Bridging the Culture Gap: Pitching Online Performance Marketing Abroad

Driving revenue through Search rankings requires specialized expertise in Natural Search and strategic link building. Online performance marketers based in the United States often focus their attention on procuring domestic clients. This is understandable and profitable. The number of American advertisers, publishers and SEO agencies looking to outsource SEO is stout. But as Organic Search continues to evolve globally, online marketers would be wise to expand their sales approach to target clients internationally.

As is true of any successful Search initiative, appearing relevant is essential. Online performance agencies should make a concerted effort to expand international hiring practices. For example, if you want to explore business opportunities in Italy, it would make sense from both a sales and marketing standpoint to have a Italian speaking representative make the initial introduction. The next step would be to personalize the site experience. Agencies should create translated versions of their websites, which would not only make it easier for potential clients abroad to acquaint themselves with your services but hopefully facilitate referrals. 

This past summer, Text Link Ads invested in the international hiring market with great success. After adding German and French speaking account representatives to the team, we have seen our monthly revenues in Germany and France grow by 24.7% and 57% respectively. Our reputation among existing clients in those countries has also improved significantly.

Regardless of the performance channel you are preparing to pitch abroad, making a relevant approach is important. It will help you drive revenue through rankings but also through cultural respect and familiarity.

Logo a No Go – The Gap and Online Brand Worth

In a classic branding example of “If it ain’t broke, why in the world are you fixing it”, Gap changed its logo last week and search space exploded with negativity. Gap’s Facebook page fanned the flames of logo anger with the vast majority of users opted to “Like” the old logo. Though Gap CEO Marka Hansen wrote an op-ed for the Huffington Post defending her decision, the social outrage appears to have taken its toll. Hansen is inviting loyal Gap customers to come up with replacement logo concepts. While that is a clever corrective marketing strategy, Hansen should be more concerned with the damage this logo fiasco has caused the Gap brand online.

It would have behooved Hansen to consider what the Gap’s brand image was worth before she put this marketing mishap in motion. If she utilized a brand calculator to gage the value of the Gap’s online reputation, perhaps she would have thought twice about revamping the logo. Online performance marketers should utilize a brand calculator to help their clients, small and large businesses alike, avoid a similar, unnecessary rebranding nightmare.

That Movie about that Facebook Guy

This weekend, The Social Network opened in theaters nationwide. You would have to be living under a rock not to know its Aaron Sorkin’s take on Mark Zuckerberg’s rise to Facebook power. Apparently, the Zuckerberg “character” comes off as a bit of a manipulative meanie . He double crosses his friends, actual human friends, and business partners to keep Facebook his baby. Whatever. Let’s face facts – the movie is gonna make a bejillion dollars.

I don’t have a Facebook account so I’m not Zuckerberg’s friend. I doubt I’ll fork over the $10 to see the film. Those two statements put me in smack dab in the public minority. In fact when I first heard a Facebook movie was in the works, I was tempted to place myself under house arrest. But love him or loathe him, (I’m rather apathetic to him myself) Zuckerberg tapped into something huge. The term “game-changer” is often frivolously tossed around in marketing circles. Facebook has been that in spades.

Indeed, it seems like social media is everywhere. Those of us in the performance marketing game understand its usefulness better than most to leverage audience engagement and enhance brand worth. While it’s true that Facebook has undergone its share of drama this year in lieu of privacy issues and “Open Graph” features, it is still a juggernaut that has helped drive campaign results.  And now it’s driving movie profit results. Good for Hoodie, though I’m sure he’s not going to “Like” his new cinematic fame.

Don’t Do Social for Social’s Sake

Using social media in a marketing campaign for the sake of using social media is about as nonsensical as many Facebook wall posts. Ineffective implementation of social is a growing and problematic trend among traditional and digital marketers. However, recent findings released by Econsultancy.com may put a stop to the social madness.

According to the Econsultancy.com report, paid search eats up the bulk of online lead generation spend. Online lead generation makes up nearly half of B2C sales. What does this have to do with social media? Nothing and everything. It’s about refocusing social media to effectively engage audiences.

Incorporating social into an online lead generation campaign or any performance marketing initiative can leverage consumer interest and be a great branding tool. But having a Facebook or Twitter page to promote your products and services is worthless without utilizing performance marketing expertise to drive conversions and results through those social networks. Social media can benefit your paid search and online lead generation campaigns in the short-term and long-term as long as you are using them for engagement’s sake.

Email Messaging on Target

Advanced deliverability and functionality are essential to a high performing email marketing campaign.  Immediate and intelligent engagement is similarly vital for establishing a fully optimized lead generation and CRM program - as long as it is done right. The goal of driving leads and conversions can be compromised if messages are viewed as SPAM, a major threat to efficiency. Also, some initiatives lack precise and timely reporting to track and explain the delivery fail. The majority of publishers and performance marketers are painfully aware of such email marketing shortcomings. As is true of every performance channel, a program of continuous improvement must be implemented to proactively address deliverability and functionality.

Incorporating an audience-specific proprietary messaging tool into your campaign will alleviate many common email marketing challenges. For instance, MediaWhiz Messaging™ enables advertisers to qualify leads and effectively manage the consumer experience at the highest level. It delivers a cascade of multiple dynamic emails, each with increased urgency, providing the right message to the right consumer at the right time. But a powerful targeting and retargeting strategy must rely on more than a forward thinking messaging tool. It must include a forward thinking client services team.

Leveraging consultative email marketing expertise while optimizing the entire lead generation marketplace will increase conversions and improve cost-efficiency by eliminating unresponsive consumers. Client services and account managers can obtain client information while identifying and recommending unique multiple domains to your client increasing the likelihood of lead generation and lead conversion.

A technologically advanced, proprietary messaging program can drive conversions and increase overall email marketing efficiency. This is more important than ever in the fast-paced, continuously evolving world of online performance marketing where delivering the right message the first time around is what matters most for a high performance campaign.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

The holiday season is fast approaching. You know what that means – turkey (or tofurkey depending on your culinary preference), football and online shopping. Black Friday, traditionally regarded as a nationwide day after Thanksgiving raid on retail storefronts, is becoming more of a digital force. Based on the number of Black Friday sales offered online, Black should be replaced with Bargain. Friday branding aside, performance marketers across all channels should begin tailoring highly targeted campaigns for the day after Thanksgiving and the holiday season as a whole to drive results for advertisers and publishers.

Online coupons figure to be used heavily by savvy shoppers but focusing primarily on this tactic to generate new business could alienate existing customers. Media buys on top-performing, contextually and lifestyle relevant sites must target shoppers with purchasing intent, not passing site visitors. Opt-in campaigns must be more dynamic and consumer friendly. Banner ads need to be more engaging to increase conversions to sale. For seasonal Search initiatives, driving highly relevant traffic is key.

The strategies outlined are consistent with those of performance marketers year round. However, the holiday season presents digital marketers with a shorter window of opportunity to drive ROI. Hitting the right target, whether that is a new or current consumer, is essential.

Corporate America Embraces ORM

To paraphrase Warren Buffet, it takes years to build a reputation and only minutes to ruin it. This has long been the rallying cry for performance marketers pitching Online Reputation Management (ORM). According to a recent published report in AdWeek, the message is resonating.
This summer, much maligned oil producer BP drastically increased its Search advertising spend from around $60,000 a month to over $3.6 million in June. Of course, this investment in ORM was in response to the devastating Gulf oil spill. The bulk of BP's initial spending on advertising after the disaster was targeted toward traditional mediums. The company was forced to adjust its strategy upon realizing that people were actively seeking information on BP and openly expressing disdain for BP. BP wasn’t controlling their brand message effectively. They weren’t being proactive.
Had a robust ORM platform been in place for BP ahead of the spill, negative user posts on blogs, social media networks and websites would have been better monitored. Though the disaster still would have occurred, the aftermath in search space wouldn’t have been as far-reaching nor would the investment to clean up BP’s online reputation been as costly.