June 29, 2006

Earlier this month, Jeffrey Eisenberg, founder and CEO of FutureNow, Inc. (a New York-based marketing consulting firm) headlined a luncheon for the Oregon Chapter of the American Marketing Association. Jeffrey was in town promoting his new book, Waiting for Your Cat to Bark (co-authored with his brother, Bryan).

The main point of his presentation (and the book) is that marketers should help customers buy the way they prefer to buy, instead of forcing them to do things they don't want to do (which wastes a lot of cycles for everyone).

Eisenberg gave a number of great examples during the presentation, but the one that really stuck in my mind involved Google AdWords. He highlighted how some companies try to incorporate query data (you know, the word or phrase you type into the search box) into their Google Ad so that it becomes a "custom" and "relevant" ad.

However, as Eisenberg points out, this often produces erroneous or irrelevant results, which frustrate the user and run up the advertiser's costs.

I was reminded of this today while doing an online coverage search for Marqui. I typed in the name "Janet Johnson" to see if she has been quoted anywhere recently...and this is what I see: 

Apparently, eBay really does offer everything. I mean, who couldn't use a few extra Janets? We are a little short staffed around here...

Now, Jeffrey probably isn't the first person to use this example and I'm certainly not the first person to blog about it. This just serves as a gentle reminder that we marketers should definitely step back once in a while and make sure that what we are doing really is relevant and helpful to our target audiences.

Posted by at June 29, 2006

Comments

Dana email - www.cawood.com/blog

Hey guys, what do you think of this:

http://payperpost.com/

Would love to hear your thoughts.

Have a good weekend.

dana

Jean MacDonald email - www.smileonmymac.net/blog

Relevance is supposedly Google's mantra, and these ads are anything but. Sometimes you'll search for something and they will be non-ads like this from eBay, Target and Amazon.

I think it undermines the value of Google Ads. I've complained via the "Dissatisfied with results?" link (at the bottom of every results page). I don't know whether it does any good, but it does make me feel an iota better. :-) Now, if everyone would complain....

Jennifer email - http://www.kitchenpoptools.com/

Ebay is offering everything? Don't make me laugh! I always can't find, what I really need. Or I'm just searching badly?

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