John Battelle weighs in on search and other things

July 22nd, 2008 Jackie

Dana Todd of Newsforce.com sent me a link to a recent DishyMix Podcast featuring John Battelle. I’ve been a fan of Battelle ever since I read his book, The Search: How Google and Its Rivals Rewrote the Rules of Business and Transformed Our Culture.

This book is essential reading for anyone involved in search engine marketing whether you’re immersed in campaign management and optimization (like me), or just want to gain a solid understanding of the foundation of search marketing and how the players have changed over time.

Battelle answered a lot of questions from top industry folks during his interview with Susan Bratton of the DishyMix. He touched on some of the key buzzword bingo terms of the web marketing moment (in my geeky opinion), including social media and Web 2.0, online video, blogging and of course search.

Battelle seems fixated on the idea of marketing as a conversation. Per Battelle, “…if you’re going to engage in conversation with a potential set of customers or a current set of customers or both, you can’t just horn in and demand that people talk with you. You actually have to listen and understand what they want to talk about and then add value to that conversation.”

How does search play into this conversation? Well, my feeling is that search, alone, doesn’t. But, as search marketers, we need to be aware of the conversations that are going on all over the place, and make our clients understand how important they are to consumers.

Let me be clear - I don’t think it’s fair to relabel search marketing as “conversational marketing” (I’m not saying that’s what Battelle is trying to do) although at their core, both tactics are about language.
Let’s face it, search marketing is a pretty boring term when compared with the latest trends like “social media marketing”, “reputation management” and now “conversational marketing.”

But search is bigger and more meaningful than it sounds. Battelle hinted at the true greatness of search while speaking of Conversational marketing. He said in answer to a question about using conversational marketing to a b-to-b audience,”If you want to start a new conversation, you have to figure out what is it that people are actually interested in conversing about that might add value to their, in this case their work life”

This concept is inextricably linked to search marketing. Because when people go online to find something, it is always the beginning of a very personal conversation. The one that exists in your head when you’re flipping from Google, to Amazon to Ebay looking for that damned Disney DVD that’s been discontinued for ten years *ahem* Little Mermaid II and yes I DID pay $20.00 for that crappy movie on Ebay..If you’ve ever had a four-year-old who adores princesses, you’ll understand.
But I digress..

As search marketers, we are tasked with guessing what language people will use to find what they want. The keywords we target are akin to shouting into the void. And although we reach many people this way, we also spend a lot of money on wasted clicks because the language we use to catch these roving questers is wrong.

But this is where conversation comes in. Because really effective search marketers recognize that if you want to be found by the right people, you have to be in the same place, figuratively speaking, as the searcher. That means producing plenty of valuable, unique content that speaks the right language.

Battelle said this better than me when referring to the growing phenomenon of social media, “I have a feeling this majority of people who are going to come into social networks are going to do it without realizing that they’re actually doing it. It’s just going to be part of a useful application for them and it might be as simple as “Hey, join my Live Journal or my WordPress group so we can share pictures of the family.”

But, you know, this statement is exactly what happened with search engines ten years ago! It was a useful tool. A utility. Like the T.V. Guide or a remote control - a way to interface with the growing wealth of information and people online.

What I love about search is the connection between content and people and ideas. When you market via search, your ad is only the beginning of the conversation. The interesting stuff is way past the click.

Case in point. Once upon a time I needed information about cleft lip and palate because, at six months pregnant, I found out my baby would be born with a cleft. I began blogging about it when I was eight months pregnant, and to this day I keep up my blog and the story of my daughter.

I did this with the sole intention of reaching parents who, after getting the horrible news that their baby would be born with a cleft lip, would reach out online to find other parents who’d lived through such scary news. I also began writing about the unique treatment my daughter received, and my blog is visited regularly by dentists, surgeons and parents who want to learn about the techninque (nasoalveolar molding). And, yes, the blog ranks #2 and #3 in Google for that term.

If I had to coin a phrase other than search marketing, I might call it “found marketing.” The interactive nature of the Internet forces companies to think beyond their advertising. The idea that consumers can speak up about products and services (hopefully) forces companies to be more authentic about what they’re selling. There are lots of ways to search for stuff you want to buy online - the fun stuff involves consumer reviews, product-focused wikis (like Wetpaint’s Micro PC Talk Wiki) and multimedia search engines (think “iTunes”).

Where does Google and other search engines miss the boat? I think it’s with the purely automated nature of search - both on the paid and organic side. Google worships the almighty algorithm - everything, including the way paid ads rank - is dependent on a machine intelligence that can’t possibly know I want to hear a clip of music from Broadway’s Wicked and not just read about the origin of the play on Wikipedia (for example). When the algorithm gets it wrong -which is often - it’s very disheartening.

The one exception to this is itunes. I love to perform keyword searches on itunes which lets me flip visually through titles, listen to music clips and toggle between podcasts and audio books (for example). Itunes produces very tangibl almost 3-dimensional results.
One final comment on Battelle’s interview. I wholeheartedly agree with him on one key point - “In order to be a media company, you need to act like one.” It’s time Google admitted they are as much a media company as a technology company. At least, in the sense of selling ads. It’s okay, Google, we won’t think any less of you in the morning. Please dole out a little love to your Adwords reps and the (small-to-mid-size) agencies they work with. Remember, a human touch can work wonders!

Entry Filed under: E-Marketing Advice