In the past five years, give or take, product placement has gone from carbonation to technology. We’ve had the Apple logo shoved down our throats so much so that every time I eat a granny smith, I think about how much I spent on my iMac – no regrets of course,  just high tech advertising at its best.

Before digital media, the sponsorship heavy hitters included Coca Cola, Budweiser and car dealerships. When Brad Pitt drinks it, we drink it. Now that search engines, subscription and social networking sites have become “products” in themselves, we are seeing more and more of their presence in commercials, feature films and on our favorite TV shows.  So, just how far away are we from hearing the words, “this broadcast is brought to you by Twitter?”

Living rooms across the country were astonished by this year’s Google ad during the Superbowl. Does Google.com really need a commercial to grow its profit margin? “How much did that air time cost?” an eager Saints fan asked me. I have a good guess, but I bet Ancestry.com could tell you, considering they’re running Sunday ads on NBC during “Who Do You Think You Are.”

And let’s take the recent blockbuster graphic novel turned movie, Kick Ass. If any film could’ve snuck in a subliminal Pepsi can, Doritos or pizza, targeted at teenagers, it was this one. On the contrary – in this day in age, it was comic books, iPhones and MySpace.com. MySpace you ask? Yes – that blast from the past networking site is the communication device used to call the title character into fighting crime. Okay, a little behind the times in my opinion but perfect if they are trying to drive traffic back to  their site, right?

Is this an example of product placement? Absolutely. Free advertising? That still remains a mystery. Corporate sponsorship deals are very hush, hush – especially in the film industry. So, whether consumers will be rushing to their computers to join MySpace.com (again) or buy a set of nun chucks after seeing Kick Ass – that remains to be seen.

Move aside Pepsi and Starbucks – I’ll be drinking the iPhone and Facebook from now on!

Don’t be fooled. Yes, the snake oil hucksters that schlep keyword stuffing and link spamming are doomed, but their future was never very bright to begin with. If this is your strategy you’ll get nowhere, and if you’re paying for this then you’re wasting your money. If you’re charging someone for this, shame on you.

The core aspects of SEO, however, are needed more than ever. Google alone averages more than 200 million searches per day. With that much daily traffic, their view of your website matters. Do you really want to completely ignore the potential to earn traffic from them? Or worse, leave it entirely to chance? If you get one ten-thousandth of one percent of that (that’s 0.0001%), 200 people per day will see your site. Do that many people cross your doorstep each day? Does your phone ring that many times each day? Clearly there is an upside to paying attention to Google.

The traffic that your website receives can provide keen insight into what your target market thinks about your company. Whatever the goals of your company, your website can help you get there. Increasing sales, improving customer retention, reaching a new customer base, improving the return that you get on your AdWords spend… these are all achievable. As long as you are measuring your website’s traffic and can recognize trends, you can reach your goals.

Don’t misread the data. Yes search is changing, it has been since it started. It would be a mistake to infer that this makes SEO irrelevant. Quite the contrary, the changes that Google is making strengthen their search results, which gives people greater confidence in the answers they find through Google, which means that more people will be searching.

Optimizing your website for search is more important now than ever. Frankly, it’s irresponsible to think otherwise.

1. Mingle2 – In 2007 Matthew Inman (the former CTO of SEOmoz), designed and built the dating site Mingle2. Because of his previous experience with search engine optimization he knew the importance of inbound links, and he had the skills to boost his fledgling site through the likes of Google and Yahoo!. Within four months he generated nearly a quarter of a million links to the site and ranked #1 on Google for the phrases “online dating” and “free online dating.” This success earned him mentions on popular sites such as Digg and MSNBC.com, and generated nearly 2 million pageviews per month. Inman eventually sold the website to, and now works for JustSayHi. However cool Mingle2 is, it would have never succeeded this quickly (and in such a competitive market it may not have succeeded at all) apart from Inman’s skill in generating traffic through search engine optimization. The full story can be found on 0at.org.
2. San Diego Chiropractic – David Klein is the owner of a San Diego chiropractic firm, and when he saw the potential within Google he decided to try to rank for the term “san diego chiropractor.” He attended a couple of PubCon’s and learned some techniques for ranking well for search terms. He then got to work, transcribing the video of a Matt Cutts talk, and generating clever cartoons of some of the people he ran into at the event. These efforts have earned him more than 3,000 one way links and he has achieved his goal. More than two years later he’s still above competitors that have that search phrase in their domain! Matt Cutts was so impressed that he even blogged about Dr Klein’s success.
3. Automobile Recovery Bureau, Inc – This is a Houston auto repossession company that has been in business for more than 60 years and was looking for a boost in business. They contracted an SEO firm which helped them decide on a new domain, update their content and generated links to the site. The plan worked, within a year they ranked #1 for terms such as “houston repo” and “houston repossession.” They must have been pleased with the results because their SEO efforts began in 2002, and over the years they have done the work to maintain a #1 ranking for the targeted terms.
4. Falcon Storage – This is a Red McCombs Media client that leases storage containers in central Texas. In the summer of 2007 they launched a new website that generates quotes, has detailed information about their products, and the businesses which they serve. Six months later they expressed a desire for SEO, so we got to work keyword optimizing their site. Within two weeks they ranked #1 for such terms as “austin connex box” and “san antonio storage container.” The number of quotes generated by their website skyrocketed. Since then they’ve launched a blog, which has helped to solidify their strength in this market.
5. Southwest Airlines – Once again I have to include Southwest. I’m not a fanboy, but I do think that they get modern marketing at a level that eludes many other companies, and this is a great story. Southwest’s social marketing manager, Paula Berg, shared this last week at the Austin Online Marketing Summit. Every year the folks at Southwest’s headquarters, including the CEO, celebrate Halloween with a crazy costume. One year the CEO mentioned that he planned to dress as Gene Simmons. Someone commented that the CEO of USAir had donned that costume a few years ago, and after discussing it for a while they went to Google to prove it. They tried searches such as “doug parker gene simmons,” “usair halloween,” “doug parker costume” and anything else they could think of to find the answer. For every search term they tried, Nuts About Southwest was the top hit. They had blogged about halloween so much that their site was the top hit for terms directly about their competitor. Talk about success!

These are just five stories from a broad segment of businesses. There bottom line is that SEO works, and savvy companies across America are taking advantage of Google’s strength by working to appear for competitive search terms. Don’t be left out. If you think your company could benefit from search engine optimization, please contact us and we’ll discuss the possibilities with you.

Text Messaging, Emails and Applications OH MY! Technology is changing daily and you want to make sure your up-to-date and in with the ‘cool’ kids, don’t be afraid… it’s worth the leap. Mobile and Email Marketing are two of the newest trends in the internet sphere and at RMM we’re in with the crowd, we can help you build your customer database or use an existing database to make sure you get the maximum ROI for your campaign. Don’t be left behind after you read these stats on how you can benefit from both, they are not competitive they are complementary.

From Twitter to Facebook you’ve got to be in the know-how, social networks are booming and it doesn’t show signs of stopping short of extraordinary growth. If you’re not in on the social revolution now’s the time. Give your consumers what they want but be sure not to over-network yourself, according to AdAge.com it is possible. Research conducted by the IAB in the U.K. showed that nearly a third of social networkers said they are fed up with the constant requests to join groups and try new applications. Know how you can join in the fun while giving up-to-date and relevant information for your customers and consumers. Mobile social networking is also on the up-and-up, 25% of all survey respondents log on to check or update their social networking pages. Marketers will spend an estimated $2.35 billion to advertise on social networks worldwide in 2009, that’s a 17 percent increase from 2008, says eMarketer. Proof of growth? I think so. If you’re already a part of the social world, be our friend, we won’t spam you and we’ll continue to give you valuable information to prove that online is where you need to be.

We can help you set your company apart from the competition by building your brand in a downward economy. Now isn’t that risk you’re willing to take?

Check it out, WAV Group Releases Localism Whitepaper.