(Almost) Live from Search Engine Strategies: Beyond ROI
|
Written By Reprise Media | August 10, 2005 | Share This
|
|
Reprise Media Director of Marketing Anthony Iaffaldano reports from the Search Engine Strategies conference in San Jose, August 8-11.
Is search a branding medium? Is search good for anything other than driving conversions? Should I be buying search even if I don’t sell anything?
Yes, Yes and YES. Geez! I can’t believe we’re still having this debate in 2005. But that was the gist of today’s session, which dealt with opportunities for advertisers that aren’t focused on (immediate) ROI.
To the credit of the panelists involved in today’s Beyond ROI session, it’s evident that there are some people who have figured out how to begin using search as a real marketing medium.
- Tie into an Offline Sponsorship: Why do brands spend millions of dollars each year to sponsor events, programming and sports teams? To reach fans, and recieve some brand rub. Why can’t the same happen in search? Frisbee shared the stories of Pontiac (who launched the Solstice on an episode of the Apprentice) and Kellogg (sponsor of the American Idol tour). Both advertisers realized that fans of the entertainment they were sponsoring would eventually head online to find more information, and each was ready with a paid search campaign that capitalized on that interest and continued the dialogue. This sort of synergistic marketing can be highly successful, and can even lead to some sales (Pontiac moved 5,000 Solstices before the car was officially launched)
- Create Brand Associations: Sometimes it’s not a specific event that you want searchers to associate you with, but a concept. GM bought keywords around terms like “car safety” to help improve perception of their line of vehicles.
- Manage Dialogue About Your Brand: As you know if you’ve ever done a search for the retail giant, there are a lot of Walmart-haters on the Web. To help mediate the discussion being formed around their brand, Walmart created walmartfacts.com, a site dedicated to sharing Walmart’s side of the story on all the lawsuits, negative press and other public venting that finds its way online. Keywords like “walmart lawsuit” and even “walmart” are purchased to help spread the word.
One of the panelists whose presentation really stuck out was Stephen Anderson from Rock Coast Media, who looked at search’s impact on a sector that’s not trying to sell anything at all. (Aside from ideas): Politics. I don’t understand why the practice isn’t more widespread at this point, but how can politicians not see the logical benefits of search marketing? After all, people use search when they’re attempting to gather information and to form opinions about issues and topics that matter to them. Search offers a perfect opportunity for politicians to either communicate aspects of their platform to undecided voters, or to mobilize their supporters around a specific hot button issue. (As you can tell, it’s sort of a pet subject for me)
Rock Coast ran a campaign for the John Kerry camp when John Bolton was appointed to the United Nations by George Bush. Kerry bought keywords like “John Bolton,” “United Nations” and “Senator John Chafee”, and the resulting landing page directed constituents to call Senator Chafee, a key swing vote in the confirmation. The resulting activity helped delay Bolton’s confirmation by more than 4 months.
Topics: SEM: Paid Search |