Marketing Pilgrim

Almost three weeks ago, Yahoo defended the Google ad deal with executive vice president Heather Schneider. Maybe it’s just a postmortem twitch of the old competitiveness, but now that Google’s stepping up its defense of the deal, so is Yahoo, this time bringing in President Sue Decker.

Friday’s post on the Yahoo Anecdotal blog, entitled “Myth-Busting and the Yahoo!-Google Agreement,” highlights the reasons why Yahoo wants in on the deal:

• Yahoo! will use this agreement to help us become a stronger competitor in all aspects of online advertising; and
• Yahoo! is not exiting the sponsored search business. We plan to remain a strong player in sponsored search.

Search Engine Watch’s Nathania Johnson says that this Yahoo-centered explanation doesn’t offer much persuasion to critics, who include some current AdWords advertisers:

You, me, a funny introduction and we all laugh before reading today’s Picks.

• Google hopes its new office in Washington will help it better educate government-types.
• Congress just approved a bill that will allow web radio stations to keep on, keeping on.
• Staying with the political theme, Google’s decided that speaking out on California’s Proposition 8 fits perfectly with its mission to organize the world’s population information.
• Video ads are expensive enough to make, but ClickZ reveals that they’re also more expensive to distribute–an average of $43 per CPM versus $15 for regular display ads. When might video ad rates reduce?
• If you use Firefox and the Google Toolbar, there’s new browser-candy waiting for you to download!

While we all thought Google’s Android was merely a way for Google to make it easier for is AdWords ads to appear on your cell phone, a new patent filing could reveal a larger goal.

A bidding system where wireless providers bid to offer the lowest calling rates for your unlocked cell phone.

Here’s how ComputerWorld describes the new Google patent application:

…When at home, the device would attach to the user’s Wi-Fi network…But once outside, the device could periodically search for other available service providers, asking the service providers to bid for the chance to offer service to the customer. The device could automatically switch to the network that has the best price without interrupting a user’s voice call or data connection.

According to Google, you likely fall into one of three distinct categories.

1. You like the description "snippets" in Google’s results just the way they are.
2. You’d rather not see any text snippets–you want just the page title.
3. Like Billy Idol, you want "more, more, more" text in your snippets.

If you don’t conform to any of the above, you likely won’t care for Google’s latest micro-test–where you get to choose just how much description text is shown alongside a result.

(via)

Oh, it’s linky, and it’s good.

• Are you using Facebook to make yourself look good—like really good? Do you have the most friends, the coolest connections, the most photos, etc., etc., etc.? Guess what: we know you love yourself.
• RWW reports problems with FeedBurner hearing pings. Anybody else seeing this?
• Google’s overseas maps continue to improve, this time with real time traffic info for England’s major roads.
• I know, I know. You’re in a panic because you now know that consumers want to interact with your company via social media—but you don’t have any idea what to do. Check outSEOmoz’s Corporate Blogging Tips in video form.

I have to say that this one came as a bit of a shocker for me: apparently 93% of American consumers want businesses on social media sites, according to the aptly-named 2008 Cone Business in Social Media Study. Odd, I thought when most Facebook users rebelled against Beacon, this was exactly what they didn’t want.

When asked whether businesses should interact with consumers on social media sites, 85% said yes (I guess the other 8% either subscribed to a “seen and not heard” school of thought).

Specifically, Americans believe:

• Companies should use social networks to solve my problems (43%)


• Companies should solicit feedback on their products and services (41%)


• Companies should develop new ways for consumers to interact with their brand (37%)

These are interesting times to be sure. While some are claiming that there is little relation between what is happening on Wall Street to what is happening on Main Street, there is little doubt that retailers have a lot to worry about.

Want an example of how things trickle down through the economy? Consider my children’s lemonade stand they used to set up in our business park. Last year, they minted money. This year, they never opened. Why? On most days, our building’s parking lot is the only one that has cars in it; the other businesses are down to only a few days a week or out of business completely. Granted, we are in a small business park and most businesses here are related to the construction industry. But it is still a bit sobering.