PardonMyFrench

links for 2008-08-30

• FactCheck.org: FactChecking Obama
  So much for new politics
  (tags: obama)
• The Candidates Are Monitoring Your Mouse
  (tags: mccain online advertising)
• The Associated Press: Obama ad: Despite Palin, McCain isn't change agent
  Obama campaign doesnt know what to do with this pick....
  (tags: mccain palin obama)
• The Page - by Mark Halperin - TIME
  hmmm - i know what that number is....i'd believe the campaign of course
  (tags: mccain palin)

My Introduction to Sarah Palin

I had quite a whirlwind day starting about 8:30 in the morning and it still continues into the night; yes I'm still working while I'm taking a few minutes to post.  I had no advanced notice, but I did research her many months back.  It was a big day, but I thought it would be fun to report out on what I heard back from friends and family.

• Wife - saw everything in action from the minute I got the call and she's very impressed with VP selection.  You should have heard her explaining the pick to friends and family who called us
• Mom - jumping up and down
• Democrat acquaintance - regurgitated the Obama campaign's talking point almost line by line but didn't have much to say when I wrote you are comparing the foreign policy experience of the VP selection with the Democratic nominee's experience.  Good luck winning that argument.
• Liberal Women - again regurgitating talking points of pandering to women and not really doing what's right
• Close friends - very impressed
• Conservative Republican fans - people who wouldn't sign my McCain petition I circulated in 2007 to get him on the ballot in the NJ primary now are not only going to vote for him, but want McCain-Palin signs for their homes.
• General Public - you should see the marketing metrics that I've seen that shows this was really an amazing selection.

The people buying into the Democratic talking points weren't going to vote for McCain in the first place.  Conservative Republicans are excited and based on what I'm seeing so's the general public.  Anyway, I'm off to St. Paul for the convention.  Don't forget you can follow me at www.zannel.com/PardonMyFrench

PardonMyFrench,

Eric

links for 2008-08-29

• Marc Ambinder (August 29, 2008) - Hear Sarah Palin Talk About Windfall Profits Tax And ANWR
  great interview
  (tags: mccain palin)
• Almanac of American Politics 2008 - Gov. Sarah Palin (R) - Alaska
  (tags: politics mccain palin)

links for 2008-08-28

• McCain Seems To Have Obama Beat in One Arena - WSJ.com
  I really enjoyed this article
  (tags: mccain online obama advertising search)
• Rob Portman - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  Interesting, huh?
  (tags: politics vp)

WSJ Proves Again That McCain Has The Best Search in Politics Ever!

I loved reading in today's WSJ how McCain Seems To Have Obama Beat in One Arena - that arena as you already know readers is in search marketing.  I'm snickering as I read the article again especially these points:

• So-called ambush ads are typically reserved for Web-savvy marketers such as General Motors and AT&T. The newest believer: a 71-year-old presidential candidate.
• But Sen. John McCain is in some ways outsmarting Sen. Obama when it comes to Internet marketing. One example: As of Wednesday, a Google search for "Joe Biden" or even just "Biden" resulted in a prominently displayed ad labeled "Joe Biden on Obama" that links to Sen. McCain's site.
• There, a video begins playing that shows Sen. Biden criticizing Sen. Obama during the Democratic primaries. The move mimics the "ambush" strategy that advertisers often employ: buying a competitor's term so that an ad for the buyer's own product appears when a consumer searches for the other brand.
• As a result, Sen. McCain's ad takes the top spot alongside search results, while Mr. Obama's ad appears lower in the results.
• Sen. McCain's team has been the aggressor in other ways, too. In recent days, it has bought search ads tied to key terms such as "U.S. economy" and "housing crisis," which take visitors to Web sites outlining Sen. McCain's plan on those issues.
• In July, the McCain campaign had 15.1 million sponsored link impressions -- the number of times that an ad is downloaded onto a computer screen -- compared with the 1.2 million for the Obama campaign, according to Nielsen Online

Now while I like to point out how savvy I've been on this, today in a moment of humility is not all about me.  Connell Donatelli with the McCain eCampaign team works really well together.  I received briefing papers, the video ads, quickly built landing pages that track through, and a little freedom to build out the search campaign.  It was live within hours Saturday morning while my munchkins were watching Saturday morning cartoons. 

These ads were some of our best ones and I snickered when I realized how good the whole thing came together - now The Wall Street Journal backed it up with good quotes and research.  The only thing they got wrong was the "in recent days" comment because we've been aggressive for months; someone like the WSJ finally decided to stop believing the Obama internet hype and look around a bit.

Anyway, I can't go into any more detail,  but it was fun to read that article this morning while having breakfast...Oh one final note that my wife just pointed out - is it a coincidence that the WSJ mentioned that ambush ads are typically reserved for Web-savvy marketers such as AT&T, when the main person running the search campaigns (me) is a 10 year AT&T veteran?

PardonMyFrench,

Eric

Using Springsteen's The Rising At Political Rallies

I've long since given up on my rock and roll hero when it comes to politics.  I'm not in the "shut up and play Bruce" mindset, but I definitely don't appreciate being preached to at a rock concert where I'm going to be entertained or released. 

However, one constant and core to Bruce and his music is his protection of the music.  I was in Atlantic City on The Rising tour when he decided to explain to the audience and people that heard the bootleg what Empty Sky meant especially the line that says "I want an eye for an eye".  And with Bruce going out of his way to endorse candidates, it isn't surprising to me that they'd use his songs.  I just wish they'd listen a little more closely to Bruce and his music....

The Rising isn't some song where it is open for interpretation as to what Bruce meant by writing it.  He performed it on VHI Storytellers and I of course have a copy of it on DVD.  To paraphrase my rock and roll hero as he goes through verse by verse of the song:

• It begins in the netherworld where all he has connected is what happened in the past or what will happen in the future (note it begins in the netherworld and after the subject DIES)
• Also the netherworld is a place you (as the listener) has never been to (obviously)
• I have a job to do and the tools I need to do it (the subject has the tools when he's thinking about what happened or what will happen to him)
• It's about transformation and something that's about to happen (the subject is about to die or enter the afterlife)
• Bells, sirens - fire alarms, bells of transformation, church bells, alarms (you kind of get the idea these aren't happy sounds unless you are celebrating that the subject is entering the afterlife)
• Wheels of fire - part of what you must do
• You are guided by people that have come before you
• Surrounded by sacred things, missing being physical with Mary (or whomever)
• Missing life, life, life on the edge of something else (death or transformation)

Now while there are images of transformation and Bruce does speak about transformation in the explanation on the song, I can't get past that this is a song about a person who was doing his duty (probably on 9/11 and most likely a fire fighter) and died; these are his last thoughts on his way into another world, dimension  = the afterlife.  There is just a) too many words to suggest this and b) too much explanation from the song writer to ignore these facts.   Yes it is a catchy tune and I personally believe this is a song for the family members of the deceased to let them know that the subject is fine and ok with their transformation; they are also prepared to move on with whatever lies on the other side.

The Rising is an odd song for a political rally - John Edwards, Clinton, or Obama.  It deals with death and the only thing the subject is rising to is transformation into the afterlife.  After someone close to you dies, it takes on an even stronger linkage that the person is better where they are and that they are ok with the transformation into the afterlife.

Bruce has always been protective of his songs and even through this is being used by his Democratic Party, you'd think those folks would give him the courtesy and the respect he deserves to use better songs.  You want happy, sing along songs - try Waitin' On A Sunny Day or even Mary's Place (there is a depressing side of that one).  You want a rally song about the country, war hero returning home - Born in the USA or even No Surrender.  Working class songs - plenty of them there - try Promised Land.  You want something new that speaks about working class and the American Dream - go play American Land.   

There are plenty of great songs in Bruce's catalog to play for the Democrats, but The Rising as catchy as it is, just isn't one that should be played at political rallies.

PardonMyFrench,

Eric

Zannel Is My New Favorite Social Network

Do I have a Facebook page?  Of course I do and I log into it but not as much as I did in the past.  I'm actually a fan of Facebook and I think they are trying to take a leadership position in aggregating all of your social media.  Do I have a MySpace page?  Yes, but I only log in on a rare occasion and as some of you readers know, I'm definitely not a fan.  Twitter?  Yes I do make tweets and actually enjoy reading what other folks are doing.  Friendfeed?  Yes, but other than help to provide aggregated feeds I'm not sure why I should visit it.  To be fair, I tried using it before my Dad died, but ever since then I haven't given it much time.  YouTube yes of course but I don't post a ton of videos.

That's a lot of social networking and without a playbook it is hard to figure out where to spend your time.  Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube are my favorites but then I got this great new cell phone and I sure would like to use it for making posts.  Sure I can post to twitter but then getting all of those tweets on your phone is enough to make your friends think you are perverted with all of the vibrations going off in your front pocket.  So enter Zannel.

Zannel is basically like Twitter on steroids.  It is integrated with Twitter so your posts to Zannel can also appear as tweets (that of course feeds into Friendfeed and then to Facebook).  However, the best part of Zannel is the crisp clean videos and photos you can post from your cell phone.  All you do is take your video-picture, email it to your Zannel account, add some text to the body of the email and wham instant Zannel post in one minute or less.

As you can see from my posts I'm just testing it out, but I do need to spend some time figuring out my new phone and how the camera works.  I'm planning on broadcasting from the Republican National Convention starting on Sunday when I fly out to be part of the NJ delegation team.   You want to see what it looks like behind the scenes?  You got it.  Just follow either on this blog (widget on right hand side) or on my Zannel channel.

Zannel will make you pull out your cell phone manual to figure out how your camera phone actually works.

PardonMyFrench,

Eric

links for 2008-08-24

• Quite the show in St. Louis - NJ.com: Bruce Blog
  wow - what a show. a lot of 1975 tour songs
  (tags: sprinsteen)

links for 2008-08-22

• John McCain | John McCain for President
  Some of Justine's best stuff
  (tags: mccain obama)

Check out my Zannel widget!

links for 2008-08-21

• National Journal Online - Online Campaign Ads Come Into Their Own
  (tags: mccain politics google marketing search)
• National Journal Online - McCain Buys His Way To Top Of Google
  (tags: mccain google search marketing politics)

How Google Dominates Online Politics Part 2

Interesting day today.  I received a call from a reporter from OrthoNewsline who wanted to discuss using search campaigns in the Dental business.  Really.  No joke. 

During the interview I said something that really reminded me about a recent National Journal article called McCain Buys His Way to Top of Google and a second one called Online Campaign Ads Come Into Their Own.  What I said was that search marketing and in particular Google, is the great equalizer when it comes to advertising spend.  So instead of being outspent by a large advertiser, Google provides you with advertising tools so you can operate like the big spender without the actual money.  And, if you know what you doing you can actually out market the big spender without the dollars. 

That's in direct opposite to that first National Journal article that said McCain buys his way to the top.  We didn't do that; we did it by using tools, having dollars, and measuring results.  This quote from McCain eCampaign Director and personal friend of mine Mike Palmer puts it straight "We obviously have limited resources in this campaign as compared to Barack Obama, so we have to spend in the most effective way," said e-campaign director Michael Palmer. "We found that form of advertising, where you are getting people who are already looking for something, is a very cost-effective way of getting those people to our site and getting them to do the things we want them to do."

Why is Google the great equalizer?  Because you can't buy your way to the top and a smaller budgeted advertiser can be very competitive if they do the following:

• Think through your campaign and develop well thought out groups of keywords
• Build relevant and creative text ads for each group of words
• Send those text ad clicks into very relevant landing pages with clear calls to action
• Use available tools and your own creativity to build the keyword list; use Google Trends to capture the hot searches and Google Insight to see how people search.
• Add post-click tracking tags to the actions on your site that you want to track
• Set your budget based on objective
• Use ad scheduling, geo-targeting, ad optimization, and other search tools Google provides for free
• Opt into Content if you can; use the site targeting and demo targeting
• Optimize based on your results
• Use click to play video ads to showcase your own commercials and if you pay per click on those remember they watch the ad for free

I have so many other tips and history that if you want more detail click here.  This is why Google is the great equalizer and that no advertiser, Dentist or Presidential Candidate should ever run marketing campaigns without putting significant dollars towards Google.  You don't have to buy your way to the top, you just have to out market your opponent on the way to the top.

PardonMyFrench,

Eric

Reading Some Moronic Posts Regarding Buying Competitive Names

I saw a post this weekend from some moron saying that the McCain campaign is unethical because it buys Barack Obama's name.  Then I read some of comments and for the most part they are accurate save for one person who thought a competitor shouldn't be allowed to buy a brand name.  For you search morons out there allow me to explain under the Google rules....

1. Google won't allow you to buy a trademarked name
2. If you somehow sneak through when you turn on your competitor name buy you will eventually get caught and have it shut off.
3. Political names (or personal names) are not trademarked.  Sure the occasional name is trademarked but I have yet to find a politician's name trademarked.
4. If you are able to buy a competitor's name you won't be stealing traffic and it is never a "no no".
5. Simply stated you buy search terms because you are trying to find someone looking for information.  So if someone is searching for say "Derek Jeter" they are obviously looking for information on baseball, Yankees, shortstops, and of course Jeter.  If you have a competitor product why wouldn't you want to put a message in front of that person?
6. Buying a competitor's name in search is the equivalent of lining Coke and Pepsi up in the soda aisle.  You know the person is shopping for soda so why not put your message there?

Buying a competitor's name is good business practice when you are allowed to do it.  It fine tunes the traffic and intercepts someone with a relevant message.  You are not stealing traffic and it certainly isn't unethical.  Grow up.

PardonMyFrench,

Eric

links for 2008-08-14

• Heartland - a contemporary midwestern restaurant
  I want to eat here
  (tags: restaurant food)

I Got Palm Trees from Tucked Away Farms

Who doesn't like Palm Trees?  I just never thought it was possible until I read in the Sunday Star Ledger about a farm in the Califon section of Washington Township NJ (Long Valley is a section of Washington Township) called Tucked Away Farms.  Tucked Away Farms sells a hardy version of Palm Trees that can live in New Jersey.  I was intrigued, so the family and I with my mom in tow went to visit the farm and immediately bought two Palm Trees for around our deck.  Joe who owns the farm is very knowledgeable about plants, but my mom thought he was a little crazy.  My reply "Mom, the guy is selling Palm Trees in NJ, of course he is a little crazy."  Crazy like a fox.

The Palm Trees aren't cheap and require a lot of care especially for the first two winters.  We have to basically build a cage covered with industrial strength plastic to protect the plant; that is until the trees are used to the winters up in NJ, especially on Schooly's Mountain.  After the two years or so according to Joe we should be good to go.  However even with all of that care, there is nothing better than sitting on your back deck in the hot tub, listening to beach music with your own PALM TREES.  Every time I look at them I just grin.

Is it a bit of a risk?  Sure.  My wife and I have a great track record with plants and gardening so we decided (I really convinced her) to give it a shot.  Of course I'm praying for a mild winter and my father in-law will help me build the protective covering, but we are excited.  After all, can you get pictures like these in your home in NJ?

If you want Palm Trees go to Tucked Away Farms.  Don't wait too much longer.

PardonMyFrench,

Eric

How Google Dominates Online Politics

As I wrote the other day I was on a panel at GOPAC to discuss online advertising and I thought it was an excellent panel and not just because I presented.  Each one of us had completely different subjects to speak about.  I presented case studies on streaming commercials online, McCain's search campaign, and online advertising.  David Kralik spoke about the marketing efforts behind Drill Here, Dill Now, Pay Less for American Solutions.  And, Robert Willington from the Massachusetts GOP offered a ton of social networking tips for campaigns.  Robert Willington's presentation really had a lasting impressions on me for how Google Dominates Online Politics.

As you flip through Rob's presentation, you see can seen how userful Google's FREE product offerings are for political campaigns and other marketers.  Did I mention that this was ALL FREE!!!

• Blogger for having your own campaign blog.  Personally I prefer Typepad and probably Wordpress, but so what?  Blogger is a decent product and I even started there myself.
• Google Maps where you can track your users and supporters for free
• YouTube for commercials, video ads, and responses from your voters
• Google Analytics to track your marketing results
• Google Docs for sharing information
• And not in the presentation but I mentioned it - Google Alerts to track comments and posts as well as Gmail for email and Google Reader for feeds

Not once (other than myself) did David or Rob mention Yahoo, MSN, or any other online advertising luminaries. It was pretty much Google, Digg, MySpace, and a few other social networking tools and sites. 

This is why Google dominates politics.  They have great free products and then get you hooked with their brand and usability.  When it actually comes time for you to spend money for advertising where do you think you are going to go first?  A company like MSN where you have had little brand interaction or Google?

Google isn't buying political favors or leaning towards any side.  They just have a simple marketing proposition.  Get you marketers into their product line and then upsell you when you are ready.  That's why they dominate Politics and other industries.

PardonMyFrench,

Eric

GOPAC Conference

I'm heading down to DC tomorrow for meetings and the GOPAC conference.  I'm on a panel tomorrow afternoon called Online:Persuading, Motivating, Implementing with Rob Willington, Executive Director Massachusetts Republican Party and David Kralik from American Solutions.  I'm giving a similar presentation that I've given at the past two AAPC meetings and it includes a case study on John McCain's search campaign and some of the streaming ads we've run in the past.

I'm pretty excited about the opportunity and glad to be going down to DC.  I could use some kind of excitement since my Dad died.  I also hope to see my cousin Ethan while I'm down there too. 

Meetings, presentation, and seeing my cousin and some old friends should be just what my doctor ordered.  If you are around call my cell phone or drop me an email or just come up and say hi.

PardonMyFrench,

Eric

McCain's Paid Search Marketing Campaign Still A Mystery To "Experts"

(In the interest of full disclosure I'm Chief Internet Strategist for Connell Donatelli Inc the company responsible for Senator McCain's Online Advertising.  I personally take an interest :-) in the Paid Search Program)

Sorry I didn't respond to this article sooner, but I was attending possibly the greatest Springsteen Concert since the Nassau Coliseum shows from 1980-1981.  3 hours 16 minutes, 30 songs, fan requests, on and on and Blinded By The Light, Incident, Spirits, Rosie, and 5 songs from BTR. 

Anyway, this article in Politico called McCain's Internet edge: Ad Price while on the surface seems positive, is short sighted and shows once again that self-proclaimed "internet experts" have no clue when it comes to online advertising and particularly search marketing.  Here's what has me perplexed as to the general understanding of search marketing in this arena:

• advertisements targeted to users searching for “John McCain” on the Internet cost nearly twice as much as those targeting users searching for “Barack Obama.”
• Google sells ads in a constant, nearly instantaneous auction in which advertisers bid on individual search terms.
• But Republican new media consultant David All thinks one reason for the price difference may be that the McCain campaign itself is bidding up the price of “John McCain” related ads.
• “It’s a free market, and John McCain’s campaign has said very publicly that they’re investing resourced into online advertising,” says All.
• The high prices, though, could be evidence of a problem for the McCain campaign. Because of the vast interest in their candidate online, the Obama camp simply may not feel it has to bid as highly for ads on “Barack Obama.”

The main problem with the article is that even though it mentions quality score, it purposely tries to paint a picture that bid cost is the major factor for determining the cost an advertiser pays and backs it up with a quote from David All who thinks McCain is bidding up the price of John McCain.  And, it plays into that there could be problems for McCain because Obama doesn't have to bid as high (totally inaccurate).  David's quote could not be possibly more wrong and shows a complete lack of understanding of how paid search works especially for Google and demonstrates the overall lack of experience in running online advertising campaigns.

Now I can't go into specifics into the McCain search campaign, but allow me to enlighten you search novices especially the ones in the political industry.  If you really want a detailed explanation see this post I wrote called My Tips for Setting You Google Ad Prices.  Basically your maximum bid price is NOT the most important factor in your paid click price; it is relevancy and quality score.  If your ad and landing page are very relevant to the words you are buying and you make brilliant ads, you are rewarded by Google with a higher quality score and YOU PAY LESS PER CLICK.   The reverse also works true. It also works that way for Obama and McCain.

The McCain campaign or ANY OTHER ADVERTISER does NOT need to bid up the price on their branded keyword.  If they have experienced online marketers they will PAY LESS per word than someone else.    

Bidding up prices on keywords is a poor strategy for any marketer especially the ones that own the brand name.  You don't need to bid up words, especially if you have back end metrics like ROI or conversion into sales.   You should be setting your bid prices based on hitting your metrics not "how much you pay for a click".

The only advantages that McCain's search campaign has over everyone else is that we are experienced in search marketing (I've personally been doing some form of search marketing since 1998), we have very relevant ads, we enjoy high quality scores, the landing pages will always be relevant (McCain name is ALWAYS on the landing page), and we measure the campaign based on ROI. 

Bidding up your own branded keyword is not a good strategy.  As is guessing what is really happening behind someone's search campaign when all you are really trying to do is get face time in the press.

PardonMyFrench,

Eric

BTW - check out the celebrity quiz over at the RNC. http://www.gop.com/CelebrityQuiz/