Flooring ItExotic hardwood flooring supplier BR-111 used Google AdWords and Analytics to increase site traffic by 40%.

Ricardo Moraes knows wood. When he was just 19, he and a friend, Daniel Pagano, set out to bring new types of wood – known as exotics – to floors across the U.S.

“When we started BR-111 in 1990, exotics just weren’t available over here,” says Ricardo, president of BR-111. “Not only did we educate the market, we helped create it.”

Initially, BR-111 used traditional channels to market their brand and product. It reached its audience through dealers and by placing ads in style-related magazines.

In an effort to expand its brand recognition and cost-effectively reach a larger audience, BR-111 began looking at online advertising and signed up for Google AdWords™ in late 2006.

GOOGLE ADWORDS SUCCESS PROFILE

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What they needed

To send more potential customers to their website

To build awareness of their brand and products

What they did

Began using Google AdWords and Analytics in late 2006

Placed ads on Google’s content network to extend brand reach

Showed text, Flash, and video ads on home improvement websites

Used Analytics to identify key geographic regions

Began using Google Print Ads and TV Ads in 2007

What they accomplished

Increased traffic: Site traffic grew 40% Brand lift: 10% increase in brand-

related searches Engaged customers: Visits to brochure

and sample request pages grew 16% Customer insight: Greater

understanding of visitor sources

Who they are

BR-111 www.br111.com Medley, Florida 50+ employees Exotic hardwood flooring products

e x o t i c h a r d w o o d f l o o r i n g

ADWORDS | AnALytICS

“Nothing we’ve tried in the past has brought us as much traffic as advertising with Google has.

We’re confident that Google will help us continue to get our brand out there.” Erica Biser, creative director at BR-111

Traffic growth

“We were new to online advertising, and I was impressed with how easy AdWords was to use,” says Erica Biser, BR-111’s creative director.

“When we first started, I learned something new about AdWords each week,” she remembers. “I experimented with new keywords and bids to find out what worked best for us.”

“A few months after we started our AdWords campaign, the number of clicks on our ads had almost doubled,” Erica remembers. “And traffic to our site grew by more than 40 percent.”

“We were astounded by how successful it was,” she continues. “More people are coming to our website and staying for a while. Visits to our sample request and brochure request pages have each increased by 16 percent.”

“AdWords is getting us the right kind of attention – from people who are interested in our products.”

Brand demand

BR-111 uses AdWords to lead more people to its website, but it also uses it to build brand awareness among its key decision-makers and influencers: consumers, distributors, and home improvement professionals.

© 2008 Google Inc. All rights reserved. Google and the Google logo are trademarks of Google Inc. All other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.

To reach this audience, Erica began placing ads on Google’s content network, made up of millions of news pages, websites, and blogs. Google’s ad targeting technology automatically displayed BR-111’s contextually targeted ads on relevant home improvement sites, such as MarthaStewart.com, BobVila.com, and DIYNetwork.com.

“I figured we should take advantage of all opportunities available to promote our brand,” says Erica. “We used text, Flash, and video ads to show off our exotics. The content network has given us a lot of exposure across the board.”

And data from BR-111’s campaigns confirms the brand impact. Since it began showing AdWords ads, searches on brand-related terms (such as BR-111 or BR111) have grown 10 percent, indicating that consumers are increasingly seeking out BR-111 by name.

Getting on track

The BR-111 team also signed up for Google Analytics™, a free tool that works with AdWords to track how people reach and browse the company’s website.

“One of the reports I like is the Map Overlay,” says Erica. “It tells me which regions and cities our visitors are coming from. We’re currently planning new regional advertising campaigns and events, and Analytics has helped us choose what areas to focus on.”

“The amount of data we get is awesome,” she adds. “It gives us a real sense of who our customers are and the return we’re getting on our investment.”

GOOGLE ADWORDS SUCCESS PROFILE

About Google AdWords

Google AdWords™ is a performance-based advertising program that enables businesses large and small to advertise on Google and its network of partner websites. Hundreds of thousands of businesses worldwide use AdWords for text, image, and video ads priced on a cost-per-click (CPC) and cost-per-impression (CPM) basis. Built on an auction-based system, AdWords is a highly quantifiable and cost-effective way to reach potential customers.

For more information, visit http://adwords.google.com

About Google Analytics

Google Analytics™ is a free, powerful web analytics tool. It precisely tracks visitors, referrals, search engine performance, email promotions, and even offline initiatives. Featuring visually enhanced reports, Analytics helps users focus their marketing resources, improve site navigation, and achieve a higher ROI. It measures the success of both AdWords and non-AdWords advertising campaigns, revealing which ads and keywords convert the best.

For more information, visit http://www.google.com/analytics

Knocking on wood

BR-111 helped establish the exotic hardwood flooring market through proactive marketing and has recently added traditional media advertising into the mix. The team is using Google Print Ads™ and Google TV Ads™ to promote its exotic woods through newspapers and television.

“Our market segment continues to grow, and in concert with our other advertising, we plan to use print and television to help educate the market and shape that growth,” says Ricardo.

“I’m blown away by the options that are offered – AdWords, Analytics, and now Print Ads and TV Ads,” Erica adds. “Nothing we’ve tried in the past has brought us as much traffic as advertising with Google has. We’re confident that Google will help us continue to get our brand out there.”