The marketing activity of competitors does not mean that the money invested in advertising is returned, and the business pays off. But it is extremely difficult to resist and not do the same when a “rival”, or even worse, an industry leader, started using a new advertising channel or tool, or launched an updated website. Evgeniy Glyzdov, CEO of Eting Mark, spoke specifically for the site about competition and how unreasonable copying not only does not help, but also harms.
Evgeniy Glyzdov, CEO Eting Mark
The main reason pushing for the search for these solutions was the activation of competitors. Vladimir (let’s call him that) was worried that his “market colleagues” had launched a new website, changed the form of capture, and their new advertising campaign is so active and large-scale that my interlocutor sees it everywhere and clearly “this is all for a reason and most likely works "
In his opinion, in comparison with them, they “lose at least in website conversion”: with competitors it is many times higher and in general “they are doing better.” This information was subjective and not based on reliable data. It all sounded like rumors mixed with negative emotions that caused these innovations.
Summing up the meeting, the American Toyota website was proposed as a guideline for work, and the task, as you might guess, was “we want it to be as cool as theirs.”
For many years I have noticed how many other entrepreneurs, marketers and companies from various industries copy literally everything from each other. They use the corporate style of world brands, adapting it to suit themselves, repeating the site structure and capture forms. In this case, everything is copied without looking: business models, features, services, tools, design, advertising campaigns...
And lately, it has often been seen how competitors have begun to copy even superficial things from each other: advertising channels, ad texts, pictures, landing pages, subscription forms, online chats, profiles and content on social networks.
Typically, a company has reference points in the form of local competitors in the domestic market, global and well-known companies in the same field, and so-called super brands, whose activity is followed by the whole world. Marketers, businessmen, and owners often admire and imitate their competitor’s business.
Unfortunately, most companies in Belarus do not collect and analyze data to determine the effectiveness of advertising channels, much less strategy, or do so partially. The reason for this is the lack of technological capabilities, lack of personnel, business culture, and experience.
Most marketing decisions are not based on numbers, but only on guesswork, and the logic here is simple: competitors have a landing page - and we need a landing page, competitors have a Call back Hunter (call back service) - and we just need a Call back Hunter, competitors have changed website – and we also urgently need to do something with the website. You can continue endlessly.Examples throughout:
design on twitter
social a network with the same design, but not working content:
The version of why this happens lies on the surface: the client sets an abstract task or even condescends to “I want it like theirs.”
But there is a more serious reason: there is simply no system for collecting and analyzing the main KPIs, and an inability to work with them. If you had the numbers in front of you to make a decision and saw that the probability of success is extremely low and the costs are not reasonable, then you would not undertake to do it.
It’s normal to watch a competitor’s activity, spy on ideas, but here, like in a casino: the main thing is to stop in time. To be effective, you need to have statistically reliable data and learn how to work with testing methodology - this is a sure way to determine what works and what does not. Testing is a process of improving one’s own indicators in order at each stage, and not the thoughtless introduction of new chips as a carbon copy.
Start collecting data, digitize it, measure it and never stop testing, and you will never stop developing - then the actions of competitors will not be so important to you.
Not so long ago, the next wave of copying was a product that, through a pop-up window - a pop-up - invites a site visitor to call him back. Many companies considered this a miracle tool, everyone actively implemented it and were disappointed when they saw that it did not work for them. The thing is that in each area of business it is configured differently, and not just “screwed on”, so when a person goes to the site to clarify information about the product, and is asked to call him back, this causes irritation, because if I needed to call , I would call myself.
Much earlier, the concept of Landing page appeared, which essentially means only that it is a landing page where the user goes via a link. And that this form only works with strong content. But the myth began that this was a whole technology, a panacea, and everyone instantly pushed strategy and a strong offer into the background. But in vain.
For example, in social media It’s better not to go in without a strategy and branding, and it’s becoming more and more difficult to “take” the audience en masse (although there are exceptions here, I don’t argue). Let's take a fashion channel - Instagram: it is better not to waste money and effort on Instagram if your promotion is designed for parents with children - in this case it is more effective to use other channels, such as KMS and YAN.
2. Conclusion from the first point: do not chase after big amount channels or activities just to be present everywhere. Focus on the essentials: again, save time and money. Develop what works and pays off; turn off what does not bring measurable returns and redistribute the budget.
3. What works for some often does not work for others, in the same market, for companies doing the same thing. But any magic can be explained.
4. Do not rush to follow trends and believe rumors about success. Most likely, they are created by the chattiest, not the wisest. Application? What would it be like without him? Here I remember the most media failure associated with Meduza.io, when in 2014, in the wake of the trend of mobile applications, the media launched from the mobile version, but the guys quickly came to their senses when they discovered that users were still reading news from full version website at work or at home.
5. Fall in love with numbers so you can learn how to work with performance indicators. It is this kind of work that adds up to the result. Increase channel CPO by +1.1%, reduce costs by -3.7%, increase the number of repeat sales by +7.2%. Efficiency is in the numbers, like the devil is in the details.
6. The main conclusion is that the times when money was invested in online advertising and paid off instantly are gone. It's time to start counting, optimizing and using the data obtained in decision-making.
Just 5-7 years ago, everything was simpler on the Internet: companies that did not use contextual advertising included it and there were more clients, everything worked, everyone liked it. There was no SEO, we did it - clients appeared.
The media mix becomes complex, like flying an airplane, and in order to fly where you need to, you need to control all indicators (rates, positions, calculate efficiency, make adjustments, disable, enable new tools, etc.)
For the same budget, compared to a few years ago, you will attract fewer clients and orders. In some cases, if your expenses and costs are off the charts and you have not adapted to living in a new way, then in order to maintain existing sales you will also need to increase budgets.
Your media mix consists of search engine optimization in Yandex and Google systems, contextual advertising Adwords; search: product ads, general, category (brand + product category), cms, retargeting, Direct: search: product ads, general, category (brand + product category), remarketing. Already more than 10 channels. Each of which has its own effectiveness and specificity.
We take into account that some of the above campaigns are aimed at attracting customers, that is, we do not take into account image campaigns and advertising aimed at solving other problems.
Let's say your budget is $1000 per month.
So, until you have built a data collection system, identified the main KPIs and started working with them, you have an ineffective part of traffic in each channel, and where you waste 5-50 dollars, based on some subjective assumptions and intuitive conclusions. Multiplying these small losses by 10 channels, on average you are losing 500 per month. And this is half of your budget. It turns out to be $6,000 per year.
Another mistake may lie in the fact that, understanding the need for KPI analysis, an attempt is made to solve the issue not systemically, but locally. For example, they begin to work more closely with web analytics, but do not connect this data with sales, or, conversely, they work with sales, but do not connect this data with analytics.
Everyone looks at each other and worries about not being an inch behind, not being an outsider, not looking like a company that is marking time. Such sometimes unnecessary movements in business either take away part of the budget from existing, but more important activities, or simply waste more money.
Unfortunately, today we do not have the right to fool around aimlessly with the budget and experiment on the topic “what if we get it and it works for us.” And not only we, but the whole world began to “read situations” in business (from the word “count”), which is why the concept of “performance marketing” has become so popular in global digital practice. Competition can be confusing, so spend your money wisely.
Mrs. Mack, who helped me through difficult times without having the slightest idea of what she was getting herself into, and did not receive due gratitude for it.
Now I am making up for this mistake of mine. Thank you!
My thanks also go to Michael Humphreys of Uttom Funeral Home in Pictons, Ontario for his time - and expertise.
Mrs. Simmons? Vicki Nelson speaks. Private investigator from Toronto. “She paused, wondering how to more accurately report the information she had obtained. “Oh, what the hell, after all...” - We found your husband.
Is he... alive?
Yes, ma'am, alive and well. He works as a damage adjuster for an insurance company under the name Tom O'Connor.
Don has always been in the insurance business.
That's right, ma'am, that's what helped us find him. I am sending you a package by courier. It contains copies of everything we discovered, including several recent photographs. You will receive the package tomorrow, before noon. If you have any doubt about the authenticity of the evidence presented, call me back and I will immediately forward this information to the police, after which your spouse will be detained.
The police once already assured that they had found him, in Vancouver, but when they came for him, it turned out that Don had managed to escape.
This time he won't make it. - Vicky leaned back in her chair and rubbed her eyes under her glasses. During her eight years of service with the Metropolitan Police in Toronto and during her two years of independent work as a private investigator, she had encountered more than one case of feigning death; the Simmons/O'Connor case was one of the most curious among them. A man who forged his own death certificate in order to get rid of obligations to his wife and five children, in her opinion, deserved the punishment for which he forged the certificate. - My partner will talk with him this evening. And I think your husband will come to the conclusion that it is better for him to remain where he is at present.
The bar was noisy and smoky, with tables too small to serve their purpose and chairs too stylized to be comfortable. The beer here was too expensive, the liquor too diluted, and the menu a toxic mixture of at least three pseudo-ethnic cuisines, with an excessive abundance of fats and carbohydrates. The staff was young, good looking and interchangeable. The visitors, on the other hand, were slightly older and not so attractive, although they desperately tried to hide this fact, but they looked just as faceless. At the moment, this bar was considered one of the trendiest in Toronto, and many local celebrities sought to hang out here on Friday nights.
Henry Fitzroy paused before the entrance, looking carefully at those gathered inside. The smells of many bodies crowded into one place, the beating of hearts, sounding in time with the music blaring from half a dozen speakers; the feeling of many lives in such a confined space - all this awakened his hunger, which threatened to break free. It was pickiness rather than willpower that kept the vampire in line; in four and a half centuries he had never seen so many people at the same time stubbornly and in vain trying to have fun properly.
This was the type of establishment where, under normal circumstances, he would not have been lured under the threat of death, but today he went hunting, and his prey was hiding here. The crowd parted as he walked into the center of the hall, followed by a whirlwind of various whispered assumptions.
What does he think about himself...
I'm telling you, it's some celebrity...
Henry Fitzroy, illegitimate son of Henry VIII, former Duke of Richmond and Somerset, Lord President of the Northern Counties Council, sighed, noting to himself that some phenomena did not change over the centuries. The young man sitting on the stool vacated his seat as he approached, and he sat down at the bar. With a casual gesture, Fitzroy refused the services of the bartender who hurried to him.
To his right, an attractive young woman raised a dark eyebrow in no uncertain terms. And although the vampire's gaze unconsciously slid to the thin vein that beat on her neck, as if carved from Ivory, and then traced the vein to the place where it disappeared under the soft folds of purple silk that clung to his shoulders and chest; even though he felt regret, he still rejected the offer. The woman realized both admiration and refusal in his gaze, and again turned her attention to her companion sitting next to her. Henry hid his smile. He wasn't the only hunter in this bar.
To his left and slightly behind, a wide back in a jacket the color of wet asphalt almost completely obscured the view of part of the hall. The hair above the collar was artfully combed to hide the bald spots that were beginning to appear, while the cut of the suit itself was intended to disguise all other signs of his approaching fortieth birthday. Henry reached out his hand and lightly touched the covered woolen fabric shoulder.
The owner of the suit turned around and, not seeing a single familiar face, looked around angrily. Immediately drowning in the depths of light brown eyes that now seemed very dark.
We need to talk, Mr. O'Connor.
Such a tone would have made a stronger person look away.
I think it would be better for you to come with me. - Abundant drops of sweat appeared on the squat man’s forehead. “This place seems too... crowded for what I’m going to...” For a moment, slightly elongated fangs appeared between the parted lips. -...To discuss with you.
Henry stood at the window, one hand touching the cool glass. Although he appeared to be looking down at the city lights, he was actually looking at the reflection of a woman sitting on the couch behind him.
Henry, please stop pestering me. Are you quite confident that you can hold Mr. O'Connor, aka Simmons, until the police arrive?
He liked watching his girlfriend; he liked to watch the emotions reflected on her face, he liked to watch her in movement, he liked to watch her when she was motionless - he loved her. But since the subject was not discussed, Fitzroy responded with one word:
Wonderful. I hope you scared him.
Vicki. He turned, crossed his arms over his chest, and furrowed his brows in an expression of only partially feigned disapproval. “If you think it’s nice for me to act as your pocket monster, which you can pull out of your closet whenever you think someone needs to be scared into...
Vicki huffed in irritation.
You imagine you're great, don't you?
“Death,” the vampire continued, ignoring her words.
Did I treat you like a “pocket monster”? - She raised her hand to stop him from answering - Be honest. You have certain capabilities, just as I have certain techniques, and when I decide that it is necessary, I use them. And, besides,” Vicky pushed her glasses to their proper place - on the bridge of her nose, “you said that you would like to take a more effective part in the investigation of several cases, since you handed in your novel “At the Zenith of Burning Passion” and until the end of the month, until you When you start creating your next romantic masterpiece, you have some free time.
"Romantic masterpiece"! Henry Fitzroy saw no reason why he should be ashamed of writing historical romance novels; they were well paid, and he undoubtedly had a literary gift. However, he doubted that Vicky had read even one of his works. Miss Nelson was clearly not the type of reader who enjoyed reading or who wanted to forget about her own life difficulties by immersing herself in fiction.
I was accepted into the Main Editorial Office of political publications without any idea of what I was going to do. In this editorial office, among the editorial staff, there was, it seems, only one woman. All the men, with the exception of me and one other man, were about forty, and some were noticeably older. These were mostly silent, serious, reserved people.
The editorial office was divided into four departments: America, Europe, Asia, Africa. Maybe someone wrote original materials, but I was exclusively engaged in editing other people's texts - sometimes quite good, more often mediocre, but always anti-American. I worked in this editorial office for two years, not without interest, but with an ever-increasing feeling that I was doing sewage work: cleaning up the work of others.
Our editorial office was located at the end of Kutuzovsky Prospekt, it was completely isolated from the main building of the APN, which should have led me to certain thoughts if I were smarter and more experienced. However, I visited the APN quite often, gradually they recognized me there, and one day I received an offer from the editor-in-chief of Soviet Life magazine, Yuri Sergeevich Fantalov, to come to him to head the department.
This magazine was published by the government of the USSR in exchange for the magazine "America", work in it was not only prestigious for me, but also desirable, because it was directly related to the United States. I came to Norman Mikhailovich with a request to let me go, and he, shaking my hand, said that I had done right choice, that “there is nothing to smoke the sky here,” and wished him every success.
***
It is enough to look on the Internet to find out who N.M. was. Borodin. He was born in 1911 in Chicago in the family of Russian revolutionary and prominent figure of the Comintern Mikhail Markovich Gruzenberg, who took the party name Borodin. MM. Borodin was arrested in 1949 and died in a KGB prison from torture and beatings. In the same year, his son was arrested, who by that time had become one of the largest intelligence officers in the USSR. In 1954, my father was rehabilitated, as well as Norman Mikhailovich, and my question is this: how could he (and not only him, but, for example, also) serve the Soviet regime just as faithfully and selflessly? How could they forgive the party for the murder of their fathers, innocent people and even in some cases quite heroic? How did they manage to maintain faith and balance of soul? I will never understand this.
***
Two or three weeks later I received a summons to the military registration and enlistment office. At the reception the girl greeted me with the words:
– Did you serve in the KGB?
I was almost speechless.
?- I?! To the KGB?!?
– Why are you so surprised, exactly? - she answered. – Your military file was in GeBe, it was sent to us, which means you were registered with them.?
And then I saw the light! The main editorial office of political publications was actually part of the KGB apparatus; all of us, editors, prepared articles for print media, mainly in third world countries, and they were published there under the signature of local purchased journalists. Our editors did a lot of wonderful things, such as disinformation, provocative articles, etc. and so on. Basically, the so-called “fire victims” worked there - former intelligence officers who at one time were exposed, failed, exposed and therefore returned home. Among them there were very interesting people, even outstanding ones. I hasten to assure the reader: this kind of “journalistic” editorial office exists in many countries, they do the same thing as ours - all this is considered a completely normal phenomenon. But I had nothing to do there, and of course my guardian angel played his role when he helped me get away from there and once again escape from under the wing of the State Security Committee.
Soviet Life magazine was published only on English language and only for Americans. It was printed in Finland, since in the USSR it was not possible to achieve the quality of printing required for the States, characteristic of the so-called “glossy magazines”. It was a propaganda publication whose purpose was to present Soviet Union in the best possible light. To achieve this goal, two methods were used. First: soften all negative aspects of society so that they look less negative; second: generally ignore everything negative and write only about the positive. There was, of course, a third option: lie blindly, but high-profile propaganda publications still prefer not to do this. If we talk about “America” and Soviet Life, then over the thirty-odd years of their existence they mainly adhered to the second method - they showed exclusively good things.
However, I began to think about such things only later. At first, I plunged into journalism headlong, was passionate and received enormous pleasure from the work. For as long as I can remember, I have been interested in politics and social issues, and now I had the opportunity to share my thoughts with thousands of readers. True, they were Americans, but this did not bother me at all, quite the contrary.
Working at the Library of Foreign Literature, I helped Soviet people better understand America, and I led this direction for many years, talking about jazz and American folk music. And my service at Soviet Life turned my work into a two-way street.
I wrote about the Soviet Union, therefore, I read a lot about the country, about its history, and went on business trips a lot. These were no longer student propaganda campaigns, but an in-depth acquaintance with the country where I arrived eight years ago and about which I had a fragmentary and idealistic idea.
My first encounter with Stalinism, my years of study at the university, required me to undergo a rather painful re-evaluation. Working with Marshak revealed to me the richness and humanism of Russian literature and showed me its unique features. But I had no idea about true complexity this country is complex geographically, ethnically and culturally.
The entertainment portal site would like to tell more about the ancient Chinese caves, but nothing more is known about them. No documents, no artifacts - nothing that would shed the light of truth on the underground structures. 900,000 cubic meters of cut rock and not a drop of information. This is especially strange considering that the ancient Chinese meticulously recorded absolutely everything. If we immediately rejected the theory about Batman, then only one explanation remains - this is a place for the Predator to hunt.
4. We can't read one of the most important languages in history. If we asked you to name the most important and influential civilization of the ancient world, you would probably point to the Romans or the Greeks. Simply because they had written language, architecture, philosophy and other crap. And only the most colorful botanists said “Etruscans”. Still, they weren't the most powerful guys either.
Anyway, the Etruscans were a small civilization in what is now Tuscany that developed aqueducts, urban planning, sewers, bridges, and metallurgy. Basically, everything that we mistakenly attribute to . But no matter how much scientists understand the Etruscan civilization, we are still not able to decipher their language.
We were unlucky with the Etruscans. By the way, they wrote a lot, and not a single one of these works was ever translated into the language of any other civilization known to us. As a result, we have several thousand inscriptions in the Etruscan language, but to this day only about a hundred words have been deciphered. At the same time, a lot of people know the Dothraki language - the language of a non-existent civilization from the series "".
1200 BC was a terrible period for the people living around the Mediterranean Sea. The main empires of the time - the Hittites, Mycenae and the Egyptians - all experienced a severe decline after the golden age. To add salt to the wound, huge armies of bloodthirsty barbarians appeared out of nowhere, burning, looting and destroying everything. We called these barbarians the "Sea Peoples", but this is only a tentative name, because we have no fucking idea who they really are. Here's how they were depicted by ancient peoples:
All this seems painfully reminiscent of Lovecraft's story about an underwater civilization of lizard people who demolished the most powerful city in the world on the eve of its 1000th anniversary.
In the era of the Internet, people’s reluctance to strive for new knowledge looks a little strange, because when it was difficult to get a book, we tried to learn a lot, while trying to apply our knowledge in practice. Now, when you can find out about everything in the world without raising your ass, no one wants to know anything. Not to mention the desire of the governments of some countries to focus on the self-development of their people. We have become lazy, allowing progress to act only to make our existence easier. Our bodies produce fewer and fewer actions, and our brains cope with tasks less and less. Have a useful stump!
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