As a school boy, I was taught the Legend of John Henry and for whatever reason this story has stuck with me over the years. The legend is about a railroad worker in the 19th century who was the biggest and strongest worker on the crew. The big railroads of the day were racing to be the first to cross the continent and connect the rail networks of the west with those of the east. The company to do it would have a huge competitive advantage over their rivals, so they were competing to lay track across the mountains as quickly as possible.
John Henry was a little baby
Sittin’ on his daddy’s knee
He picked up a hammer and
A little piece of steel
And cried, “Hammers gonna
Be the death of me, Lord, Lord
Hammers gonna be the death of me”
John Henry was said to have been born at 33 pounds with a hammer in his hand. He grew to become the fastest steel driver of his day. However, in the push to beat their rivals, the railroad bought a steam powered drill to increase productivity and speed. In a competition, John Henry was pitted against the steam powered diver to see who could lay track faster. John Henry actually beats the machine, but collapses in utter exhaustion and dies of a heart attack.
John Henry driving
On the right side
That steam drill on the left
Says, “Fore I let your
Steam drill beat me down,
I’m gonna hammer myself to death, Lord, Lord,
I’ll hammer my fool self to death”
Believe it or not, Pay per Click advertising optimization is in a similar situation as the railroads of the 19th century. Most small and medium sized businesses that I meet with are still trying to improve their cost per lead by pausing non-converting key words and manually changing key word bids. Even if they were born with a “keyboard in their hands” they will be unlikely to be able to beat technology that automatically does the same thing.
For example, our WSI Local AdWorks platform typically optimizes a campaign with 1,500 keywords across four engines by making 75,000 keyword bid adjustments per month and 100 monthly spending pacing adjustments. If I were to try to keep up with that kind of optimization activity, my guess is that I could, but I would end up just like John Henry – dead with a keyboard in my hand.
John Henry he hammered
In the mountains
His hammer was striking fire
But he worked so hard;
It broke his heart
John Henry laid down his hammer
And died, Lord, Lord
John Henry laid down his
Hammer and died
Lyrics to the Song John Henry. Traditional -Composer unknown.
