This is interesting. One of the eternal questions about advertising is “would I have got those enquiries anyway?” In other words, were the responders looking for me in the first place, and just chose that advert as the way of getting in touch? Of course, with traditional business-to-business advertising, where response is barely monitored in the first place, it’s not really an issue. But nowadays when return on investment can be measured down to the last decimal point, it’s a far more pressing question.

Well, B2Blog recounts a recent experiment in Turn off AdWords?! What I learned… which proved – to the author’s obvious pleasure – that in his company’s case, the responders wouldn’t have found them anyway. In other words, the investment in the advertising brought in business which wouldn’t have come in otherwise. Always a relief.

Have you ever seen Google results for companies where there are maps, photos and business information? These are are actually part of Google Maps but appear in the Google search results and are all part of a wider move from Google to be able to provide the same services as business directories. Claim your Google listing, now! on B2Blog suggests that you “claim” control of your business’ listing immediately, and add the relevant details. I agree, and I’m off to get our entry sorted right away.

You’ve got to hand it to lab equipment specialist Eppendorf, the It’s Called epMotion campaign is a triumph. (You’ll need your speakers on).

I really couldn’t guess what it cost them, but as B2Blog points out, it might only be the equivalent of a page ad in a lab equipment magazine for a few months. And in return, Eppendorf will be getting massive numbers of links from around the internet (like this), as well as loads of “viral” traffic as customers in that market pass the link around amongst themselves. The result will surely be worth far, far more than a page ad in a lab equipment magazine for a few months.

The company has missed a few tricks: it doesn’t seem to have given the page a simple URL which people can quote and remember, and (worst of all) it’s failed to offer an obvious link to the page from the company’s home page (to account for the potential visitors who are just told “have you seen that thing on the Eppendorf site?”). But in general, I can only applaud the initiative.