More search marketing strategies for the next decade

Over the last decade, marketers have come to accept that search is a channel primarily suited to direct response. Especially in paid search, those investing in search marketing campaigns are generally measuring success based on explicit return-on-investment goals. Initially, marketers opt for simple success metrics like cost per sale or cost per application.

Eventually, as they get more sophisticated, these marketers embrace metrics more closely linked to campaign – and business – profitability, such as gross margin per sale or customer account value per click. An entire sub-industry of search analytics and optimisation, in fact, has grown up around these metrics. In addition, by all accounts these measures of search campaign success are widely accepted and appreciated – consider the size of the paid search marketplace as evidence to support this claim.

However, more and more marketers are finding out that measuring search, as a stand-alone direct response channel does not tell the whole story. They are finding value intrinsic in search campaigns, like its ability to move brand perceptions, which are not accounted for in their old ROI models. Moreover, they are uncovering more effective optimisation techniques through understanding external factors that can affect search-marketing success. In short, search marketers are getting smarter about how they measure and manage successful search campaigns.

For example, marketers are slowly embracing the value search can deliver as a branding and awareness creation tool. Though generally underappreciated and universally under-measured, several studies have demonstrated that search marketing has a profound impact as a brand-building vehicle. In a study Avenue A | Razorfish conducted with Yahoo last year, for example, it was demonstrated that simply seeing (not clicking) an ad in top positions on paid listings dramatically increase an advertiser's brand favourability and message association in the mind of consumers exposed to the search result.

This was not the first, nor will it be the last, study to demonstrate that search is a viable branding channel. Surprisingly, few advertisers have embraced the potential search marketing can offer in this area, let alone begun to measure and analyze the brand impact of search. However, across any industry, advertisers who embrace this measurement and evaluation technique will likely find they are able to expand into new and previously cost-prohibitive keyword categories that drive significant brand equity and long-term returns.

Beyond branding, marketers are recognising that search does not operate in a vacuum. Advances in data collection and data analysis techniques allow for greater visibility into the impact online media efforts have in driving search conversions. Leading search marketers with large online media investments are using these techniques to execute cross-channel optimisation decisions. These advertisers are able to shift media dollars towards Web sites that are more likely to drive future search conversions.

In effect, they are making their search campaign better by optimising their media dollars. While direct response is the end goal, the inputs and actions taken to achieve that goal are far more complex than in a model where search is viewed in isolation. They are also far more effective – advertisers using this technique can grow search volume and their share of search clicks through smarter media investments.

Most likely, there will be no sprint by advertisers to shift the way they measure and evaluate search marketing success, but rather a slow and steady crawl. In addition, many search marketers will continue to rely on the tried-and-true, immediate direct response metrics that have powered search marketing for the last ten years. However, marketers who embrace a more complete view of search marketing success will be rewarded with search campaigns that are less constrained, more responsive and drive better long-term results.

These marketers will be able to unlock additional value in their search marketing investment through data and actions that are simply not available in a siloed, ROI-only optimisation model. Moreover, as an added benefit, the scope of their search campaigns will get much broader and much more interesting.