Too Good To Be True?

Yesterday a client forwarded a solicitation from a company called Star Position, who had an apparently fool-proof method for getting them to the "top" of all major search engine results for a single search term, all for a single fixed fee.

It's a very seductive pitch to small business owners struggling with the rising cost of PPC advertising. I took a look at their site and the description of their product. It is a virtual clone of an offering from a company called "Rocket Positions" that thrived with aggressive sales tactics and a series of affiliates companies seemingly designed to hide their identity. The fact that the "Business Segment Analyst" sent the email from a residential email address was an easy-to-spot red flag.

Do they get you to the top of all the major search engines? Yes!

EXCEPT...you only appear on the top of search engines for people who have been unlucky enough to download their browser plugin, which puts a large scrolling frame at the top of the browser when you conduct a web search. Advertisers who purchase a keyword can put whatever they want in that frame, including the landing page of their website related to the search term.

Now, let's think about this from the customer's prospective. How many people want to see a giant ad taking up a third of their screen when they are searching for something? Not many. How many people download this thing without realizing that it does this? Most, I'd say. How hard is it to remove from your system? I didn't install their product, but I practically had to wipe my hard drive to remove the Rocket Positions plugin from my computer.

Remember, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Marketers Must Listen Before Talking

Great column on ClickZ today by Pete Blackshaw of Nielsen Buzzmetrics. As co-founder of the Word of Mouth Marketing Association, Pete is at the forefront of thinking on the hot topic of consumer generated media (CGM). CGM encompasses things like blogs, forums and the like, where ordinary people talk about their experience with your product or service.

Pete's point in this column is that marketers don't use the best customer touchpoint they have--their company's own call center. Want to build an effective ecommerce website? You'd better have done some serious listening to your customers first.

Integrated Marketing? Not!

Integrated marketing is a fancy way of saying that all your sales channels work in concert, allowing your customers to buy easily wherever they feel most comfortable.

Many retail chains with commissioned salespeople are so afraid of offending them that they throw away business rather than figure out a way to manage the perception that "the website takes money out of my pocket". This results in salespeople who warn customers away from the ecommerce store.

These retailers should be far more afraid of competitors who will take business from them by making it easy for customers to shop where and when they like. Here is an example of this flawed approach at retailer Jos. A Bank.

Useful Resources

There are a few websites I've found useful in keeping abreast of the newest and best thinking in multichannel marketing. I've created a "Recommended Resources" sidebar with links to them. If you've found other useful resources, let me know.