Google Online Marketing Challenge a Clever Recruiting Tactic

Google's killing 2 recruiting birds with 1 stone via the Google Online Marketing Challenge. They're recruiting:

1. New local advertisers (who they've been courting recently)
2. Potential employees for their future search engine marketing division (part of DoubleClick)

Clever. To see what I mean, read today's press release:

Professors across the U.S. and the world have partnered with Google Inc. to introduce students to the world of online advertising and already 8,000 students are ready for the challenge.

The Google Online Marketing Challenge is a hands-on competition which will give undergraduate and post-graduate students direct experience with online advertising and marketing. Student groups will receive $200 to spend on Google AdWords™ advertising, working with a local business of their selection to devise effective online marketing campaigns. They will outline a strategy, run the campaign, assess their results, and provide the business with recommendations to further develop their online marketing.

I humbly suggest that any students involved in the Google Online Marketing Challenge read the following article and blog posts:

• Local Search Advertising with Google AdWords
• Top 5 Ways Ignorant Advertisers Lose Money to Google via AdWords
• AdWords Flaw Could Cost Small Business Millions

It will be interesting to see how well Google does, both in terms of recruiting local advertisers and future search marketers. I'd like to highlight some of the rules of this online marketing challenge (emphasis mine):

1. Professors divide students into groups, who then receive free online advertising vouchers for Google AdWords worth $200.
2. The groups or professors recruit a small to medium sized business, under 100 employees, who have a website but don't currently use AdWords. Each group works with the business to set up an account and structure an online marketing campaign.
3. During a 3 week competition window, the groups optimize and refine their campaigns. They will need to submit two competition reports – one before they begin and one after the campaign has ended. Entries are judged and winners chosen based on the success of their campaign and the quality of their reports.

I don't think 3 weeks is a long enough time period to optimize a campaign. Reminds me of stock trading competitions. Long term investing is very different from short term investing, both in a market for stocks and a market for keywords (AdWords). Still, for a competition of this nature, it'd be difficult to coordinate over a long time period, such as a whole semester. Plus, $200 wouldn't go very far.

The $200 figure is interesting. That's twice what we Qualified Google Advertising Professionals can offer new clients. Notice, too, that only small businesses that don't already use Google AdWords are eligible for this marketing challenge. That's a clever recruiting tactic on Google's part to leverage motivated students to broaden the Google local advertising base.

Apogee Tags: google online marketing challenge, adwords, doubleclick, local search, google advertising professionals, small business