Velocidi

Google’s mission is simple, bold, and in the annals of silicon culture, tantamount to sacred gospel: “Organize the world‘s information and make it universally accessible and useful.” 

Today, however, there is a New Testament being written: “Organize Google’s information about the world and make it selectively accessible and mostly useful.”

Okay, not as sexy. But in light of Google’s new focus on social results born from its own Google Plus product, this New Testament is arguably more accurate.

No longer Google Search, but Google’s Search. Not Google results, but Google’s Results. No longer the Web, but Google’s Web. 

Google used to be a Web search site. Now it’s becoming an App. And not just any App, but a Super App that pulls you into Google’s Web with an insistent gravity. 

Google calls its New Testament “Search Plus Your World,” delivering results from Google Plus pages and profiles more prominently than other Web properties like Wikipedia. This is supposed to make search more personal and relevant – who you know and what your friends like, or share, or do, will have a greater influence on what you see in your search results. 

Personalization is hardly new (neither are the inevitable privacy concerns, which go hand in hand.) A personal Web is generally good, faster and easier to use. The “Semantic Web” envisioned by Tim Berners-Lee is today ever more possible, that dream of search delivered according to each person’s interests and desires, by computers that “learn” from us, understand us and make choices on our behalf. 

But Google the App -- far more so that Google the Web site -- also runs the risk of making Search more exclusive and incomplete. One person’s customization is another’s exclusivity. Choices made for us, however well intentioned, are not always the best choices for us. 

Google’s search gambit is much broader than Google of course – “aggregation” or “curation” or whatever the ridiculous made-up-name it’s called these days is all over the place, most notably on social platforms like Twitter and Facebook. 

The difference is, when I’m using Twitter, I’m making the choice to curate content. I know that searching on Twitter gives me results from and favored by Twitter.

But for now at least, I can’t get results from Facebook or Twitter via Google (although the latter has been true for months.) And as mentioned earlier, results from the rest of the open Web are favored less than results from Google properties. 

This is Google’s right. It’s a for-profit company and can do whatever the hell it wants, and what it wants is to secure more ad revenue and expand its own social network and services (preferably before Facebook goes stratospheric with its impending IPO.) 

The rub is that Google changed the game first and then told everyone the new rules. Google went from giving us information about the world to giving us information about “our” world, provided our world includes a Google Plus account. 

It’s too early to say whether this is bad, but it’s certainly different and should not be automatically assumed to be better. Search is done best with your eyes wide open, and the commercial aspects of Google’s New Web Order should be taken into account when deciding what to click. 

For companies like Google, data is a conceit; but humans are far more complex than the data they create. This is why a Semantic Web is the Internet’s Holy Grail – we want and believe it to exist, despite the fact that we may never find it. 

Whether Google’s Web is another step toward that discovery remains to be seen, but one thing is certain: The Web of Apps is here. 

Post by Gary Goldhammer, EVP - Client Service at Velocidi. Follow Gary on Twitter at  @g24khamr and on his blog "Below the Fold."

This post is part of a two-part series. For part one, read "Google's 'Search Plus Your World' Explained" by Velocidi's Director of Technology, Ovi Roatis.

Google recently added features to its search algorithm connected to Google+, the company’s social network. The features include:

• Personal results – This extends the search for a specific term deep into content shared by your Google+ friends, followers or brand pages you are connected to; locations visited by your friends; pictures containing tags related to your search that were taken by your Google+ friends, and so on. The example below shows a couple of result pages -- note how the returned results relate to me via my friends:

• Profiles in search – This is the ultimate vanity search. It goes through Google+ and all the rest of the web, displaying a blueprint of the person’s digital activity.
• Related people and pages – This brings up Google+ members and brand pages that are related to the search terms. These are not necessarily accounts that you are connected to, but if there are any relevant ones that are in your circles, they will appear at the top.

So, what does all this mean for marketers? It changes the whole idea of SEO and shifts attention towards social. At a tactical level, it means that, as a brand, if you have a Google+ presence, your name has a better chance of appearing on that golden first page of Google searches. And if people are talking about your brand, what they are saying will have a better chance of appearing within that first set of results. 

It will take a while to reverse engineer the new algorithms, but once we do, we will have a much better idea as to how we can leverage this new search paradigm for better marketing results.

What’s clear now, however, is that Google wants to push its own network. While we can hope that eventually Google will find a way to incorporate all relevant chatter into the results, including Facebook and Twitter, from a technical perspective it’s pretty easy to do – in fact, we’ve already done it. 

Introducing NoisySearch

Below is a link to a simple Google Chrome Browser extension that allows you to expand your Google searches into you Facebook stream. Oh, and it also works for Bing. 

Check it out here – and let us know what you think!

Post by Ovi Roatis, Velocidi's Director of Technology. Follow Ovi on Twitter: @oviroa

This article is part of a two-part series on Google search. Check back later this week for the second post in the series, from Velocidi's EVP of Client Service, Gary Goldhammer.

The blogosphere, conferences, and boardrooms are replete with discussions about the evolution of marketing and the role of the marketer in this digital age. The dual obsessions of engagement and content are fueling the debate. In the midst of so much research and conversation, it is easy to lose sight of the anchors of the marketing profession－influence and persuasion－and how to deliver the right content at the right time, to achieve those aims. 

Applying a framework that maps actionable marketing content to each stage of a Buyer’s purchase journey, enables Marketers to take a strategic approach to developing influential and persuasive content－and delivering it to achieve maximum impact.  A powerful methodology we employ is the Context + Content Template. 

Content Needs Context 
The targets for any marketing initiative typically fall into two camps: Decision Makers and Influencers (let’s call them both “Buyers” for this exercise). To influence and persuade Buyers, many Marketers aspire to be content  publishers－content fuels search, creates Buyer urgency, and inspires engagement. 

Buoyed by this imperative to create content, many Marketers neglect context.  A frequent temptation they succumb to is focusing on the tasks of content creation without a content strategy and specific goals for each asset. Focusing on Buyers’ goals for each stage of the purchase journey brings clarity, purpose, and relevance to content. 

The Context + Content Template
I've found this template to be a practical and universal way to structure content creation goals as they relate to Buyer goals and context. How it works: 

1. Purchase Stages: The Buyer moves through four purchase stages: Awareness, Consideration, Decision, Advocacy.
2. Buyer Goals: At each purchase stage the Buyer has specific business goals. For example, during the Consideration stage, the Buyer’s goal is to vet options.
3. Marketing Goals: The Marketer’s opportunity is to develop goals that map to the Buyer’s goal at each purchase stage. For example, during the Consideration stage, the Marketer’s goal is to educate the Buyer, and provide thought leadership that influences the Buyer’s vetting process.
4. Digital Content: The Marketer now creates content relevant to each stage. The question that informs the selection of content assets for each stage is: What combination of content, form factors, and channels best enable the Buyer to accomplish his/her business goals for each purchase stage? For example, during the Consideration stage, high-impact content may include infographics, blogs, and product demonstrations to educate the Buyer. 

Key considerations to maximize applicability:

• Quality: Quality must not be neglected. Great content tells a story, educates, or entertains Buyers. 
• Segments: Marketers benefit from developing a Context + Content Template for each segment or Buyer persona.
• Time and Planning: Creating an editorial calendar that maps the assets to creation dates addresses the timing for content delivery.
• Analytics and Measurement: Marketers can leverage technology to quickly assess the impact of each asset (e.g., downloads, comments, sales enablement, pipeline acceleration).
• Alignment: The template enables Marketers to align with Sales, Products, and other internal constituents on content creation.
• Balance: Marketers that start the mapping exercise often realize that their content plan is out of balance－typically with disproportionate resources dedicated to early stage of awareness, while content that empowers customer advocacy is conspicuously absent. The Context + Content Template exposes gaps and drives priorities for Marketers.
• Iterative: The customer path is less linear or more iterative in this digital age. However, this template is a starting point, and can be built upon as marketers increase their understanding of Buyer behavior.

There is no question that purposeful content is a powerful way to influence and persuade Buyers. The Context + Content Template enables marketers to take a strategic approach to developing and delivering content within a context that matters to Buyers—building enduring relationships, and offering actionable customer insights.

What do you think? How have you deployed content for maximum Buyer impact?

Post by Margaret Molloy, CMO, Velocidi. Follow her on Twitter at @margaretmolloy

There’s a little-known scene in the movie “Star Trek: First Contact,” where Lt. Commander Data, an android, observes Captain Jean-Luc Picard touching the hull of an historic spacecraft. The captain smiles and taps the ship with his bare fingers, to which Data asks, “Sir, does tactile contact alter your perception of (the ship)?”

“Oh yes,” Picard says. “For humans, touch can connect you to an object in a very personal way. It makes it seem more real.”

Data then touches the ship himself, and says,” I am detecting imperfections in the titanium casing. Temperature variations in the fuel manifold. It’s no more real to me now than it was a moment ago.”

Data’s reaction is similar to how many of us interact with both objects and information today. More and more, our “things” are trapped under a layer of glass. We can “touch” but we can’t always feel. We live our lives from screen to shining screen.

It's a digital world – and overall, it’s a far better world. But digital should enhance physical experiences, not replace them or separate us completely from what makes us human.

This is why I believe it’s time to make a place for real objects and real connections. It’s time for a truly disruptive technology to bring us back to our senses.

It’s time for paper.

No, I’m not joking. And no, I’m not just an old journalist pining for the days of picas and ink-stained fingertips (okay, it’s true I’m old, just not insane.) There is a place for paper in a digital world, because although all information will soon be converted into bits, human beings are still made of atoms.

Our sense of touch and its emotional resonance is unique from other animals. Paper transmits feeling in ways screens can’t begin to deliver. Paper is far from perfect, but it’s more than ready for a renaissance.

Despite the meteoric rise of e-books, the largest growth is in the print-on-demand sector, increasing 169 percent in 2010 and even greater in 2011. Lulu.com, a leading print-on-demand press, expects $40 million in revenue this year, up from $34 million in 2010.

And investor Warren Buffet’s latest purchase? The Omaha World-Herald, a newspaper. Said Buffet, “I wouldn’t do this if I thought this was doomed to some sort of extinction.”

I’m being a bit overly persuasive – of course paper will never be what it once was. This shift to digital didn’t start with the iPad or Kindle either, remember LexisNexis in the 1970s?

But we have reached the point where paper is again disruptive, and when incorporating paper or print into communication can set you apart as an innovator rather than make you appear old fashioned.

Access to information should not be confused with connection to that information. Commander Data from Star Trek was able to access information about the spacecraft, but he couldn’t connect with it in the same way as Captain Picard.

The key question we must ask ourselves is should traditional mediums transition to digital, or should digital technology serve to enhance and improve traditional experiences and interactions? Can we live a life under glass, or do we need to get out once in a while?

Written by Velocidi's Gary Goldhammer. Find him on twitter @g24khamr and on his blog: http://belowthefold.typepad.com.

CMO Club TV posted video of Velocidi's "Driving Relationships and Revenue With Digital" panel discussion from the CMO Club Thought Leadership Summit in October.

The panel features insights from: Brian Ellefritz, VP of Global Social Media, SAP; Wendy Newman, SVP of Marketing, AMN Healthcare; Esmee Williams, VP of Marketing, Allrecipes.com; and Margaret Molloy, Chief Marketing Officer, Velocidi (Moderator).

Click here for the video.

Velocidi CEO David Dunne and Director of Technology Ovi Roatis are featured contributors in Clickable's recently released whitepaper, The Insider's Guide to Facebook Pages. The paper offers insights into Facebook's role in the digital marketing ecosystem, and provides expert tips on Facebook strategy for businesses. Here is an excerpt:

Introduction: Facebook Pages and Many-to-Many Marketing

Facebook is more than just another channel where businesses can reach their audience. It represents a fundamental shift in the way marketing is conducted. David Dunne, a longtime executive at Edelman Digital and founder of Velocidi, a next-generation digital marketing agency, explains how brands have moved from "pyramid style" marketing - a few people distributing messages to the many - to a model with thousands of participants. "The Increasingly digital world we live in has forced B2B and B2C brands to think beyond their traditional marketing - where a few people decide the brand messages their audiences receive - to programs and campaigns that originate with and revolve around the audience's digital life. Facebook is one of the important aggregators of these audiences. For many brands, there is nowhere else on the Web where you can collect as large of an audience."

Thanks to our friends at Clickable for giving us the opportunity to contribute to the guide. Click here to download the full version.

Velocidi hosted its fourth Salon Series event on the topic The First 100 Days, featuring Maryam Banikarim, CMO of Gannett Co., Inc. During the event, Maryam spoke to more than 30 senior-level marketers and business leaders on the key milestones and challenges of the first 100 days in a marketing leadership role. Click here for photos of the event.

MaryLee Sachs, author of The Changing MO of the CMO, posted a nice recap of our CMO Club Thought Leadership panel, "Driving Relationships and Revenue with Digital." Click here to read the post.

B2B and B2C panelists to share digital perspectives

New York, NY—October 5, 2011—Velocidi, a next generation digital marketing agency, today announced that it will host the panel discussion, “Driving Relationships and Revenue with Digital,” on October 5 at the CMO Club Thought Leadership Summit in Los Angeles, CA. The panel will examine how B2C and B2B brands are building client relationships using digital tactics, and ultimately driving revenue. The panelists include:

- Brian Ellefritz, VP of Global Social Media, SAP
- Wendy Newman, SVP of Marketing, AMN Healthcare
- Esmee Williams, VP of Marketing, Allrecipes.com
- Margaret Molloy, Chief Marketing Officer, Velocidi (Moderator)

“We are thrilled to be the exclusive digital agency sponsor of The CMO Club Thought Leadership summit, and to host this esteemed panel,” said Margaret Molloy, CMO of Velocidi. “The Summit provides a premier forum for many of the world’s most thoughtful and forward-thinking CMOs. We’re excited to convene this panel on such an important topic, as CMOs continue to determine how to measure the impact of their digital initiatives.”

“We’re thrilled to once again partner with our friends at Velocidi,” says Pete Krainik, Founder of The CMO Club. “Their work and relationships with some of the world’s leading B2B and B2C brands gives them unique insight into the digital challenges CMOs face. We’re looking forward to their participation in The Summit, and another provocative and engaging panel discussion.”

About Velocidi
Velocidi is a next-generation digital marketing agency that helps clients engage audiences across platforms. We provide complete digital services—including web presence, apps, search, mobile, social, and advertising programs—anchored in rigorous strategy and breakthrough creative. The agency was established and is staffed by digital industry veterans who have been pioneering the industry since 1994, and are responsible for some ofthe most successful digital marketing campaigns of the last decade. www.velocidi.com

About The CMO Club
The CMO Club was created for the unique purpose of bringing chief marketing officers together in a private, exclusive environment of openness, and contribution that enables them to become better leaders, marketers, and deal makers. Tailored exclusively to top marketing executives, this club hosts dinners and events, shares reports and research from leaders in the marketing industry, and leverages the first online community for "CMOs only" for sharing ideas, helping each other, and serving as a resource for CMO career opportunities. The CMO Club was founded in 2007 by seasoned marketing executive Pete Krainik and currently has more than 700 members. www.thecmoclub.com

Velocidi Contact:
Christopher Stella
646-439-0350
christopher.stella@velocidi.com

On September 15, Velocidi hosted its second Salon Series event on the topic The Trends That Will Define Your Success in 2011, in its San Francisco office. During the event, Jeffrey Hayzlett, former CMO of Kodak and author of The Mirror Test, addressed more than 30 senior-level marketers and business leaders on the opportunities and challenges that they will face in the coming year, and facilitated a provocative and engaging peer-to-peer discussion. The Velocidi Salon Series is a quarterly event that aims to address essential topics for CMOs and senior-level marketing professionals. Click here for photos.