Archive for October 16th, 2008
By Kyle Austin
By Kyle Austin
That breeze you just felt may have been caused by the collective sigh of relief in Silicon Valley and on Wall Street. Google announced strong Q3 earnings today, despite the tumultuous economy, lifting spirits in the Valley and within the Web 2.0 community – while also lifting its stock as the market closed.
I mentioned in April, when Google announced its Q1 earnings, how it has become the barometer, not only for Internet-based companies, but the economy in general. Today, the stakes were raised even higher as advertisers and those companies that depend on ad revenue (just about every Internet company) looked to use Google’s earnings report as a litmus test for the online advertising industry. Google delivered on the litmus test and gave some positive indicators for the online advertising industry in general (As long as you can provide measurable results for advertisers).
Google’s profits rose 26 percent from $1.07 billion, or $3.38 per share, at the same time last year. In addition, the Mountain View giant noted that it would have made $4.92 per share, surpassing street estimates of $4.75.
Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt took little time getting to the ROI that Google is providing for marketers in the downturn. In fact, in the release that Google issued shortly before their conference call at 4:30 p.m. ET today, Schmidt’s opening statement coupled this messaging with the overall growth for the quarter:
“We had a good third quarter with strong traffic and revenue growth across all of our major geographies thanks to the underlying strength of our core search and ads business. The measurability and ROI of search-based advertising remain key assets for Google.”
He echoed this written statement by opening up the call with this observation on how Google can thrive, despite shrinking marketing and consumer budgets, which Google Economist Hal Varian has dubbed the “Wal-Mart Effect” :
“We believe that these results reflect the fact that as marketing budgets are squeezed, targeted, measurable leads are becoming more valuable to advertisers. As consumer’s budgets are squeezed, people use the Web for comparison shopping to hunt for bargains online and in stores.”
Google also used the results to illustrate that they aren’t a one-trick pony when it comes to online advertising (As some have hit on their reliance on search / text ad revenue). Earlier in the day, Google quietly named former DoubleClick CEO David Rosenblatt President for Global Display Advertising (a new position). Miguel Helft of the New York Times surmised on the Bits Blog that this may indicate a bigger push into the display market.
Schmidt added on the conference call that Google will look to help the display market ”by improving targeting, which will improve ROI for advertisers.” He also hit on what they’ve done in monetizing YouTube over the last quarter through its ad networks, by noting 90% of the content on YouTube is now ad supported.
Finally, Sergei Brin added this nugget on the display advertising opportunity later in the call:
“On the display question, there are many opportunities. Let’s not forget, with AdWords and predecessors to AdWords, it took many years to catch up and show the power for advertisers in search-based advertising. I think it could take awhile to mature with this new (display) model. It’s about showing the right ad to the right user, at the right time. You may not want the return to be a click but generating awareness. You want to reach the right people. It is an area that is ripe for innovation and we can create great tools for display. Not just banner ads, but AdSense for games and videos. It’s a big opportunity.”
October 16th, 2008
By Molly Galler
By Molly Galler
If you’re a PR professional, who represents a Tech client, you already know about TechCrunch. What you may not know, is how to get their editors’ attention when it comes to your client. Enter Sam Whitmore.
Sam Whitmore, the creator of Sam Whitmore’s Media Survey frequently conducts interviews with reporters and editors, getting to the bottom of what they do, how they prefer to do it, and “what I wish I’d known sooner” advice they have for others in the industry.
Today’s interview was with Erick Schonfeld (pictured) as he celebrates his one year anniversary as an editor for TechCrunch. Prior to his current gig, Schonfeld wrote for Business 2.0, eCompany and Fortune.
Schonfeld was candid with Whitmore today in his advice to PR professionals, saying the best way to get his attention is with data, not trend pieces:
“I have things that I’m thinking about. And Michael’s always thinking about – you know he’s done a lot of great pieces recently about the music business, and really thinking deeply about that. Did those come from PR people? No. Did those things get placed? No.”
“I think that the best way to do that though is to wrap it around some interesting data, maybe. We love data. And we love sort of looking at industries and companies from different angles. And if a client of one of your PR agencies has some really interesting data that they’re willing to share, that’s an exclusive. You know? It’s just I don’t really want PR people sending me their big thoughts on trends they’ve been observing.”
If you don’t have data to share, fear not, TechCrunch also welcomes video elevator pitches – a 60 second (average length of an elevator ride) chance to give your best pitch about what your company does and why it matters. All aboard the YouTube train! Schonfeld encourages:
“If I was a PR person, I would think who, of my clients, really is great at pitching their company? And who can do it in 60 seconds? And get a camera and film them. Maybe do it two or three times. Pick the best one. You upload it to YouTube. And we have a whole upload process. You can do it straight from Elevator Pitches and post it on YouTube, and it gets played on Elevator Pitches. I am the contact for it. But you don’t really need to contact me. All you need to do is go to Elevatorpitches.com, and all of the instructions are right there. It’s all self-serve.”
The video elevator pitch is a great way to get your client traction in two places: YouTube (for the general public) and TechCrunch (for the niche tech market).
Lastly, if you don’t have data to share, or a camera friendly CEO for a video elevator pitch, just read the blog! Become a frequent reader of TechCrunch and begin to comment on the content. Schonfeld divulges:
“If you use your real name, and you comment intelligently on a lot of posts, I’ll definitely recognize those names. And I think that is a good way – that’s a great way to kind of introduce yourself. Because you, then, are engaging in a conversation. And if I see your name a lot, I’ll pay more attention to it, just because I know that you’re a regular reader.”
So there you have it, straight from the source! If you want to connect to TechCrunch, and have them feature your client:
1) Share compelling data
2) Send in a video elevator pitch
3) Read the blog and comment wisely
Happy Crunching!
October 16th, 2008
By Guest Author
By Michele Moore
Over the past few months Racetalk has discussed the ways Senators John McCain and Barack Obama have used social media to get their messages out, – read here, here and here. Today, Reuters announced that Barack Obama is once again using a new medium to reach voters – this time through online video gaming.
While advertising in games has been popular for a few years now, Obama is the first Presidential candidate to buy ad space in video games. Obama is using the Internet ads to target specific voters – 18-34 year-old males who are hard to reach through traditional advertising because they spend less time watching TV and reading. The in-game banners and billboards will be used to help expand the reach of VoteforChange.com so that more people can register to vote, obtain absentee voter information or find an early voting location.
According to the article, Obama’s advertising will be featured in 18 popular online games through the Xbox Live service including “Guitar Hero 3“, “NBA Live 08” and “NFL Tour” and are targeted to 10 key battleground states where early voting is available. The ads will be targeted at gamers in particular geographical areas though the IP addresses registered with their Internet service provider when they log on to Xbox Live.
No word was mentioned on how much Obama spent on the ads, and it remains to be seen whether the ads will be effective, but it’s clear that Obama has his pulse on how to reach young voters, and that’s something that McCain still struggles with.
October 16th, 2008
By Kyle Austin
By Kyle Austin
John McCain’s “invisible friend,” as Keith Olbermann of MSNBC dubbed him after the debate, was the run away winner last night. I’m talking, of course, about “Joe the Plumber” (AKA Joe Wurzelbacher, an Ohio plumber). John McCain and even Barack Obama mentioned “Joe” 21 times according to the rough estimate of political pundits after the debate. Reuters counted 13 times in the first few minutes of the debate alone. Even legendary NBC anchor Tom Brokaw broke precedent to declare Joe the winner last night:
I’m always reluctant, as you know, to declare a winner in all of these. Tonight I’m going to break with that precedent. And Joe, you’re the winner. Joe plumber.
He went on to add that he hopes Joe can can take his “15 minutes” and turn it into a business. Joe also impressed CBS and Katie Couric, who he joined for a live interview after the debate.
Of course Joe’s “15 minutes” weren’t confined to the television. People were buzzing about Joe across the Internet and within the Twittersphere. In fact, at one point last night, Joe the plumber was getting tweet’d more than Barack Obama (graph below). Joe may even be on Twitter himself, although I’m inclined to think it’s “Fake Joe the Plumber.” He was the 9th hottest search term in Google Trends this morning (image also below), and roughly counting he was in over 5,000 online stories.
Getting back to Brokaw’s point on Joe making the most of his fifteen minutes – he could probably start by making a deal to purchase joetheplumber.com. I’m sure Joe from Texas, would sell it for the right price. He should definitely start getting a percentage of the royalties from those “Joe the plumber” T-shirts, which Google is selling nicely for Cafe Press when you search for our friend Joe.
As for who Joe is voting for? Well, he’s undecided. I, for one, am considering a write-in for Joe.
October 16th, 2008
