Enamored with Technology... the Google - ization of us all.

At AdTech last week, I was going to meet some folks for dinner. I knew the
name of the restaurant and the street name, that's it. No address. So,
I pulled out my blackberry, went to Google, and wham! nothing. There
were some reviews, but not a listing. Next Yahoo! Go!. nothing. Again,
some web sites with reviews. Then Live. Bingo. No websites, no links.
just Name, Address and Phone number. Then click, a map. Oh, and I was
probably just a few feet from a yellow pages directory in the room. But, I wanted to use the technology. To me, this would seem like an obvious search. A mobile device and a specific restaurant name. Live knew (or guessed) exactly what I wanted. The other two were clueless. 

But, I wanted it to work. I wanted technology to provide the answer. So, while it took a bit longer than I'd like, 1 of the 3 did work for me. But this got me thinking, 'are we too enamored with technology?' I could have picked up the phone, talked to concierge and had my directions faster. But, I didn't. 

I see this take place in SEM all the time. Bid management tools, algorithms that can tell you (so they say) when someone is ready to buy, or can optimize your media program. I was on a call the other week with an agency that appeared to rely nearly 100% on statistically driven bid management programs. I wish I could say these things worked. But they don't. Sure, they can do what you tell them, adjusting bids based on historical inputs and manage to your parameters. But they can not 'read' the market. Adjusting to the unexpected is too cumbersome, and anticipating the new is impossible. If 'it' is not in the historical data, whatever 'it' is can not be considered by the technology. 

People, however are very good at this. We know how our competition and consumers respond. We know our clients and their marketing calender. We can anticipate, and adjust and optimize. We can also take risks. This is where the rewards come from. Try something you've never done and see what happens. Algorithms can't do this SEO suffers from the same problem (but I think they get more feisty about it). SEO is a very manual service. No two SEO experts will agree on every 'best' way to do things. Computer programs that analyze your site are useless. A good SEO person will admit and adjust to stumbles. SEO programs will keep blundering along. 

In a world where we really want technology to solve problems (and it does have its place among our tools), sometimes it is hard to accept that the real answer is not a technological one. Its human. 

Experience, perception, anticipation, risk taking and hard work. These are the hallmarks of a good SEM shop.