Cincinnati Internet Marketing Blog

Upcoming Cincinnati AMA Events

There are a bunch of great local American Marketing Association events coming up in the next few weeks and I encourage you to take a look at the list on the Cincinnati AMA Current Events Page where you can register for whichever ones you can make it to.

Here is a quick summary, the details are on the AMA current events page:

Tonight: Young Professionals Group: Gureilla Marketing in Action @ Sully's

Tomorrow morning: Marketing Research SIG @ Web Media Tools

Tuesday March 4: Seminar in Internet Video Advertising @ Kenwood Towers

Wednesday March 12: Word of Mouth SIG @ Web Media Tools

Friday March 21: AMA Luncheon  @ Radisson (Speaker is VP of Marketing from eBay!!!)

Friday March 28: NKY B2B SIG @ NKY Chamber NOR-com Room (Yours truly discussing online social media for B2B)

Also, Steve Phillips of Purple Trout is giving a presentation on SEO (Search Engine Optimization) through the AdClub's Ad2 on Thursday at the Museum Center and you can register for that at the Ad2 website. 

Andy Beal's Free Online Reputation Management Beginner's Guide

I'm often been asked how to deal with negative listings in search results and how to monitor what's being said about a person, company or brand and how best to deal with what's out there on the web.   

The field of "online reputation management" is pretty hot right now and I expect it will continue to grow as social media (blogs, customer review or feedback sites, profile sites, etc.) proliferate and consumers post their personal thoughts a variety of places and start getting even more top positions in search engines.  Of course I help companies get top placement for their content via SEO or PPC (Pay Per Click) search advertising, and there are even more involved steps one could take. 

Andy Beal is pretty well-known in the industry and moderates one of the most popular online marketing blogs, Marketing Pilgram.  His great post back in 2006 Free Online Reputation Management Beginner’s Guide has been updated and is also available as a downloadable PDF.  It lists a lot of helpful links and tips on CGM (Consumer Generated Media), including Do's and Dont's for various situations in which you may find yourself at some point.

Good stuff!

Microsoft Makes $44.6 Billion Offer for Yahoo!

Well it took a while but after two-years of negotiations and at least one previously rejected offer, Microsoft today announced a $44.6 billion bid to takeover Yahoo at $31 per share, a hefty 62% premium over yesterday's close for Yahoo of $19.18.

A combined Microsoft-Yahoo would supposedly be able to compete with Google for leadership of the Internet marketing industry.  Microsoft's engineering and Yahoo's brand and traffic make for a juicy combination, but merging the two cultures and Internet businesses will not be easy.  You should have no trouble finding tons of articles on the Web on this today, here's a short one that sums up the numbers at ClickZ and an article discussing the challenges from the New York Times.

The Czar's Quick Take: This was inevitable as they have been talking for quite a while and also shows how far they are lagging behind Google in search and monetizing web traffic.  For example, Yahoo's Panama search platform (for their pay-per-click Yahoo Sponsored Search program) was over a year late and over budget.   Microsoft was very late getting into the search game and their web advertising solutions have not been very innovative.   

It looks a lot like mixing oil and water to me, as the firms have different cultures and there aren't nearly as many synergies and cost saving as say when two banks or airlines merge.  We'll see.   

If you have a take, please post a comment!