SES San Jose 2007 Advertising Track: Putting Search Into the Marketing Mix
Speakers: (Moderator) Sara Holoubek, Free Agent Consultant Misty Locke, President and Co-Founder, Range Online Media Curtis Dueck, Senior Account Manager, Epiar, Inc. Bill Mungovan, Director of Search, Carat Fusion Bill Hunt, CEO, Global Strategies International
Session Description: Search marketing should be considered as an essential part of any overall marketing campaign, online and off. In this session, we look at successes from considering search from the very beginning, failures that result if this is not done and how other marketing can also help search.
Sara: This is a favorite topic of mine, especially considering that we're all heading into planning time when budgets are set. First, I'd like to know a little bit about you guys... how many of you work for an agency or SEM? How many represent brands? Press? Bloggers? Very nice.
Curtis Dueck, "Search Informed Marketing and Search Frequency Research"
Marketing is connecting supply with demand. In order to effectively meet demand, you must first see it clearly. How do you do that? Search Frequency Research
Analyzing what people are searching for helps to decide how to segment and prioritize what you're going to be selling and what you might stop selling, or at least stop advertising heavily. (Are more people searching for plasma tvs or LCD tvs?)
It also helps to suggest new products you might begin offering. (Perhaps you already sell candles, but people are searching for soy candles specifically. It could be something you might add to your product line.)
Also, if your brand name is being frequently misspelled in searches, you can take steps to intercept those searchers before they end up at a competitor's site. (Bid on the typos perhaps.)
Search Frequency Research allows you to make informed, strategic decisions based on the trends indicated by the types of searches being performed and their volume.
Bill Hunt, "Trends that are turning the world upside down"
- The customer is in control. - Technology innovation and broadband penetration foster environment of consumer's need for relevant and on demand information - Marketers held to new levels of accountability to Business ROI vs Media ROI - Escalating content choices creating new complexities for marketers - Consumer shopping behaviors have been radically altered - Budgets are shifting to better map to current media interaction
Search marketing's value proposition is putting messages in front of people who overtly and explicitly express an interest, via a keyword, in your business.
Search is a critical marketing element both from a research perspective as well as a marketing tactic. The better we can integrate into the marketing mix the wider the adoption into the client organization we will have.
Raising Brand Awareness - Aligning the campaign with messaging that is consistent with that being delivered across other media channels - This provides a consisitent through the line communication for a consumer
Multi channel searchers have a greater depth of interaction. 35% of searchers remembered "on demand" vs. 25% of those exposed to other media.
Take advantage of these changing times...
- Feed the need for control and create compelling iformation consumers will pull and interact with on demand. - Test your offline messaging with paid search advertising before it goes live. - Embrace search in a 360 world.
Misty Locke, "Coordinating Media Efforts"
- Do we only see the Direct marketing benefits from Search? - Do we not see Search as valid marketing tool in coordination with: -- online media activities (search w/ email, for example) -- offline media activities (search w/ tv, etc.)
88% of all consumers making in-store purcahses in key retail categories have conducted online research prior to purchase.
(Three really interesting case studies, check the SES San Jose website for powerpoint of Misty's presentation to see the slides)
Bill Mongovan, "An Agency Perspective"
Online vs. Offline Advertising Spend - $20B will be spent online in 2007* - $10B of which wil be spent on search** - $150B will be spent offline
Search is a Function of Demand - Search is the ultimate form of pull marketing - Search inventory fluctuates with demand influencers - Vital to understand all of the brand influencers that impact search demand.
Case study slides... see power point...
[ One of the interesting things Bill spoke about was how their search and display teams are managed centrally, and when they see an increase in performance in display, they shift budget from search over to display and then vice versa, in almost a "stock trading floor" fashion. ]
Search reacts to ALL advertising. Any offline or online marketing efforts increase searches.
Integrating Search Summary: - Allocate enough budget to capture increased volume created offline. - Connect with offline media plans before client approval - Map keyword bundles to overall goals, not just lower-funnel acquisition efforts. - If you client doesn't allocate enough budget to search, a competitor or an aggregator will. - Search is still cheap!
Questions and Answers
Q: How do you get everyone in the same room and break down traditional walls? A: Misty - We start with people we have day-to-day interaction with (client side). We track everything that the clients do to prove to them that these things work. Providing reporting to their other marketing efforts shows that we can work together and makes them more inclined to get into the same room.
Bill M -- Within Carat it's not difficult because we all sit together anyway.... the offline/online people, you have to give offline it's due to get them into the room with you. The way that we found is to just explain why it's in the client's best interest. We get that TV is still king, and we're not trying to steal their budget, but we have to close the loop.
Bill H -- We give them a what we do, why do it type of presentation. We educate the client as well. Often times there are stratgey sessions w/ clients, so when I see them coming in for one of those, we try to sneak into those so we can put the search in front of the client. There are some creative ways to make the clients aware of search. Education is really important.
Curtis -- Keep your message simple and talk to the person w/in the organization who will pocket the profit.
Concepts and Items to Note... - Tie your tv flighting to your paid search - Remember that most of your potential customers/sales are not currently your customers. - Use your test budget to test the terms your clients don't feel are important to show them how well they perform and underscore their importance. Let the numbers (and dollars) prove your point.
