Why Use Google Adwords to Get Started on Marketing

I run a startup called TrainingMetrix, a company dedicated to bringing accessible analytics to fitness users around the world.

With a beta release of our first online product for triathletes, we needed to start a marketing campaign or two to draw in traffic beyond the inner circle of developers and “friend” based beta testers.   We aren’t fans of Facebook, so using a Facebook Ad campaign was not an option.

Google Adwords was a suggestion from a friend of mine.  As it turns out, Adwords is a great platform to get started on.  You can set a budget, big or small, you can run one or many campaigns for as long as you want and the text “adwords” means you don’t have to have a graphic artist and fancy banner ads to attract customers.  For us, the control, flexibility, and simplistic nature was why we chose Adwords for our first marketing platform.

So, we signed up with Google Adwords and started experimenting.  We had two goals for this project:

1. Test the waters with different keywords, messaging, and landing page styles to understand trigger words
2. How effective Adwords are in terms of cost

We setup four different campaigns, each with two separate Ads and sat back.  Before too long, we were getting plenty of traffic to the site.  We let the campaigns run for one week and then ran a report.  The results were fascinating to us and exactly what we were looking for.  Our first goal was met.

As for our second goal, the cost of Adwords was within our budget, but the overall cost per acquisition (CPA) was quite high, higher than we expected.  If we had Lifetime Value data to compare against, we could make a smart decision as to whether or not to continue on.  Since we are in the beta phase and not collecting revenue, the overall costs of the campaigns were acceptable, on budget and appropriate for the knowledge that we gained.

If you have a startup, please consider using Adwords as a jumping off platform for marketing. Leverage the simplicity, the control and the knowledge that you can get from it.

Power of Awesome

I've been a fan of the primal diet and Mark Sisson's blog, Mark's Daily Apple, because it is not only incredibly interesting, but I also find it very motivating. 

I recently received an email from Mark giving an update on the status of my pre-order for his new cookbook, The Primal Blueprint Cookbook.  While I was extremely happy to see him reaching out to his loyal readers/customers (as all good companies do!), I was really surprised to see how he concluded the email:

"Have a day so awesome, other days weep with jealousy." 

Woh….   I was speechless.  This one sentence sent such inspirational shivers through my spine that it is my new life motto!

This one sentence is not only a unique way to conclude an email, but it also builds the relationship in a way that is unexpected… through inspirational good wishes!

Go Mark!

Confidence In Metrics

Metrics are the individual numbers that relate to other numbers that tell a story. Often, these are the numbers that people of all levels of the company use to make decisions.

If a company has a firm grasp of their metrics, fully understand their engine, and have reporting in the right places, there can be some pretty impressive looking dashboards available that tell the health of business at a glance.

However, those fabulous looking metrics and dashboards might be completely meaningless if the there is a broken link between the customer touch point and the data server.  As companies grow, data grows exponentially and marketing landing pages pile up on the server, there is more and more potential for something to break.  Undetected breakage can kill a company!

The best way to resolve this is to assume that the entire system is broken and one must test, test, and test again.  Keeping records at the major data transfer points is one way to keep track of records dropping out and why.  Doing routine quality checks on the data is also a way to keep confidence levels up.

Knowing the data, the trends, and the engine is a great way to detect breakage.  If sales from search take a dive and they have been consistent for the past three years, maybe something broke… maybe your campaigns need a refresh.  A good analyst usually has great instinct on the issues.

Patience in drilling down, slicing and dicing, and becoming intiment with your data is the only way to understand it, make sure it works, and that the story is non-fiction as opposed to some strange, poorly written fiction novel.

How confident are you in your metrics? Is it fiction or non-fiction?

Data: Confidence in Metrics

Metrics are the individual numbers that relate to other numbers that tell a story. Often, these are the numbers that people of all levels of the company use to make decisions. 

If a company has a firm grasp of their metrics, fully understand their engine, and have reporting in the right places, there can be some pretty impressive looking dashboards available that tell the health of business at a glance.

However, those fabulous looking metrics and dashboards might be completely meaningless if the there is a broken link between the customer touch point and the data server.  As companies grow, data grows exponentially and marketing landing pages pile up on the server, there is more and more potential for something to break.  Undetected breakage can kill a company! 

The best way to resolve this is to assume that the entire system is broken and one must test, test, and test again.  Keeping records at the major data transfer points is one way to keep track of records dropping out and why.  Doing routine quality checks on the data is also a way to keep confidence levels up. 

Knowing the data, the trends, and the engine is a great way to detect breakage.  If sales from search take a dive and they have been consistent for the past three years, maybe something broke… maybe your campaigns need a refresh.  A good analyst usually has great instinct on the issues. 

Patience in drilling down, slicing and dicing, and becoming intiment with your data is the only way to understand it, make sure it works, and that the story is non-fiction as opposed to some strange, poorly written fiction novel.

How confident are you in your metrics? Is it fiction or non-fiction?

The Holidays are Coming!

Watching TV and I just saw an ad from Kmart & Sears advertising their Christmas Club card.  Needless to say, I am a little shocked to see Christmas advertisements in early September.   During this recession though, I can't blame them for offering a Christmas credit card to lock in some early season sales!

In addition, Starbucks now has there Pumpkin Spice Latte out as part of their fall beverage lineup.  They also offer pumpkin loaf and a few other pumpkin goodies.  

Yep, December 25, 2009 will be here before we know it.  Are you ready?