Haiku 2.0 -- 2009 Edition

By Aaron Goldman
Appeared in MediaPost's Search Insider

FOR MY FIRST COLUMN OF 2009, I thought I'd give Haiku 2.0 another try and share my outlook for the year, 95 characters at a time.

A New Year Is Upon Us,
A Time to Reflect; What Will Become
Of Search With the Economy Wrecked?

We Have Not Yet Seen
The Extent of the Trauma; Don't Pin
All Your Hopes to Mr. Barack Obama.

Once the Holiday Sales
Are All Tallied Up, Methinks We'll
See Many a Corporation Go Belly Up.

No Government Bailout
For Online Retailers; Time to Add
To That List of Dot-Com Failures.

Brands That Survive Will
Have Limited Cash; Discretionary
Budget Will Be a Thing of the Past.

For Marketers, The Answer
Is Quite Clear; Optimize Each Penny
Or You'll Soon Be Out on Your Rear.

Don't Be Afraid to Toot
The Digital Horn; CMO's Finally Get
There's More to the Web Than Porn.

No Doubt the Best Bang
For Your Buck is in Search; Turn to
The Big G -- Not the One at Church.

You Can Hope You Can Pray
But In the End, Search is the One
Place You Can Show Profit on Spend.

And Whether You Go Paid
Or Au Naturale; Search is Your Last
Lifeline -- No Phone-a-Friend Call.

All You Search Marketers
In the Budget Chase; Rely on Data
Not Emotion When Making Your Case.

Post-Click Activity Must
Be Addressed; Mine Web Analytics
And Propose Multivariate Tests.

As for the Google, 2009
Will Be Intense; Finally, Display
Ads on SERPs, Not Just Via AdSense.

Live Search Will Get its
Fancy New Name; But Without Volume
It Won't Be a Player in this Game.

Now Yahoo, Old Pal, If I
May Be So Bold; Your Best Chance
To Make it is to Get Yourself Sold.

And Dear Ask.com, Holding
Strong at #4; Bring Back Old Jeeves
Your Engine's Become a Slight Bore.

A Note to Bid Management
Vendors and Tools; Turn the Focus
To Integration, Not Just Bid Rules.

Technology Can Only Take
Us So Far; Apply Search Insights to
Other Channels and You Will Go Far.

One Last Warning Lest We
Become Big-Headed Giants; Remember,
It's Just SEM, Not Rocket Science.

So As You Set Out To
Conquer '09, Speak Softly and Carry
Big Data Files and You'll Be Fine.