[an abbreviated version of this article first appeared in the Febuary issue of Admedia magazine]
Let me state at the outset that I am a card-carrying member of the direct response school of search marketing, an unapologetic advocate for spending more on search and less on everything else. I got this way because I was responsible for making a return on online marketing budgets and over time I found that search consistently delivered the results. Simple.
Except it isn’t actually that simple. Over time I have also come to realise that brand plays an enormously important role in search marketing ,and as the web consumes an ever greater share of our media diet that search can play a big role in growing brands as well. In fact, I would go as far as saying that today search and brand marketing are inextricably linked and to ignore one or the other is not only missing an opportunity but doing your business a great disservice. Let’s explore …
The case for search
It hardly seems necessary to talk about how important search is in the mix today. We all know that the internet is eating more and more of our time. We all know that search is the window on the web.
Search engines are not only how we search for stuff, they are also how we navigate the web. Think about your own behaviour. I’m willing to bet that your browser start page is a search engine or has a search box on it and if not then you probably have one or more of those search engine toolbars installed so the search box is never far away.
It makes sense too. With 60,000,000,000+ pages online you need a way around.
Important for marketers is the big role search plays throughout the buying process. Performix, a division of Doubleclick, did a study which showed that 55% of all consumer purchases in certain verticals were influenced by the use of search engines. Whether buying in-store or online, consumers are using search engines to research information on products and services.
Yahoo’s search marketing team has also done some interesting research. Contrary to popular misconception, they found that search is not just about the direct response and the last click – in their study, half of the recorded search activity resulted in an online purchase some 30 days later, while just 15% resulted in a direct response. Search plays a role throughout the buying cycle.
Brand vs non-brand
At the heart of search marketing is the keyword query. When it comes to keywords there is an important distinction to be made between branded keywords and non-brand keywords. The former is obvious, these are keyword queries focused on, or including, your brand name (ie, ‘Apple iPod’).
The latter are all the generic unbranded keywords and phrases related to the products or services you sell (e.g. ‘mp3 player’), and there may be literally thousands of keyword combinations and permutations for any given market, which search marketers call the ‘long tail’ of search.
The thing about branded keyword queries is that these people have already formed a brand preference. They already know who you are and what you do. Depending on where they are in the buying cycle (and the nature of the market you are in) they might not be searching at all, but rather navigating. If I search for ‘Rebel Sports’ or ‘16gb Apple iPod Touch’ it is pretty clear what I am looking for.
So whether you are trying to rank in natural search results or launching a paid search campaign, brand-related search queries represent an opportunity to reach people who have stated a preference for your brand. Thankfully the search engines are generally very good at figuring out which brand belongs to which website so normally it is a no-brainer to rank well in the natural search results for branded queries. If you are not ranking naturally for your own brand then you need to have a deep and meaningful with your web team.
Keep in mind though that branded terms represent the small part of the pie. Sure, the top 100 search terms of all time are mostly brands, but that misses the point of the long tail – there are many more long tail/non-brand terms in any given market and in aggregate they represent much more latent opportunity.
Going back to the Yahoo! Search Marketing research, they also studied the type of keywords being used throughout the buying process. They found that 70% of all the keywords used by consumers throughout the buying process were generic non-brand queries.
This study showed that over a recorded 12-week buying cycle the mix of brand to non-brand keywords evolved as you would expect. As people researched the purchase over time they formed stronger brand preferences and the number of branded queries increased. But most interestingly, the generic non-brand keywords still made up over 70% of the demand in total.
Imagine then what it means not to show up in search results for the generic/non-brand keyword queries in this particular market. You would be missing out on 70% of the search traffic. That 70% by the way is all people who have not yet formed a specific brand preference; they are researching and looking for information which is going to influence their purchase decision.
Thinking about your own business, what are the obvious generic keywords in your market? What are the less obvious long tail keywords in your market? Are you ranking for those today, or bidding on those terms in a paid search campaign? And what would it mean for your brand if people consistently found your brand and products showing up for those important generic keyword phrases?
This is my argument for the role of search in building brands. If you are in the business of selling jeans it is very powerful to show up for the keyword query ‘jeans’, or more specifically ‘womens jeans’ or ‘designer jeans’ or ‘skinny jeans’ (I hear they’re the thing right now).
Such generic keyword queries represent a huge volume of people researching and shopping, certainly more than are searching on your brand itself. And these are the people who haven’t necessarily formed a strong brand preference. They are the people you most need to reach and by showing up for these keyword queries you have the opportunity to position your brand with consumers who are looking for the products you sell.
How brands influence searcher behaviour
I did also say that brands have an important influence on search marketing too. By this I mean that brands certainly impact searcher behaviour. All other things being equal, well known and trusted brands are most likely to attract the click on a search result page. Just like any channel, people will be influenced by their brand awareness and preferences. If your brand is well known and you rank for those non-brand keywords it not only drives qualified traffic but consistently reinforces your brand in the minds of consumers.
This has implications for the way we build our web presence and implement our search marketing campaign, both for natural search and paid search campaigns. The opportunity is to leverage the long tail of generic non-brand keyword queries, but in such a way as to promote and leverage our brand which continues to be very important for all the reasons brand marketers can probably articulate much better than me.
It’s all about intent
Ever wondered why Google (the company) is so valuable? It’s because they know what people want, literally. At no other time do people flag a more specific intent than when they perform a keyword search. Google (and the others) have figured out how to build a market around that signal of intent in the form of their respective advertising platforms.
Every time someone, anyone, does a search Google is essentially auctioning off that signal of intent to the highest bidder. Of course it is a little more subtle than that, but that’s the basic opportunity of a paid search campaign.
Equally the natural (non-paid) search results represent an opportunity to position your brand for relevant unbranded product-related keyword queries. Google & co will rank your site in the natural search results for given keywords based on algorithmic meritocracy, which means that your site ranks where it deserves to rank. Of course that begs an obvious question. Answer this and you’ll understand what the opportunity is for your brand in natural search.
I believe that brand and search marketing are complementary sciences and that there’s a big opportunity for savvy brand marketers to position their brands though search in the most powerful way, right at the moment that potential customers are putting up their hand and telling you what they want.
Search Marketing is growing fast in NZ, but we are still spending much less on search (paid and natural) than marketers in Europe, North America and Australia. Locally some industries, like travel, have been quick to capitalise on search as part of the mix, but in many others there is still an opportunity to take a leadership position.
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Big news
There’s a reason Google’s stock price has reached such lofty heights. It’s because they know what every business wishes they could…they know what people want.
Charles Coxhead
Jacqui Jones
Paul Sutherland
Allen Qu
Annemarie Hunter
Justine Koenders