Acquisio Acquires ClickEquations

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Dec. 21

As of late, there’s been a tremendous amount of growth and M&A activity in our industry. Just a few weeks ago, Adobe acquired Efficient Frontier for $400 million. Personally, I feel like $400 million is a really solid, strong price for Efficient Frontier and sets the tone for more big liquidity events in the coming months/years. It’s really great news for our industry.

Way To Go, Acquisio and ClickEquations!

Today, I was absolutely floored when Acquisio announced their acquisition of ClickEquations. If you’ve been reading PPC Ian for a while, you probably know that I’m a huge fan of Acquisio, the leading performance marketing platform for agencies. I have covered some of their amazing whitepapers, interviewed their CMO Marc Poirier, and recently did a guest post on Acquisio’s awesome blog.

What you may not know is I’m also a huge fan of ClickEquations. As you can see in my SMX 2011 Recap, I had the great opportunity to connect with Craig Danuloff, CEO of ClickEquations. Craig literally wrote the book on quality score and is a true leader in our industry. The ClickEquations team is truly top-notch and they built an outstanding platform. Integrate ClickEquations into Acquisio’s platform and it’s going to be a true home run for the online marketing community.

Prediction: SEM Platform(s) Will Go Public In 2012-2013

So, what’s next after all of this recent M&A activity? First and foremost, it means better tools for end users like you and me! More M&A means more activity, growth, and competition. It’s a race at this point to build the biggest and best online marketing platforms around.

Second, I think the recent activity sets the stage for some even bigger deals in the future. Looking at companies like Acquisio, Kenshoo, and Marin Software, I would not be surprised if one or more of them went public in 2012-2013. One thing is for sure: If you manage large online advertising campaigns, I highly encourage you to audit the platforms out there, you will not be disappointed!

Image in this post © Acquisio

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Check Out My Guest Post On Acquisio’s Blog

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Dec. 14

I’m a huge fan of online marketing automation, with platforms like Acquisio at the top of my list. Have you heard of Acquisio? They offer the leading performance marketing platform for agencies.

Acquisio Guest Post

Today, I wrote a guest post on Acquisio’s blog: 5 Ways To Get The Most Out of Your New Online Marketing Platform. I’m so excited and honored. Acquisio has a really amazing online marketing blog and I highly recommend checking it out. Since the entire online marketing world is in the process of moving from manual campaign management to leveraged campaign management via platforms such as Acquisio, I thought this would be the perfect topic.

After reading my guest post, I highly recommend checking out Acquisio’s whitepapers as well (they are really amazing). I have covered several of them here on PPC Ian including:

Want to learn even more about Acquisio? I had the honor of interviewing Acquisio’s CMO Marc Poirier right here on PPC Ian. Thanks for all your support and I hope you enjoy my guest post!

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PPC Bidding Automation Tips

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Sep. 21

If you’ve been reading PPC Ian for a while, I bet you know that I’m a huge proponent of SEM automation. I even wrote a whitepaper a while back, PPC Ian’s SEM Automation Buyer’s Guide. One of my favorite aspects of PPC platforms such as Kenshoo, Acquisio, and Marin Software is automated bidding. In that spirit, I wanted to provide a few invaluable tips to keep in mind when setting up and maintaining your automated bidding platform.

Tip 1: Verify Your Platform’s Data Daily

What You Need To Know

Good data means good decisions. Bad data means bad bidding decisions. I’ve seen it hundreds of times: Something goes wrong and your SEM platform does not sync data properly. Perhaps the search engine API is down. Perhaps your own API (or FTP) is not working and the platform cannot access your internal conversion data. Perhaps your internal system does not update conversions properly. Sometimes it’s just a day’s worth of bad data. Sometimes, the bad data can pour in for multiple days (my worst nightmare, that is if it goes undetected).

Here’s the problem: Automated bidding systems rely on accurate data. If the clicks, cost, conversions, or other important metrics are off, the bidding system is going to make mistakes. These mistakes can be incredibly costly. It’s important to audit your data daily on all levels: Account, campaign, adgroup, and keyword. It’s also important to make sure your internal conversion data is passed into the system correctly (if applicable). When you do catch issues, make sure to work closely with your account management team and, until the problem is fixed, make sure the bidding system ignores the bad data dates.

Tip 2: Leverage Internal Conversion Data

Do you currently bid based on conversion collected via search engine pixels? Or, do you leverage your own, internal conversion data? From my experience, search engine pixels are always off. They will never offer as accurate of a picture as your own internal data. As such, I highly recommend passing your internal conversion data into your automated bidding platform, if at all possible. By doing so, you will see an instant lift in your results (good data equals good results). If not easily possible, search engine pixel data can be a stepping stone until you’re able to integrate internal conversion data.

Tip 3: Invest Heavily In Your Bidding Setup

Long term, automated bidding systems save a ton of time while also driving improved results (more conversions at lower CPA). Short run, however, they require a ton of setup. In my experience, it’s the setup (or lack thereof) that will make or break your bidding system. My advice is to spend a good amount of time upfront thinking through all the details. I’m talking about these types of questions:

  • Should I pass data across search engines? For example, if Microsoft adCenter does not have statistically significant data on a keyword, should I leverage my Google data?
  • Should I minimize bid movement on a day-to-day basis? Let’s say my current bid is at $0.50 and I’m headed toward $1.00. Should the system make the entire move in one day or should the system make the move gradually?
  • What should my bidding system consider statistically significant? Is 100 clicks worth of data statistically significant? How about 1,000 clicks worth of data?

My advice is to compile a list of at least 30-50 such questions and then think through them in great detail. Engage your account management team and expect to dedicate a full time employee (for at least one month’s time) to make your new automated bidding system work.

So, there you have it. Some of my favorite automated bidding tips, especially if you’re newer to the exciting world of PPC bidding automation. I sincerely hope this helps and encourage you to investigate the great SEM platforms out there.

Image of What You Need To Know © marekuliasz

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Kenshoo Launches Amazing Watchdog Platform

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Apr. 06

If you’ve been visiting PPC Ian for a while, it will not surprise you at all that today’s post is about SEM automation software. After all, this is probably my favorite topic in the world. I’m particularly excited about today’s post, however, because I’m going to be discussing a new type of SEM automation software. I’m going to discuss software that fills a huge void in the world of large scale, corporate SEM. I’m going to talk about software that saved one retail advertiser $120,000 of potentially wasted ad spend (and $250,000 of potentially lost sales revenue) within just one short week after implementation. I’m thrilled to discuss the brand new Kenshoo Watchdog Platform.

What Is Kenshoo Watchdog?

Kenshoo 15 Billion Online Sales Revenue

So, what is Kenshoo Watchdog? Watchdog is basically software that functions as a 24/7 member of your team scouring your SEM campaigns for broken links, an abundance of redirects (bad for quality score), website failures, out of date products and promotions, and more. This patent-pending solution is the ultimate money-saver for those of us with enormous search engine marketing accounts with thousands upon thousands of ad copy all with different URLs, different promotions, and different messages. Watchdog comes from Sequoia-backed Kenshoo, one of the best and most innovative software companies I have ever seen. Due to the team backing this software, it’s jam-packed with innovative features such as prioritizing its audits on adgroups with the most spend and pages that were recently changed. If you’re in the corporate world of SEM (especially in a managerial level position), it’s really your duty to audition this tool, in my opinion.

Large SEM Accounts Can Get Out of Control

I’ve been in this corporate search engine marketing world long enough to know that it’s impossible to QA all campaigns, adgroups, and keywords on an ongoing basis. When you’re dealing with multiple accounts, hundreds of campaigns, tens of thousands (or even hundreds of thousands of adgroups), and millions of keywords, there’s no way you’re going to be able to QA it all manually. Now, throw into the mix that your website is constantly changing with new site releases. Once relevant offers are consistently changing, pages that once worked now fail to resolve at all. Despite your best efforts to make sure your program is perfect, that’s just not realistic in a manual fashion. Large SEM accounts at one point or another will get out of your control.

Even worse, your reputation as an online marketer is at stake. Executives at your company, investors, and customers are out there clicking your ads. The last thing you want is a broken link, bad offer, or outdated landing page tarnishing your reputation. So, what can you do to make sure your account is always in the perfect state and you’re spending all of your budget efficiently? Check out the next section…

Watchdog: Keeping Your Program In Check

Kenshoo Watchdog

I’m here to say that Kenshoo Watchdog is the perfect companion to your existing search marketing systems and practices, a companion that makes large scale audits of ad copy, URLs, offers, and landing pages possible.The best part of it all? Watchdog will work with any bidding and campaign management system you may already have in place. It’s a standalone solution. My prediction: I believe a huge percentage of large SEM spenders will be leveraging Kenshoo Watchdog within the next year because it’s so flexible and can basically plug into any existing program.

Kenshoo: Empowering The SEM Industry

I first got to know the Kenshoo team in 2009 and have been nothing but impressed. I know a good number of employees at Kenshoo across many teams (management, client services, marketing, and engineering), and they’re true thought leaders and innovators in our industry. As just one example, I highly recommend checking out my three part interview with Chad Baldwin, VP of Sales at Kenshoo (part 1, part 2, part 3). In short, these guys are doing amazing stuff and I truly recommend checking out Kenshoo, their world class Kenshoo Search platform ($15 billion+ annual sales revenue and $1 billion annual marketing spend is directed via this platform by the way), and of course the brand new standalone Kenshoo Watchdog platform. Watchdog is the platform to audition in 2011, in my opinion.

All images in this post © Kenshoo.com

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Kenshoo Interview (Part 3 of 3)

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Nov. 28

Hey Everyone,
Welcome to part three of my exclusive interview with Chad Baldwin, VP of Sales at Kenshoo, one of the best SEM platforms around! If you haven’t checked out part one or part two yet, I highly recommend doing so! Personally, these are some of my all time favorite posts on PPC Ian! Without further ado, I’m thrilled to continue this amazing interview with part three!

Kenshoo Logo

Ian: Chad, At this point, I’d like to transition to a few high level questions about the industry. First, I’d be curious about your perspective on the SEM industry. Where do you see us heading in the next several years?

Search Is The Operating System For The Information Age

Chad: Search continues to be the operating system for the information age. Understanding what someone wants is the cornerstone of all marketing. This is why Search is the anchor. I think that our definition is too limited today – basically, we characterize SEM as ads that are displayed after consumers type in a search box on Google, Yahoo, or MSN.

Search and intent-based marketing are becoming omnipresent though – re-targeting and cookie-exchanges mean that search intent data will follow the user around and be used to make ads more relevant. My hope is that this mechanism becomes more transparent to the user so that the value there can be more easily controlled.

Facebook and The Wisdom of Crowds

I think an interesting question is who defines what is relevant. Google has played a dominant role in this through advanced algorithms and the evolution of hypertext and semantic analysis. What Facebook is enabling with the like button actually paints quite a different story. Facebook is helping to re-organize the web based on a different principle – the wisdom of the crowds. A basic thumbs-up or thumbs-down. People are organizing the web for themselves. This is a very powerful idea. Put a social search engine on top of Facebook and you’ll start to see things get very interesting.

Ian: Chad, that’s really interesting stuff. Facebook is definitely a really hot topic right now. What is Kenshoo’s perspective on Facebook Ads?

Chad: I commented on this a little before, but our feeling is that the Social Web is here to stay. We’re very bullish on the opportunity here and already have a number of clients using Kenshoo Social to make money on Facebook ads. The targeting and creative capabilities will be unparalleled. There is lots to do here yet to make the ad platform sing, but Facebook is on a mission and we look forward helping drive their continued success.

Ian: Chad, at this point I must say I’m thoroughly impressed! I’d like to open it up and see if there’s anything else you’d like to share with PPC Ian readers?

A Question For Me: Direct Response Vs. Branding Campaigns

Chad: As a strategic thinker, Ian, with a good network of readers, I’d like to pose a question for the next round. With Kenshoo’s drive into multi-channel attribution, social (Facebook) and display, we’re seeing some very interesting evolution in terms of how marketers think about Direct Response campaigns vs. Brand Campaigns. I have been in a number of conversations predicting the full convergence of the two traditionally separate sets of objectives and tactics. What are your thoughts on this?

Ian: Chad, that is an awesome question and will definitely become the topic of an upcoming PPC Ian post! Chad, thanks so much for everything, this has been a true honor. I’m seriously impressed with Kenshoo and appreciate the interview! I know everyone reading PPC Ian will really enjoy it!

Chad: Thanks Ian. Appreciate the time to share some of what makes Kenshoo so special.

Evaluate Kenshoo For Your SEM Team Today

Ian: PPC Ian readers, regardless of your current situation (already own a platform vs. actively looking vs. more of a manual team), I highly encourage you to check out Kenshoo. As you probably know by now, I’m a huge fan. You’ll be amazed at what you see! If you’re interested in arranging a demo, you’ll want to reach out to the Kenshoo team via their website or by emailing info@kenshoo.com. Thanks so much for reading and if there’s any way in which I can help in your SEM automation decision making process, please don’t hesitate to contact me directly. Last but not least, please make sure to check out part one and part two of my interview with Kenshoo’s Chad Baldwin.

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