As online and offline converge, and audiences continue to fragment, what do brands need to do to flourish? At SMX Munich 2014, Hannah Smith explores the challenges brands face both now and in the future, and shares her thoughts on how search marketing will evolve as a result.

1. HANNAH SMITH
CONTENT STRATEGIST
humans,
technology
& the future of marketing

2. this is what search marketing
looks like today…

3. @hannah_bo_banna

4. Lewis Carroll
@hannah_bo_banna
“well, in our country”,
said Alice, still panting a little,
"you'd generally get to somewhere else — if
you run very fast for a long time, as we've
been doing.”

5. Lewis Carroll
@hannah_bo_banna
"A slow sort of country!" said the Queen.
"Now, here, you see, it takes all the running
you can do, to keep in the same place.
If you want to get somewhere else, you must
run at least twice as fast as that!"

6. seo moves fast…

7. remember when keyword
density was a thing?

8. @hannah_bo_banna

9. ctrl + a
reveals the spam

10. @hannah_bo_banna

11. remember how strongly
weighted anchor text was?

12. @hannah_bo_banna

13. over the years there have been
many updates

14. @hannah_bo_banna
2009: big brands get a boost

15. @hannah_bo_banna
2010: new web indexing system

16. @hannah_bo_banna
2011: crackdown on ‘thin’ content

17. @hannah_bo_banna
2012: more localised results for general or
broad queries

18. @hannah_bo_banna

19. @hannah_bo_banna
2012: crackdown on low-quality links

20. @hannah_bo_banna
2013: moving from indexing to
understanding

21. today,
search queries which
shouldn’t work…

22. do work

23. @hannah_bo_banna

24. WTF?!

25. how did they know
what I meant?

26. @hannah_bo_banna

27. @hannah_bo_banna

28. it might be bad news
if you’re in the
‘information business’

29. @hannah_bo_banna

30. @hannah_bo_banna

31. @hannah_bo_banna

32. & don’t even get me started
on the lack of organic results
above the fold

34. but it’s not just seo
that’s changing…

35. we’ve got wearable tech

36. @hannah_bo_banna

37. @hannah_bo_banna

38. @hannah_bo_banna

39. @hannah_bo_banna

40. @hannah_bo_banna

41. @hannah_bo_banna

42. @hannah_bo_banna
when
humans &
technology
collide,
things get
complicated…

43. regardless of the future of glass
our device usage
is changing

44. mobile used to mean
‘away from your PC’

45. 77%
of mobile searches
are in a location
where a PC is available

46. & mobile is about
so much more than search

47. behaviours & contexts
blur across devices and locations

48. we multi screen

51. &

54. & speaking of devices,
tv is changing

55. tv doesn’t mean
*on*
a tv

56. 5% of homes in the US don’t
have a tv

57. this zero tv group is growing

58. the US had more than
5m zero-tv households in 2013;
up from just over 2m in 2007

59. 67% of these homes get
tv content
on other devices

60. @hannah_bo_banna

61. tv schedules limit people
who don’t want limits

63. he doesn’t have time for scheduled programming

64. this means
tv advertising is changing

65. reach really didn’t used to be a problem

66. audiences are fragmenting

67. but it’s cool, right?

68. we’ll happily watch
tv ads online

69. aaaaaaarrrggghhhhh

70. <insert your own swear here>

73. cute

74. but not really
solving the issue, huh?

75. it’s not just tv,
the way we consume
*all*
content is changing

77. we surface content through filters

78. facebook protects us from
unwanted content

81. you still might stop
seeing updates
from the companies
you follow
@hannah_bo_banna

82. Mark says you gotta
pay to play

86. it drives me crazy when I can't
see posts from pages I’ve ‘liked’

87. I'm experimenting with
aggressively interacting with a
new page to try to bring it into
my feed & keep it there

88. but it’s not just facebook

89. our technology protects us from
unwanted content

91. permission may no longer be enough
content needs to get above the sharing radar of our (personal) curators

92. so what now?

93. is seo,

94. wearable tech,

95. mobile,

96. tv,

97. traditional advertising,

98. written content,

99. video,

100. social media,

101. email marketing,

102. permission marketing,

103. regular marketing

104. & everything else

105. dead?

106. screw it, let’s get wasted

107. kidding


108. nothing is ‘dead’

109. just don’t be this guy

110. things are changing

111. interesting trends

112. real-time

113. remember this?

115. nimble?
yes

116. a ‘viral’ hit?

117. “the message was retweeted
and liked a bajillion times…”
~ brad tuttle
TIME

118. really?

119. 15,851 retweets = a bajillion?

121. the real success
was the amount of
press attention this received

122. fast-forward to the
#GRAMMYs

125. then there was the
#oscars

127. wait, that wasn’t a brand

129. meh
no one’s buying that

130. real-time
also looks like this

133. brands as publishers

139. ‘online first’

140. the only ad
I’ve ever chosen
*not* to skip

141. @hannah_bo_banna

142. see why for yourself
dis.tl/nspcc-smx

143. great uses of a
new(er) platform

144. @hannah_bo_banna

145. @hannah_bo_banna

146. @hannah_bo_banna

147. touching?
awkward?
you decide

148. @hannah_bo_banna

149. @hannah_bo_banna

150. Wren’s Melissa Coker
@hannah_bo_banna
my desire [was] to have something that’s
interesting to people
beyond a fashion angle

151. Wren’s Melissa Coker
@hannah_bo_banna
[it’s] an interesting film
that exists on its own
rather than something that feels like a
commercial,
and it seems to be touching people…

152. & speaking of films that don’t
feel like commercials…

153. @hannah_bo_banna

154. @hannah_bo_banna

155. brands with values

156. @hannah_bo_banna

157. @hannah_bo_banna

158. it’s not just about
environmental values

159. @hannah_bo_banna

160. when you have values
like that
you get creative
like this

161. @hannah_bo_banna

162. there’s also evidence to suggest
this translates into business
benefits

163. @hannah_bo_banna

164. brands that are ‘meaningful’
outperform the stock market
by 120%

165. move from
[product] differentiation
to actually making a difference
Umair Haque

166. Instead of putting up another campaign of billboards
with celebrities saying:
‘Buy our shoes, they’ll turn you into a master runner,’
Nike actually helps make you a better runner.
That’s a constructive way to build a
meaningful brand.
Umair Haque

167. read more
dis.tl/meaningful-smx

168. the future?

169. safe predictions

170. more devices, more challenges

171. @hannah_bo_banna
so get your (technical) ducks in a row

172. more pressure to measure
*everything*
more accurately

173. @hannah_bo_banna

174. track people not sessions

175. http://analytics.blogspot.de/2013/04/universal-analytics-business.html @hannah_bo_banna

176. multi-channel attribution

177. (even) less
reliance on search

178. @hannah_bo_banna

179. my vision when we started google
15 years ago was that eventually
you wouldn’t have a search query
at all; you’d just have information
come to you as you needed it
Sergey Brin

180. @hannah_bo_banna

181. less safe prediction

182. there will be a
deluge of content

183. but no
‘content fatigue’

184. people just won’t see it

185. this one’s a bit
‘out there’

186. only brands that
stand for something
will survive

187. in Europe and the US,
people would not care if
92% of brands disappeared

188. @hannah_bo_banna

189. building a brand
that stands for something
also helps with this…

190. @hannah_bo_banna

191. @hannah_bo_banna

192. one thing I am sure of

193. whilst it’s easy to think
purely in terms of
technological challenges…

194. marketing is not changing
*because*
of technology

195. marketing is changing because
consumer’s expectations are
evolving

196. they expect you to provide a
seamless experience regardless
of device or location

198. when they speak,
they expect you to listen
& respond

200. they are not interested in
your self-serving messages

202. or your attempt
to be
‘down with the kids’

204. but they’ll
happily be entertained

205. so you need them to love
your marketing

206. most of all

207. they have no interest in brands
that fail to deliver
what they want

208. & they *know*
you need them
more than they need you

209. we will evolve

210. “it is not the
strongest of the species
that survives,
nor the most intelligent
that survives;
it is the one that is most
adaptable to change.”
~ Leon C Megginson

211. I’ve only worked in this
industry for 7 years

212. many of you were doing this
*way*
before me

213. I *know*
how adaptable you are

215. good luck out there
x

216. @hannah_bo_banna
hannah.smith@distilled.net
steal this deck:

217. Credits
Alice - http://www.michellesmirror.com/2012/11/white-pawn-to-red-queen-im-watching-you.html#.UyW1oPl_txw
Hidden Text - http://apcmag.com/performing-search-engine-optimisation.htm
Vince - http://bestof.provocateuse.com/show/vince_vaughn/98
Caffeine - http://inumcconnect.org/events/youth-ministry-coffee-chats/
Panda - http://radiofreethinker.com/2013/04/19/pandagate-panda-primer/
Venice - http://sun-surfer.com/late-afternoon-venice-italy-5674.html
Penguin - http://www.aktifmag.com/wacky-waddlers-10-penguin-facts-things/
Hummingbird - http://ibc.lynxeds.com/photo/anna039s-hummingbird-calypte-anna/male-annas-hummingbird-hovering
Tin Foil Hat - http://aldysnerdblog.wordpress.com/2014/02/11/6-signs/
Future Guy - http://www.chapterthree.com/blog/darius-garza/death-skeuomorphism-and-future-design
Sarah Slocum - http://oglobo.globo.com/tecnologia/mulher-atacada-em-san-francisco-por-estar-usando-google-glass-11749998
News of Alleged Attack - http://sfist.com/2014/02/25/woman_claims_she_was_attacked_for_w.php
Glasshole - http://www.geekosystem.com/glasshole-term-coined/
Question Mark - http://www.boredpanda.com/large-scale-street-art-murals/
Banning Google Glass - http://www.ecouterre.com/get-ready-for-the-google-glass-backlash-and-calls-for-banning-the-
technology/
Danbo - http://glitterandglamorous.wordpress.com/2010/07/11/found-a-new-obsession-cute-cardboard-robot/
Modes of multi screening - http://googlemobileads.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/navigating-new-multi-screen-world.html
Jamie Oliver - http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/second-screen-key-marketing-strategy-tablet-pcs-342725
Smartphone stats - http://gigaom.com/2012/08/29/multi-screen-mania-how-our-devices-work-together/
Zero TV Stats - http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/newswire/2013/zero-tv-doesnt-mean-zero-video.html
TV Schedule - http://www.thetvaddict.com/2006/09/02/fall-tv-preview-schedule-sunday/
Fragmenting - http://www.neilshirreff.com/projects/fragmented-paintings.html
Fire Hydrant - http://giveupinternet.com/2009/01/14/mitchell-kapor-getting-information-off-the-internet-is-like-taking-a-drink-
from-a-fire-hydrant-pic/
Filter Bubble - http://www.popuppoems.com/2011/05/19/whos-afraid-of-the-big-bad-algorithm/
Shots - http://tab.co.uk/2013/08/20/nightclub-kod-after-chloroform-vodka-scandal/
Head in the Sand - http://thehospitalitycoach.net/2013/11/09/embrace-change-and-innovate/

218. Credits
Kool Aid - http://kidsguidemagazine.com/drinking-the-kool-aid/44091
Pharrell - http://www.ibtimes.com/arbys-blasts-pharrells-grammys-hat-twitter-can-we-have-our-hat-back-1548140
If you have a body - http://www.swimbikerunningonempty.com/1/post/2012/12/five-things-friday.html
Ducks - http://sarahtpage.com/getting-my-ducks-in-a-row/
Analytics - http://www.deckis.com/tag/universal-analytics/
Rosky - http://thepersonalgenome.com/2007/12/expectation-setting-about-the-risks-of-obtaining-and-sharing-genetic-
information/
Meaningful Brands Charts - http://www.havasmedia.com/meaningful-brands/meaningful-brands-global-infographic
The End is Nigh - http://vimeo.com/36167147
Love - http://realtruelove.wordpress.com/2013/02/14/love
The End - http://lipna.wordpress.com/2008/10/12/everything-will-be-ok/