Technical issues are often easier to repair than the damage done to a company’s reputation in the aftermath of such problems. Just ask Dell.
And while it looks like Yahoo has finally resolved the technical problems that have plagued its ad system for more than a week, the company now has some image hurdles to overcome.
The technical problems, caused by a systems upgrade to Yahoo’s core database, left some search marketers unable to manage their campaigns. Although most ads continued to run during the problems, some advertisers found that their credit cards and bank accounts were being charged continuously for amounts several times over the budget they had set.
Yahoo plans to address compensation for advertisers who were unable to manage their accounts on a case-by-case basis.
On August 28, a week after the problems started, Yahoo’s President of Search, Ted Meisel, emailed paid search clients to let tem know the problem was almost completely repaired. He noted that Yahoo was hopeful any additional service interruptions would be minor as the company continued to fine-tune its systems.
Prior to that communiqué, most advertisers claim that Yahoo made no attempt to contact them regarding the ongoing problems or to respond to calls for answers.
Many noted that the timing of this problem could hurt Yahoo, since rival Microsoft is preparing to launch of its own paid search program.
A good time was had by all - okay, almost all - who dared to participate in the Revenue magazine field trip to see The 40 Year-Old Virgin. If you don’t blink you can catch a glimpse of the magazine in the movie. Really! I saw it. Admittedly, you have to be watching extremely closely, know exactly what issue you are looking for (Revenue’s Holiday 2004 issue) and seriously, I can’t stress this enough – DON’T BLINK!!
Anyway, I now think it’s safe to say that Revenue is the only magazine dedicated to performance marketing that has appeared in a film that was number one at the box office for at least one week in a month that began with the letter “A”; Woo whoo. Quite an honor.
Ok, now it’s time to move on to the exciting events of online marketing. Here are some of the events that everyone is (or should be) talking about this week.
The movie opened last Friday to bofforeviews. Though, at the risk of sounding too high brow about my films…I seriously doubt it’s on par with the cinematic masterpiece “Shakes the Clown”.
Once again, I can hear you all collectively shaking your heads and asking, “Just what the heck do a slew of genital jokes and potentially sophomoric humor have to do with online marketing?”
Not much. Except that months back Revenue was contacted by the Universal Studios and asked to sign a release so the magazine could appear in a scene of the movie. We gladly agreed - provided, of course, that the image of Revenue was used in a positive manner. I’m not sure exactly what we were thinking since the movie is comedy about middle-aged man who has never had sex. Oh, well. Fingers crossed.
Anyway, if you see the movie, look for Revenue Magazine alongside a bunch of other business and tech magazines. I haven’t seen the flick yet, so I’m curious. I just hope our big screen debut didn’t get left on the cutting room floor.
On Wednesday the entire Revenue team is going to see the movie. The fact that our magazine might ever-so-briefly appear in the movie is merely an excuse to leave work a little early, see a flick on company time (and their dime) and mostly laugh at some good old-fashioned R-rated humor. I expect good times. I also expect a large popcorn and some Junior Mints.
Now, I’m back to finish up (finally) my story on blogging and podcasting for our next issue.
If you spotted Revenue Magazine in the movie or just want to blab about blogging (or podcasting) let me know. lisap@revenuetoday.com
Another sort of lame, but more ironic (no, not moronic) excuse for not updating the blog…I was busy attending a blogging conference.
The Blog Business Summit , held this week in San Francisco, was a great learning and networking experience for me.
Typically, I attend a show, listen to what the speakers spew from the podium, take lots of notes, chat with some attendees and then exit to write my story on whatever topic was discussed. Then very soon I’m on to the next subject.
And yes, part of my motivation for attending this particular conference was that I’m working on a big feature for the Fall Issue of Revenue how online marketers are embracing new technologies such as blogging and podcasting. But I’m also blogging for Revenue and would like to know more about how to make our own blog successful.
When I returned from Thursday’s sessions I didn’t want to immediately add the newly-gathered information to my story. I didn’t want to quickly write up what I had learned. I didn’t want to do more reporting on the topic (though, I still need to). Instead, I wanted to implement what I had learned. I felt excited and invigorated. I wanted to test out some new tricks and tips. I want to blog. Yes, blog.
I left the office Thursday morning feeling like the blog was this huge thing weighing me down – taking me away from my “real” job of putting out the magazine. I returned with a new perspective about the Revenue blog being a crucial part of my job. It’s not just another tedious task that must be performed so I can check it off my daily to-do list. Our blog is an integral part of our magazine’s communication and interaction with you – our readers and subscribers.
Ok, that sounded a bit like some corporate speak. What I mean is that journalism has evolved. It’s no longer a one way street. It’s not about some big entity that prints word on paper (or online) and pushes that out to nameless, faceless readers who consume the thoughts and ideas and maybe respond on a letters to the editor’s page. It’s about being part of the community you’re writing about, interacting with your readers, and establishing relationships and having all parties benefit from those more intimate ties.
It’s not like I just figured that out yesterday. For years, I’ve thought that’s how it should be, but taking the necessary steps isn’t always easy. In fact, it’s very hard. However, the Internet and tools, such as those for blogging and podcasting, simplify the process of reaching out to readers and allow them to give us feedback.
Anyway, that’s enough about how I’m starting to get the blog religion. I just want to add a few thoughts about the conference itself before I move on to putting the final touches on the next issue.
First, about 90 percent of the attendees had their laptops out during the session. Not sure if they were all blogging about the conference, taking notes or just surfing the net. It was great to look out and see a sea of people all typing feverishly.
I ended up running into no fewer than a dozen folks I’ve worked in the past or knew from their previous jobs lifetimes ago. Most notably, I ran into Shel Israel. Back when I was a young reporter starting out as a tech journalist at PCWeek, Shel ran his own PR agency. He had some big name players as clients and I dealt with him on very regular basis. That was back in the day before PR agencies became nearly irrelevant, as Shel and I lamented when we caught up.
Shel just finished (the day before I saw him) writing a book he’s co-authoring with one of the blogsphere’s biggest stars Robert Scoble. The book, called “Naked Conversations” is due out in January and there was a big buzz about it among the Blog Business Summit attendees.
As a former tech journalist, I’ve been following Scoble for long time and I also enjoyed hearing his talk (given with noted blogger Dave Taylor). I can’t wait for the book. I preordered my copy from Amazon as soon as the session let out.
Meanwhile, if you want to see who is getting attention for their blogs; check out the Feedster 500 list of top blogs. Affiliate marketing consultant Shawn Collins made the list.
Let me know me know how you are using blogs in your online marketing efforts. Lisap@revenuetoday.com
Sorry for the delay in posting. I’ve been buried with deadlines and in the midst of all the craziness I ran off to the Search Engine Strategies 2005 conference in San Jose for a few hours.
I was only at the SES show for half the day Tuesday. It was a little bit of search and search-related information overload, but I the 50 mile-plus drive back to my office in San Francisco helped me process all the info and sort through all the pens, rubber balls and corporate chotchkes/swag I accumulated.
While at the show I managed to attend the keynote with Search Engine Watch Editor Danny Sullivan asking questions of Ask Jeeves CEO Steve Berkowitz for 30 minutes. I also sat in on two sessions about blogging and I visited almost every booth in the exhibitor hall. There were more than 70.
The Q&A session with Ask Jeeves’ Berkowitz wasn’t nearly as exciting as I’d anticipated (too short), but it still provided some interesting moments or at least some interesting sound bites. While the bulk of the conversation dealt most with Ask Jeeves’ role after being acquired by Barry Diller’s InterActive Corp. (IAC), there were also questions about Ask Jeeves’ sponsored search and the possible name change for the company.
Berkowitz said he hopes to leverage IAC properties, such as iWon, with its broad consumer platform, Excite, HSN and other brands to grow Ask Jeeves.
Though Ask Jeeves just launched its own paid search ad program, he said company isn’t looking to sever ties with Google. “We love the Google relationship. I can see it lasting forever,” Berkowitz said. Ask Jeeves’ partnership with Google ends in 2007. But Berkowitz noted that is a long way off. Meanwhile, Ask Jeeves will continue to focus on creating relationships with advertisers directly. “This is not about negotiations with Google, it is not about … Microsoft and Overture,” he said. “This is about our focus on developing our relationship with advertisers. We need to understand conversion and deal directly with the advertiser.”
When questioned about the possibilities of a new name for the company, Berkowitz said that a new name hadn’t been decided yet. Although, it sounded like IAC was looking to leverage the Ask Jeeves brand awareness by going with Ask or Jeeves or maybe even continuing with Ask Jeeves.
Next, I was onto the blogging sessions. Both were packed – in fact, overflowing into the hallways. My first session, called “RSS, Blogs & Search Marketing”, examined how search engines are dealing with blog and RSS feeds and how providing syndicated content can drive new search-related traffic.
It was interesting but nothing earth-shattering. The talk centered on how your blog can include great content but if no one knows your blog exists then you’re just spinning your wheels.
There were a lot of tips about how to get noticed in the sea of blog noise (also tons of stats on the explosive growth of blogging). Most of the advice seemed obvious – have something interesting to say with a new and interesting perspective, make sure you get your blog read by decision makers, influencers and other high-profile bloggers, use RSS to ping al the relevant syndication services.
The other session was about search engines and blogs. The session, “Meet The Blog & Feed Search Engines,” had some heavy hitters from the major blog and feed search engines (Feedster, Technorati, BlogLines, Findory and Moreover) and offered a chance to find out about what happening from those in the trenches. I actually found out quite a few things that might be useful to us here at Revenue and some info that will definitely make it into my forthcoming story about online marketing using blogs, which is coming out in the Fall Issue of Revenue.
There also seemed to be a lot of buzz at the show about search and personalization, local search (also a feature article in the Fall Issue of Revenue) and alternatives to pay-per-click.
There was a lot going on this week and it looks like it’s not going to slow down for a while. Next week the Search Engine Strategies conference will be in full swing in San Jose.
I’ve been bombarded with people looking to set up meetings, briefings and product demos. Search is certainly a hot area and I look forward to hearing the leading authorities speak on the latest developments and what’s in store for the future.
Check back next week and I’ll post something about the interesting happenings at the conference. Meanwhile, in honor of the upcoming search show, here’s some search news from this week:
News that adware maker and behavioral marketing firm Claria is attempting to phase out the bothersome pop-ups used for ad delivery left me wondering about my own ability to forgive and forget – especially when it comes to the corporate world.
When it comes to friends, family, acquaintances or co-workers, I like to think that I’m able let go and not hold grudges. I forgive, though I’m not sure I ever forget. And maybe, just maybe, I hold on to some lingering resentments, but those are issues that I’ll leave for the professionals to analyze.
Anyway, there are “a few” people that I’ve had run-ins with that I’ve been able to overcome the issues and move on to new phases of our relationships. But when it comes to businesses I have to admit that I’m really not one for giving second chances. Restaurants, retailers or particular brands – if you’ve done something that I perceive to have impacted me negatively, then our relationship is usually over. Done. Fini.
My reasoning is that I have so many other options. If Sprint doesn’t meet my needs as a customer then there’s always Verizon, Cingular or AT&T. If a restaurant has rude service and so-so food, there are thousands more in San Francisco to try.
When it comes to friends, folks aren’t lining up to be one of my best pals. I realize it’s a very tough job and not everyone has the chops. That makes me appreciate and hang on to the dear ones that have already made the cut.
So, even if you stole my college boyfriend, didn’t invite me to your second wedding, never returned my favorite dress, ruined my brand new white carpet in your red wine stupor and never offered to pay the cleaning bill or told me that my uber-expensive haircut wasn’t very flattering, it’s likely that we are still friends (or possibly still related). Sure, I probably fumed about those things at the time. For sure I complained to my husband. I might have even bad-mouthed you to my Mom or wrote you a flaming email that contained some creative cursing. But I didn’t simply write you off for good. Instead, we buried the hatchet and moved on.
However, if you served me sub-par seafood, subjected me to Musak for 60 minutes, double billed me for services never rendered, misled me about the time it would take to repair my much-needed laptop, didn’t deliver the correct sofa at the designated time, or unbeknownst to me bestowed a mountain of spyware or adware that caused my computer to become a useless hunk of silicon and circuits, then forget it – your on my list.
And once you’re on “The List” there’s not much you can do to get off it. Even if you promise to change your ways, offer me a free dinner, tempt me with upgrades or add new and improved to your product label. I’m not coming back. And believe me, I’ll be telling more than just my Mom about your bad behavior.
So, can companies ever polish their tarnished public image or change their bad reputations? I’m not sure. We could ask Martha Stewart. Sure, there have been some corporate comebacks. Johnson & Johnson bounced back from the 1982 Tylenol tampering debacle. However, I’m at a loss to name others right now.
It’s not an easy road to mount an image turnaround. Claria has its work cut out to change its image as the poster child for annoying adware and pop-ups. Microsoft was likely very skeptical about Claria’s bad rep. Many say that’s what sunk Microsoft’s plans to buy Claria.
But this time I’m going to try and take the old wait-and-see approach when it comes to Claria and others that might be looking to clean up their acts. It’s hard for me - especially after Claria’s missteps I really want to revert back to my old attitude of guilty until proven innocent, but I will resist the urge,
