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Dissecting PageRank "You see, most blokes will be playing at 10. You’re on 10, all the way up, all the way up...
Where can you go from there? Nowhere. What we do, is if we
need that extra push over the cliff. 11. One louder."
- This is Spinal Tap
SearchNerd dissects Google's PageRank display.
|
pos.gif value |
|
5 |
11 |
16 |
22 |
27 |
32 |
38 |
|
12.5% |
27.5% |
40% |
55% |
67.5% |
80% |
95% | |
|
percentage |
The true Googlenerd will also appreciate how Google gives itself an 11 on a scale of 10.
8:17:04 PM 
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Marketing Cycles One of the interesting things about living through an extreme business cycle is extreme changes are more noticable. The marketing function itself, shifts wildly in its activties as I commented on with a focus on ROI. But there are larger shifts at play as well.
Organizational Structure
- The boom period was marked by two organizational trends for marketing: centralization of some functions and customer-focused organization. Advertising, New Product Development, Market Research, Sponsorship and Events and Major Promotions were centralized to realize economies of scale. Merchandising, Local Promotions and Channel Management remained decentralized, falling under the Business Unit VP of Marketing. For more on these trend see a Marketing Leadership Council survey.
- But the bust that followed the boom has led to increased spending in decentralized activities, as the value of existing customer relationships is at a premium and these methods are more effective. Centralized organizational structures will likely remain, but their primary role is in financial controls. The payments, and to some degree the bits -- leaving the atoms to be managed in the periphery [Using Mohan Sawhney's language]. Now budgets are power, power is politics and organizational structure is highly influenced by politics -- so don't be suprised to see a decentralization trend.
Inbound/Outbound
- During the boom, a premium was placed on the ability to communicate to generate new customers, or outbound marketing. This was driven by the percieved value of market share (a common belief that there was more than 100% of the market to be had), lifetime new customer valuation (a common belief irrespective of churn), and the low cost of capital for use in promotion to achieve share.
- During the bust, despite the decline in advertising prices, the ROI of promotion declines relative to product, place and price -- the domain of inbound marketing. There are exceptions, specifically direct marketing activities continue to achieve relative ROI. But the relative cost of the Inbound function (people making smart decisions based on investments to get good data) and return from optimizing the product line outperforms when you have to get more out of what you have got. The good news is technology companies are beginning to invest in R&D again, which will drive the creation of product management and product marketing jobs. The cycle continues to benefit MarCom.
Influencers/Influencing
- During the boom, customers have more to spend and are more receptive to how companies define their product. Investment in advertising, events and major promotion to directly influence customers makes sense.
- During the bust, the wallet thins and transactions scrutinized. The particularly excessive vendor claims during the boom now have customers doubting the competitive advantage of technology. Customers believe in themselves first, 3rd parties second and vendors last. Today vendors must focus on 3rd parties, influencing the influencers -- through PR, customer references (Don't get Siebeled!), word of mouth.
1:22:44 PM
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