer: bit.ly/1JTZGwk

I have created, along with my brother and a nice and professional team RunnerSquare, to me the best running app.

Why the best.. it exist many such Endomondo, Runtastic or Nike+?

• We put people in front of numbers. As you go into our website an app you see a social timeline, not a countdown running watch or counter. People before numbers! Experience before data! All before “me”.
• Our core is not competitive. We aim to be a social app, the app of everybody and for all ages.
• We are truly SOCIAL: love networking, love partnership, love teams, love charity
• We promote healthcare, partnership and charity as our 3 basic pillars. We think running helps being healthy, improve partnership and we go beyond ourselves and run for a cause. That’s why we integrates charity in our runs. Anyone running with our app automatically is donating for a cause (paid by a partner company).
• We are not branded app
• We are completly free, no premiums, no fees!
• Our innovative business model improves your health, generates social energy (charity) and is free for users.
• We just have started, we are small now… but worlds goes social, we do so, we surf the same wave, let time put us at the top with your help 🙂

You are welcome to  join us and test RunnerSquare, best running app (new version coming beginning 2016!):

RunnerSquare Android 

RunnerSquare iOS (iPhone)

In a recent study of Active View data by Google, was found that 56.1% of all ads served were not measured viewable. Yet, the average publisher’s viewability is 50.2%. This means a small number of publishers are serving the majority of non-viewable impressions and dragging down the served impression viewability average by almost 6%.

Google released an infographic, “Five Factors of Viewability,” showing that “many display ads that are served never actually have the opportunity to be seen by a user.”

A display ad is considered viewable when 50% of an ad’s pixels are in view on the screen for a minimum of one second as defined by Media Rating Council.

The most viewable position is right above the fold, not at the top of the page.

The most viewable ad sizes are vertical units. Not a surprise, since they stay on screen longer as users move around a page.

But all those rates are not surprising to me. Since more than 4 years stats are demonstrating more and more that Display Ads for most advertisers simply don’t work, because if you are trying to engage users, they simply ignore that type of pushing messages.

Let me give you some more stats:

The average banner ad has a 0.1% clickthrough rate (CTR), and the standard 468×60 banner has a 0.04% CTR.

Some more articles:

1. You are more likely to complete NAVY SEAL training than click a banner ad. (Source:Solve Media)
   
2. Only 8% of internet users account for 85% of clicks on display ads (and some of them aren’t even humans!). (Source: comScore)
   
3. You are more likely to get a full house while playing poker than click on a banner ad.(Source: Solve Media)
   
4. The average person is served over 1,700 banner ads per month. Do you remember any?(Source: comScore)
   
5. You are more likely to summit Mount Everest than click a banner ad. (Source: Solve Media)
   
6. The average clickthrough rate of display ads is 0.1%. (Source: DoubleClick)
   
7. You are more likely to birth twins than click a banner ad. (Source: Solve Media)
   
8. About 50% of clicks on mobile ads are accidental. (Source: GoldSpot Media)
   
9. You are more likely to get into MIT than click a banner ad. (Source: Solve Media)
   
10. You are more likely to survive a plane crash than click on a banner ad. (Source: Solve Media)
    

These stats were curated from this article from Hubspot

Again, I confirm the future is the relationship marketing. Only permission based one to one brand-consumer-brand conversations and relations are (as always have been) really effective.

Let’s adapt old effective relationship marketing techniques to online environment. Don’t push me because you don’t see me!. Treat me please as we were having a coffee and you (brand) was explaining me a story, an add value conversation, those interesting conversations that make me think that (brand) is interesting to me because is offering me something valuable.

Would you like someone to be shouting you when is suposed to persuade you? That’s for me Display, event retargeted one, what I consider invasive.

Advertising agencies I suggest you to start working on the new era of relationship marketing where keywords like Big Data, CRM, e-mail marketing permission, Social Media… should work better and be much more effective than Display.

Someone can tell me.. well, Display can be useful for awareness campaigns… yes, may be for that, but the problem remains the same… people is not even watching to that ads. I count 3,2,1… to skip the Youtube teaser ad. Don’t you?

Let’s be smarter, Now we have much more data than never. Use it with the correct tools, moment and objectives. It seems Display is not really the tool, moment nor useful for many advertisers objectives.

Now it has been a long time since I did not write nothing in my blog. Sorry for those who expected more text from me but sometimes life goes in many directions at same time and, sincerely, I need to learn how to manage it: 4 kids, preparing my first Half Ironman in Mallorca Island (next 11th May), working a lot and spending time with friends and family takes all my time.

Once made this short introduction, let’s go to my today’s post.

I’ve been in London this weekend attending at the Digital Pharma Conference as a speaker. My presentation was focused on Relationship Marketing as a key pillar for the future of business differentiation, including Pharma Industry.

In a world where every day is more and more difficult to launch new products, which are copied the day after (at least in a similar way), and where everybody have the same marketing tools, and creativity not always is enough to be different, the only way out is build LASTING RELATIONSHIPS with current and potential customers.

I think today is not enough to sell by push, and in fact, I think the future will demonstrate a change of 180ª in the way we used to sell in the past century. The art of selling will come through a real relationship with customers, where customitzation, closeness and respect will be key factors within this relationship.

In fact, I’m really not discovering nothing new. Since 2010 Philip Kottler is talking about Marketing 3.0: From Products to Customers to the Human Spirit, which for me is pretty much the same concept in other words. I would summarize it as “humanizing business relationships“. Without humanizing it, never can be lasting relationships. 

Without true relationships, for instance, it always may happen that some competitor comes and takes your customers because your product is a little bit more expensive (just few cents).

I think better we start changing our minds and instead considering B2C we consider it B2VIP  (Business to Very Important Person). Don’t you think?.

Quite often we see many possibles choices in our daily lives; supermarkets, TV channels, restaurant’s food options… and I think is good sometimes to remember that more choices do not necessarily mean better service or more sales.

Let me put a very personal and simply example occured when I was younger.

When I was around 23 years old I went to Equador to a Cooperation Camp, 200 km far from Quito, in the mountains. There I was sharing during one month the same walls with 50 child who were abanodend by their parents. 

One of the things that I remember the more is the permanent smile of those child, who did not have many options. In fact, in many things they simply did not have none, but the smile more than many child living in modern and prosperous cities around the world having much more in many senses (products, care, knowledge…).

I link this personal experience with some scientifics discoverings that demonstrate that more choices generates anxiety for many reasons (ignorance of which is the most suitable selection, fear of the wrong selection, fear of what people will say ..) 

The idea that more choices leads to more freedom, and more freedom to more welfare is FALSE.

Let me share the following evidences with you:

1. Listen Barry Schwartz: The paradox of choice

2. See the experiment professor Dan Ariely made with their students at Massachusetts Institute of Technology

3. Read this interesting article from New York Times: Too Many Choices: A Problem That Can Paralyze

From online marketing point of view the conclusion is very easy:

To many choices probably have more negative impact than positive. The negative impact can affect on usability aspects that can have a direct impact on sales, registration, lead generation, etc…:

Rememeber some usability quotes:

– Do Not Make Me Think

– Do KISS (Keep It Simply and Smooth)

– Do it faster

– Do it better

– Do it easy

– Remember that too many Call to Action make confuse users

To many choices can confuse you thinking more in HOW MANY rather than the WHY (you would do it and users would do it) which is much more important.

Are you offering to many choices to your users from your web, e-mail, iPad…?. Now may be is time to optimize this also.