October 2008

Integrating Search With Offline Marketing

In the past decade that search engine marketing has existed, it has tended to be in a bit of a silo - often working in a vacuum separate from the advertiser's other marketing efforts. As search marketing has started to mature, however, it has begun to become more integrated with larger marketing efforts. While we're moving in the right direction, we're still not there yet. There are still many more synergies between search and offline marketing that advertisers could be leveraging to generate more results with the same budget.

Online Driving Offline

One way search can impact offline marketing efforts is as a quick and dirty market research tool. If your newest product has numerous benefits and you don't know which one will resonate the most with your target audience, or if your ad agency has come up with five excellent headlines for your next print campaign and you can't decide which is best, pay-per-click can help. You can run multiple versions of your ad creative at the same time and see which message generates the most clicks. Of course, there are limitations to this and it can't replace comprehensive market research, but it can be a fast, inexpensive way to get directional input right from your target audience.

We covered the surprising branding impacts of search in our July newsletter, so we won't reiterate that again here.

In addition to affecting offline advertising and branding, search also drives offline customer behavior. While we obsessively track online conversions (ecommerce sales, contact forms filled out, other actions taken on our clients' websites), we're aware that not all conversions happen online. In fact, depending on the business, sometimes a majority of conversions and sales happen offline. A study by theNational Retail Federation found that 93% of respondents research products online before buying them in a store. Of course, accurately tracking these offline conversions back to their online source is the next challenge our industry needs to address.

Offline Driving Online

The fact that online marketing affects the offline world isn't exactly news. But what's getting more attention recently is how much impact offline marketing has on searchers' behavior. JupiterResearch and iProspect completed a survey recently showing that 67% of search engine users are driven to search by an offline channel. But 24% of companies aren't investing in offline advertising at all. So there's a disconnect between where advertisers are spending their marketing budgets and searchers' behavior.

Don't get us wrong - if marketers choose to put all their eggs in one basket, the search marketing basket is an efficient and effective one to choose. But we have repeatedly seen firsthand that our clients who utilize a variety of marketing methods - both offline and online - have more success with search. Not only do their advertising messages drive interested prospects to the search engines, but once they're there, searchers are more likely to click on the listing of companies they're familiar with due to offline advertising.

We're pleased that recent studies have demonstrated the benefits and synergies between search marketing and other advertising vehicles and will continue to report on ways all marketers can best leverage this to make their budgets work smarter.

About Us

Prominent Placement, Inc., is a full-service, award-winning search engine marketing firm based in Atlanta, GA, serving clients throughout the US since 2001.  We provide strategic search marketing solutions, delivering efficiencies that traditional marketing channels can't touch, with a level of client service that can't be matched.  We manage the entire SEM process, so that businesses can focus on what they do best.  Because every business is unique, so are the recommendations we make, backed by hard numbers that give decision makers the confidence and knowledge they need to make smarter decisions.

For more information, visit our website or call 888.SEM.MKTR.