andrewgoodman
12-17-2004, 02:33 PM
Attending the SES show I notice that more SEM agencies than ever are offering their own in-house PPC bidding and online campaign ROI tracking tools.
I wonder what people think might be behind the trend in this area. Should an SEM firm develop its own tool or "white-label" a leading second-tier tool? (If so, why?) Are there now too many individual agencies chasing the "full-service, multiple functionality console" business when the Jupiter Research SEM constellation shows certain solutions such as Decide DNA, Atlas DMT, and Omniture SiteCatalyst to be clear leaders?
(Context: DoubleClick recently discontinued offering their own solution to clients, tacitly admitting that it was supbar, and decided to partner with Omniture SiteCatalyst instead. Companies like Did-It, Performics, and newer entrants like Oneupweb are now offering their own analytics consoles to clients.)
Or would they be better being completely tool-agnostic, guiding the client but ultimately going with whatever fits the situation?
Or should one follow a middle path, maintaining strategic (reseller or white label) partnerships with a single analytics provider or perhaps as many as two or three analytics / tool vendors at different price points with different capabilities, while being willing to work with other third-party solutions in special cases?
Would you always recommend a third-party aid or would you be willing to try Google's or Overture's ROI tracking solutions if appropriate?
I'd be interested to hear where you stand on any of these questions, whether you're a small SEM firm, in-house SEM practitioner, or a tool vendor at any price point.
I wonder what people think might be behind the trend in this area. Should an SEM firm develop its own tool or "white-label" a leading second-tier tool? (If so, why?) Are there now too many individual agencies chasing the "full-service, multiple functionality console" business when the Jupiter Research SEM constellation shows certain solutions such as Decide DNA, Atlas DMT, and Omniture SiteCatalyst to be clear leaders?
(Context: DoubleClick recently discontinued offering their own solution to clients, tacitly admitting that it was supbar, and decided to partner with Omniture SiteCatalyst instead. Companies like Did-It, Performics, and newer entrants like Oneupweb are now offering their own analytics consoles to clients.)
Or would they be better being completely tool-agnostic, guiding the client but ultimately going with whatever fits the situation?
Or should one follow a middle path, maintaining strategic (reseller or white label) partnerships with a single analytics provider or perhaps as many as two or three analytics / tool vendors at different price points with different capabilities, while being willing to work with other third-party solutions in special cases?
Would you always recommend a third-party aid or would you be willing to try Google's or Overture's ROI tracking solutions if appropriate?
I'd be interested to hear where you stand on any of these questions, whether you're a small SEM firm, in-house SEM practitioner, or a tool vendor at any price point.