How To Customize The +Snippet When Users Click The Google +1 Button To Share Content

August 31, 2011 By Glenn Gabe

Last week Google announced that the +1 button now enables you to share content with your connections on Google+. This is the natural progression for the +1 button, which hit the scene before Google+ (the platform) did. Similar to the Like button for Facebook, it makes sense that the content you +1 can get pushed back Google+ for your connections to view, visit, share, etc. You can view a screenshot below of this in action.

When you choose to share content via the +1 button, you’ll notice that an image thumbnail sometimes shows up, along with a title and description. Google announced that they are giving site owners more control by letting them customize these elements, including the title, description, and image used for the thumbnail. This can definitely help publishers achieve “maximum sharability”. By adding some additional markup to your webpages, you can tailor the elements that show up when visitors share your content via the +1 button. I’ll cover those elements and how to add the markup below.

Maximum Sharability
I quickly mentioned this above, and wanted to explain what this means. I’m a firm believer that the image, title, and description can have a big impact on how your content gets shared, re-shared, +1’d, liked, etc. The reason is simple. Most people have hundreds of friends across various social networks (and some people have thousands of connections). The right “creative” can help your content stand out as your connections are scanning their circles in Google+. If you can catch their attention, you have a greater chance of having those people visit your content, +1 your update, and then share your post or update with their own connections. This can lead to a spike in traffic and exposure, which are both good for your business, blog, company, and digital efforts. Let’s take a look at how you can customize the snippet shared on Google+ when visitors click the +1 button.

Schema.org Attributes
In a previous post, I explained how you could customize your +1 button code to unlock exclusive content. You can check my post out in greater detail to learn more about adding the button to your site, editing the code, etc. For this post, I’m going to focus on how to add markup to your html content in order to tell Google which elements should be used for the thumbnail image, title, and description when shared. You can accomplish this by adding schema.org attributes to your content, which will tell Google which elements to use. In order to do this, you’ll need to use the Article item type when adding the code.

The three pieces of markup that you’ll need to add to your webpage include:
1. itemprop=”name”
2. itemprop=”description”
3. itemprop=”image”

In addition, you will need add an element and attribute to your opening body tag in your document, which is the itemscope element and itemtype attribute. See below.

The “name” attribute will provide the title you want to use when visitors share your content, and the “description” and “image” attributes are self-explanatory. The great part about adding this markup is that you choose which elements to use for the image, title, and description versus leaving Google in charge of doing so. For example, if you have a killer visual that you want to make sure is used, or if you want to include a great title that’s not the title tag of the page, then you should use this markup to make sure your suggestions are used. Remember “maximum sharability” that I mentioned earlier? Controlling these elements can help.

Note, if you want to understand the order of precedence that Google will employ when choosing the elements for the snippet, check out the help page about the +snippet attributes. You’ll see that Google recommends using the schema.org attributes over other methods.

+Snippet Example:
Let’s walk through a quick example. I’ve added the necessary markup to this blog post in order to show you how it works. You can walk through the following steps to add the markup to your own webpage.

1. Add ItemScope Element
The first thing you want to do is to add the itemscope element and itemtype attribute to the opening body tag. It looks like this:

2. Add The Title For Your +Snippet
Next, let’s use the title tag as the title of the snippet. To do this, you need to add the itemprop=”name” attribute to the title tag.

{your title tag goes here}

3. Add The Description For Your +Snippet:
Now let’s focus on the description for the snippet. You can choose which text to use and then add the itemprop =”description” attribute to the html element containing the description. For example, imagine the desired text was contained in a paragraph tag:

{your description goes here}

4. Add The Image That Should Be Used For The Thumbnail:
Last, let’s choose the image thumbnail that gets displayed by default. Find the image that you want to use and add the itemprop =”image” attribute to the img tag. Note, you can use any image that’s on the page in question.

That’s it! You have successfully added the necessary markup for controlling the +snippet. If you want, you can test it out this page now by clicking the +1 button above. You should see the elements that I chose for the +snippet when you share this on Google+.

The Google Rich Snippets Testing Tool
Google provides a way to test the markup on your webpages to see if your code is set up properly. It’s called the rich snippets testing tool and you can use it to test your +snippet. Simply visit the tool and then add the URL to the form. Click “Preview” and you should see the structured data that Google extracted from your webpage. You should see each attribute listed, along with the elements you chose to use in the +snippet.

Control the +Snippet
Google+ is growing rapidly, and members will be sharing more and more information there. As I covered in this post, Google is now enabling webmasters to control the snippet that gets shared, which can definitely help with exposure, +1’s, shares, etc. Using some basic markup, you can easily control the elements that gets used for your +snippet. So, in a digital world where you often can’t control how content gets shared, you can have some control here. Therefore, I recommend you add this markup. Again, think about “maximum sharability”.

Groupon Shows Up in the Clustered Results of Google Place Search. Why This Can Be A Problem For Local Businesses

January 18, 2011 By Glenn Gabe

In October of 2010, Google launched Place Search, which was a big change for its local search results. As part of the change, Google began clustering information in the search results for specific listings. The clustered results include information from a number of sources, including CitySearch, Yelp, TripAdvisor, etc. You can see a screenshot below of what the clustered results look like in Place Search. By providing clustered information directly in the search results, Google’s goal was to aggregate rich local information so users could find what they needed without having to dig. This information was usually contained just on the Place Page for a given result, and not in the search results.

An example of the clustered results in Google Place Search:

Groupon Shows Up, And Why That Matters
As I mentioned earlier, there are several sources of information that Google is pulling from in order to provide the clustered information for local businesses. Additional sources to the ones I mentioned above include InsiderPages, Expedia, UrbanSpoon, Zagat, etc. As I was performing research for a client, I came across an interesting addition to the various sources of clustered information in local search. I saw Groupon showing up! That’s right, the clustered results for some listings provided links to Groupon reviews for the company at hand. To clarify, the link in the clustered results took me to the Groupon page for the specific company. So, if a local business was ranking highly in Place Search, and it had run a Groupon (or multiple Groupons), I saw a link to the Groupon page directly in the search results. See a screenshot below of this happening.

Groupon showing up in the clustered results in Google Place Search:

The Problem for Local Businesses
Although my immediate reaction was positive, I quickly started to think about the implications for local businesses. For those of you unfamiliar with Groupon, it’s an extremely popular group buying site. And by “popular”, I mean it’s big (and hot) enough that it turned down a $6 billion offer from Google to buy the company. Instead, they are supposedly preparing for an IPO.

In a nutshell, businesses offer a heavy discount and set a threshold for the number of units they sell. This means that you only receive the discount if a certain number of people buy the Groupon. For example, 51% off X service, but only if 250 people buy the Groupon. So, although there’s a heavy discount, the business knows that they will land a certain amount of revenue (which in theory will make up for the discount). That hasn’t always worked out so well for the business running the Groupon, but that’s for another post. :)

OK, So What’s the Problem With Groupon in the Clustered Results?
Here’s the biggest problem. All of the Groupons I came across were expired. That’s right, when you click through the link in the clustered results, you end up at the Groupon page for the business (with the expired discount staring you in the face.) Imagine a customer searching for a spa treatment, finding your Groupon page (where you provided a huge discount), then finding out they can’t get that discount, and then possibly taking measures based on that fact.

Some people may push for the discount, others may wait for the next Groupon (based on the extreme discount), and others might simply wonder why you offered such a large discount in the first place. None of these situations are great for local businesses, as they can be hurt by their past promotions. Google is essentially embedding links to those discounts into the local results (via the clustered information).

I know several businesses that have run Groupons with varying levels of success, but I’m not sure any of them want their expired Groupons front and center for prospective customers to see.

An example of the clustered results linking to a Groupon page with an expired deal (with a 57% discount):

Adding Insult to (Groupon) Injury
My research also revealed something that could be alarming for some local businesses. On the expired Groupon page, there were other LIVE Groupons for competitors! That’s right, prospective customers visit your expired Groupon page, only to realize they can’t receive your discount, and then they are presented with live discounts from your competition. Wonderful. And remember, these are heavy discounts, not 10% or 20% off. Many are over 50% off… See screenshot below for an example.

A link from a company Groupon page with an expired deal to an active competitor deal:

Here’s the active competitor deal that was linked to from the expired Groupon page seen above:

Recommendations For Dealing With Groupon in Google Place Search:

Form a plan for dealing with the “Re-Groupon”. When you launch a Groupon, understand that it can possibly show up down the line (when prospective customers are searching for your services). Have a plan for communicating why customers either will or won’t receive the Groupon pricing they found in the clustered results.
Be careful how much you discount your products or services on Groupon. One of the core benefits of Groupon for consumers is the massive discount you can receive. I’ve seen some as high as 70% off. If you offer a discount this high, and it ends up showing up in the search results, how will this reflect on your business? Will it hurt your brand? Will questions pop up in a consumer’s mind about why you were offering such a large discount? And will they ultimately push for that discount, wait for the next Groupon, or worse, find your competitor’s Groupon…
If you don’t want your Groupons showing up in the search results, you can ask Groupon for help. Note, I have no idea if they will help keep your Groupons out of the search results, but it’s worth asking. This can potentially apply to both the standard search results and the clustered results in Place Search. Just be aware that this can potentially hurt your Groupon when it’s live. For example, people searching for it on Google won’t be able to find it as easily. Also, Groupon appears to be marking up their pages using rich snippets, which enables Google to collect structured information that can show up in the search results. You can ask Groupon to not mark up your pages. Again, I don’t know if they will do this for you.

Summary – Should Groupons Live Forever?
It’s one thing to have helpful information show up in the clustered results of local search, but it’s another thing to provide links to heavy discounts, for very specific promotions, after they have expired. As a local business, you might end up trying Groupon to see if it works for your company, and that’s a good thing to do. But, you should also understand that the massive discount you are offering could haunt your business for a long time (beyond your Groupon expiration date). That’s especially true if a link to the discount shows up front and center in the search results of Google. For better or for worse, Google never forgets.

Web Server Monitoring – Give Your Online Marketing Campaigns a Fighting Chance With a Digital Scout

August 6, 2010 By Glenn Gabe

You’ve mapped out an incredible online marketing strategy. Your developers have been frantically working to meet your deadlines, the creative is approved, dates set, and your campaigns are almost ready to launch. Everyone is excited. But, are you missing one critical element that can literally save your campaigns? You just might be… One important thing I learned early in my career is that your online marketing campaigns are only as good as the servers they are run on. For example, imagine driving thousands of people per day to a site that is down 25% of the time. Imagine an e-commerce site that bombs during checkout 10% of the time. Or worse, imagine you receive so much attention and traffic that your site is down for days at a time (wasting significant amounts of budget and an opportunity to land new customers). This is the reality of online marketing, and unfortunately, many marketers learn the hard way how important hosting is to their success.

Enter Server Monitoring, Your Online Marketing Scout
I remember launching a large-scale campaign for a client after starting my own business. There was a critical decision I needed to make as we set up their hosting. I could go with dedicated hosting or go with a webfarm (where multiple servers work together to balance the load). The webfarm was more expensive and we didn’t know the exact amount of traffic the campaign would generate, so it was a hard decision. I decided to go with webfarm hosting, and I was lucky I did. The campaign drove over 950K visits to the site in just a few days (based on the viral nature of the video content). The webfarm didn’t even hiccup. We experienced no downtime, even though the site was getting hammered from all directions. How did I know that we didn’t experience downtime? I set up server monitoring so I would know immediately if one of the servers went down. It was relatively easy for my hosting provider to set up, cost me very little, and enabled me to know exactly how the webfarm was performing.

Ping It Baby
When server monitoring is set up, the web server in question is pinged at a certain frequency (like every second or minute) to ensure the server responds. If it doesn’t, an email gets immediately triggered to you and a ticket will be set up with technical support. Yes, this is brilliant and can save your campaign from technical failure. In addition to pinging your web server, you can also set up monitoring for your mail server. If you heavily rely on email for your business (which most business owners do), then this can also be an invaluable service. Similar to web server monitoring, the mail server can be pinged every x seconds or minutes to ensure uptime. If it’s down, an email will be triggered and a support ticket opened. Again, this is a smart thing to do for online marketers.

Understand Your Hosting Package and Provider
So, you’re sold on the idea of server monitoring, but don’t know where to start. No problem. First, you need to understand the hosting package you have set up and the various services that your hosting provider offers. For example, do you have a shared hosting package, dedicated package, virtual private server, etc? Is monitoring offered for certain packages and not others? Then you need to find out how much monitoring costs and what you need to do in order to have your provider set it up. I recommend giving technical support a call and speaking with them about the possibilities. Also keep in mind that monitoring will require that your hosting provider is fine with complete transparency. This could separate the great hosting providers from the good ones. You will know every time the server goes down and for how long. This could be somewhat uncomfortable for certain hosting providers, especially if they aren’t confident in their service.

The Cost of Server Monitoring
You might find that some hosting providers will set up monitoring for free and others that will charge a small monthly fee. For example, it might cost you $5-$10 per month per server (and per monitor). If you had a monitor set up for your web server and one for your email server, then it might cost you $10-$20 per month for monitoring. Needless to say, that’s a small price to pay for being confident in your hosting setup (especially if you or your clients are launching several online marketing campaigns). Imagine you were spending tens of thousands of dollars (or more) on the campaign. What’s $5 or $10 per month??

Points to Consider and Key Takeaways:

I recommend having monitoring set up for both your web server and mail server. Then you can be confident that your site is up and running and that you can receive email.
When setting up the email address for the monitor (the address that will be emailed if your server goes down), don’t use an email address at your domain. Use a gmail address or another web-based email account. If your mail server is run on the same machine that runs your web server, then you won’t get the email notification when your servers goes down… :) Find out from your hosting provider if your mail server and web server are on separate machines.
Make sure the monitor emails you when the sever goes down and when it’s back up. Then you can identify the true downtime that the site experienced.
Have your hosting provider test the monitor once it’s set up. Then you can make sure you are in fact emailed and that a support ticket is opened. Like everything else in technology, testing can save you from an embarrassing situation.

Monitoring Is Smart, Set It Up
As you can see, I believe server monitoring is extremely important for online marketers. Don’t let web server downtime ruin your online marketing campaigns. There’s nothing worse than doing your job well as an online marketer and then having a server fail. If that happens, your campaign fails along with the server. If visitors cannot get to the site in question, then you’re dead in the water. Think of your monitor as an online marketing scout that will watch over your servers. A scout that never sleeps, checks your servers continually, takes no sides, and can save your campaigns. Set monitoring up now.

Rethinking Your Viral Marketing Strategy: Why Building a Solid Online Marketing Foundation Should be Your First Priority, Not A Funny Video

April 6, 2010 By Glenn Gabe

Human Pyramid of Online Marketing Channels There are times companies hire me to evaluate their online marketing strategies. Essentially, they want to better understand the potential impact of their efforts and if there are any holes in the strategy at hand. When an idea for a viral marketing campaign crosses my desk, the first thing I like to do is gain access to the company’s web analytics package and start analyzing site performance. Based on the hit or miss nature of viral marketing, my hope is that I immediately see a consistent level of quality traffic (based on conversion) from a number of traffic sources. Unfortunately, that’s not always the case and it’s the first red flag. Then, since viral marketing campaigns usually need a kick-start, I review how strong of a presence the company has on various social networks. Again, my hope is to see a solid presence and strong engagement via blogging, Facebook, Twitter, etc. Once again, that’s not always the case and could be extremely problematic for the company I’m helping. Based on what I explained above, here’s a question to think about (and one I’ll address in the rest of the post):

Why in the world would a company spend a lot of money, time, and resources on a viral marketing campaign without already having a solid online marketing foundation in place?

In my opinion, and based on my experience, the company pulling the trigger on the viral campaign without having a foundation in place could very well be setting itself up for failure. If my analysis reveals a lack of consistent, quality traffic and a poor presence on social networks, then I believe the plan needs to be adjusted (in a big way). I usually recommend that they spend the budget allocated for viral marketing on building a solid online marketing foundation instead. Then, once the foundation is in place, the company can layer viral marketing on top of that foundation. Let’s explore why.

Quick Note: I’m referring to viral marketing and not word of mouth marketing (wom). I know there is a lot of confusion about the difference between viral marketing and word of mouth marketing and you can read this previous post of mine to learn more.

Consistent Quality Traffic, A Critical Element To Your Online Marketing Success
I explained earlier that I usually dig into a company’s reporting to better understand their current traffic sources and quality of traffic. In my opinion, when it comes to driving traffic, there are too many companies focusing on short-term gain versus building a long term strategy. There are some people that want a quick win, but that’s definitely not a great way to look at online marketing. If you develop the right strategies, you can build a long term plan for driving consistent and quality traffic via a number of traffic sources (building the solid foundation I have referenced numerous times in this post so far). For example, organic search could be driving targeted visitors across tens of thousands of keywords on a regular basis. And by the way, there is no ad spend for that targeted traffic. In addition, a well planned SEM strategy could yield high quality traffic across a wide range of targeted categories and keywords in paid search. Also, SEM could supplement your SEO initiative, enabling you to provide air cover for SEO as you strengthen your organic rankings. Also, if you want to consistently drive customers back to your site, then building a well-scrubbed in-house email list is a smart move. I haven’t even mentioned RSS subscribers, Facebook fans, Twitter followers, other social networks, etc. This foundation (which includes a number of online marketing channels), is worth its weight in gold. If you don’t already have a foundation in place, then building it should be your focus, not creating a viral marketing campaign. You can get to the viral marketing campaign later on…

If You Are Lucky, Viral Marketing Provides a Spike in Visitor Traffic, Then a Quick Falloff: Spike in Visitor Trending

Instead, Building a Solid Online Marketing Foundation Results in Consistent & Quality Traffic:

Consistent Visitor Trending

Viral Marketing Fails More Than It Succeeds
Based on what I just explained, you can understand why I’m sometimes shocked to see a viral marketing plan planned when a strong online marketing foundation hasn’t been developed yet. Think about it, why wouldn’t you spend that budget on building a strong foundation versus spending it on a short-term viral marketing campaign? And by the way, that viral campaign will likely fail performance-wise. I’m not saying that viral marketing can’t be successful, but viral marketing fails more than it succeeds. When most people think of viral campaigns, they tend to just remember the successful ones. Nobody remembers the campaigns that bomb, which makes sense since those campaigns never went viral! :) Also, there are times that a successful viral marketing campaign was preceded by dozens of other attempts that failed. The fact of the matter is that you never know what will go viral. It’s hit or miss, and your business shouldn’t heavily rely on “hit or miss” as its core online marketing strategy.

Although I help companies with brainstorming ideas for viral marketing campaigns, I would never recommend a viral campaign if the other (and more powerful) areas of online marketing weren’t covered already. In addition, even if you end up having your campaign go viral, that doesn’t necessarily translate to outstanding financial performance. If your goal was just exposure or links, then that’s fine. But, if your goal was conversion, then you might not be so thrilled with the results. That’s why if you clearly understand your goals, you can better structure your online marketing campaigns to reach those goals. That might sound obvious, but tying strategies back to your core goals can help keep you on the right path and avoid the inevitable: a funny video with 100 views on YouTube, a fan page with no fans, and an empty Twitter account only followed by a few spammers.

Social As Your Launching Pad
Earlier I mentioned the importance of social media marketing on the impact of viral campaigns. The reason is simple. If you want something to go viral, there’s not a better way to get the word out to a wide range of targeted people than via Facebook, Twitter, Blogging, etc. But, it’s much easier if you already have a strong following when you launch your campaign. If you have that following across social networks, then you have a much greater chance of gaining traction. And traction is exactly what you need in order to spark your viral campaign. Without the spark, you might just end up in the viral marketing deadpool. And that’s not a pretty place to be. :) By the way, read my post about The Twitter Effect on SEO to learn how Twitter can impact traffic, inbound links, and rankings in organic search.

Try Kick-Starting Your Viral Campaign With The (Lack of) Social Media Presence Listed Below:

Unfortunately, many companies haven’t spent the time to build a presence across social networks. They might have quickly set up a Facebook page, a Twitter account, a shell of a blog, and subsequently they have nothing to leverage when their viral marketing campaign goes live. Compare that situation to a company that already has 10K fans on Facebook, 7500 Twitter followers, thousands of blog subscribers, 400 subscribers on YouTube, etc. Having that following across social networks will greatly improve your chances of getting the word out quickly about the viral campaign. On the flipside, if you practice drive-by social media (or don’t participate at all), then you won’t have a foundation to leverage when your campaign launches. Drive-by social media is the practice of quickly setting up accounts at social media sites and then dropping a message about your own content or campaigns. It never works and is embarrassing for agencies and companies that do it… Instead, you should build fans, followers, and subscribers the right way, which will enable you to reap great rewards from your hard work. And you just might see that message go viral… The core point to remember is that you want to build your following BEFORE your viral campaign goes live and not as it goes live.

Build Your Foundation, Then Go Viral
So before you give approval on that sexy viral marketing campaign, make sure you fully understand what your current online marketing foundation looks like. Are there cracks in the foundation, do you have little SEO power, should you restructure your SEM account, and are you currently engaging targeted people on social networks? If you answered “no” to some of those questions, then don’t launch your viral marketing campaign yet. Spend that budget on building your online marketing foundation and then layer viral marketing on top of it. You won’t regret it.

Say Cheese Please – How The Right Marketing Campaign About Lactose Intolerance Could Add $1.8 Billion To The Cheese Industry Annually

February 2, 2010 By Glenn Gabe

Hi. My name is Glenn Gabe and I’m lactose intolerant. That’s right, me and about 40 million other Americans. Although it’s not the worst thing that can happen to you, it’s definitely a bit of a downer. I was 32 when I figured out that I was lactose intolerant, and that’s also when I learned how much of a nuisance it was to exclude certain foods from my diet. And those foods were some of my favorite things to eat, including milk, cheese, pizza, ice cream, to just name a few. Cheese, in particular, is in so many foods and meals that you eat on a regular basis, that it’s almost impossible to avoid. Now, that’s assuming that I really do have to avoid cheese. More on that shortly.

What is Lactose Intolerance?

For those of you not that familiar with lactose intolerance, here’s a quick rundown. Lactose is the sugar found in milk. Lactase is the enzyme that your body produces to break down lactose. Lactose intolerant people don’t produce enough lactase to break down the lactose they ingest. And if it’s not broken down, it causes problems (to varying degrees). For most people the symptoms aren’t horrible, but can be more of an annoyance. Since milk is a core ingredient of cheese, you would think that cheese would cause serious problems for lactose intolerant people. Not so fast…

Cabot is Sharp (And I Mean Smart)

I was making lunch about a month ago when it happened. I’m typically stuck using some flimsy science cheese for my sandwiches or choosing from the anemic selection of lactose free cheeses available. That day my wife ended up taking out her favorite cheese, which is Cabot Extra Sharp Cheddar. By the way, that’s like dangling a gourmet sandwich in front of a person that’s been stranded on an island for 5 years. :) After a quick glance at the cheese, I wiped the drool from my face and went back to my science project, I mean lunch. That was until my wife glanced at the side of the Cabot packaging. She noticed a small message on the side of the package that read “Lactose FREE”. Huh? I dropped my sandwich on the floor and ran over. Was this a mistake? Are they messing with me? I checked to make sure I wasn’t being punk’d and then I started doing some research.

Cabot’s Packaging Promotes Lactose Free Cheese:

After doing some searches, I couldn’t believe what I was reading… It ends up that MOST aged cheeses are lactose free. From what I gather, the aging process yields cheese with either very low amounts of lactose or 0 grams of lactose. That includes cheddar, swiss, romano, provolone, etc. Needless to say, I was ridiculously excited. I’m not sure if all the cheeses listed have 0 grams of lactose, but most have such a low amount that they cause no problems for lactose intolerant people.

Where Were The Cheese Companies?

Then it hit me…why in the world aren’t cheese companies promoting this? Is there some reason they don’t want people to buy more of their cheese? Why didn’t I know about this? And why doesn’t the greater lactose intolerant community know more about this? I know quite a few people that are lactose intolerant, and I’m convinced that few of them actually know what they can and cannot eat! While doing my research, most of the search results were to forums and question and answer sites where people like me were asking questions about lactose free foods. Almost none of the major players in cheese ranked for the topic. Finlandia did have a page about how its cheeses were naturally lactose free, which is great, but I think more needs to be done…

The Revenue Implications of Smart Marketing

I couldn’t help but think of the massive revenue impact of effectively promoting this message to targeted people. How could cheese marketers get the word out via a number of channels?

A Target Market of 40 million lactose intolerant people…

I don’t know about you, but a target market of between 30 and 50 million lactose intolerant people provides a pretty darn good opportunity. And the fact that many of those people are dying to eat the foods they once loved (like cheese) makes it even a stronger opportunity. If cheese manufacturers or the cheese industry, decided to launch a thorough marketing and education campaign, I can only think they would strike gold. Simply getting the word out that most cheeses are low in lactose, and many are lactose free, could be a windfall for the cheese industry. There’s actually nothing to sell… your target market wants to eat cheese. They just can’t eat it (or so they think). A well-crafted campaign combining TV, Viral Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Search Marketing, Blogger Outreach, etc. could be huge for the cheese industry. It could be a cheese extravaganza!

Here’s an example of how simple it could be given the desperate eating state of most lactose intolerant people are. Jim and Laura work together:

Jim: Hey Laura, you can’t eat cheese, right?

Laura: Yes, unfortunately I’m lactose intolerant… Are you rubbing it in?

Jim: No, I just saw a video on YouTube explaining that most cheeses are low in lactose and many have no lactose at all… You should check it out.

Laura: WHAT?? Get out of my way! {She tackles Jim to get at his computer, clicks play on YouTube and shoots out the door to the store to buy 16 blocks of aged cheese.}

Revenue Lift: Now That’s A Lot of Cheddar

Let’s do the math. If you reached even 25% of lactose intolerant people in the United States, and they ended up spending an additional $15 per month on cheese, then you are looking at a lift of $1.8 billion per year. That’s a lot of cheddar, pun intended. :)

40 million lactose intolerant people in the US

25% = 10 million people

10 million x $15 per month = $150 million per month

$150 million per month x 12 months = $1.8 billion per year in additional revenue

Moving Forward

If I ran marketing for a cheese company and I was looking for ways to increase revenue, I would launch a killer campaign that engages the lactose intolerant market. Why try and get a .5% lift from the people who already buy and eat cheese when you can get a much greater lift from people that are dying to eat cheese, but just THINK that they can’t.

Now that would be sharp. :)