Andreas Pouros

2013 will be Microsoft’s year

2013 will be the year that Microsoft becomes relevant once again.

It will begin to use its dominant position on the desktop and in gaming to build an exciting ecosystem that will make Microsoft a compelling choice for consumers, and by extension an increasingly important advertising partner for marketers.

by Andreas Pouros 28 November 2012 08:55am 8 comments

Building a commercial framework for social media engagement: a four step process

This week I overheard a major social media competitor tell a prospective client: "...well, you can't really measure social media commercially can you? It's like gravity, you know it's there even though you can't see it, so you just have to keep working on it, right?"

I hit the proverbial roof...

Firstly Einstein, (not his real name), you can most definitely measure gravity. And you can also measure the commercial value of social media too, if you engaged a brain cell or two.

Within the context of my obvious agitation with this and the sector in general, I wanted to share how we tackle this in the hope that, in some small way, we can start engaging in social media with a structure and level of respect that it deserves.

What follows therefore is a four step process to build a commercial model for social media engagement, part of a much broader internal framework, but I hope still useful to many of you.

by Andreas Pouros 26 July 2012 14:48pm 5 comments

The legal history of Google: infographic

As a firm at the sharp end of information management online, Google pushes the boundaries more than most – and consumers, the press, politicians and the legal world will often push back from the other side.

Progress should be the product of those opposing forces. So here’s an infographic charting the legal history of Google from 2003-2011. We at Greenlight will let you decide.

by Andreas Pouros 23 March 2012 11:41am 1 comment

How much of a dent could Facebook make in Google’s search business?

With recent news that Google is more forcefully entering the social realm by integrating Google+ into its results, what about Facebook? What impact could it make in search?

While Google and Facebook have a very similar number of users, there is a notable difference in the revenues they extract from their users. Google makes over seven times more money, pulling in $29.3bn a year while expert estimates (Facebook is still privately held) puts Facebook’s ad revenue at about $4bn (this year).

Search is, quite simply, the best game in town, commercially speaking.

by Andreas Pouros 12 January 2012 14:39pm 6 comments

Three new ways to visualise your SEO performance

SEO practitioners don’t typically share their operational methods. Our sector is reliant on gaining competitive advantage through hoarding methods and techniques for just long enough to benefit from them, and then sharing them to gain some love and respect as a bonus.

This also extends to methods for displaying SEO data and visualising performance. For instance, search agencies never willingly allow their reports to be seen by their competitors.

Therefore, I want to break rank somewhat and present three interesting ways to display SEO data and information, methods that I’ve not seen others use out there and that are increasingly becoming standards within my own companies.

by Andreas Pouros 11 January 2012 11:30am 11 comments

TV and search: associative marketing in a two-screen world

Everyone is aware of product placement, the deliberate incorporation of a product or brand into a movie, television episode or other media vehicle to promote it to the viewing audience, typically in a subtle way to create affinity and recognition over time.

However, there’s more to product placement than simply placing a Papa John’s pizza box in clear view in a major sitcom.

From a marketer’s perspective that is only one facet of how what appears on TV can impact on what consumers then think about and do, and it isn’t limited to just brand placement, recognition and recall either.

by Andreas Pouros 09 November 2011 11:48am 5 comments

Clients get the (search) advertising they deserve

David Ogilvy once said ‘clients get the advertising they deserve’.

Having been COO of a search agency for each of the last 10 years, I can tell you with some authority that Ogilvy’s quote is as true in the digital specialisms of SEO, PPC and Social Media as it is in the broader advertising discipline.

by Andreas Pouros 28 June 2011 10:56am 7 comments

Social proof for digital marketers: a primer

Bar staff and subway buskers will routinely ‘seed’ their tips jars and guitar cases with some change so that passers by think that contributing is what is expected and are then compelled to do so themselves.

Can online marketers tap into this same psychology?

by Andreas Pouros 02 March 2011 11:39am 3 comments

How online marketers can adapt to the weather

The weather in 2010 made front-page news across much of the planet. Washington's storms caused power outages, NYC endured insufferable heat, and the UK was brought to its knees by snow.

With retailers reflecting on their 2010 performance, the effect of the weather on online sales and how marketers can respond is worthy of investigation.

by Andreas Pouros 14 January 2011 09:44am 3 comments