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Enamored with Technology... the Google - ization of us all.
This entry was posted on 4/21/2008 5:10 PM and is filed under Back To basics,Technique,Thoughts.
At
AdTech last week, I was going to meet some folks for dinner. I knew the
name of the restaurant and the street name, that's it. No address. So,
I pulled out my blackberry, went to Google, and wham! nothing. There
were some reviews, but not a listing. Next Yahoo! Go!. nothing. Again,
some web sites with reviews. Then Live. Bingo. No websites, no links.
just Name, Address and Phone number. Then click, a map. Oh, and I was
probably just a few feet from a yellow pages directory. But, I wanted
to use the technology.
To me, this would
seem like an obvious search. A mobile device and a specific restaurant
name. Live knew (or guessed) exactly what I wanted. The other two were
clueless. But, I wanted it to work. I wanted technology to provide the
answer. So, while it took a bit longer than I'd like, 1 of the 3 did
work for me. But this got me thinking, 'are we too enamored with
technology?' I could have picked up the phone, talked to concierge and
had my directions faster. But, I didn't.
I
see this take place in the SEM all the time. Bid management tools,
algorithms that can tell you (so they say) when someone is ready to
buy, or can optimize your media program. I was on a call the other week
with an agency that appeared to rely nearly 100% on statistically
driven bid management programs. I wish I could say these things worked.
But they don't. Sure, they can do what you tell them, adjusting bids
based on historical inputs and manage to your parameters. But they can
not 'read' the market. Adjusting to the unexpected is too cumbersome,
and anticipating the new is impossible. If 'it' is not in the
historical data, whatever 'it' is can not be considered by the
technology. People, however are very good at this. We know how our
competition and consumers respond. We know our clients and their
marketing calender. We can anticipate, and adjust and optimize.
We
can also take risks. This is where the rewards come from. Try something
you've never done and see what happens. Algorithms can't do this.
SEO
suffers from the same problem (but I think they get more feisty about
it). SEO is a very manual service. No two SEO experts will agree on
every 'best' way to do things. Computer programs that analyze your site
are useless. A good SEO person will admit and adjust to stumbles. SEO
programs will keep blundering along.
In a
world where we really want technology to solve problems (and it does
have its place among our tools), some times it is hard to accept that
the real answer is not a technological one. Its human. Experience,
perception, anticipation, risk taking and hard work. These are the
hallmarks of a good SEM shop.    
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