This video is so smart. First, the information he sings about is right on, so he’s done some research. Second, its clever enough that people are passing it around the web. In the past year its been viewed 450k times. Would he have had the same amount of exposure otherwise? Plus, he’s singing about SEO, and distributing the message via social marketing. There’s a good chance that he knows both well.

Nicely done. Very clever.

Changing attitudes about money and spending mean that interruption or awareness ads have less traction. People have less discretionary money which means that they aren’t interested in learning about new products or services. Companies will need to work at grabbing the attention of people much later in the sales cycle, in other words those who are considering a purchase. Internet marketing makes this possible.

Think about how often YOU use search engines. Google has become the source for product research. It doesn’t matter if the product is running shoes or guitar strings or great airfares, people want to know what has worked and what hasn’t for others that have already made the purchase. We research online to ensure that we’ll get value for our money.

If your product or service appears in Google or Yahoo you have a much better chance of catching a potential buyer at the moment they’re considering a purchase. Search engine marketing can make that happen. A recent poll shows that SEO is the top marketing choice of more than 400 marketers, closely followed by blogging and pay per click marketing. This shows that SEO is maturing as a marketing medium, and that marketers recognize the value of being present in search results. And, search marketing has two advantages over other types of advertising; its cost effective and measurable. Now more than ever, SEO and PPC are a smart choice for marketers.

When compared with print, radio or television campaigns, search marketing is considerably more affordable. And, while no reputable SEO firm will guarantee rankings (see why), it is common for clients to see increasing traffic quantity and quality for months after the SEO work is completed. Most traditional advertising campaigns stop producing leads as soon as your checkbook closes.

Search marketing is also measurable. With quality traffic monitoring it’s possible to see exactly what you’re getting for your money. If your strategy is working you’ll know it, and if it isn’t you’ll have enough information to be able to see why. Did you pick the wrong keywords? Are landing pages under performing? No other form of advertising gives this level of accountability.

The recession is affecting everyone and every business, so it’s just silly to think that old marketing methods will continue to produce. Savvy business owners will be looking for alternative ways to capture the attention of potential clients. Search engine marketing could definitely help.

Bill was the primary speaker, and he was probably the more confident speaker between the two. He raised a few great points about Google’s shift to including news, videos and social media items in search results, indexing flash content and search within search. He also made a personal comment about flash content that I happen to agree with, that flash developers make sites that are annoying to everyone but the person that developed it. I completely agree that the medium (flash vs html vs ajax vs …) needs to be chosen based on the message and the content, not the other way around. I would have loved it if he had taken this line of thought further, but this probably wasn’t the proper forum for that conversation.

Brian was also great. He didn’t speak as much, which is unfortunate because I appreciated his thoughts as well. While discussing the use of social media he made the point that each site (Digg, Twitter, Facebook, etc) becomes its own community, and if someone is going to use that medium then all efforts really need to be tailored to that specific site. Digg users respond differently to a story than Facebook or Sphinn or Reddit users would. Very insiteful. To claim that you’re an expert in all social media is too broad to be meaningful.

I also met a few folks from other agencies around town. I particularly enjoyed visiting with the event host, Paul Bradshaw of Full Orange Films. All in all, I really enjoyed it, and am looking forward to attending future events.