See What’s Out There

Yesterday, Yahoo! announced that their new search marketing system, called Panama, would be available to all US businesses. Yahoo’s search marketing businesses was the first out of the gate and called Overture. Yahoo bought Overture and changed their name to Yahoo Search Marketing. What we loved about Overture was its transparency. If you paid more for a search term, you were higher ranked among the sponsored links. End of story. You could also see what others were paying, and, basically you knew where you stood.

Google, on the other hand, is a black box. You bid for placement, but they take into account your click-through rate and your “relevance” in deciding where you will be placed. And they don’t tell you how they decided any of that because it’s all one big trade secret. For our clients, Yahoo! almost always delivered better ROI. But for Yahoo as a business it wasn’t good. Google ate their lunch and Google’s market value — about $150 billion right now — is due in large part to their ability to monetize search better than their competitors. Google was able to beat out Yahoo! and Microsoft in doing deals to control the advertising space and search with AOL and with MySpace due to the fact that they could pay more, which is due to the fact that they make more. Yahoo has been scrambling to catch up.

To counter this advantage, Yahoo has totally reworked their search system and created what they call Panama. I asked Jon Morris of Internet Marketing Initiative, the guy who knows search better than anyone, what we should think of this. Here’s what he said:

Panama will offer substantially better management controls, but will also probably lower the return on investment for our clients. The new program will probably increase the cost per click.

Could the NFL be an example for nonprofits? (Most nonprofits I know are against violence!) What I am thinking about is repurposing content. An NFL game is a very valuable asset. And the NFL folks are marketing masters. (I get an NFL Shop catalog with a cover showing a player from my team, with my last name on the jersey!) They have found creative ways to monetize and repurpose the asset that is the game. Nonprofits need to be equally creative with their video assets, thinking about how they can get the most from their investment.

Here’s a list of ways the NFL uses a game, and how nonprofits should be thinking about their video assets:

1. Multiple channels. The entire live NFL game will be found on local TV in the markets of the teams playing, on NFL Sunday Ticket on DirecTV in the US and on other channels in other countries, and as the premier game in additional TV markets. The equivalent for nonprofits is posting video to YouTube, putting it on their MySpace page, and encouraging syndication of the video by allowing their constituents to embed the video on their blogs, website and social networking pages.

2. Pre-game and post-game shows. The live game is interesting to people, but so is analysis and thoughts about it. You will see the game discussed by multiple people, around the time of the game itself, but also on specially-created shows on the NFL Network and ESPN and available on iTunes for a fee. For a nonprofit, this might be some video about a program combined with other materials — video or not — that supply context and analysis.

3. Shorter Games. The NFL Network picks a couple games each week and edits out the down time. What is left is an hour-ish NFL game — play after play, with just enough time in between to think about what they should be doing next. They call this the Game of the Week. In addition, there is a 10-minute highlight edition of every game available on iTunes for $1.99. The point is, while that 20 minute video might be interesting, there is an audience for a 7 minute version at your event and an even a bigger audience for a 3 minute version on your website.

Video content, unlike print, can be reused and repurposed for ever. We are working hard to encourage nonprofits to invest in video, and to make smart use of those investments by getting as much out of it as possible.

I watched the season finale of The Wire last night. If you don’t know this show you should. This might sound like hyperbole, but I would say this is the best show on television, probably the best show ever on television. (Of course it’s from HBO.)

I am writing about this because what makes this show so powerful is the truth of the show. If you are interested and involved in issues related to drug policy, urban poverty, community policing, or African American advancement, then you should be watching this show. The insight that this season gave to the challenges and dysfunctions of public education in poor communities was better than any university report you could read.

If you don’t know the show, best idea is to rent it, one season at a time.

Danny and the team are back from India. Other than falling down the stairs in Bombay and having to get stitches, he seems OK. They said it was intense, interesting and they have an enhanced appreciation for the amazing work that the American Jewish World Service does. We have 20 tapes and a lot of work ahead of us on this project. As we start going through the video we will post some things. Stay tuned.

My daughter Dorianna (11) has undertaken a project to help some families in Israel that were hurt by the recent war. I was so impressed by Beth Kanter’s success using the ChipIn fundraising widget that I decided we should give it a try as well. You can help us reach her goal by donating directly here. (And, if you have a blog or MySpace page you can paste the ChipIn widget into your site as well.) Please read Dori’s letter below and it will explain why you should help.

Hi, my name is Dorianna Hoffman (Dori for short) and I first got involved in this project because my Bat-Mitzvah is coming up. My Bat-Mitzvah will be celebrated in Israel. My mom and I had several ideas on a project but we weren’t sure which one to choose. I’ve lived in Israel for almost 5 years (1997-2001) and it hurts me to see Israel suffering because of the war and I wanted to do something to help, even if it was only helping one person.

My family’s good friend has been living in Israel for the past three years and she wanted to do something to help Israel recover after the war. She started a little organization called The Acheinu Minyan and my mom and I decided that that would be a great project to do. Acheinu Minyan bridges between ten American Jewish families, and two needy Israeli families who suffered during the war with Lebanon. Acheinu Minyan is Hebrew for Our Brothers In A Group. Our family is part of this group and we committed to raise a thousand dollars by the end of December.

Let me tell you about the two families’ that we are committed to helping, one of them lives in Kiryat Motzkin. The father was in the street this past summer when an air raid siren and a Katyusha rocket landed right next to him. A part of a shrapnel got in his right hip and in his leg and later on the doctors figured out that he also had some in his foot. He was unable to go to work. The second family lives in Tzfat and their father died when a Katyusha rocket directly hit him. They have four children boys aged seven and five who are deaf, a boy aged four and a girl aged three. The mother is unable to work because she has to take care of the kids.

Our plan for raising money is to send out this awareness letter and to sell little things like painted rocks, and maybe have a read-a-thon. I will contribute some money from my Bat-Mitzvah money for this cause. The money is being distributed through an organization called ATZUM (www.ATZUM.org).

When I first heard about the war during the summer I wasn’t that concerned. No one told me what was really happening, I couldn’t be. But then slowly I started getting information about what was really happening and I felt terrible. I had a lot of friends in Israel and one good family friend who lived up north. I felt like while I was here relaxing at my camp and with my friends, there were people who were living in shelters because their houses were gone. I wanted to do something but I didn’t know what. That’s why I liked the idea of using this as my project.

Hannukah is coming up and we light the candles and think of the miracles in our lives. We can help bring warmth and miracles to other Jews. Please donate from my dad’s blog at http://blog.see3.net for any amount you can, it all helps.

Thank you so much for your help,
Dori Hoffman