A Marketer’s Quick Guide to Universal Search and Vertical Search

Posted on October 13, 2009 by Suzy Sandberg

Universal search and vertical search appeal to different types of searchers and searches.  But does either appeal to marketers?

We continue to receive a good number of questions about universal search (how can we retain our ranking?) and vertical search engines (should we be using them?)  For guidance, below is some topline marketing perspective on the relative strengths and opportunities for each.

Vertical Search

With search having become a mainstream necessity for consumers and a lucrative media channel for the search engines, vertical search engines will proliferate over the next few years.  Examples include TheFind (consumer goods), Kayak (travel) and MyRide.com (automotive).  As far as marketers’ acceptance and use of these as a media channel goes, it will depend on several factors.

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The One Sure Thing for Retailers This Holiday

Posted on October 6, 2009 by Suzy Sandberg

Value has moved firmly from accessory to necessity.  Retailers with a convincing value proposition – be it price, quality or payment terms – will fare best during the year-end holidays.

layaway3I’ve just returned from two retail-focused conferences (the Shop.org Annual Summit and another NYC apparel-focused show).  The overriding theme at both was that value will be the predominant message of the holiday.  Those who promote value and whose message resonates with customers will win, and those who don’t will miss out.

Today we’re on the cusp of the holiday, but back in July, Kmart was already promoting their Christmas tree section.  At the time, I read a few articles criticizing the retailer for pushing the season, but I don’t think that was Kmart’s sole mission.  Rather, the offer in Kmart’s aisle was layaway, an old fashioned practice whose time is once again appropriate.

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Success with Google’s Content Network

Posted on September 22, 2009 by Suzy Sandberg

PM Digital has been leveraging content search much more than we had in the past, and we’ve found some great success there. Google’s content network, in particular, yields a massive amount of impressions which is desirable for advertisers looking for more scale from search (approximately 70% of internet users view content ads per month for 139 million impressions).

In the past year, PM Digital was fortunate to have Michelle Obama favor two of our clients’ clothes, and we leveraged linking those brands with Michelle Obama’s name and other relevant keywords within the content network, trying to make the most of the constant media mentions.

These campaigns yielded a significant amount of sales. Most advertisers, though, may not get the opportunity to link their brand to Michelle Obama, so can they still find success with content?

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Google Betas: Product Ads and Trademark Sponsored Search

Posted on September 8, 2009 by Suzy Sandberg

This summer we have seen lots of testing for different ad placements on Google, including changes to Page 1, product images displayed along the right side of search results, and quick links within sponsored ads. The following is a quick review of these and other potential changes.

  • Product search listings (formerly Froogle) have been shifting placement on Page 1 of Google Search, moving from the top to the bottom, and now to the middle above the fold.

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What Our Clients Are Talking About: The Top 10

Posted on August 25, 2009 by Suzy Sandberg

How to lower cpcs with pay per click media sources. Last year we saw paid search trademark terms increase noticeably in the 4th quarter, and the shopping comparison engines have always increased cpcs during the holiday season.  Reducing cpcs in each channel won’t necessarily lower either media provider’s revenue.  On the contrary, lower cpcs should enable marketers to spend more since they’ll hit their ROI goals more easily.  For the CSEs in particular, it would be beneficial if they pursued the math on this.

Efforts made to increase website conversion rate. Since even small increases can make a huge impact on revenue, our retail clients are, at present, unveiling new technology investments in time for the holiday season and hoping the needle moves in the right direction.

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Outranking the Competition

Posted on August 5, 2009 by Suzy Sandberg

No matter the demographic, one of the most effective ways to reach consumers and drive business is through search engine strategies. Brands today are in a battle to keep their businesses growing and find ways to outshine and outrank their competition as hundreds of thousands of companies vie for top placement within search engines.Over the years, we’ve spoken to many marketers who aren’t sure how to navigate the complexities of search engine marketing campaigns. They want to reach new audiences and drive sales but don’t know how to work their programs to gain favorable results.

Below are solutions to five questions that can help you create efficiencies, improve spend and gain the upper hand with your SEM efforts.

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Social Marketing: Beyond the ROI

Posted on August 4, 2009 by Suzy Sandberg

The amount of social marketing conversations with clients has definitely proliferated over the past few months.  As a direct response agency, prior discussions usually started — and then died — when someone asked “but where’s the ROI model?”  Translated, this really means “it’s not trackable” and “I don’t get the metrics,” but considering that all of them — Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and others – are free, the ROI isn’t really questionable.  It wouldn’t take a lot of sales to offset the expense of maintaining even a limited social marketing presence.

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Breaking Through on Google’s Page 1

Posted on July 16, 2009 by Suzy Sandberg

Most advertisers aspire to be number 1 on paid search and number 1 on natural search with a particular focus on Google since it typically drives 80% of search-sourced sales.  Retailers in particular, though, may have noticed that for a wide array of products, Page 1 is actually dominated by Google Product Search listings and the CSEs, which push retailer-specific keywords down in the rankings, primarily affecting natural search listings.

Despite good intentions, there may be technical limitations, branding priorities and business rules that have prevented a retailer from optimizing their site well enough to jump over these sources.  You may have also recently noticed that Twitter, YouTube, blogs and Facebook are all bumping down traditional, retailer-specific natural search listings even further.

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