They are young, media literate, tech savvy and a lot more discerning about how they consume than their predecessors. Most of all they are at the centre of the brand conversations that are taking place and marketers had better remember that.

‘Generation Y’ is probably the most media literate generation modern marketers have ever encountered. Why do brands obsess so much about the under-30 consumer base, or Gen-Y as they are often called today? Simple – the under-30s are vital to brands as they remain more open to new concepts and are at the age when habits and relationships with brands form. It’s a bit like the Jesuits used to say – get them when they’re young and you have them for life.

The great fear among traditional publishers, broadcasters and media owners is that Gen-Y is turning its back on ‘old’ media like newspapers, magazines, TV and radio to consume their information online.

This is an exaggeration. In fact Gen-Y is probably the most media literate generation modern marketers have ever encountered.

Yes they are online but they are fully aware of print, TV and radio offerings. They also adore the cinema. They just like to chose things themselves rather than be passive and receptive.

Attempting to lump all 18-30 year olds under the umbrella of Gen-Y is a futile exercise. An 18 year old ‘fresher’ is nothing like a 25 year-old first-jobber in the same way a just-married 30 year old is nothing like a 21 year old who has got the J1 for the first time.

Double dipping not tripping

To say that 18-30 year olds are not receptive to ‘traditional’ media and advertising is disingenuous. “We still see radio and TV playing an important role. However, certainly the competition for attention space for Generation Y is ever increasing. In addition, never before has this age bracket been so media literate,” says Luke Reaper, director with Behaviour and Attitudes.

“What we found through our ID research programme is that this age group is increasingly ‘media meshing’. The brands that are gaining traction are those that use traditional media like TV, radio and outdoor while at the same time launching complimentary interactive online campaigns,” says Adrian Fernandes, Amárach Research.”

“Online is a vital part of communicating to this particular group,” argues Sonia Harris of Burrell Marketing. “The majority spend their day at a computer and often their only break in the day is a little bit of ‘me time online’. The internet is a beckoning tool for marketers with smaller budgets and bigger goals.”

Adrian Fernandes also points to Gen-Y’s habit of ‘double dipping’. “Younger consumers often watch TV and have their laptop open, or they might listen to the radio while searching on the Net. If you look at outdoor campaigns many include their search terms on the posters.”

According to the latest Beta Life Youth study (on behalf of brands such as MTV and Nokia), 25% of Gen-Y first see or hear of brands through TV ads. 60% of those surveyed agreed TV advertising plays a role in their brand decisions, and 50% think that television ads endorse a brand’s image. The study covered five markets – the UK, US, Germany, India and Japan. The study also highlighted the influence of digital media. 71% of respondents agreed that the internet makes choosing a brand easier and that blogs, review sites and social networking sites are increasingly important.

“An important thing to remember about communicating on web 2.0 platforms such as Bebo, Facebook and YouTube is that the medium belongs to the audience,” says Philip Macartney, head of sales, Bebo.  ”It is their space because they create most of the content as well as consume it. Get on these platforms , connect with the audience and have a digital conversation with them. Brands are part of the conversations on these spaces at the moment. The difference is that some brands are influencing these conversations and some are not.”

Click and stick

While young consumers tend to crave individualism they still form groups, both online and offline, that suit their perceived image of themselves. It has always been this way, it’s just today they have more immediate solutions to their needs such as social networks, blogs, Twitter and of course YouTube. “The basics of marketing still hold, we need to connect, engage and have a compelling message. But marketing to this generation is not solely about product qualities, but also about entertaining and having a brand story, the challenge is to move beyond simple product needs,” argues Reaper.

“Gone are the days when a website’s only use was to inform users about a product or service,” says Sonia Harris. “Users expect fully-functional sites that entertain and inform them. These users want genuine interactions with brands. Marketers can benefit from these interactions through designing clever usages such as competitions whereby users must click through to other sites all the while spending more time learning about the brand.”

Growing up in the Google Age

It is also important to note that for most in the 18-30 age group they have never really known a world without a search engine. Think about it. What kind of expectations does a person have growing up in the Google Age?
They are in constant communication with the media they chose to consume and the brands they chose to champion.

“Understanding the role of new media is critical. This often involves allowing consumers to own a brand, interact with it and even develop it. Sometimes marketers can be wary of this loss of perceived control. However, developing a genuine dialogue and having the courage to do so with Gen-Y is essential,” says Reaper.

“With regards to the likes of Twitter, Facebook, Bebo, YouTube etc. – the main concerns facing marketers and brands in these cases are the fact that it opens up discussion on the brand and while this can be beneficial it can also be detrimental to the brand’

s integrity. Personal opinions can be damaging and long-lasting, whether or not it’s justified. This lack of control can understandably make marketers wary and limit usage of online tools,” suggests Harris.

“Gen-Y also expect a lot from their brands,” says Fernandes. “They talk about what they buy when they are online. They will broadcast bargains they find as well as highlighting rip offs. Four years ago they were quite passive in terms of receiving messages from brands … now they are actively looking for good value. We are seeing the death of the cash-rich time-poor consumer. Gen-Y is also showing a greater interaction with loyalty schemes. We have seen the development of the ‘Recessionista’ – a consumer type who celebrates their bargain hunting and good money management.”

Easier and cheaper

However, at present the Gen Y consumers simply don’t conform to most of the standard marketing categories. They are quite difficult to reach – unless you know how.

So how do you reach them? “Understanding the different sub-targets are vitally important for targeting,” says Reaper.  If we take the simple example of what the internet is used for in the past month from the JNIR/Behaviour & Attitudes research, 54% of 15-18 year olds used the internet for social networking in the past month versus only 20% of 25-34s. A similar age difference in free music downloads is also evident. Generation Y are vital to brands as they remain more open to new concepts and are at the age when habits and relationships with many brands form.”

“Launching a campaign online in Ireland is still perceived as a risk, brands often tend to have the safety net of a traditional media campaign to back their online activity up,” says Philip Macartney. “While this is a prudent strategy with older audiences it makes no sense when you are targeting the youth audience, as they are easier and cheaper to target online.”

At present, however, the internet has not delivered on all its promises. Search still takes in nearly half the money, display is disappointing and it’s difficult to make internet users pay for content. But all these things are not necessarily true forever. The crisis in traditional media is useful for shaking the rules. More importantly, now is the time to find new solutions. A new standard of video advertising on the web that will transform online display advertising is already in development. Google and some very big agencies are working on it. Watch this space. Gen-Y will soon seem like quaint, predictable consumers of the first digital age.

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Selecting the right speaker for your event is one of the most important, yet daunting elements for creating a successful meeting. Your speaker can often make or break the event.

Today, more than ever, the success of meetings relies heavily on the strength of program content and presentation. Nothing can spoil a meeting more than hiring the wrong speaker. That’s because speakers do more than just convey the overall meeting message. You look to them to provide insights, awareness, and cutting-edge information in an energetic, motivational, entertaining, and professional manner. What more could you ask for? Well, the right speaker can emphasize an important message, offer inspiration, help people cope with new assignments, and lead the way towards change.

Selecting the right speaker for your event is one of the most important, yet daunting elements for creating a successful meeting. Your speaker can often make or break the event. If he bombs, your reputation not only takes a severe nose-dive, but you also have the pleasure of dealing with the barrage of complaints from a disappointed audience. Yet, if he does well, you can walk away with many of the accolades, compliments, and of course, the rave reviews. By now, you probably realize that this massive responsibility is not to be taken lightly.

Raise Your Expectations

The skill to selecting a great speaker is determining what combination of education, motivation, and entertainment best fits your function. Then set out to find a perfect match. But keep your expectations high, since nothing can spoil a meeting faster than booking the wrong speaker. The following 10 guidelines should help you keep your focus and also keep you away from the “duds.”

1. Know the program objectives.

Before you can start looking for the right speaker, you must know the program objectives. Begin with the end in mind. What are you looking to achieve? Is this an annual meeting, a training program, an incentive get-together, an awards celebration, or another type of event? This will probably be a committee or management decision, rather than one you will have to make. But you may have to make an intangible concept tangible.

2. Understand the audience’s needs.

Along with the program objectives, consider the needs of your audience. Does your group need industry-specific or technical information? Will a mix of motivation and entertainment serve your group’s purpose? Today’s audiences are generally younger, more educated, more diverse, and more sophisticated than in the past. They want content. They want to learn, but they also want it to be fun, so consider the audience needs and exactly what they expect. Consider surveying your audience. Ask them what they want or what skills would most help them in their jobs. For example, sales people may ask for advanced selling skills, but managers may request teambuilding programs.

3. Check for reputation.

With countless speakers out there vying for your business, how can you possibly determine which one best meets your needs? Many speakers produce highly professional or glitzy marketing materials to help sell their services. You must look deeper than simply scanning a few brochures and ask pointed questions to find the right fit, such as What experience does this speaker have? How familiar is this speaker with this industry? and, Who else has used this person?

4. “Test drive” your prospects.

If you don’t have the opportunity to preview a speaker in person, then the next best thing is to request a video or audio recording of a previous presentation. A session that was recorded before a live audience gives you a better sense of a person’s real ability. Watch or listen carefully to how the speaker builds rapport and interacts with the audience. Ask yourself if this person would be right for your group. Is the combination of education, motivation, and entertainment appropriate for your needs? Does the speaker have a message that is appropriate, timely, and relevant to the theme or purpose of your event? Does it conform to your company’s philosophy and policy? Do you feel the speaker is genuine and has the expertise to deliver a solid presentation?

5. Don’t be star-struck.

If you are considering celebrity speakers, make sure they can speak! TV personalities do a great job on the air, but sometimes have little public speaking expertise, and you should be aware that the skills needed for being on TV and for speaking live are very different. However, many well-known personalities make excellent speakers and can add enormous value and clout to your event. Politicians and sports, media, or entertainment celebrities often share life experiences, offer advice, or have an inspirational message to impart.

6. Be wary of grandiose claims.

Speakers who claim to be all things to all people are probably desperate for work. Avoid them. True professional speakers, on the other hand, usually have certain areas or topics of expertise. They would much rather refer potential business to a true expert than jeopardize their reputation by trying to do a program outside of their knowledge zone. Also, beware of the charismatic and fluffy speaker as your audience wants good, solid take-away value.

7. Provide and ask for good information.

Reputable speakers want to find out as much as possible about the meeting objectives, the audience, industry challenges, and so on in order to tailor their presentation to the group. Share information on your organization and audience to help the speaker design a program to fit your specific needs. provide them with newsletters, catalogs, or any other publications that highlight industry trends, key people, industry jargon or buzz words, and insider news and views. Also include as much information as possible about the size and demographics of the audience such as age, gender, and positions.

8. Ask for an outline.

Ask prospective speakers for an outline of the presentation to make sure they will be covering the material as you discussed. This will clearly lay out what’s expected as verbal communication is subject to being misunderstood or misinterpreted. Seeing exactly what speakers plan to cover in the sessions should help to ensure that the material is tailored to your specific needs.

9. Maximize opportunities.

Look for ways to maximize opportunities with your speakers. Discuss different ways they can add extra value and be a significant resource to help improve your meeting’s success. Brainstorm ways that you feel they can assist you in planning, preparing, promoting, and presenting. Some suggestions include serving as an emcee, conducting special sessions or roundtable discussions about current issues for select groups such as company executives or the board of directors, and participating in a spouse program.

10. Trust your instincts.

Through your communication with the speaker, you will quickly form an opinion or have a feeling about this person. First reactions count here. “I like this person” or “I don’t like this person,” or “I feel comfortable or uncomfortable working with this person,” are strong indicators. These responses usually comes from your gut – a very trustworthy organ. Have confidence in your instincts and trust that so-called sixth sense. If you experience any kind of negative feeling, think about looking for someone else or get another opinion from a colleague. You want to make sure that you can work with this person and that both of you are on the same wavelength. The true objective of hiring a professional speaker hinges on establishing a partnership where a mutually beneficial relationship grows and flourishes. When this happens, you know you’ve chosen well.

The Perfect Match

Overwhelmed with the plethora of speakers to choose from? You may want to turn to a speaker’s bureau for advice and guidance. A good bureau should act as a consultant and partner to help your event succeed. Even though many hundreds of bureaus are out there, the numbers pale in comparison to the thousands of speakers. A bureau’s sole purpose is simply to make your job easier and provide you with solutions. They want to find the best possible match for your event within your price range. So, where do go looking for one of these bureaus? Here are a few places to start your search: the phone book, chambers of commerce, convention and visitors bureaus, the Internet, industry colleagues, and friends.

A Final Note:
Look for CSP (Certified Speaking Professional) or CPAE (Council of Peers Award for Excellence) designations. Both these are conferred by the National Speakers Association and are considered the speaking profession’s international measure of professional platform skill (www.nsaspeaker.org).

Armed with these guidelines and resources, your search for the perfect speaker will be more fruitful. And with a little effort and some time, you will connect with a speaker who will fulfill your goals – one that will be both inform and enlighten. Your audience will thank you.

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If you want a Hollywood ending for your prospect or customer event, you’re going to have to rely on a lot more than faith. Even the most well-conceived events need a powerful promotion campaign to fill seats.

“If you build it, they will come.” But if you want a Hollywood ending for your prospect or customer event, you’re going to have to rely on a lot more than faith. Even the most well-conceived events need a powerful promotion campaign to fill seats.

How will you reach your target audience and communicate the benefits of attending?

No matter how you choose to promote your event-e-mail, phone calls, direct mail, and so on-you’ll be competing against literally hundreds of other demands on an executive’s attention at any given moment. Your challenge is to break through the clutter and earn a spot on that executive’s agenda.

We’ll talk more in a minute about how to get your message across, but first let’s talk about how not to. Pay close attention: if you’re currently using any of these promotional methods, you’re throwing your money down a black hole.

Wedding-style invitations: Many event planners, in an effort to seem classy and elegant, spend vast sums on engraved invitations that list little more than the time, date, and place of the event. That’s fine-your attendees certainly need that info. But they also need much more than that to decide whether your function offers enough benefit to warrant taking time from their busy schedules.

Postcards: Same as above. It’s tempting to want to hit your targets with just the facts. But you’ll need much more space to hammer home how your target audience will profit from attending. And the odds are against you if you expect prospective attendees to visit a Web page for more details. Few do.

Ads: Occasionally you’ll see ads in trade magazines, inviting readers to visit a company’s booth at a trade show or attend a seminar. These can be enormously expensive on a cost-per-attendee basis.

Now that we’ve talked about what doesn’t work, here’s what does work-if used judiciously.

PR: Send press releases about your event to local business publications that publish event calendars. Or for a bigger bang, enlist the business publication as a cosponsor. That will likely give you more coverage, both pre- and postevent.

Direct mail: Here’s a pop quiz: which works better in direct mail-long copy or short? You might think that short copy outpulls long, since most executives are so time-pressed. In fact, research shows that long copy, separated into readable chunks with bullet points and subheads, is almost always more effective. The more information you can give a prospect about your offer, the more likely he or she is to bite.

Pass every piece of communication through this filter: will my target audience care? It’s great if you want to hold a demo of your new software release. But what tangible benefits will attending this event offer your customer? In all your communication, stress your value proposition. For example, “Five Things Every Manager Needs To Know About Hiring And Firing” is a powerful title for an event. “Announcing The New HireFirePro Software Pack Version 2.0″ Is Not.

And slant your message toward your intended audience. If you want to attract CEOs, frame your copy in terms of profits, shareholder gains, and the like. Managers, users and techies, on the other hand, will respond better to copy that talks about information and tools you’ll give them that will help them do their jobs quicker and better. For an extra dose of credibility, include testimonials from previous attendees.

E-mail: E-mail is a popular way to promote many types of events, especially webinars. But can you be sure you’re getting through? With today’s corporate spam filtering, as little as 30 percent of e-mail from outside addresses actually lands in the recipient’s in-box (that’s especially true for mail sent to multiple addresses). Be sure that the addresses are valid. And consider following up through some other method such as phone or letter.

Telemarketing: I always recommend including telemarketing in your pre-event promotion. After you’ve sent out letters and e-mails, call VIPs who haven’t responded. Also confirm with key people the day before the event, and let them know you’re looking forward to seeing them.

You may be wondering why I’ve left “gimmicks and giveaways” off this list. In my opinion, these are used far too often. If you’ve created an event with a compelling benefit, you won’t need a clever theme or a bribe, such as a drawing for a cruise, to fill seats.

However, there is one exception: when the audience is so select and hard to reach that you can’t get their attention any other way. One company I know needed to reach the top 10 hedge fund managers in Manhattan. So, for its event, the company promised either an Xbox or a personal digital assistant to every attendee and asked each person to check off in the RSVP which item he or she would like.

Another clever company mailed a violin bow to each member of a select group of executives and promised that if they came to a seminar, each of them would receive a violin that they could give to their kids, play themselves, or display on a shelf. But again, because the cost of such promotions is so high, they should be used only to reach a small, sought-after audience.

Now that we’ve covered the “how,” let’s talk about the “when.” It’s vitally important that you hit your target audience repeatedly with your message. Once or twice doesn’t cut it-you risk being buried in the “in” box or falling beneath a busy executive’s radar. The following timetable is a good basic template to use.

Two months out: Send a “mark your calendar” message that urges invitees to save the date.

One month out: Send a second communication listing all the reasons they should attend and urging them to reserve space. If you’re sending e-mail, include a link they can click on to enroll online. In all cases, send an immediate confirmation that gives directions to the event and encourages guests to invite their colleagues.

You might also include a pre-event questionnaire asking what they’d like to learn at the event. This can help you customize the content, and guests are more likely to show up if they feel their critical concerns will be addressed.

Two weeks before: send another communication, similar to the one above, to people who haven’t yet signed up. The content needn’t be radically different-all you need to say is, “We haven’t heard from you yet,” and to repeat your information.

One week out: If you haven’t filled all available seats or are waiting to hear from VIPs, start using telemarketing.

The day before: Call and send out an e-mail reminder with the date, time, and directions.

After the event: Thank each attendee, by mail or by phone, for coming. Also let no-shows know that you’re sorry they missed your event, and send them relevant presentation materials (or let them know where they can find materials online).

Remember: recurring communication is the key. No matter what your objectives for the event-moving customers further along in the buying decision, educating them about new products, or simply introducing them to your company-you’ve got to fill seats. A well-executed promotional campaign will help your event pay off.

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Exhibiting at industry conferences or tradeshows can take a big bite out of your budget. Using proven techniques to help maximize your ROI.

Exhibiting at industry conferences or tradeshows can take a big bite out of your budget. Consider using these proven techniques to help maximize your return on that investment.

PRE- SHOW

Evaluate and select trade shows or conferences carefully.
Are the show’s attendees likely prospects for your products or services? It’s better to have a couple of hundred very qualified leads than thousands of leads from people who may not be real prospects.Set measurable goals.
You can’t determine the success of your exhibit without first knowing what you want to achieve. Marketing, sales and management personnel, as well as your exhibit vendor, should be involved in establishing the purpose of exhibiting. Make your goals as specific as possible. For example, how many qualified leads do you hope to generate? And what exactly is your definition of a qualified lead? Put your show plan in writing.
This plan should include a workable schedule and designate responsibilities for each task. Don’t wait until the last minute; also be sure management signs off on the plan.Develop a key message for your exhibit.
A good exhibit communicates one major message clearly. This is more effective at drawing prospects to your booth than the cluttered image projected by companies trying to communicate too much. Design an open, inviting booth.
Don’t block access with tables and counters; you want to draw attendees into your booth. If space permits, provide comfortable chairs to encourage prospects to linger. Use provocative headlines and interesting graphics to entice them to stop and learn more.

Identify key prospects and invite them.
Mail your customers and prospects complimentary passes to the exhibits. These passes are often available free from show management. Shortly before the event itself, call and remind prospects and customers to stop by your booth. Be sure to pique their interest by telling them why they should drop by.Merchandise your show participation.
Include free exhibit passes with all your business correspondence. Include taglines at the end of all your e-mails, such as “Stop by and see us at booth 1525 at Widgets Expo. Need a free pass? Just ask.” Write a press release explaining new services to be introduced at upcoming conferences. Invite key editors or reporters to stop by or to schedule specific appointments with your key people. Publish an article in your company newsletter listing trade shows and conferences you plan to exhibit at. Train your exhibit staff before each show.
They need to know the objectives of your company in exhibiting at the show or conference. They need to know what their roles will be and what is expected of them. They also need to have detailed information about any new products, services, or other news being announced. Design a custom lead form.
Be sure to include questions designed to qualify your prospects by determining the immediacy of their needs, purchasing authority, budgetary situation, etc.

SHOW-TIME

Create a unique identity for booth personnel.
Matching blazers, T-shirts, cowboy hats (for a western theme) or even boutonnieres will identify your people to prospects who need information or assistance.Offer premiums or gifts if appropriate.
Merchandise your traffic-building giveaways through preshow mailings. For example, include the cap portion of a high-quality pen in a preshow mailing that invites customers and prospects to pick up the rest of the pen at your booth.Provide live demonstrations.
This will draw attendees to your booth and help them learn more about your company’s products or services. It also allows you to effectively communicate to a number of prospects at once. Remind the folks staffing your booth to record all prospect information.
Remind them that one of the primary objectives of exhibiting is to generate leads. Encourage your people to record everything they can learn about the prospects’ needs and applications. Stress the importance of getting phone numbers and e-mail addresses whenever possible. Consider awarding prizes or special awards to your exhibit staff for the most leads completed and turned in on each shift.

POST- SHOW

Send requested materials immediately.
Have literature ready to go before you head to the show. Then fax, e-mail or overnight the leads from the show to your inquiry handlers overnight. Have them send the requested material to prospects within 24 hours. Fast response is your second opportunity to get a jump on the competition and make a favorable impression. (Your performance in the booth is the first.) Include a teaser on the envelope or in the e-mail subject line.
Something like “requested information from Widgets Expo” works well to get past the assistant (or wastebasket) or past the delete key.Help your prospects take the next step.
Make sure the information you send makes it easy for prospects to take the next step: include all the ways to contact your company (phone, e-mail, web site address, etc.).Use the telephone, mail and e-mail to follow up.
Your goal is to build sales-winning relationships with your prospects and further qualify them. Plan to offer them something of value in return for providing you with more information about their situations and needs. Perhaps a how-to guide, a white paper, or an invitation to attend a Web seminar.

Track your leads through to the sale.
Did the qualified leads buy? How much? Use the answers to demonstrate to management the show’s return on investment, and to increase the odds of show budget approval next year.Complete a critical evaluation.
After each show or conference, look at what went well and what didn’t. Critique each aspect of the show and ask salespeople and other participants for comments. Give special attention to the feedback pertaining to lead quality. This information will help you maximize the effectiveness of future show efforts.

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Here’s my annual list of what to expect, marketing-wise, in the upcoming 12 months. Time will tell how accurate these are, although my 2009 list was fairly spot-on:

10) Mobile advertising will still NOT flourish in North America in 2010. However, if the Google mobile phone becomes a hit it could make a late-year run and enter 2011 with great momentum.

9) The web will continue to grow and play an even more important role in great, measurable marketing. Websites that create relevance, with smart use of microsites, and also help develop a dialog, will reign supreme. One-way websites will be viewed as antiquated and ineffective; YouTube will grow in its importance for traditional TV-based advertisers (:30 second commercials will decline greatly). Google Analytics will continue to gain users and importance.

Wal-Mart’s attempt to compete with Amazon will prove to be a failure.

7) E-mail will lose more popularity to social media but will be even more important as a customer retention and communication tool.

6) Printed matter – newspapers and magazines – will continue to struggle and more of them will switch to online only editions than ever before.

5) Direct mail will see a resurgence as data becomes better, more accurate and more segmentable than ever before. While mail volume will not increase, its role as an impactful, door-opening media will grow and its use as a powerful follow-up medium will increase. Those that do mail really well and commit to the channel will prosper as they will face less clutter in mailboxes.

4) Retail will not make a strong comeback yet and more stores will end up shuttering as 2010 progresses. Those that practice true integrated marketing will be the most successful.

3) B2B marketing will become more sophisticated and make better use of integrated, measurable marketing strategies and tactics. E-PR will grow in importance with this group.

2) Relationships and customer service will continue to matter more than even the best marketing. Do a good job with the clients you have and they will refer additional business your way. After all, the web, social media and email has made it very easy to do so.

1) Social Media will continue to grow, but few will do it well by beginning with a solid plan that incorporates the tried and true methods of “old school” direct marketing, including testing. Those that do – and know how to start the dialog, taking the dialog into the next phase of a relationship – will have huge success; SEO will be more critical then SEM; more marketers will help make Twitter more relevant and mainstream as a viable marketing medium and Facebook will spell the demise of MySpace.

We’ll see how these predictions pan-out in the next 12 months. The entrepreneurial mindset will continue to help redefine marketing as we know it. Remember to keep practicing marketing that’s measurable and test away.

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There are literally thousands of SEO tools out there. Some paid, some free, some good and some not so good. There is one tool that is often overlooked when it comes to SEO, yes, search engine optimisation, and that’s AdWords. While most people see AdWords as simply a paid traffic generation tool, many fail to realize the organic SEO benefits a tool like AdWords can provide. I’ve touched on this subject briefly before but below, I have outlined a few more detailed ways that AdWords can (and should) be used for SEO. Please note that screenshots have been slightly modified to protect some sensitive data.

1) For Keywords

Before you start to do any SEO on your site, you need to know what keywords to target (You can’t target them all). You could use one of the plethora of keyword tools out there but they are rarely accurate. AdWords allows you to test any amount of keywords you think are relevant to your site and get 100% accurate data on which ones you should be targeting. There’s no worse feeling spending months targeting a keyword for SEO and finding out that it doesn’t convert or it doesn’t drive any traffic. You can even filter out keywords that use a question mark so you can find questions to problems that your product or service can solve. You can then craft a blog post around this question.

2) For SERP CTR Improvements.

Any seasoned SEO knows that Google uses some sort of user data and probably uses organic SERP CTR data (and a recent patent looks like things are going that way) to judge how relevant an organic listing is to a keyword . Marcus touches on it here and Bill goes into patent detail here. With the CTR data and gains you obtain from a PPC campaign, you KNOW what page title and meta description to use to increase your organic SERP CTR. Just think, if you’re in position 3 and get twice the click through rate as the number 1 position over time, doesn’t it make sense that Google would factor this in? Simply pick the best headline from your best performing AdWords campaign and use that as your headline on your page. Pick the description of the best ad and add that to the meta description. This can be improved upon and changed over time too with zero risk. Use the AdWords Ad Performance Report for this (Make sure you filter the ads so that there is enough impression and click data to get a statistically significant ad, using AdWords Editor works great for this too). This also has the benefit of getting the perfect anchor text when someone links to you because many people will use the page title when linking out to you.

3) For Landing Page Optimization.

With Google’s website optimizer, you can quickly test and optimize your landing pages so that you don’t have to wait months for the traffic you would ordinarily need for optimizing with organic traffic. You can create a landing page that’s super optimized for your conversion type so that when the organic visitors do come, you’ll convert them at ultra high rates. This gives you a huge head start over your competitors. It also allows you to create personas that you can map to keywords or sets of keywords to each persona so you can create specific “SEO Campaigns” and more effectively structure a larger SEO effort.

4) For Geographic Targeting.

AdWords allows some pretty granular geographic targeting. Knowing which countries, cities or states convert best (by using a Geographic Performance Report in AdWords), can help you optimize your pages specifically for those locations. It can also help deciding which cities to target when running local business listing campaigns. This data can also help you decide if you should create location specific landing pages or not. Tailoring landing pages to a users location has proven extremely effective How many really attractive people have you seen available for a date in *your area* lately?

5) For Link Ideas

The Google content network reaches 80% of all online users in the world! Running a campaign on the content network can generate a LOT of traffic but using Placement Performance Reports in AdWords, you can see where exactly you’re CONVERTING ads are running. You can use this info to strike a direct sponsorship deal with a particular site that’s sending you great quality traffic, or maybe you can write content for those particular sites and get a link back. Some people I’ve heard of have even bought links from those sites. An ultra relevant link that sends conversions. You wont get that from any directory links!

6) For Content Ideas

Further to (5), you can see a list of URLs that sent you converting traffic. You can look at the content of that URL and create some content (even a blog post) that has even better information than that page and solves the problem the visitor came to your site to solve to begin with. If that particular page of content was found organically, if you can make it better with your content and SOLUTION, you’ll have fantastic web content that attracts links naturally, more so than the original piece. You can even merge a lot of the ideas from different sources into one “super source” of content which will be seen as the ultimate resource and linked to as such.

7) For Large Scale Media Buys

While this is not strictly SEO related it’s very valuable. If your product or service has mass appeal, you can use the Google content network to test out creatives (flash ads, image ads, video ads etc.) to find out which ones drive the highest CTR and Conversion rate out in the wild. Now you don’t have to drop 25k on a run of network test just to find the best creatives. Anyone who has ever advertised on the Yahoo display network in the past can tell you, this is not for the faint of heart, although this has changed somewhat recently with the improvements of a FANTASTIC service called AdReady

(More about this in another post). You can go into your media buy with what you KNOW are strong creatives.

Demographic Targeting Facebook

Again, not SEO related but a goodie. You can use an AdWords Demographic Performance Report and ad version reports to find out (generally) what age, sex and country demographics are converting on your site and the creatives that were associated. You can use this info to get a whopper of a start in facebook. Simply target the age, country and sex fields in facebook that matched your AdWords reports and use similar images/creatives for your ads. (You can pick up a free $100 facebook voucher code here). You can also use this demographic data for (7) above to give you that extra edge. Facebook uses CTR data and historical CTR data as a major factor on how much coverage you get so the higher your initial CTR for a new campaign the better. Start as you mean to go on.

9) For Link Exposere & Diversity

New website owners have always faced the chicken and egg problem. How do you get links to a new site if nobody knows about you to link to you? With AdWords, you can get immediate exposure to your content, product or service. With this immediate exposure comes the potential to be linked to which will ultimately improve organic search engine rankings (Be careful to redirect your users to the correct URL when using this method, you don’t want links to an analytics tagged URL or a URL with any sort of campaign tracking arguments in it). This is technically a “clean way” to buy a link. You can also buy AdWords traffic to your linkbait content. This is a slight variation on one of Gab’s tips in his fantastic piece on link buying here.

10) For Improving Your Conversion Rate

Yes, that’s right… improving your conversion rate. Microsoft/Atlas release an insightful piece of research (PDF) showing that and increase of up to 22% in conversion rate can be achieved by effectively synergizing search and display advertising. We have found this to be true not only with display and PPC search, but also with display and organic search. This information comes with a few caveats however:

Another point of interest is the impact of display ad frequency in driving conversion results for users exposed to both display and search. Again, the results varied by advertiser, but generally those users who viewed three or more impressions in combination with at least one search click had better results than those who viewed only one or two impressions. Both conversion rates and search click-to-conversion rates climbed significantly for these users, further suggesting the benefit of display advertising when paired with search. However, there is a point of diminishing returns when display ad frequency gets too high.

So there you have it. Ten ways in which AdWords (or any other PPC network) can help improve your search engine optimization. Do you use AdWords in any other creative ways to help improve your natural search engine rankings? If so, why not share them in the comments below and I will add more to the post (with a link) as they come in.

Note* I am fully aware that in a lot of cases, users who click on sponsored listings behave differently than those who don’t. Please use the above tips as guidelines and make sure to test everything for yourself.

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Exhibition Operations Executive

· Contract Role – Jan – April 2010

· Sydney Royal Easter Show

· Sydney Olympic Park

The Royal Agricultural Society of NSW (RAS) is seeking an energetic and enthusiastic Operations Executive to be part of the Exhibitions team that delivers so much of what makes the Sydney Royal Easter Show ‘the’ event of the year – every year.

The primary focus of this role is to work with relevant departments to plan and deliver the operational components of the Sydney Royal Easter Show Exhibitions Department.

The person we seek has that something special that drives them towards the complex world of event operations. This role is not for the feint-hearted, but your eye for detail and event or exhibition background, make you the perfect candidate. With many balls in the air at any one time, your ability to remain calm under pressure, work to deadlines and ensure safety standards underpin your success in this role.

This role is focused on relationship building and a whole lot of customer service, which are key to the successful delivery of this role. In this position you will be the primary on-site contact for over 400 exhibitors for the Sydney Royal Easter Show. Like most roles, this one has an administrative element. Your Showtime responsibilities also include the coordination of the Lost Persons Centre and the overall management of operations within the pavilions and outdoor exhibition areas as well as the management of casual staff. You will also be responsible for ensuring service providers deliver on time. To say this role is hands-on is an understatement. It’s a fantastic opportunity for an event or exhibitions professional to assist with the management of the largest public gathering in the southern hemisphere. If that doesn’t excite you, you aren’t the candidate we’re looking for.

The nitty gritty, well EBMS and CAD experience are both very handy in this role. Some experience in the recruitment, training and management of a casual event team will be well regarded as will an understanding of the commercial realities of exhibitions.

If you are the type of person that thrives on the buzz of a busy event environment, this could be the contract role for you.

To be eligible to apply for this position you must have an appropriate Australian or New Zealand work visa.

Human Resources
RAS of NSW
1 SHOWGROUND ROAD
SYDNEY OLYMPIC PARK, NSW, 2127

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Events Manager

· Events Manager – Government

· 18 Month contract

· CBD Location

The Events Manager has to work cooperatively with a number of areas within the government to successfully plan and finalise every event including:

· Event Planning Committee

· General Managers across the Network to garner support for the content and participation in the events program

· The Event Volunteers

· The communications team for internal publicity and website support

· Senior management who are stakeholders

Essential criteria

· Extensive experience in the Meetings Management industry and in a hands-on-senior meetings management role controlling large events.

· Experince in sourcing and partnering with meeting industry leaders in specialist areas such as tchnical support, creative, graphic design, video production, speakers trainers, etc to deliver a professional high quality event

· Excellent organisational skills including the ability to handle several things simultaneously

· Ability to work calmly under pressure and find solutions to unexpected problems

· Ability to manage the core events team, including volunteers, and others simultaneously

· Excellent oral and written communications skills including the ability to communicate very clearly with suppliers so that they understandspecific expectations for each event.

If this sounds like a great role for you waste no time and apply today!

To apply online, please click on the appropriate link. Alternatively, for a confidential discussion, please contact Thomas Walker on 8298 3801, quoting Ref No. 65-707866.

To be eligible to apply for this position you must have an appropriate Australian or New Zealand work visa.

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CONFERENCE PROJECT MANAGER, Melbourne – $55-60k

INDUSTRY LEADER

HIGH PERFORMING, GROWING COMPANY

EXCELLENT TRAINING & MENTORING

Are you an experienced Conference Manager seeking a new career opportunity? Or looking for an opportunity to advance your career to management level?  If you are, then this position could be what you have been waiting for!

arinex pty limited, Australia’s leading Professional Conference Organiser and Event Management company, is seeking a passionate and dedicated professional to manage one of their Conference Teams.

Key responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

Managing all logistical and operational aspects of the conference from conception to delivery

Client liaison & management

Staff development & management

Financial management of conference budgets working to deliver to client and company target expectations

Building strong relationships with current and potential future clients to increase and win new business

The successful applicant will work closely with the Conference Operation Manager in a hands-on role learning the various procedures, systems and all operational aspects of managing a variety of meetings. The applicant must be a self motivator with an ability to drive their learning.

To be considered for this role, applicants must have relevant tertiary qualifications and demonstrated management experience along with:

- Financial management experience

Staff management experience & skills

Relationship building & client management experience & skills

Project management ability

Excellent written & verbal communication skills

Strong attention to detail & organisational skills

The ability to work to deadlines

Strong computer skills

Immaculate personal presentation

Preparedness to work after hours and on weekends when necessary

Experience in the Event/Conference industry would be an advantage, but is not essential. You must however have experience in client, staff and financial management.

If you are confident that your skills and experience satisfy the above criteria, and you are interested in becoming a part of a top-performing, vibrant and hardworking team, we look forward to receiving your expressions of interest. Applications should include a cover letter stating your salary expectations and resume.

Please address all applications to:

Susan Quach

Human Resources

arinex pty. limited

hr@arinex.com.au

www.arinex.com.au

*Note: only short-listed applicants will be contacted directly.

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Trailwalker Event Coordinator

• Sydney based

· Work Type: Full Time

· Location: Sydney – City

· Salary: 60,171

· Advertiser: Oxfam Australia (+)

· Reference ID: Event Coord

We seek an enthusiastic individual with strong analytical and problem solving skills to drive marketing, operations and safety to maximise event success.

You will have proven success implementing complex operational plans supported by experience in risk management, event coordination and staff management.

Please visit www.oxfam.org.au/jobs for application details. Salary $60,171 plus benefits and access to packaging.

Applications close: 21 January.

We promote diversity and practise equity.

Oxfam Trailwalker is an endurance event in which teams of four are challenged to complete a 100km trail within 48 hours and raise funds for Oxfam Australia.

Name: Anna Mitchell
Client Name: Oxfam Australia
Reference ID: Event Coord
Phone: 03-9289 9424
Email: 472312@apply-now.com.au

Please click the ‘Apply Now’ button below.

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Administration and Events Assistant

· South Eastern Suburbs, Melbourne.

· Temporary Assignment – 7 weeks

· Full Time Hours

Administration and Events Coordinator is required for a 7 week temporary role at a reputable company, based in the south eastern suburbs.Essential to this role is a strong administration history, and prior experience in event coordination. Responsibilities for this role cover a variety of tasks:

· Assisting the Business Manager, and Events team on current conferences and workshops

· Assisting with promotional activities

· Communication with relevant management and outside organisations as required

· Documentation and Administration relevant to procedures

· Other administration as required

Ideally, you will have:

· Strong Administration background

· Intermediate to advanced MS Office skills

· Prior telemarketing experience

· Experience in Event Coordination

· Exceptional Customer Service Skills

· Ability to work autonomously

· Good negotiation skills

· Experience with Website maintenance will be an advantage.

This role is to commence at the end of January,for a minimum of 7 weeks. Full time availability is required for this role.
For any queries please call Errin Lee-Archer  03 9543 4977

To be eligible to apply for this position you must have an appropriate Australian or New Zealand work visa.

Microsoft this month is spreading word of the release of Window’s 7 during several thousand parties hosted across the globe by employees and everyday people in their own homes. Each host receives a special Signature Edition of Windows 7 Ultimate to keep, as well as a party pack of supplies for guests.

Home parties are growing in favor, providing marketers with a far-reaching network of qualified hosts who invite family, friends and neighbors to experience brands in a personal setting, often interacting with the products the way they would on a daily basis in their own homes.

In addition to the Microsoft events, House Party, an Irvington, NY, based experiential marketing agency, has staged parties for Royal Caribbean, Fisher-Price, Sargento, Domino’s, Xbox, Ziploc, Ford, Werther’s, Turner Broadcasting and others. Parties range in size from 1,000 to 100,000, each averaging 3.5 to four hours. The average cost is between $200,000 and $250,000, but can run into the millions depending on the number of parties.

To recruit the hosts, House Party taps the brand’s consumer database, but also uses its own database of several hundred thousand potential hosts.

Kitty Kolding, the CEO of House Party, shares the five stages in planning the events.

1. PLANNING AND PREPPING (2-6 weeks)

This is the time to identify the party theme and entertainment and activities that will take place on the day of the party, such as contests or sweepstakes, product trial, demos or sampling. Items for party packs, delivered one week prior to the events, are identified and sourced. A discussion about whether a co-sponsor makes sense takes place. Success metrics and a time line for the events are developed. The event miscrosite is launched and communications are created to recruit hosts.

2. RECRUTING THE HOST (2-3 weeks)

Over the next several weeks, the client provides six- to 18- demographic and psychographic characteristics required of the host and attendees. House Party adds additional host predictors, such as the host’s “viral propensity,” or ability to drive lots of awareness about the parties. The hosts must be highly social, good at throwing parties and have a wide circle of friends and family who like to attend their parties. Once those attributes have been determined, a proprietary weighted scoring model is created by House Party to match hosts with the stated criteria. A promotional plan is developed by both House Party and the client and executed to reach out to potential hosts. Communications include, newsletters, e-mails to customer lists, direct mail, statement stuffers, in-store promotions and bloggers. The messages drive potential hosts to a landing page—live for two-to-three weeks—that describes the party and how to qualify as a host. (Potential hosts, typically tens of thousands, must complete a customized online questionnaire). A client meeting is held to identify the hosts to activate.

3. GETTING READY (3-4 weeks)

During this phase, the hosts are notified. They pick a party theme, customize their online party planning stages, invite friends, upload photos and stay looped in to the national party page. The party packs are shipped.

4. PARTY TIME

All of the parties happen on the same day or over a weekend.

5. POST EVENT (2-3 weeks)

Once the parties end, the focus turns to continuing interactions and communications with attendees to motivate post event brand awareness and trial, such as coupon redemption, a visit to a Web site to take an action, such as a test drive. A post-event survey is fielded and a word-of-mouth path is documented. Highly engaged guests are converted to viral agents for the brand. All data, photos, comments, videos and measurement materials are pulled from the events and an executive summary is written and delivered to the client three-to-four weeks after the events. A post-event meeting is held with the client.

“We connect everyday people with smart brands in an authentic, social setting that they get to self create,” Kolding says. “We inject the brand itself directly and intimately into this gathering of friends and give people four or five hours to try, experience, discuss and have fun with a brand.”

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After embarking on a campaign to promote your brand with word-of-mouth its is now time to present your report to company management. But how will your group communicate WOM results to show the real value? How do you define success with WOM, both online and offline?
Word of Mouth Marketing Association spokesperson John Moore said marketers shouldn’t try to track dollars in, dollars out when measuring the success of a WOM program.

“Studies show that 76% of consumers don’t believe the advertising they see, while 80% say they trust recommendations from people like themselves,” he said. “You don’t want to compare WOM with advertising, for example, because what you achieve with each strategy is different. With online and offline word-of-mouth marketing, success occurs when conversations are generated about your brand and companies learn from consumers freely sharing their experiences.”

Businesses interested in WOM to increase brand awareness must first overcome any fears they have about surrendering one-way communication control associated with advertising or other non-interactive tactics.

“One piece of advice is be confident about your products and services because low confidence usually means a business won’t be comfortable with what consumers might say in conversations,” Moore said.

To assure success with a WOM program a company’s culture must willingly accept criticism and appreciate that listening to what consumers say can help the company respond better to consumer preferences and needs and stay competitive. There are reasons why consumers buy your brand. So if they are smart enough to choose it over others, isn’t their wisdom valuable for mining ideas for new products as well? Also, should negative comments arise in conversations, management can take responsive action to address consumer concerns.

Success with WOM, therefore, is measured by the conversation levels it generates, proving that the company and its brands are relevant and top-of-mind with consumers. One company that has achieved excellent success in stimulating ongoing conversation and engagement is Fiskars Brands, the firm best known as the maker of those orange-handle scissors we all have tucked in a drawer somewhere at home.

Fiskars started its WOM initiatives in 2006 and has achieved almost transformational success in building strong and supportive relationships with a devoted following of scrapbook enthusiasts. It first recrutied four part-time Fiskars “ambassadors” and brought them to its headquarters in Madison, WI, for an intense educational briefing about the company, its products and its values.

The goal was to empower the ambassadors to start blogging, attend trade shows, give scrapbooking classes at retail stores, and pursue other activities on their own to spread good will from Fiskars. They also recruited other scrapbookers, called Fiskateers, nationwide. New Fiskateers receive welcoming kits with engraved scissors, a booklet on what it means to be a Fiskateer and tips for recruiting more to their ranks. The recruiting effort has created a powerful and influential community.

Fiskateers organize local gatherings for scrapbookers called “crops” where participants talk, crop and build relationships. The events are organized online by Fiskateers but are intended to achieve face-to-face interaction. This is an excellent example of how Fiskars leverages both online and offline WOM. So far, Fiskars has enlisted more than 4,800 Fiskateers in 50 states and 47 countries compared with its original goal of 200. That’s impressive, but how did it help the brand?

As the Fiskars product development managers reviewed passionate and insightful comments from their evangelists and fans, they realized this community could be a valuable focus group. Until then, new products were conceived and developed in a vacuum. Fiskars began to survey the Fiskateers and quickly learned from the feedback that customers are a great source for product evaluations and ideas.

Engagement and conversation online and face-to-face among scrapbookers forged strong loyalty to Fiskars Brands and strengthened its connection with customers. Online chatter in which Fiskars products were called by name has increased by 600%, and visits to the Fiskars Web site and blog have topped 1 million. Offline, there are more than 1,000 Fiskateers getting paid by craft stores to teach classes using Fiskars products.

WOM changed the culture at Fiskars Brands. Cultivating a relationship with its evangelists inspired Fiskars to change its scrapbooking product development process. Clearly that success, brought about by skillful use of online and offline WOM, has favorably increased brand awareness as measured by conversation frequency and tone.

Conversation levels in which brands are mentioned favorably are a key yardstick of WOM success. WOM, therefore, builds credible brand awareness in ways advertising can’t achieve. When brands appreciate the power of consumer engagement and rely on it to help guide decision making, there’s no better testament to the value of WOM for any business organization.

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From tomorrow Facebook members in 16 countries including the UK and US will be served ads for a Starbucks (RED) charity singalong of The Beatles ‘All You Need Is Love’ when they log in.

Starbucks is undertaking the biggest global Facebook ad campaign to date to raise awareness of the project, which it says is a celebration of its partnership with (RED), the charity that fights Aids in Africa.

The campaign promotes this Monday’s global singalong, which gets underway at 1.30pm GMT on 7 December and can be seen at a dedicated website, StarbucksLoveProject.com.

Starbucks has invited a number of musicians around the world to perform the song simultaneously, which will be filmed and streamed to the website.

Following the singalong, everyone with access to the site and a video camera will have the opportunity to submit their own version of the song. For each video that is contributed to the site, Starbucks will make a contribution to the Global Fund.

From tomorrow, Facebook users in the US, UK, Canada, Turkey, France, Spain, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Ireland, Brazil, Korea, Thailand, Hong Kong, Singapore and Indonesia will see the Starbucks ad the first five times that they log in to Facebook.

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