Borenstein Group

Washington DC’s Expert Top B2B|B2G Digital Branding Agency

Digital Marketing

Why Google Killed True Exact and Phrase Keyword Matching: Typos Included

by Leave a Comment

Google announced last week that AdWords will be requiring all campaigns to use close variant keyword matching starting in September. This means that your exact and phrase keyword matching will also trigger for misspellings, singular/plural forms, stemmings, accents, acronyms and abbreviations of your keyword, whether you want them to or not.

Close variant matching was already the default option when using exact and phrase match, however previously you could opt out of it, giving yourself more control of the campaign. That is no longer the case. Now, PPC managers have no choice but to embrace close variant matching and how keywords set to phrase and exact match type will trigger search ads. In this article, I will highlight everything you need to know about the upcoming change, and what you can do moving forward.

Why Is Google Making This Change?

According to Google, approximately 7% of Google searches contain a misspelling; and the longer the query, the greater likelihood of a typo. Whether it’s “kid scooters,” “kid’s scooters,” or “kids scooters,” people interested in buying a scooter for their child want to see the most relevant ads despite slight variations in their search query. That is why, starting in late September, Google will require close variant matching for both exact and phrase match types, in an effort to deliver on the intent of the search term.

There were three benefits of this change highlighted by Google:

  1. A successful match. Google has claimed that most advertisers are already matching close keyword variations, and those that do see an average of 7% more exact and phrase match clicks with similar clickthrough and conversion rates.
  2. Reach more customers. Because close variant matching was already the default setting for campaigns, most advertisers won’t see a change in their keyword behavior. However, for advertisers that opted out, their exact and phrase match keywords will begin matching to close keyword variations, allowing them to reach more of their potential customers with the right ad, while aiming to lower cost per click and improve clickthrough rate.
  3. Control with less complexity. Google is also looking to lower the complexity in managing AdWords campaigns. With this update, you will no longer have to build exhaustive lists of misspelled, abbreviated and other close variations of your keywords to get the coverage you want. Instead, focus on adding negative keywords, including close variants you don’t want to match for, to shape traffic and reduce cost.

So these are some pretty good reasons for forcing close variant matching, right? Sort of.

So What’s The Down Side?

Advertisers are losing control.

While Google has pointed out many positives to this upcoming change, a lot of advertisers within the marketing and AdWords community have been outraged with the announcement. While it is true, using close variant matching will increase the reach of your ads, is that always a good thing? The use of classic phrase and exact match offered greater precision and control over exactly which search queries triggered your ads. And a lot of advertisers are not happy with this loss of control.

While loss of control is the main headache everyone is suffering from, advertisers will also start to see an increase in costs. With close variant matching, you will see an increase in impressions and clicks, because your keywords will be matched against more keywords. But with more clicks, come more costs. And for some smaller companies that have a small paid search budget, excluding close variants helped to keep costs more controllable. Not anymore.

What This Means Moving Forward

This change really only applies to those advertisers who clicked that exact match box and opted out of close variant matching. They will now have closed variant matching forced upon them and as a result lose out on a lot of control they once had. Here are some tips from industry-leaders to remain in control of your AdWords campaign with close variant matching:

  1. Convert all phrase match keywords to exact match
  2. Add and expand to your negative keyword lists to include close variants and plurals that you do not want your ads triggered for
  3. Monitor your AdWords SQR reports and see which variants are taking up some of your budget

These first two tips are the most important.According to the teams at Wordstream and SpyFu, losing phrase match is 10 times more damaging than losing exact match. After looking at actual campaign data published by Brad Geddes, showing the volume and performance of normal match types vs. normal + variants, SpyFu was able to conclude that adding close variant matching to phrase match types decreases campaign performance by 10%! While adding close variant matching to exact match types only saw a decrease in performance of 1%. On top of that, they saw a 17% increase in spend on those phrase match keywords. This is why it is of paramount importance to convert all phrase match keywords to exact match.

Secondly, start building out your negative keyword list. Review your keywords carefully and think about what terms you do not wish to show up for. Check your SQR report daily to ensure you are matching for the correct keywords and to ensure you aren’t wasting money on irrelevant close variant keywords. Look at the terms for exact and phrase match variants and determine if any of these should be included or added as negative keywords. Building a solid negative keyword list is key, and maintaining it is critical.

More information and data will soon be released on this change along with more actionable tips. And like all Google updates, I highly recommend staying up-to-date with the most recent trends and changes. For now, we’re just going to have to sit and wait till Google makes the change in September.

Want to learn more about how strategic PPC can help you generate leads for your business? Contact Us to discuss ways in which advertising with Google can help you reach your audience and drive revenue for your business.

Are You In Control Of Your Online Reputation?

by Leave a Comment

What do people see when they Google your business? The first page of search results is your one shot at a good first impression, so if the answer isn’t “great things,” then you have a serious problem. The internet gives everyone a voice, so it is important the loudest ones have good things to say about you. Even the lack of online content can be damaging to your reputation because you will not appear as credible or relevant.

If you are the president, CEO or other prominent business executive, the search results for your name are just as important to your organization’s image as the results for its name. And if you are an employee, your online reputation plays a massive role in your ability to advance in your career.

Unfortunately, most people have no idea of the extent to which their online reputation can be controlled. Although you cannot delete other voices from the internet, you can take steps to be the loudest one. Every business is faced with risks that stem from the free flow of information. Even things that aren’t true can hurt you. A comprehensive online reputation management strategy can mitigate many of these risks, but it takes time and dedication to implement successfully. Here are a few tips to get started:

  1. Publish content of your own. Sure you have a website and maybe a Facebook page, but how often are they updated? New, quality content published weekly is excellent for SEO and necessary to reach the top results. Dominate the first page of search engines and drown out other voices by posting relevant content to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Tumblr, SlideShare and WordPress. Just don’t post fluff. Search engines ignore it, and people see right through it. But they will share content that is relevant to them, which amplifies your voice.
  2. Remain informed about what people are saying about you. Google has long offered a service called ‘Google Alerts’ that emails you when new information containing a selected search term is published. You may have even been advised to create one for your name or business. However, Google has admitted that this tool no longer functions the way it was intended. Superior resources such as Talkwalker.com should be used to monitor what is being posted about you and your company
  3. Respond to negative comments. Maybe someone has given your business an unfavorable review on Yelp or GlassDoor, or posted a complaint or a frustrated tweet for the world to see. Promptly respond with an apology or explanation and offer to remedy the situation. Your response will be visible alongside the negative post, and viewers will be able to see that you care about your customers.

Need help managing your online reputation? Contact us here for a complimentary discussion on how Borenstein Group can help.

How to Land an Internship at a Cool Marketing Agency

by Leave a Comment

[av_hr class=’invisible’ height=’10’ shadow=’no-shadow’ position=’center’]

Before you take on the world and land that perfect job, the first step is to get your foot in the door at a marketing agency. To do this, apply for that ‘dirty job’ they call an “internship.” Below are the top 5 tips on how to land that internship!

[av_hr class=’default’ height=’50’ shadow=’no-shadow’ position=’center’]

1. Research

Once you secure an interview, you are half-way there! The next step is doing your homework. The number one thing you can do wrong in an interview is to not know anything about the company. Of course, they don’t expect you to know everything that they do, but having a general idea about the latest changes the company has implemented or the company’s specific target market will put you ahead of the hundreds of other interns that are trying to do exactly what you are doing.

2. Know the “Latest Trends” in the Market

Companies love having interns in their company because it is a way for someone with fresh, new ideas to update old processes and procedures with new technology. This does not mean you have to be a social media junky or know everything about content marketing.

3. Have References and Connections

The most important thing in the business world is: “who you know.” Having an amazing resume is only half the battle in landing that internship. College is the best time to get involved in all sorts of extra-curricular activities, and when employers see familiarities with the same interests that they once were involved in, it’s a great conversation starter! Another advantage from getting involved in college is having those great references that are trustworthy and can prove you are a great fit for the internship you are seeking.

4. Follow up

The main question to ask yourself when you’ve just finished that amazing interview is how do I compare to the other hundreds of students that are seeking that same internship? Setting yourself apart can be difficult, but making employers remember you can actually be quite easy. Sending a quick email thanking them for their time and telling them you are excited to hear back could actually make or break it for you.

5.  Get out of your comfort zone

College is the time for learning and growing as a person… figuring out where you belong and exactly what you want to do with your future. Internships are a lot like the real world because they give you a glimpse of what the “real world” is actually all about. They can be difficult – but even more rewarding. Don’t waste an amazing opportunity when you get the chance.

Hopefully, this post gave you helpful tips on how to land a great internship in an awesome marketing agency. If you are interested in becoming an intern at Borenstein Group fill out our form here!

[av_hr class=’default’ height=’50’ shadow=’no-shadow’ position=’center’]

By Brittany Bunger, Digital Marketing Assistant at the Borenstein Group – Washington DC’s Expert B2B Digital Communications Agency.  Ms. Bunger studies at the University of Northern Iowa, majoring in Global Marketing with a minor in Communications. Ms. Bunger is involved with the American Marketing Association as its Director of Membership.

The Hub Invites Gal Borenstein to Speak at Hub Convene Conference

by Leave a Comment

The Hub, PR Week’s go-to resource for today’s digital marketing innovators, has invited Mr. Gal Borenstein, CEO of Borenstein Group, to be a speaker at this year’s annual The Hub Convene digital marketing conference in San Francisco, on March 31st, 2014. The Hub Convene assembles the industry-leading champions in digital marketing, with Borenstein featured alongside fellow thought leaders from LinkedIn, Kiip, Adobe and Dell.

The Hub is a thriving digital resource where innovators in marketing, data, innovation, content, social and digital media share ideas, strategies and insight on emerging trends and their effects on client ROI. The Hub is also the sister brand to PRWeek, the leading business publishing brand, and is headquartered in Silicone Valley. With offices in several locations such as New York City, Austin, Boston and Los Angeles, The Hub is quickly becoming the go-to resource for today’s digital marketing innovators, both at large organizations and growing companies.

Gal Borenstein will be discussing how to leverage Big Data for effective marketing and the current trends in technology marketing. Mr. Borenstein will provide unique insight from his experience gleaned over nearly 20 years of providing trusted strategic marketing guidance to executives of technology companies, both SMB’s and large global corporations. Other speakers include: Brian Wing, CEO and Co-founder of Kiip; Daniel Roth, Executive Editor of LinkedIn; Gina Casagrande, Content and Conversion Evangelist, Digital Marketing of Adobe; and Bryan Jones, Vice President of Marketing with Dell.

About Borenstein Group:
Borenstein Group, Inc. is a Northern Virginia-based integrated strategic digital marketing communications agency that specializes in supporting private and public-sector marketers in the areas of systems integration, information technology, supply chain and logistics, homeland security, defense, intelligence, telecommunications, aerospace, and government.

How To Score Leads Without “Waterboarding” Your Business Developers

by Leave a Comment

Check out Gal Borenstein’s latest post on The Hub. In this blog post, Gal discusses the best steps to creating an Intelligent Lead Scoring Approach.

It sounds obvious: digital marketing is all about keeping score and scoring big with measurable results and metrics you can track. Yet, very often, I find that many corporate marketers of the most sophisticated companies treat all inbound leads alike. This leads to a series of thought and organizational fallacies that give marketers a false senses of security, and inhibit their ability to accurately project their sales pipeline. Pouring any and every lead that comes in the funnel is basically waterboarding for BD. It make business developers work harder, not smarter. There is a better way. It’s called Intelligent Lead Scoring. No, I didn’t invent it. I just added the word “Intelligent” to make you stop and think before you automate!

Intelligent Lead Scoring is a management concept by which you follow a series of sequential steps that empowers your marketing and business development organization to sort out the haymakers from the spam fakers, and the diamonds in the rough from the rough crowds. It enables you to assign a measurable IQ to your organizational decision making and business development process.

The six steps to creating an Intelligent Lead Scoring approach are:

1. Visualize Success:

Does it take a village to identify a real lead? No, unless you want to be the village idiot. A successful Intelligent Lead Scoring process begins by visualizing what high-impact inbound leads look like. Work backwards from the best and biggest wins that your company experienced from inbound leads to identify the time, frequency, specific interests, demographics, and velocity of interest in the content that made the “perfect lead” become a transactional sale.

2. Select the Right Marketing Automation Platform for You:

Not all marketing automation platforms are suitable for your company’s BD culture. In some companies, Business Development doesn’t like sharing information with their marketing compadres because they feel territorial about their contacts. This should NOT preclude marketing automation altogether. Instead, you should select a platform that allows BD to keep their “private information” private, while also allowing you as the CMO to still get the metrics that you need to manage the process.

3. Waterboard Your Business Development Team:

What could more torturous than waterboarding your BD team? Giving them crappy leads. In fact, most of them might opt for waterboarding instead of following up with the cold leads you send them. Unless you have invested the time to understand, quantify and measure the “expression of interest” or “intent” by using numerical values, before sending the lead data to your BD team, you’d be better off just sending them to GTMO. At least, I hear, they got a basketball court over there.

4. “Rendition” for Your Big Data:

Marketing automation platforms now give marketers the opportunity to analyze every piece of data, big or small. The single most important thread is that too much data often equates to not enough meaningful and actionable information. Determine the top three impact data points that your CEO, CFO and CMO agree and align with, are worth the company’s time. Remember, Big Data can endure rendition and torture, and it won’t complain. But if you flood your management reports with meaningless metrics of “apparent success,” you’ll be the subject of the next corporate waterboarding.

5. Stay Agile & Pragmatic:

Every marketing automation platform is based on the premise that “sticking with it” empowers the team to have a universal set of KPIs and Big Data that are predictable and measureable. I find that many marketers tend to say “give it time” without truly creating test points to ensure that the picture that emerges is actually supporting the Business Development objectives set forth by the company. Yes, it hurts our professional pride when we have to admit defeat or change course midway, but it’s for the good of the program. In other words, start the program with the explicit intent to measure mid-way, be prepared to admit what didn’t work, and be positioned to change it. Remaining flexible and pragmatic allows you to gain the respect of your peers as an enlightened marketer.

Bottom line: marketing automation and big data are empowering you to automate and use lead scoring as means of making your business developers happier and more productive. However, remember they are template-driven and MUST BE ALIGNED with your company’s culture and you are the sole marketing leader that can make the difference between automating the problem or automating a meaningful solution.

Borenstein Group Launches 3 Interactive Digital Brand Destinations for National Air Cargo / National Airlines

by Leave a Comment

[av_slideshow size=’no scaling’ animation=’slide’ autoplay=’false’ interval=’4′]
[av_slide id=’5205′]
[av_slide id=’5204′]
[av_slide id=’5203′]
[av_slide id=’5131′]
[/av_slideshow]

Fairfax, VA, USA (PRWEB) January 02, 2014
Borenstein Group, a leading B2B and B2G integrated digital communications agency, designed and delivered a high-impact digital brand for global logistics leader National Air Cargo/National Airlines, including three interactive and fully responsive websites, plus video and digital collateral.

In order to support its expanded its passenger service offerings, National tasked Borenstein Group with enhancing the company’s digital presence. Borenstein designed three distinct websites, GoNational.com, NationalAirCargo.com and NationalAirlines.com, which incorporate the latest advancements in user experience, including responsive design and a unique parallax scrolling feature inspired by the motion of an aircraft in flight. The sites infuse high-end graphics and UI design along with targeted content marketing and interactive booking and tracking tools that empower National customers with immediate access to the services they need at any time, on any device.

Borenstein Group’s innovative work with the National brand follows recent successful B2G and B2B branding initiatives for defense-aerospace pioneer TCOM, which reinforces Borenstein’s reputation as the leading digital branding and strategic marketing communications firm for the global logistics and aviation communities.

About Borenstein Group:
Borenstein Group, Inc. is a Northern Virginia-based integrated strategic digital marketing communications agency that specializes in supporting private and public-sector marketers in the areas of systems integration, information technology, supply chain and logistics, homeland security, defense, intelligence, telecommunications, aerospace, and government. Learn more at borensteingroup.com.

About National Air Cargo/National Airlines:
National is a premier global multimodal, freight forwarding, and passenger flight service provider, with corporate headquarters in Orlando, Florida. National sets a new standard of excellence by delivering unrelenting service, unrivaled solutions, unmatched agility and the utmost care, all with unparalleled speed in order to elevate the total customer experience, anywhere in the world. Learn more at GoNational.com