Search Undervalued, Critical to Brand Campaigns-Search Marketing

While most digital B2C marketers believe that search marketing makes some degree of an impact on their brand-building efforts, many continue to underestimate it as a necessity in modern-day branding. This disheartening finding is the result of the recent “Search for Branding: Tools for Better Campaigns” report from eMarketer.com. It shows that far too many digital marketers are missing out on valuable opportunities to use search for everything from connecting with customers to driving sales to boosting brand exposure. eMarketer.com offered additional details from the digital report.

The report defined search as the total of paid ads on search engines, along with data mining directly from search ads, and search engine optimization (SEO) efforts to improve organic rankings and learn more about the brand’s target market and competition.

“Brands need search—and not just paid ads and higher organic rankings—to help them achieve their overall marketing goals,” according to eMarketer. “And they need to connect all their search activities to their overall branding campaigns.”

Considering that recent research found that almost 85 percent of U.S. consumers used search engines either daily or fairly often, search marketing has become an essential tool for brands looking to connect with consumers in the online arena.

Search also has a major impact on the way that audiences perceive a brand. Interestingly, simply appearing in search results shows that the brand is important enough to be considered a strong company, while the lack of a search presence implies that the company is not a viable competitor in its field. The best way for a brand to establish credibility online and convey a sense of consumer trust is by appearing in search results.

It is also the top way to ensure that consumers actually see a company’s branded content. In fact, additional research showed that almost 78 percent of digital marketers used paid search and nearly 70 percent used organic SEO in their efforts to boost awareness for the branded content among the target audience. Apparently, there are many marketers who believe search has real value for branded content distribution.

“When considering whether or not to weave search into a brand’s total campaign, there is one simple, inarguable reason why brands should use it,” said eMarketer. “Search is where the audience can be found.”

To learn more about the power of search marketing, contact MDG today at 561-338-7797 or visit www.mdgsolutions.com.

MDG, a full-service Florida advertising firm with offices in Boca Raton and New York, NY, specializes in developing targeted Internet marketing solutions, exceptional creative executions and solid branding and media buying strategies that give clients a competitive advantage. Our core capabilities include branding, logo design, creative, digital marketing, print advertising, direct mail marketing, media planning and buying, TV and radio, video, Web design and development, email marketing, social media marketing, search marketing, and search engine optimization (SEO).