Posts Tagged ‘search marketing’
Tuesday, July 24th, 2012
 Does your brand appear above the fold –on page one before the need to scroll–in search results? If not, you could be losing millions of dollars in brand value, according to research from SEO firm Conductor.
Findings show the most significant lift occurs when brands appear above the fold and in universal search results.
The study also found that intent to purchase from retailers is much higher when brands appear on page one of the search engine result pages (SERPs).
The research findings point to the emergence of a new branding paradigm that permanently disrupts the way marketers approach brand development by putting search on par with traditional channels including television, print media and banner ads.
Conductor sought to measure how exposure to a brand in the natural search listings influences consumer perception of the brand. The study measured three distinct categories: brand awareness, perception of brand quality, and purchase consideration using an established brand in an established manufacturing category, Frigidaire and refrigerators as the test case.
It found the most significant lift –up to 30 percent over the baseline — occurs when a brand appears above the fold in search results. Even more significantly, intent to purchase at a retailer increased by 20 percent when above the fold in search, and 10 percent below, compared with when it doesn’t appear at all in search.
“The study suggests that millions of eyeballs in online search go untapped by marketers in their efforts to build brand awareness that helps drive sales and the overall success of the business — it’s a huge, lost opportunity and wake-up call for marketers who want to build a powerful presence on and offline,” said Nathan Safran, Director of Research at Conductor and the author of “The Branding Value of Search’s Page One.”
“Brand owners need to rethink their approach to brand development and seriously consider search as a valuable medium for reaching their branding and business goals.”
Tags: Best Practices, brand development, Conductor, research, search marketing, SEO
Posted in Best Practices, Internet/New Media, Marketing, Studies, surveys, reports | No Comments »
Friday, May 6th, 2011
 ATLANTA – Fewer than 100 seats remain for TechMedia’s Digital Summit at the Cobb Galleria in Atlanta May 16-17. “Social Media King” Gary Vaynerchuk keynotes the event, which features more than 50 thought-leaders from top brands.
Brands such as Google, Coca-Cola, Groupon, Salesforce, CNN, YouTube, USA Today, the NBA, comScore, Meebo, and many others are featured in more than 60 presentations on the latest trends in social media, search marketing, mobile, cloud, usability design, e-commerce, analytics and entrepreneurship.
In addition, you’ll get to network with entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, senior marketers, and interactive strategists from Apple, CBS, Dell, Discovery Channel, AT&T, Fox News, the NHL, Dell, IBM, Autotrader & Turner, among others.
A demo showcase features early-stage Internet start-ups.
There is still time to reserve your free copy of Vaynerchuck’s best selling book, “The Thank You Economy” when you register (the book will be waiting for you at the event) when you register.
The lineup includes:
Natalie Johnson, Manager, Digital and Social Media, Coca-Cola
Tom Lowry, Head of Industry, Technology, Google Inc.
Matt Drinkwater, VP of Sales East Coast, Groupon
Mitch Free, CEO, MFG.com
Phil Agcaoili, Chief Information Security Officer, Cox Communications
Marc Ferrentino, Chief Technical Architect, Salesforce.com
Ainsley TeGrotenhuis, Director of Digital Marketing, CNN
Martin Green, Chief Operating Officer, Meebo
Maureen Schumacher, Sales Director, YouTube/Google
Taro Naruse, Senior Director of Product Management, NBA Digital
Emily Jerome Schroeder, Usability Analyst, AutoTrader.com
Dallas Lawrence, Contributor, Forbes.com & Mashable.com
Raj Narang, Social Media Insights, Dell Computers
Christine Cook, SVP, Sales and Advertising Operations, The Daily
Pankaj Bagzai, Manager: Marketing US & Canada, Impetus
John Williamson, CEO & Founder, Qualvu
Trish Nettleship, Business Social Media & Online Community Lead, AT&T
James Andrews, Founder, SocialPeople.tv
Eli R. Goodman, Search Evangelist, comScore, Inc
Erika Brookes, VP of Marketing, Vitrue
Allen Nance, President and Founder, WhatCounts
Francis Lavelle, Director of Analytics, HowStuffWorks.com
Stuart Roesel, Director Customer Insights, Analytics & Strategy, EarthLink
Tim Harrington, CEO, eRollover
Dana Todd, VP Performance Innovation, Performics
Jai Williams, Email Marketing Manager, InterContinental Hotels Group
Jennifer Dunphy, VP of Sales, Vayu Media
Laurie Hood, VP of Product Marketing, Silverpop
Scott Huie, Sr. Mgr. Business Advisory Services, Ernst & Young
Bert DuMars, Vice President E-Business, Newell Rubbermaid
Lindsay Wassell, Partner & Consultant, KeyphraSEOlogy
Allison Fabella, SEO & Social Media Mgr, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
David Jones, Partner, Southern Capitol Ventures
Tony Haile, General Manager, Chartbeat
Cristian Cussen, Managing Director of Business Development, Ning
Matt Kaplan, CRO, My Damn Channel
Scott Huie, Business Advisory Services, Ernst & Young
Jane Reinberg, User Experience Architect, Genex
Sig Mosley, President, Imlay Investments
Gerard Bush – Chief Creative Director, The brpr Group
Tony Adam, Director of Online Marketing, Myspace
Benjamin Rudolph, President & CEO, Relevance Advisors
Jamie Bristow, Founder, Mynonprofitmatch.com
Michael Tavani, Co-Founder, Scoutmob
Alan Taetle, General Partner, Noro-Moseley Partners
Donna DeMarco, Co-Founder, Viddler
Debbie Curtis-Magley, Public Relations Manager, UPS
Jim Tobin, CEO, Ignite Social Media
Elain O’Gorman, CMO, The Receivables Exchange
Brian Cohen, Principle, Visiture
Chip Hazard, General Partner, Flybridge Capital Partners
David Hoff, Founder & VP of Technology, CloudSherpas
Michael Schneider, General Sales Manager, RMM Online Advertising
David Jones, Partner, South Capitol Ventures
Larry Pearson, Area VP, Impetus Technologies
Joel Lunenfeld, CEO, Moxie Interactive
Peter Schoenrock, SVP Product Development, Equifax
Zack Pousman, Dir. of Strategy & User Experience, IQ
Tags: analytics, Atlanta, Atlanta Journal Constitution, AutoTrader, cloud, Cobb Galleria, Coke, Cox Communications, Dell, Digital Summit 2011, e-commerce, Gary Vaynerchuck, Google, IBM, mobile, NBA, Noro-Mosely Partners, Salesforce, search marketing, social media, The Thank You Economy, usability design, YouTube
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
Thursday, April 28th, 2011
 Although many marketers are rushing to establish a social network presence, a study by Forrester and GSI Commerce found that social media had little impact on online purchases during the 2010 holiday shopping season, resulting in less than 2 percent of orders.
Actual holiday purchase data from 15 retailers that were GSI Commerce clients showed that:
Most consumers purchased online following some web marketing influence.
Shoppers in the study touched some retail marketing vehicle before completing a transaction. Usually, they explicitly searched for a product or they received a retailer email. In fact, 77 percent of transactions in hard goods and 82 percent in soft goods engaged in some interactive marketing tactic.
Nearly half of purchases followed mulitple exposures to web marketing efforts.
About half of online shoppers touched at least two marketing points, which the report suggests highlights opportunities for retailers to “think beyond the tradtional last-click measurement.”
Search and email were the most effective tactics driving sales.
Traditional tactics were most effective in driving online sales. The report says 60 percent of soft goods buyers and 40 percent of hard goods purchasers came to retail websites from email and search specifically.
Display and affiliate marketing showed a strong influence.
The report suggests that display and affiliate marketing may not be getting their due because they typically play a role early in the research funnel and are followed by visits to search or email. Display ads, though, were the first marketing touch for 13 percent of soft goods buyers. Last-click analysis of marketing campaigns thus underestimate the effect of first-click tactics.
Social tactics “came alive” during key dates for soft goods. The truth is that social tactics
Social tactics were largely ineffective in driving sales. The data from this study indicated that less than 2% of orders were a result of shoppers coming from a social network. That said, to the degree that social networks did have an influence on holiday purchases, it was greatest during the Thanksgiving weekend and the Cyber Monday that followed.
Social media plays other brand roles
While this study should give marketers pause if they view social networks primarily as sales tools, we have heard many digital media experts, consultants and advisors at our various events (the next is the Digital Summit in Atlanta May 16-17) point out that social media can play many other important roles in marketing.
Those include brand awareness, a sense of engagement with a brand, early warnings of potential product trouble, and more.
Also, we suspect that marketers are really only just getting started with their social media campaigns, figuring out what works and what doesn’t. Out and out commercials on Facebook or Twitter have seldom proved effective, for instance, while campaigns that are entertaining and engaging have much more success. These findings could be as much about how social media was used during the 2010 holiday season than about whether they can be used effectively to boost sales. — Allan Maurer
Tags: Atlanta, Digital Summit, email marketing, Forrester, GSI Commerce, reports, search marketing, social media not effective for online sales, traditional marketing vs. social media marketing
Posted in Internet/New Media, Marketing, social media | 1 Comment »
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