The new way
Jonathan Beeston, European client services director, Efficient Frontier efrontier.com
Search marketing has finally emerged from the malaise of the recession. After a strong fourth quarter in 2009, Efficient Frontier expects search spend to grow by 15 to 20 per cent this year. Market competition should continue to recover, adding CPC growth to volume expansion.
Despite the recovery, there are questions over how many search agencies in the UK have a sustainable business model. That may seem odd given that search is the most successful ad medium of recent years, but the agency sector isn't necessarily sharing in the success.
No longer can search agencies use Google's Best Practice Funding subsidy to hook in and retain clients. Selling on price instead of value like this rarely has a happy ending in the long run. It would seem there are further agency administrations, restructurings and buyouts to come.
Trackability and accountability make search the perfect force for marketers navigating their brand through a recovering economy. As internal search marketing discussions rise to the boardroom, brands will seek greater visibility of campaign performance. Companies that use mathematical models to predict outcomes to a high degree of accuracy will enable marketers to make informed decisions when setting their budgets for search. The right technology will be essential for search marketers in 2010 to ensure they are always in control and maximising ROI.
Additionally, this drive for accountability will fuel the developments in the ad exchanges controlled by the engines (Right Media, DoubleClick, and AdECN). This year, biddable display advertising will become more aligned with search. For too long, display advertising has been hamstrung by an antiquated method of trading that delays decisions, creates inefficiencies and suppresses investment by advertisers. Ad exchanges are creating biddable marketplaces that will provide an efficient and dynamic environment for media owners and advertisers to do business.
All the trading benefits that we enjoy in search are being brought to display, for advertisers and publishers alike. As biddable marketplaces become a bigger feature of display, we will help advertisers track, optimise and forecast. As sophisticated platforms enable marketers to manage across search and display, a more comprehensive understanding of the full value of marketing will emerge. The most likely outcome is that the engines with strong display offerings will deepen their control of online ad spend.
Performance marketing is about to get a lot more exciting. The cost-controlled models that make auction-based search and display advertising the most accountable medium will lead to increased budgets in 2010. As brands understand the necessity of technology to these channels, agencies that rely on antiquated approaches will suffer.
Plan for success
Justin Cooke Managing director, Fortune Cookie fortunecookie.co.uk
Consumers have been using the web to discuss how they feel about brands since the mid-90s. Yet it has taken most businesses more than a decade to catch on to how social media can build brands.
Over the past 18 months, an increasing number and variety of businesses have begun to use social media to broker conversations with consumers. Many have failed to take a strategic, holistic approach, however, and few have realised measurable results.
Most social networking tools are free. While this means the entry cost is low, the price of rushing in could be a cause for disappointment and regret. The key to success lies in objective-setting. Rather than diving straight into a Twitter feed, a Flickr account, a Facebook page or a YouTube channel, consider how your social media activity will build your business.
The web is littered with abandoned message boards and un-moderated UGC channels, where more harm can be done than if the brands had steered clear in the first place. But when adequately resourced and planned, there has truly never been a better time to take the plunge. Effective social media campaigns generate revenue, boost conversion and may even produce cost savings.
Some campaigns, however, have more vital, humanitarian goals: to liberate people from oppression, to uncover human rights violations and even to save lives.
Amnesty International's 'Demand dignity' campaign has a single aim: to end global poverty. The charity approached Fortune Cookie because it wanted to create a digital channel through which people directly affected by poverty could challenge the causes of that poverty.
The Demand dignity website (demanddignity.org) provides a social media environment where people can leave messages in their own language, via SMS, images, video, Twitter and other social networks and social media tools.
Launched in June 2009, the campaign has already generated in excess of 23,000 'voices' from more than 100 countries.
Crucial to the success of Demand dignity has been a strategy informed by both the need to effect social change and the means of access available to those experiencing poverty. Personal computer ownership among people living in the poorest nations is low. However, mobile phone access has risen dramatically in recent years, with SMS providing crucial access to the web.
This is where social media really shows its power to transform. Not as an additional channel but as the primary channel that enables a brand to have a conversation with its consumers and, in Amnesty's case, its beneficiaries.
If you are considering what UGC can do for your brand, think about how your consumers can most easily contribute their voices.
Don't be evil
Mark Patron, Chief executive, RedEye redeye.com
Let's face it: most email marketers still behave like direct mailers. They send out files until they no longer work. But now with the likes of AOL and Hotmail starting to employ user engagement to filter emails, we are at a tipping point. Look in your Hotmail 'junk' folder. How many emails (that you opted in to receive) are there because you have not recently opened anything from the sender?
Email deliverability is about being good to ISPs. However, it is even more important to be good to consumers. People respond better to relevant communication and that typically means targeting and segmentation.
Forrester Research estimates that within five years consumers will opt in to receive more than 9,000 email marketing messages annually. That is an average of more than 24 a day. It is fairly safe to assume that there will be an even larger number of spam emails in addition to this. With irrelevancy being the main reason consumers unsubscribe, making email relevant is vital.
In a survey by research company Merkle of 2,000 US email users, more than half admitted to making a purchase due to permission-based marketing, and half said a company's handling of email affects their decision to do business with them onor offline. Nearly a third said they had stopped doing business with at least one company as a result of poor email, while three quarters said irrelevancy was the main reason for unsubscribing from a company's email. Frequency of emails was another reason, with 66 per cent citing it as a reason to unsubscribe.
Personalisation and dynamic content are good ways to customise your messages. Triggered email, automated to respond to an event (for example, someone completing a registration form instantly receiving a 'thank you for signing up' message) is a great way to send relevant communication. An even better way is to use web analytics data to produce highly targeted behavioural email. For example, an email with offers based on what a consumer has been browsing. Never forget, the best time to contact someone is when they have nearly bought something, so always send a follow-up email when a consumer abandons a basket. Forrester reports that email marketers integrating web analytics data can generate nearly four times more revenue and 18 times greater net profits.
ISPs using engagement to filter emails will ultimately be a good thing for marketers. It will force them to do what they should have been doing all the time: talking to customers and prospects in the most appropriate and relevant way. By using engagement to understand where someone is in the buying cycle, emails can deliver more relevant calls to action. Take it to the next level by segmenting and targeting by recency, frequency, monetary value and behaviour.
Remember, repeat visitors are eight times more likely to buy than first-time ones, and personalised email is the best way to get them to return.
Think it through
Neil Jackson, Search director, Tamar tamar.com
Exactly how successful do you want to be? If you are content to run with the pack, market your company with paid advertising and shout very loudly, you probably are going to win a workable share of the customers in your sector.
If, on the other hand, you want to rise above the competition, then do what comes naturally - and engage with your customers by using the rich toolset that search provides. In many ways, natural search is a more authentic route to more trusted connections and engagement.
One thing should be clear, though - natural search (SEO) is incredibly effective, not free. No matter what scale of operation you are running, time and effort is needed in terms of site-build, design, structure and content. That said, an expertly implemented campaign will drive high volumes of traffic at very low cost.
Natural search is about creating websites that answer user needs relevantly. The search engines all have a single goal in mind: to give consumers access to the info they want as quickly as they can.
To work in harmony with search engines, you need to get the balance of a site right, but the first consideration should always be your users. You achieve the right balance by blending onsite technical, content and structural considerations with offsite linking strategies, insight and analysis, sentiment profiling, PR and social media - and always from the point of view of your sector's customers.
Each niche area has its own demands; what is required for the search engines and also for your own sector is important. You will not need the same intensity of work for selling maps as you will for selling finance products.
Playing it safe is the best way to start. If you push too hard, you may be penalised with reduced rankings or removal from the Google index. Expert knowledge and innovation are crucial here. Master the Google Webmaster Guidelines. Visit SEO forums. Read, learn and understand before putting anything into practice. Keep a close eye on your competitors to build an overall picture of what it can take to be successful - copying them exactly won't work, though.
In 2010, real-time and personalised search offer great opportunities for agile companies prepared to engage openly with their users. Trying to keep complete control of your message will hold you back. Being open and sharing will gain you trust, relevance and reputation, as long as your approach is thought through.
The single greatest mistake that people make is thinking they cannot compete. Search engines are democratic - if you offer the right solution for your users and the search engines, your site can compete. It just takes a little creativity.