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Ad Campaign Launched To Debunk SEO Misconceptions
This morning, I came across this press release and I have to say … I will just let you read .. what people will do for attention. Their premise is not unreasonable, but for anyone in the industry to tell you that you should only have text on your website … that is just wrong; and in my opinion that person does not know anything about what the Search Engines like or dislike … hence the instant SEO expert (which I deal with daily - everyones an expert).
They have a series of video ads mimicking the Apple ads you see on TV. Maybe being a creative media company they should be original with their videos. After watching them, I would have to say that they are the ones advocating misconceptions in SEO. - See for yourself.
Videos are here - really bad anchor text @^&%*# :o)
Ad Campaign Launched To Debunk Search Engine Optimization Misconceptions
http://www.clickpress.com/releases/Detailed/23339005cp.shtml
[ClickPress, Mon Dec 11 2006] Anyone in business who has any interest in using the Web to further his or her business is well aware of “search engine optimization.” Not a day goes by that email in-boxes aren’t filled with information on how to get the best search engine results, but is search engine optimization the answer to increasing sales or improving corporate branding?
In The Beginning There Was Marketing
Yes .. in the beginning there was marketing and there still is, just now the main conduit for marketing on the web is through a Search Engine. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a technical form of Marketing … Do people that use the internet use a Search Engine? Wouldn’t it make sense to market through a medium that your target audience uses?
Jerry Bader, Senior Partner of MRPwebmedia say there’s a better way for companies to deliver their messages and improve their bottom lines - “For some time we have been preaching the importance of delivering the marketing message and that your message should not be corrupted or distorted by techniques aimed at attracting search engine robots well driving away real people who may actually be potential customers.”
Bader realizes that in many circles this attitude is considered outright heresy, but he hopes there are a few marketing types around that understand websites have to deliver more than miscellaneous random eyeballs; “websites have to deliver a message that is memorable, understandable, useable, and if you’re really good at your job, information that can be incorporated into your audiences’ belief system.”
Bader knew an attitude sea-change was taking place when Google the primary target of this SEO obsessive compulsive frenzy of technical slight-of-hand announced that they were instituting Google Video Ads and to add a little icing on the cake, they purchased YouTube adding to their already considerable investment in Google Video.
Bader commented. “Somebody at the big “G” thinks video is a viable Web-medium even if the purveyors of search engine fool’s gold would have you believe otherwise.”
The list of companies, including Forbes, Amazon, Wyeth, and Ford, delivering Web-audio and Web-video grows daily and this phenomenon is not restricted to major corporations. Small companies are using multimedia to get the edge on their larger competitors who still have their heads buried in the search engine optimization sand.
Acknowledging All The Issues
In developing the MRPwebmedia campaign to promote the use of Web-audio and Web-video as an effective method of delivering marketing messages over the Web, Bader identified four key issues that would have to be addressed:
(a) They had to demonstrate that website design was about delivering the marketing message and not just search engine optimization.
(b) They had to demonstrate that even small and medium-sized companies could afford professional Web-audio and Web-video and that it wasn’t cost prohibitive.
(c) They had to demonstrate that professional Web-audio and Web-video required more than just the ability to use a video camera and that professional multimedia story-telling required a unique set of creative skills and technical ability not often found in-house in most businesses.
(d) They also had to demonstrate that the development and production of creative multimedia marketing and professional webmedia content had to do with talent and experience, not size.These were the challenges that informed all their subsequent decisions.
The Concept
In order to make people pay attention to what they had to say they needed a concept that was both familiar and edgy. Sure they were sticking a finger in the eye of all the search engine optimizers but as Bader says, “you can’t be afraid to make a strong statement if you want people to sit-up and take notice, especially if you are fighting a tidal wave of misconception.”
The fact that they were telling people that delivering their marketing message on the Web using multimedia was more important than search engine optimization was enough to make what they were doing controversial, but they also needed a vehicle that allowed them to present the opposing point of view. Bader says, “What we needed was a recognizable style that demonstrated our ability to deliver a memorable, comprehensible, useable, belief-altering message in the medium we were promoting.”
Since they primarily use Macintosh computers for all their work and only use PCs to check for compatibility, they thought they would pay homage to the brilliant Mac commercials running on television. Bader says, “The format worked for us because it allowed us to create two characters of our own that would present opposing points of view over a series of videos that would comprise the campaign. We knew that some people would react unfavorably to our using such a familiar format but we figured it would demonstrate how even small but talented production companies can deliver high quality multimedia Web-based marketing on tight budgets.”
A Market Primed and Ready
Bader’s continuing efforts from numerous articles written, advocating the power of using the human voice and image to deliver marketing stories over the Web was finally getting through to companies who were fed-up with the cost and ineffectiveness of continually chasing the holy grail of search engine optimization.
Now this is a prime example of why our industry needs to weed out the instant so-called SEO Experts
Bader says, “Company presidents and marketing managers were starting to listen, starting to realize there was another way. This campaign was aimed at pushing these business executives to act on what they already knew: good marketing is about delivering the message, not keyword density.”
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I found these clever and smart, and I don’t have a problem with satire of the apple ads. In fact, that makes them even more smart to me, playing off a success like that.
I no nothing of their seo strategy or mantras, but I am impressed by their marketing initiative. It is almost impossible to separate yourself in the SEO market today. Andy Beal wrote about this exact type of thing here the other day. Five Secret Strategies to Add $1 Million in Revenue to your Interactive Marketing Agency in 2007.
Strategy 1 - Stand out from the crowd
Revenue Value = $100,000 in 2007
If you’re hoping to establish your marketing firm as a leader in its field, you’ll likely find lots of companies already established and better positioned to win clients. Simply launching a firm and blending-in with the rest of your peers is not the way to enter a market that is maturing or already saturated. Even the young search engine marketing (SEM) industry is filled with hundreds - if not thousands - of search marketing firms, all promising “top rankings”, “increased conversions” and “great customer service”. Too many SEM firms launch with the very same message and then languish in obscurity. If you want to avoid falling victim to this wasteland of mediocrity, you’ll have to be different.
Jim -
I would happen to agree with you on most points, especially on their marketing initiative, but I do take issue with the slamming of the SEO Industry .. but, then again I would
Scott, yeah, but 90% of the battle in a crowded market, laced with confusion from the buyer side, is to simply stand out.
Like I said, I know nothing of their practices, I just know they’ll be successful because they stand out.
You ever see those Aflac commercials with the duck? Nobody knew who they were before the duck, nobody. Now, they are HUGE.
Get noticed, at all costs.
You are absolutely correct about the marketing … its the message (even if it is effective) I have issues with.
I guess I’m looking for a clean industry image and we are still a bit off
Your site information is really nice…Even..”The big money goes to those companies with superior marketing operations. Entrepreneurial companies
of today must evolve from being sales oriented to being marketing oriented in order to now win the
consumer.” - Scott DeGarmo, “The Selling Issue”, Success Magazine
marketing