the vital ingredient in every tasty campaign - IAB UK...marketing mix (IAB Search Barometer 2010). lmost 90% of the active UK internet population - 35.5 million people - regularly

the vital ingredient in every tasty campaign

Brilliant.get

Get brilliant with IAB training courses. Why would you want to be anything else?

www.iabuk.net/training

We’ve taken our love and passion for digital

and translated it into an exceptional series of

educational courses to keep your skill set at

its very best.

Search is integral to any marketing campaign, but do you have the knowledge and skills to manage it effectively?

Whether you are new to search or already working with it and wanting to perfect your search marketing skills, these IAB accredited one day courses, created with the IAB Search Council, cover everything you need to know. The fundamentals of paid search: Monday 10th October 2011Paid search practitioners: Monday 17th October 2011

Prices start from £500+VAT pp per course.

Give our training development manager Mizzy a call on 020 7050 6959 or email [email protected] to book a place or find out more.

Anyone can get good in digital... but the Internet Advertising Bureau will help you:

Paid search training programme

Intro

Brands in a digital age

Understanding the consumer and the tools to get you there

Brand-building in action

How online can drive brand engagement

Conclusion

1

Brilliant.get

Get brilliant with IAB training courses. Why would you want to be anything else?

www.iabuk.net/training

We’ve taken our love and passion for digital

and translated it into an exceptional series of

educational courses to keep your skill set at

its very best.

Search is integral to any marketing campaign, but do you have the knowledge and skills to manage it effectively?

Whether you are new to search or already working with it and wanting to perfect your search marketing skills, these IAB accredited one day courses, created with the IAB Search Council, cover everything you need to know. The fundamentals of paid search: Monday 10th October 2011Paid search practitioners: Monday 17th October 2011

Prices start from £500+VAT pp per course.

Give our training development manager Mizzy a call on 020 7050 6959 or email [email protected] to book a place or find out more.

Anyone can get good in digital... but the Internet Advertising Bureau will help you:

Paid search training programme

ContentsExecutive Summary

2Why is search integration 4important? Search activity is in itself a 6measure of advertising’s impactSearch is not just about lower 8funnel response

Search response extends beyond 11online to offline channels Amplifying the effect of the 13multimedia mix

Measuring search in the mix: 16econometric modelling Measuring search’s role in the 19mix: Summary of methods

Recipes For Integration - 22Factsheets Future of search integration 31Acknowledgements

33

for integration

2

executive summary

his report investigates search integration, the process of aligning search marketing activity with offline and online media.

SEARCH FOR INTEGRATION

from Jack Wallington, search council chair and head of industry programmes, IAB

The importance of search for businesses is well understood,

however the opportunity to integrate search, improving the

effectiveness of all media assets, remains a topic of mystery and

myth. This report, for traditional and digital marketers, explores

the opportunity to integrate search better by collating the findings

from a range of recent reports, research and expert opinions.

When writing this report, six key factors became apparent to help marketers integrate

search better.

Scale - with 90% of the active UK internet population using search each month, it

is a tool all marketers - from offline and online disciplines - should understand

(see chapter 1)

Extend - search captures interest generated by other media, extending

engagement significantly in an environment where consumers sell to themselves

(see chapter 2)

All-encompassing - search is used by consumers at all steps of

the path-to-purchase, not just the end of the funnel, presenting an opportunity for

awareness and branding

(see chapter 3)

ROPO - search is key to the research online, purchase offline effect (ROPO) with

search playing a pivotal role in pre-purchase research and opinion forming

(see chapter 4)

Complementary - search not only extends but also amplifies the brand

effect of other media, multiplying the effectiveness of each media component

(see chapter 5)

Holistic - to fully appreciate search’s role in the media mix an holistic view is

necessary and techniques like econometric modelling can help

(see chapter 6)

As a result of these factors, the IAB recommends marketers of all disciplines enter a

period of re-evaluation and re-education for search marketing, exploring its full role in

an integrated media mix using methods highlighted in this report.

3

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Search is an effective channel in its own right, and all search activity certainly isn’t driven by advertising. Search engines are the primary gateway to brands online, sending 33% of users to transactional sites compared to 22% for email and 16% for social networks (Experian and Yahoo! 2011). They can be used to capture interest generated by the rest of your marketing activity, extending

engagement online.

Brands call for search integration help

Given this opportunity, surprisingly, over two thirds (70.4%) of the UK’s top 100 brands by advertising spend state that search is only partially integrated or not at all integrated within their wider marketing mix. When questioned further, 99% of brands revealed that their businesses could better integrate search with their wider marketing mix (IAB Search Barometer 2010).

lmost 90% of the active UK internet population - 35.5 million people - regularly use search engines (UKOM 2011).

In 2010, UK advertisers spent £2.35 billion on PC and mobile paid search alone, making up 57% of total online adspend (IAB / PwC AdSpend Study Full Year 2010). Search is undeniably one of the most important tools available to marketers today.

4

THE SEARCH FOR INTEGRATION

why is search integration important?

for integration

Figure 1 – over two thirds of brands think search is

only partially integrated or not at all

To what extent is search integrated with your wider

marketing mix?

Source: IAB Search Barometer 2010

In the survey brands directly asked for more advanced

information on search integration to help with

effectiveness, conversion attribution and cross media

influence (online and offline), resulting in this report. And it’s

obvious why this is of such importance, because whatever

you do, whether it is above-the-line brand advertising or

direct response, PR, social media, customer services etc,

it will all have an effect on search.

Avoid complacency with renewed learning

‘The Connected Agency’, a report produced by Forrester

Research in 2008 provides an insightful look at the future

of marketing in theory. It suggests that all marketers and

agencies will, over the next five years, become a real part

of online communities, moving from pushing campaigns

onto the passive public to conversing with active

consumers.

Less well known is the fact that existing evidence shows

how search marketing used in unison with different

marketing channels can actually multiply the effect of both

to generate a combined ROI greater than each channel on

its own. Thus, if marketing activity isn’t fully integrated with

search, it’s highly likely that your campaigns are not only

significantly less efficient than they could be, but they are

also underperforming.

The IAB Search Barometer 2010 also investigated the

general understanding and practical knowledge of search

among senior decision makers in traditional and digital

teams. On the face of it, the average level of understanding

of search marketing was relatively high at 7 out of 10 (10

= complete understanding and 1 = no understanding).

However, there was a slight drop for traditional teams at 6

out of 10.

Tellingly, advertisers from all disciplines saw a significant

drop in understanding when talking about tools like maps,

mobile, video and image search. None of which are

new, and all should be considered the basics of search

marketing.

In light of all of this, it’s necessary that marketers re-

evaluate the way their brand uses search throughout

the purchase funnel and their own knowledge of search

marketing. For instance, today’s consumer is now so

familiar with the internet, that online advertising – including

search – has a role to play in driving offline as well as

online sales, dubbed the ROPO effect (Research Online,

Purchase Offline). In addition, while search is possibly the

greatest direct response channel ever, it builds brand and

generates awareness too.

Due to marketing’s nature, it’s impossible to offer you the

perfect formula for evaluating search integration because

it doesn’t exist; each brand is unique. As an industry we’re

still early in our understanding of search’s entire role in the

modern consumer path-to-purchase. Over the last few

years however, significant new evidence and new research

techniques have emerged, highlighted over the coming

pages.

Chapter summary

Throughout this report, advice and examples are shared,

with the aim of inspiring you to re-evaluate search’s role

in your own media mix, in turn future proofing your brand.

Whether you come from a traditional or digital team, this

report is meant as a brief insight to help you test, research

and judge your own Search for Integration.

5

WHY IS SEARCH INTEGRATION IMPORTANT?

99% of brands feel their businesses could better integrate search with their wider marketing mix

64.8%

5.6%

Fully

Partially

Not at all

Don’t know

28.7%

0.9%

All marketing activity has some impact on the consumer use of search. This is true whether you’re running an above-the-line brand campaign on radio, outdoor, online display or TV; a direct response campaign by email, direct mail or print; or a combination of all these things and more. Thanks to the internet’s incredible measurability, it’s possible to see

how offline media drives consumer activity online.

Search and other media

TV and online’s relationship is perhaps one of the most discussed, but by no means fully understood. An IAB & Thinkbox study titled ‘TV and Online: Better Together’ found that TV ads prompted 57% of participants to perform an online search. Furthermore 21% of respondents were prompted claim to have made an online purchase following exposure to a TV ad (IAB & Thinkbox 2008).

ttributing sales to different media has always been difficult. With search’s influential, diverse and

evolving role in the path-to-purchase, it’s more important than ever for brands to understand how it genuinely fits into the mix.

6


search activity is in itself a measure of advertising’s impact

for integration

For direct response advertisers web metrics provide very clear evidence of above-the-line media’s impact on response. Well over 60% of measurable response for a set of direct response advertisers came in via the web, despite most of them seeking to generate a telephone call to action, and 1/3 of this within ten minutes or so of an advertising spot, according to a follow up Thinkbox Study “TV Response: The New Rules”.

This ability to drive web response in turn impacts search activity. In the study ‘The Online Multiplier’, the Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB) concluded that radio adverts can boost “brand browsing” by an average of 52%, (brand browsing was defined as brand names included in search terms and in the browsing history URLs). Significant variances by brand and sector were pointed out, but the majority in the study saw a strong uplift with technology, travel and entertainment performing particularly well (RAB Online Multiplier 2009).

Moving to online marketing, a study by Specific Media found that online display advertising across eight categories and 60+ campaigns generated an average search activity uplift of 155% over a twelve month period (Specific Media and ComScore 2008). While Bryan Smith, founding partner of consultancy Optaumum, found that, “emails not only generated direct website visits through clicked links but also generated a further 15% indirectly through people who responded at a later date via natural or paid search” (WARC, October 2010).

Further evidence of advertising’s impact on search comes from an econometric study by Mindshare (2009). The study identified how banking sector above-the-line advertising was not just driving branded search, but also

generic category search terms.

Figure 2 Overall Increase in Number of Searches due to banking sector above the line advertising

Source: Mindshare 2011

Managing paid search budgets around other media

Response to above-the-line campaigns is not just about the very short term but can last a number of weeks following the advertising activity. In the below graph you can see an eight fold increase in paid search clicks in the first week after the TV campaign aired, which gradually deteriorates over a six

week period.

Figure 3 SEM Click Change after a TV Spend Spike

Source: Efficient Frontier 2010

It’s important for marketers to factor this into brand advertising by making sure paid search is set up to capture this spike in engagement. In practice this means the search team should get hold of above-the-line schedules and creatives, and identify relevant campaign keywords to ensure they are adequately covered, they should also make sure that search campaign budgets are flexed to capture the

additional response.

Extending brand engagement

Online metrics prove how other media can cause spikes in search traffic, clearly showing why it’s important for brands to align their paid and natural search presence. In this instance, search plays the vital role of capturing increased levels of interest in your brand or products. Brand communications prime the audience and search extends this by directing consumers to websites for a lengthier, more

in-depth engagement.

Chapter summary

Looking at and monitoring the impact on search from each medium is useful because it helps inform you for future campaigns when an increase in search traffic is likely to occur, how long it will last for and how impactful the advertising was. It will also offer evidence of the more successful elements from advertising in other media, setting a benchmark for future campaigns. However, this tells only

part of the story of search’s role in the marketing mix.

7

SEARCH ACTIVITY IS IN ITSELF A MEASURE OF ADVERTISING’S IMPACT

search activity is in itself a measure of advertising’s impact

29%

Inte

rnet

bank

ing

Ope

n/ap

ply

Ove

rdra

ft/ph

one

Cur

rent

acco

unts

Info

rmat

ion

Gen

eric

Deb

it/cr

edit

card

Inte

rnet

Bra

nds

7%10% 10% 10%11%

9% 9%6%

Overall increase in number of searches due tobanking sector above the line advertising

Figure 3 SEM Click Change after a TV Spend Spike

987654321

banking sector above the line advertising

0500

10001500200025003000350040004500

SE

MS

Clic

ks

Weeks elapsed from TV spending spike

Figure 4 - AIDA

nderstanding search’s role at each step on the path-to-purchase, and the way other media affects

search behaviour will help maximise integration

Figure 4 shows the standard AIDA funnel showing the stages consumers go through on the path to purchase, from awareness and interest, to desire and then an action (e.g. purchase).

8


Search is not just about lower funnel response

for integration

Interest

Desire

Action

Awareness

There is a general acceptance that search terms change

as a consumer progresses through the funnel, starting

with generic terms in the awareness stage, then gradually

refining and narrowing to include brand names and

products in the desire and action stages.

As is discussed below, this view may be too simplistic, and

it’s important to acknowledge that not all consumer paths

to purchase are so tidy.

Navigational search and brand terms

Navigational search refers to the use of search engines

as a tool to reach a specific, already known destination.

E.g. searching for ‘weather’ to reach the BBC weather site

or brand terms like ‘KitKat break and win’, ‘John Lewis’

and ‘Vauxhall Corsa’ to reach each respective brand’s

site. Colm Bracken, Group Search Manager at Microsoft

Advertising, states that, “navigational search - which

includes brand search - is growing faster than generic

searches.”

In the previous chapter we saw the way in which above-

the-line advertising can drive search activity, particularly

brand terms for navigational purposes, e.g. an outdoor

poster for Topshop’s latest clothing range encouraging

people to search for more information or to buy on the

store’s website. This suggests above-the-line advertising

can be used in conjunction with search to drive

consumers to the later stages in the path to purchase

faster.

Ciaran McConaghy, Group Head of Data Analytics

at Havas Media, points out that it may not be this

straightforward, “I don’t think it’s a case of search moving

higher up the standard “AIDA” model. How consumers

travel along the path-to-purchase has changed, becoming

more complex and non-linear. For example they may use

search to get to an advertiser’s website but read poor

reviews of a product and then use search to research

competitor products and compare prices.”

“Similarly, for some of our clients there is now a greater

overlap of both SEO and PPC, and brand and generic

keyterms. It’s no longer a simple case of generic terms

feeding brand conversions.”

The importance of generic search terms

Unfortunately, because brand terms are so often the “last

click” in an online path to purchase, they have sometimes

been viewed or credited with more importance than

earlier clicks on generic search terms. But this is perhaps

short-sighted, as Jonathan Beeston, Global Marketing

Director, Efficient Frontier testifies. “We are seeing a trend

for consumers to search for a number of different things

before they get to the final search that leads to a sale.

“For one retail client, we found that almost 10% of sales

that came from a search on its brand name originated

from a non-branded [generic] search term. Historically,

only the click that finally converts will get the credit for

the conversion – but there may have been five or six

interactions with the user before that final click,”

Beeston goes on to explain: “Brand advertising in other

media does drive branded search terms, but it’s important

to bear in mind the prior interactions too, which may be

generic, un-branded terms.”

Research on Nielsen’s UKOM panel, commissioned by

Google, confirms the degree to which shoppers are

switching between different search types. On average,

across several product categories within a three month

window prior to a purchase, 48% of shoppers who search

and buy use both branded and generic terms during their

journey.

9

SEARCH IS NOT JUST ABOUT LOWER FUNNEL RESPONSE

“How consumers travel along the path-to-purchase has changed, becoming more complex and non-linear… It’s no longer a simple case of generic terms feeding brand conversions”

Examples of generic and brand terms

• Generic: “washing machine reviews”, “Healthy fruit drinks”

• Brand: “Hotpoint Aquarius washer dryer”, “Nutrients in Innocent smoothies”

Search helps build brands

Although search is bought and planned on a cost per click

basis, there is evidence that the impressions alone have

a positive branding impact. Studies from Google where

matched sets of users were exposed to different versions

of search results pages across four categories in three

markets show how search impressions can drive branding

metrics such as awareness, purchase intent and brand

affinity.

Some 56% of the top 100 brands do recognise this,

allocating paid search budgets for awareness and

branding (IAB Search Barometer 2010). We will return to

this later in the report as we discuss how search works to

amplify the impact of other media.

Chapter summary

In reality, the way consumers use search varies wildly and

won’t always fit a perfectly predictable path. Search can

be used throughout the purchase funnel for awareness,

research and opinion forming before a consumer has

committed to a purchase. When considering search

integration in the wider mix, it’s important to remember

search’s role at all parts of the purchase funnel, and

the mixed use of brand and generic search terms at all

stages.

Figure 5 – Search can directly build brand

“Brand advertising in other media does drive branded search terms, but it’s important to bear in mind the prior interactions too, which may be generic, un-branded terms”

Source: 12 studies across different categories in the UK, France, Germany -

Enquiro, Ipsos & Google (2008).

10


Side Sponsored Top SponsoredControl

Brand Recall(do you remember it?)

+2.5x

24%

43%

60%


Purchase Intent(would you buy it?)

+1.14x

54%

58%

62%


Brand Affinity(do you like it?)

+1.18x

54%

58%

64%

SEARCH RESPONSE EXTENDS BEYOND ONLINE TO OFFLINE CHANNELS

Search response extends beyond online to offline channels

In 2008, a consumer study by consultancy Accenture

hinted at the prevalence of ROPO (research online,

purchase offline). It found that, in the US, 69% of

consumers research product features online, while 68%

compare prices online before shopping in a physical store

and 58% locate items online before going to a store to

purchase (Accenture 2008).

Originally reported in NMA magazine, Cadbury was one

of seven FMCG brands that used Yahoo!’s Consumer

Connect offering – a tool that fuses Yahoo! user data with

Nectar customer data. The study revealed that in the UK,

Cadbury generated “£3 of sales for every £1 spent on

digital activity” (Yahoo! in NMA 13 January 2011).

“40% of buyers have used a search engine through the research process, helping drive incremental offline sales”

hen considering search integration, it’s essential to factor in search’s ability to drive offline

sales, not just online.

11

for integration

A 2010 European study by GfK and Google echoes these

findings, stating that despite the growth of the internet,

offline sales remain critical. Across five sectors (clothing,

broadband, mobile, insurance and banking), 50% of

internet users have researched and compared products

online and 40% of offline buyers have conducted online

research prior to purchase. Finally, 40% of those buyers

have used a search engine through the research process,

helping drive incremental offline sales beyond generic

research (GfK and Google 2010).

To look at search in isolation for a specific brand, Vodafone

has found that for each online connection driven through

paid search, it influenced 1.75 connections in-store and a

1.9 percent increase in footfall (+27,000 new customers).

Each additional £1 spent on paid search influenced a

gross profit return of £4.26 in retail stores (Vodafone:

Impact of Search on In-Store Sales UK, January 2011).

As further evidence of search driving offline purchases

for a banking client, Mindshare found that search was

responsible for a significant amount of offline acquisition

(8%) as shown in the diagram below. While Liz Wood,

Online Marketing Manager for RAC, states that, “Search

can be a significant driver of calls into our contact centre,

so having a holistic view of this interaction is key to

optimising a customer’s journey. For RAC, a total of 80%

of calls that started from customers visiting the website

were instigated with a search query.”

Figure 6 – New business driven by search

Why ROPO is important for integrated campaigns

ROPO is important to consider during the planning

stages of an integrated campaign to make sure you then

attribute the correct ROI of each medium in your mix. This

is important for success measures, but also for future

planning. The reward is clear, with possible ROPO sales

in store that are over 30% higher than for consumers who

didn’t research online before purchase (GfK and Google

2010).

The real challenge with ROPO is attributing the

importance of search to a sale when the entire journey

can’t be tracked online. It’s harder to attribute the role

of search in an offline conversion than an online one for

understandable reasons. But it’s not impossible. “There

are various tools available to advertisers to enable them

to get a greater understanding of this interaction and

optimise the journey accordingly,” says Wood.

Chapter summary

As this chapter has shown, search shouldn’t only be

seen alongside above-the-line media as a tool to drive

consumers through a funnel to an online sale. Brands

should carefully weave an integrated marketing campaign

to drive consumers to a purchase either online or offline,

using search as a key facilitator.

Source: Mindshare

12


92%

Of search related conversions

occur Offline via phone

Of search related conversions

occur Online

8%

AMPLIFYING THE EFFECT OF THE MULTIMEDIA MIX

Amplifying the effect of the multimedia mix

To understand the media amplification phenomenon, let’s

start where it’s easiest to measure: online. Figure 7 (right)

shows the way in which the use of search and online

display advertising can create a net uplift in visitors to an

advertiser’s website greater than the sum of each part.

This study also found that the combination of search and

online display multiplied overall online sales.

Figure 7 – Net uplift in people visiting advertiser website

Source: Microsoft Advertising 2008

13

esearch shows search integration with other media can cause a multiplier effect, improving the

effectiveness of both (or more) media

for integration

Search only Display & SearchDisplay only

15x display, 2xsearch impact

31

23.8

46.9

In a further study by the Atlas Institute, the multiplier effect

is seen again. Figure 8 shows “that users exposed to

both search and display ads convert at a higher rate: an

average of 22 percent better than search alone and 400

percent better than display only” (Atlas Institute Emapping

2008).

Figure 8 – Net uplift in conversions

In 2010, a study by iProspect and comScore looked

to understand the brand lift generated by exposure to

different online media. Online display advertising, paid

search advertising and natural search results were

included. The study found that all assets generated

significant brand metric uplifts, with paid search being the

most impactful individual format.

Many elements of the iProspect study are useful, but most

useful for integration is the effect of the three media assets

in combination with each other for branding uplifts. For

example, the aggregate data for respondents’ likelihood

to purchase shows paid search, natural search and online

display advertising in combination created a combined

uplift of 13% (Real Branding Implications of Digital Media,

iProspect 2010).

Connecting offline media with online

Everything discussed so far is a useful foundation for

understanding search integration. However, rarely will a

brand use only two marketing channels. Campaigns are

almost always multimedia, e.g. search, online display, TV,

outdoor and print.

Unlike other forms of marketing, due to search’s extremely

complicated nature, it can be difficult to identify its true

impact on overall ROI – explaining why so often marketers

will fall back on easily identifiable data like traffic, sales

/ conversions, CPE, time on site and bounce rate (IAB

Search Barometer 2010). Despite its difficulty, it is possible

to track this using attribution modelling, cross media mix

research and econometric modelling.

Google has conducted a series of advanced cross media

optimisation studies (XMOS), working with a variety of

agencies and brands from different sectors. These have

looked at search’s role in the branding process within

the wider media mix of a campaign, proving that search

can act as a branding tool and is, in fact, extremely

complimentary to other branding channels.

Starcom and P&G discovered that for an Italian Gillette

campaign, search in combination with other traditional

media (including TV, radio and print) increased cost

efficiencies by up to 500% for certain media and KPIs.

Efficiency for this and other cross media optimisation

studies is defined as the relative effect per pound spent

– so although other media contributed to total campaign

effect by virtue of their broader reach, search’s contribution

was to generate a branding effect for a smaller, more

targeted group of users but at a lower relative cost.

Search in its own right was highly cost efficient, but when

search and TV were used together, it increased the cost

efficiency of TV by 7 - 14% depending on the brand KPI

(Gillette Future Champion, Google, 2010).

Such increases were also seen in a similar study for

Unilever and its Flora brand. Adding search increased the

efficiency in impacting brand values of TV (+3%), radio

(+10%) and print (+9%). These findings are supported

by a Ford campaign that also found by adding search,

increases in efficiency were seen impacting brand values

of TV (+11%), radio (+35%), print (+45%) and online

display (+50%).

A fourth study for HerbaBrilliance looked at search in

conjunction with TV, print and online display advertising

individually and combined. The study found that no matter

the media combination (online display + TV + print / online

display + print / TV + print) search doubled the additional

effect of respondents’ purchase consideration.

14Source: Atlas Institute Emapping 2008


Search Click Display & SearchDisplay Click

22%Lift Over

Search Alone

Co

nver

sio

ns

AMPLIFYING THE EFFECT OF THE MULTIMEDIA MIX

Figure 9 – Search doubles purchase consideration for all media combinations for HerbaBrilliance

The behavioural metrics back up the amplification effect

of combining above the line media and search. The chart

below shows Efficient Frontier metrics showing a client’s

figures before and after a TV campaign. As observed in

chapter 2, we can clearly see how TV is driving search

– at least branded search in this case. But what’s more

interesting is how not only are more people searching,

but also that clickthrough and conversion rates improve

significantly.

Figure 10 – Post vs Pre TV run Change in Key Search Metrics

Chapter summary

If there’s one argument for the importance of search

integration, it’s the amplification of media effectiveness.

As the above evidence shows, search used in conjunction

with other media not only works well, but can increase

the effectiveness by as much as double the amount, if not

more.

15

Source: MetrixLab and Google 2009


54%

Media effect (ex: TV)

Additional effect of “Search” (ex: TV + Search)

3 4

4 3

4 3

350%

300%

250%

200%

150%

100%

50%

0%

54%

CTR Conversion RateImpressions

184%154.7%

64%Brand

Non Brand

10.3%

320.2%

126.9%

0%

conometric modelling can be used to create a snapshot of your campaign showing the true value of search integration

“We have seen significant efficiencies, for many clients,

driven by re-allocation of budgets across products,

media (on and offline) and consumer journey.” says Colin

Schabort, business director at Mindshare. “Modelling has

proven that misattribution of sales can lead to under-

reporting of search, due to the halo onto other sales

channels. In some cases, this learning has facilitated a

complete change in client strategy, allowing us to buy to

higher CPAs further up the purchase funnel.”

Mindshare was able to understand which keyword

groups drove various metrics, from brand awareness,

consideration, footfall and more. Schabort is keen to point

out that results differ immensely on a client by client basis,

but can sometimes be marked. As the result of one study,

a client saw sales go up by 45% alongside an increased

search budget of 55%, while CPA reduced by 38% and

the halo effect improved by 26%.

16

Measuring search in the mix: econometric modelling

“Modelling has proven that mis-attribution of sales can

lead to under-reporting of search”


As will be evident from this document, if not your own

experience of search - there are many factors that

affect search queries related to your brand. Advertising

can play a significant part in driving this activity outside

of search and capturing intent within it. However, to

understand integration completely is to accept there

are far more factors than advertising that affect search.

Econometric modelling is one solution to genuinely

identify search’s role in an integrated mix.

for integration

seasonal variability, incentives and macro-economic

indicators.”

The Department of Health used econometric modelling

for their Smokefree campaign to learn that both online

and offline media were significantly responsible for driving

search queries; that search captures and converts

attention driven by marketing and other stimuli; and that

turning paid search off would negatively impact response

volumes. Critically, the study also showed that a re-

allocation of budget, including increasing paid search

advertising, could directly generate an 11% increase in

responses (Smokefree, Marketshare, Google 2009).

Mindshare has conducted a range of econometric studies

to understand search better. The below case study for

a banking client highlights the way in which brands can

explore integrated search in more detail than ever before.

Objective: a banking client of Mindshare’s wished to better

understand the synergies between search and their above-the-

line advertising.

Solution: the advertiser has used econometric modelling for a

number of years to assess the effectiveness of their marketing

investments. Econometric models of sales - built by Mindshare

- break down the drivers of new current account customers and

allow us to calculate the return on investment to each media

channel. For the first time Mindshare worked incorporated raw

query volume into the client’s sales models. The inclusion of this

data allowed:

• More accurate quantification of both search and ATL

advertising in driving new account applications

• A stronger basis for ongoing media resource allocation

Results:

• Offline media drives a c10% increase in relevant search

volume for client

• Search drives a very significant volume of the client’s business

outcome

1. Paid search is “directly” responsible for 13% of current

account applications

17

Using econometric models to specifically understand search’s role

Liz Wood, RAC Online Marketing Manager, is a firm

supporter of econometric modelling for search. She states:

“Reviewing past trends and econometric modelling has

enabled RAC to predict what impact and uplift brand

activity will have on both our natural and paid search

activity.” Econometric modelling can go even further than

this to focus specifically on search’s ability to amplify the

entire media mix.

For instance, an econometric study by Mercedes-Benz,

Marketshare and Google in 2008 discovered that search

queries and paid search double the effectiveness of

Mercedes-Benz’s media. The study took into consideration

a vast range of factors including “overall consistency, level

and deployment of marketing media spending, competitor

effects, branded search words, new car launches,

MEASURING SEARCH IN THE MIX: ECONOMETRIC MODELLING

Case study: Understanding the synergies between search and traditional above-the-line in driving new account applications for a banking client

2. Another 8% of current account applications are driven

through search and synergy with above the line media

• Search is the client’s most cost efficient media

• Search has a significant ROPO impact (Research online

Purchase offline)

3. 8% of applications driven by search occur offline

Source: Mindshare 2011

Client Above-the-Line advertisingPaid Search

Drives and additional 9% of clientBranded searches

Drives 14% increasein Paid Searchimpressions

Drives 2% of newaccount applications

Drives 6% of newaccount applications

Drives 4%increase in organic search impressions

Is responsible for 13%of new account

applications

Search is responsiblefor 21% of new

account applications

AtL is responsible for23% of new account

applications

The remaining 56% of new accounts are driven by influencing factors not quantified within themodel. These include but are not limited to: Seasonality, Price (rate), Word of Mouth, Underlying

consumer demand.

The client’s business is heavily driven by paidand natural search

The challenges of modelling search

There are a number of challenges when using econometric

modelling to investigate integrated search. Mindshare’s

Schabort explains, “Modelling search has unique

challenges, due to the complexity and richness of the

data sets. Before modelling commences it is important to

understand feasibility, in terms of which data sets are most

likely to yield meaningful results. There are also issues of

understanding and deciding what variables are impacted

by other media (and hence should be dependent variables)

and what variables are marketing drivers and have

impact on consumer actions elsewhere (and hence are

independent variables in econometric modelling).”

Media and research agencies have started creating their

own models and tools to address these challenges. Ciaran

McConaghy, Group Head of Data Analytics at Havas,

explains: “The starting point needs to be the tracking of

customers across as many touchpoints as possible. Within

Havas Digital we use our proprietary tool to track all digital

touchpoints as well as offline media spend and client

sales. We can model the relationship of TV spots on brand

search clicks for example and the subsequent changes to

client sales.”

Chapter summary

A combination of research and tests can be used to

understand search integration and its importance for

boosting marketing campaigns. Econometric modelling

in particular helps to bring everything together in an

overarching snapshot that can attribute the true value

of search in a complicated media mix. It isn’t without

its challenges however, particularly because this can be

an expensive and niche area of research expertise. The

best place to start would be to investigate the studies

highlighted in this report and then identify media and

research agencies with expertise in this area. more about

your brand, play, experiment and maybe car.

18

Econometric modelling takes into account all factors that could

affect your business. Some questions to ask yourself when

considering this model, particularly when evaluating search in an

integrated mix, include:

1. What marketing activity are we doing? For example Online

display, TV, radio, paid search, social media or outdoor

2. What are the regional variations in our activities?

3. How can each activity be assessed?

4. What analytics data do we have?

5. How can we match exposure to online marketing activities to

analytics based site activity?

6. What relative values do we place on things that occurred at

different stages of the consumer journey – ie are things that

happen at the start of the journey more important (as that

was how they heard about the brand in the first place) or

at the end of the journey (because that was the thing that

happened just before purchase and therefore must have been

a really important driver)

7. What is the relative importance / weight on the different

marketing activities ie how much is a PPC click worth vs

exposure to a display ad

8. How can we put all of this data together in a meaningful way

and reward different online marketing channels fairly so that

each is credited with the right amount of influence in the sale?

9. Have you considered changes in weather? For example sales

of BBQs or sledges can be driven by short term changes in

the weather.

10. What seasonal effects are there for your brand? In addition

to short term weather spikes, longer term seasonal changes

also have massive influence on sales.

11. Do the different days of the week have an effect?

12. What competitor activity was there at the time?

13. Have you factored in any store based price promotions or

other point of sale based activities?


Considerations for econometric modelling and search

MEASURING SEARCH’S ROLE IN THE MIX: SUMMARY OF METHODS

19

As a brand or agency, you do however have all of the data

and means available to you to judge search integration

for yourself. The IAB suggests that you use some or all of

the following techniques to create snapshots of data that

explain search’s role to all communication teams in your

business.

he previous sections have shown that search’s role in the marketing mix is hugely complex and unique to each brand and sector, with no one owning the complete answer to integration. As Mary Jeffries, client services director of aevolve, summarises, “if someone says

they’ve cracked it, they’ve either misunderstood the complexities, used magic, or they’re lying!”

Measuring search’s role in the mix: summary of methods

for integration

20

A medium’s impact on search

Role of search in online journey

Multimedia effect and Cross media effect (multiplier / amplification)

• Web Analytics programmes

• Google Insights for Search

• Microsoft Advertising Intelligence Tool (MAIT)

• Marketing mix modelling

• Panels of internet users by the likes of Nielsen and comScore

• Advertiser click path data from ad server / logs


• Cross media optimisation study

• Compare / correlate media activity and search response

• Econometric modelling of media and non-media drivers of search

• Data mining user click paths (across sites)

• Data mining ad exposures and user click paths of site visitors / converters

• Econometric modelling of media and non-media drivers of conversions, sales, brand KPIs

• Pre-post campaign branding survey with controlled exposure to search for portion of respondents

• Hard to unpick seasonality, promotional effects and other factors’ influence on search

• Can be expensive and resource intensive

• Tends to lack granularity

• Doesn’t take into account offline activity

• Observes touchpoints but does not quantify influence within a path

• Observes touchpoints but does not fully quantify influence within a path

• Can be expensive and resource intensive

• Tends to lack granularity

• Large campaigns required

• Expensive relative to media spend

• See immediate, real-time effect of campaigns on online activity

• Use search to judge the effect of other media

• Identify terms and keywords to use in other media

• Use to inform above-the-line

• Robust method• Investigate

response and brand effectiveness

• Understand the complete online consumer path to purchase

• Learn about the role of brand & generic search

• Granular exposure and click data

• Inform allocation of media budget

• Compare the effect of search on a variety of different media

• Look at each medium individually and in combination

• Analyse brand impact as well as response

• Understand the complete picture by looking at all media influencers, not just paid advertising

• Isolate efficiency of different media and combinations of media in driving branding effects in a multimedia campaign


Judging Method / tool Approach Challenges Benefits

21

MEASURING SEARCH’S ROLE IN THE MIX: SUMMARY OF METHODS

Judging Method / tool Approach Challenges Benefits

ROPO effect (research online, purchase offline)

• Fusing customer data – GfK, Yahoo! Consumer Connect


• Redeemable codes and vouchers only offered in certain media

• Surveys at point of offline purchase

• Unique tracking phone numbers

• Regional testing

• Online only product launch

• Match customer data from online databases to offline databases

• As above

• Offer a code or voucher only on one medium and then track its use offline

• Interview or recruit for interview in store

• Dynamically show different phone numbers per search campaign

• A/B experiments with test and control regions, measure difference in store sales

• Launch a product with only online advertising

• Difficult to link online consumers to offline activity

• As above

• Only takes into consideration the people that take up the offer

• Does not establish brand lift / advertising influence

• Interrupts customer• Does not establish

brand lift / advertising influence

• Need lots of spare phone numbers, which are not memorable

• Hard to execute• Requires intensive

analysis• Not suitable for

regionally skewed companies

• Hard to disentangle advertising impact from product and in store placement factors

• Understand the full, true purchase funnel, showing complete value of search and other online media

• Inform allocation of media budget

• As above

• Monitor the effectiveness of one medium at delivering a message and driving offline response

• Compelling data on level of online research prior to store

• Isolate differences in customer / basket value

• Attribute call centre sales leads that originated from online advertising

• Robust methodology• Measures lift caused

by advertising differences

• Establishes ROI

• Success down to online advertising

22

ContentsTV advertising and search 23

Radio advertising and search 24

Online display and search 25

Social media and search 26

Mobile advertising and search 27

Websites and search 28

Online PR and Search 29

High street retail and search 30

Future of search integration 31

Acknowledgements 33


23

RECIPES FOR INTEGRATION

• Optimise your website pages against terms that could

be associated with your TV creative – like actor’s names,

songs, iconography (purple balloon etc.) and slogans.

• Use demographic targeting on Yahoo! and Bing to reflect

the target audience of your TV campaign.

• Use geographical targeting on all search engines to

reflect any regional bias in your TV campaign.

Case study: milk&moreProvided by Tug • Objective: drive targeted traffic and registrations

via SEM to the milk&more website and support the TV advertising campaign with visibility and consistent messaging.

• Solution: integrated SEM activities to support the TV ad, including ad copy that reflected the offer, sub-related keywords around the soundtrack, the strap line and bids pushed for actual products shown in the ad. TV advert was optimised for the strapline and distributed to various video hubs and PPC was weighted for maximum visibility around key TV spots.

• Results: Tug compared the results from the time the TV ad was running to a similar month November. PPC spend was increased by 65% during this period to maximise visibility. During the time the TV ad was running, PPC search volume increased by 103%, PPC traffic by 120% and CPA reduced by 28%. Brand conversions increased by 260% and non-brand by 70%, whilst CPC dropped by 4%. Organic non-brand traffic grew by 142% and brand by 204% showing a significant uplift in all SEM metrics for milk&more when running

search and TV together.

Useful Links

• IAB & Thinkbox: TV and Online, Better Together -

http://bit.ly/piRctd

TV advertising and search

TV and search are the perfect marketing combination

By Mike Teasdale, Harvest Digital

TV advertising creates awareness of products amongst

a mass audience. Then, when people are interested,

they turn to search to find out more. For best results, it is

important that TV and search are carefully co-ordinated.

Published research emphasises this point. You can expect

overall search volumes to increase for both brand and

generic search terms following exposure to TV ads, and

you can expect the uplift to affect both paid and organic

search.

Facts and tips

• Efficient Frontier estimates that searches on brand

terms will typically see a 60 – 80% increase during a

TV campaign, whilst generic searches will increase in a

range of 40 – 60% (Efficient Frontier 2011).

• Mindshare’s econometric modelling for First Direct

indicates that some 8% of new account openings are

driven by a combination of TV and search (First Direct,

Google, Mindshare 2010).

• Consider changing the messaging on your search ads

to reflect the call to action of your TV slots (“quote me

happy” by Aviva was a great example).

• Synchronise your paid search with TV bursts by targeting

your campaign to particular days or times of day.

Uplift on search volumes from TV exposures

Uplift on search volumes from TV exposures

7

050000

100000150000

450000

400000

350000

300000

250000

200000

500000$160,000

$140,000

$120,000

$100,000

$80,000

$60,000

$40,000

$20,000

$0

Bra

nd Im

pre

ssio

ns

TV

Sp

end

Week1

Week2

Week3

Week4

Week5

Week6

Week7

Week8

TV Spend Brand Impressions


Case study: MI5

Some radio campaigns encourage users to search for

a term to find out more. In January 2011, MI5 launched

a recruitment radio campaign with the call-to-action of

‘search ‘MI5 Intelligence Officer’. Here paid and natural

search were supported well with top positions achieved.

Case study: Act on Co2 Campaign

Listeners will remember search call-to-actions long after a

campaign has finished. The government ran a campaign

encouraging users to search on ‘Act on Co2’ to find out

more information. Google Insights for Search shows, even

after the campaign had ended there was search demand.

Google Insights for Search (Keyword: ‘Act on Co2’)

Useful Links

• RAB: The Online Multiplier - http://bit.ly/oxV5ME

• IAB and RAB: Using Radio with Online -

http://bit.ly/oQmeYe

24

Radio advertising and search

Driving search demand through radio advertising

By Stuart Bryce, Telefónica UK (O2)


More people are now listening to radio whilst surfing the

internet, making radio and search advertising the perfect

companions. As competition on high volume terms

intensifies, studies have shown that radio advertising can

help generate demand.

Facts and tips • Research by Kantar Media showed that radio is the third

most consumed media, with a 23% consumption share during the week, and just under 20% at the weekend (Kantar Media 2009).

• A study by the Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB) found that radio can uplift online brand browsing - search term and URL data - by an average of 52% (RAB Online

Multiplier 2009).

• The study added that radio advertising can trigger immediate browsing demand.

• To ensure a radio ad drives effective online brand browsing, it is important to ensure that the ad is focused on delivering a simple message with clarity.

• Identifying the key themes and words of your radio ad and building your web pages around these will aid SEO and paid search quality scores (lowering costs). Ensuring key words are hyper-linked to your site, within your press

releases will also aid SEO.

35%

50%

45%

40%

30%

25%

20%

15%

10%

5%

0%

54%

TV Internet Radio Newspapers Magazine

Weekday

Saturday

Sunday

Media consumption by media type.

Weekday vs. Saturday vs. Sunday

Source: Kantar Media Internet Monitor (Nov 2009)

Campaign Push

Interest over time

25


Advertisers tend to separate their digital advertising - they

think of search advertising for performance marketing and

turn to display for branding. But the reality is that search

advertising coupled with display advertising yields better

results than when used independently. It does this in three

ways: display drives search activity; display drives branded

keyword searches; lessons from search can be applied to

optimise and retarget display campaigns.

Facts and tips

1. When exposed to both paid search and display ads,

consumers were nearly twice as likely to make an online

purchase, which is greater than the sum of each ad

tactic’s individual effects (Comscore, Sept 2009)

2. Search can also be viewed as another response

metric for display campaigns because nearly as many

Internet users respond to online display advertising by

performing a search on a search engine (27%) as those

who simply click on the ad itself (31%) (Forrester for

iProspect inc, 2009).

3. Don’t rely on spread sheets for integration - A study

by Efficient Frontier and Forrester (Jan 2011) shows

marketers struggle to measure combined search

and display results. Respondents agreed a single ad

management platform would create efficiencies and

improve results.

4. Utilise search and site retargeting for quick wins in

display. Retargeting with display increases conversion

rates for paid search by 81% (Efficient Frontier and

Forrester, Jan 2011).

5. Innovations in search advertising such as Yahoo! Rich

Ads in Search mean search can now be used like

display for brand advertising.

Case study: Telefónica UK (O2) • Objective: to assess the display impact on branded

searches for O2 campaigns.• Strategy: O2 ran a Homepage Takeover on Yahoo! on

which, together with Yahoo! search data, it was possible to track the performance of branded and specific keywords.

• Results: 219% increase in searches from users who saw the display ad than those who didn’t (branded keywords and specific keywords associated with the campaign). Branded keyword searches are further down the purchase

funnel and deliver increased ROI.

Case study: WeightWatchers • Objective: bring efficiencies to WeightWatchers’ online

campaigns.• Strategy: agency Downstream Marketing leveraged

Efficient Frontier as a demand side platform for WeightWatchers display ads and search. Using performance display strategy based on portfolio approach by prioritising media budgets to more targeted media tactics via dynamic bidding and behavioural targeting technologies. They overlaid client search and site data for retargeting. This added scale and relevant reach by extending broader skewing towards core demographics and allowed for retargeting on the wider reaching exchanges.

• Results: the campaign exceeded WeightWatchers’ online target CPA by 22% and improved the incumbent agency’s CPA results by 71%.

Useful Links • Forrester Consulting Study: illuminates the challenges

marketers face in managing search and display advertising campaigns together - http://bit.ly/oKXIO2

Online display and searchThe power of online mediums combine for acquisition, branding and awareness

By Simon Turner, Yahoo! Search, &

Merinda Peppard, Efficient Frontier

54%

ViewersNon viewers

219% Increase in searches

Sea

rche

s p

er m

illio

n p

eop

le

64%

searchesper million

26


Search is often the channel people turn to when seeking out this ‘must see site’ they’ve been told about. If social is sometimes the catalyst to a successful reaction, search is

sometimes the fuel.

Facts and tips 1. Search is often the beginning of all social media

research. Want to find out what’s been said about a brand or who the influencers are? Search.

2. Paid search can be used to seed initial interest in a social media campaign, directing traffic quickly and precisely.

3. Natural search is an ideal way to feed awareness and attention to the long-tail of user generated content – providing the search engines can access that content.

4. The business case for social media projects can often be assisted by illustrating how the campaign will assist search.

5. Best practise is to consider the difference between a press release designed for social media and one designed for an SEO boost.

6. Search can be used to try and piggy back on a competitor’s social success and search dominance can be used to prevent that from happening to your brand.

7. In 2009, 8% of brands in Econsultancy’s Social Media and PR survey had awarded their work to SEO agencies. That figure had risen to 14% in 2010

(Econsultancy 2009 – 2010).

Case study: The Body Shop

• Objective: use “Nature’s Way to Beautiful” as a hook for a new website launch. The Body Shop wanted to launch their new global website, reenergise customer awareness and promote new ranges.

• Strategy: influencer study and blogger outreach with multi-channel in mind. The solution was to use search techniques to identify those bloggers with influence and attention and then social techniques to reach out to those individuals.

• Results: more than 70,000 full page reads, social outreach, blog, mainstream and offline coverage of launch. By being valuable, open and honest with their community The Body Shop was able to positively

engage with online trend setters.

Case study: British Red Cross • Objective: support British Red Cross Refugee Week

and cut through compassion fatigue.• Strategy: the Red Recruits; a youth engagement

programme.• Results: top positions on Google, 76% of visitors to

the site during the campaign were new, 150 blogs in coverage and 20,000 video impressions. With assistance from actor Dougray Scott, the Refugee Week campaign created unique and compelling content, reached out and engaged new and established audiences and integrated best practise social media with rock solid search

understanding.

Useful Links • IAB Search & Social Media Report: - http://bit.ly/mTUuhQ

• State of Social, 2010, report: - http://scr.bi/sstate

Social media and searchSocial and search are happy bed fellows, closely

related and ideally placed to help one another

By Chris Lewis, LBi

“Fewer than 40% of brands have enough information about the effects of social media on search. While fewer than 35% have enough information on social search.”Source: IAB Search Barometer 2010

27


UK smartphone penetration has doubled in the past

two years and is now over 42% of all devices and

growing (comScore 2011). Consumers either use apps

to consume media or the mobile search box to satisfy

intent. Mobile search volume can be directly influenced

by the display advertising that exists in games and other

applications.

Facts and tips 1. Test your website on all top smartphones to ensure your

customers are getting an optimised view of your brand and/ or services. Some 61% of consumers who visit a non-optimised site are unlikely to return.

2. Make sure you “opt out” your web search campaigns from mobile search results. Once you are satisfied with your mobile optimised site, set up a specific specialised mobile search campaign.

3. The average query on Mobile Search is 15 characters long, but takes roughly 30 key presses and approximately 40 seconds to enter.

4. Fewer keywords are used when searching, this throws up the challenge of trying to determine what content a user is looking for based on less data than that of a

traditional desktop user.

5. Search engines are now offering up predictive phrase/

query results to speed up and simplify mobile search

behaviours.

6. Think location as a key driver to the differences and

assume your audience are short of time – be punchy!

7. Over 50% of mobile searches have a local intent, 77% contact a business, 44% make a purchase either online or directly in a store.

8. Remember to use mobile search for “click-to-call” as

well as mobile internet links.

9. 79% of Google’s top advertisers do not have mobile

optimised sites. It’s not too late to be early!

Mobile advertising and searchMobile display advertising has a direct correlation to your mobile search campaignsBy Carl Uminski, Somo

Case study: Mobile search and TV working better together • Objective: To show the effect of TV on mobile search for one of Somo’s clients

• Solution: TV & Mobile search ran parallel across a 2 month period

• Results: Daily search impression for brand terms increased 22% Overall mobile search campaign CPA’s decreased by 37%

Mobile search visitors increased throughout the duration of the campaign

Useful Links

• www.iabuk.net/mobile• http://googlemobile.blogspot.com• http://www.gomonews.com/category/ mobile-search/

Websites Visited via Smartphone

77%54%

65%

46%

43%

38%

26%

25%

24%

24%

23%

18%

17%

15%

14%

Search engine websites

Social Networking websites

Retail websites

Video sharing websites

General consumer websites

Brand or manufacturer websites

Health information websites

Finance-related websites

Travel-related websites

Coupon websites

Full-length TV programming websites

Magazine websites

Other websites

Review websites, blogs or msg boards

Source: The Mobile Movement Study, Google

Search is the most visited website

28


Integrate search and search engine optimisation (SEO) into the beginning of the website project to avoid all the hard work needing to be changed later on. Good understanding of technical search impacts everything, from the content management system (CMS) to the CSS and from the user

experience to how user generated content (UGC) is handled.

Facts and tips 1. Sites should always be designed for the user first and

search bots second. 2. Content management systems become a terrible burden if

they do not support the latest search engine options, such as new tags, headers and feeds.

3. URLs should be short and easy to remember. Sessions should be avoided on any page you wish to include in search.

4. Google’s proposed solution to crawling interactive content like AJAX is still a proposal. Currently search engines cope poorly with AJAX and Flash.

5. Keyword laden content is a nightmare from the past but search engines do need text clues, internal and external,

as to what the page is about.

6. It is often the case that best practise accessibility is

closely aligned with best practise technical search.

7. Speed is important in search. Quicker websites are more desirable. In addition, the speed at which content can be published is becoming more of a focus.

Case study: Kuoni

• Objective: 30% increase in first tier generic terms (the

most important terms to Kuoni).

• Solution: quality content, optimised technical

architecture and ethical link campaign. Kuoni took

an innovative and ethical approach to integrating site

development with search. In addition to optimising their

main site, they ensured search was a core part of the

development of i-travel.kuoni.co.uk, integrating video,

social and search together.

• Results: 44:1 incremental ROI, 104% increase in traffic

and 70% increase in first tier generic terms.

Case study: Etihad Airways • Objective: integrate SEO into the new site build project

whilst improving the performance of the existing site.

• Solution: a three phase approach covering consultancy, quick-wins and strategy development. With the site about to undergo a significant redevelopment, it was critical that the search consultants worked closely with the project management team to ensure that SEO recommendations could be integrated into the key stages of the project smoothly. In parallel, the team completed a review of the existing site and identified a number of opportunities to update the relevance of the

content.

• Results: the results: changes generated a 300% increase in non-branded search traffic and delivered a corresponding increase in month-on-month in search

revenue.

Useful Links

• Google’s own SEO Guide: - http://bit.ly/iabgoogle

• Search Engine Land: http://searchengineland.com

Websites and searchPlanning early with websites helps integration with search

By Andrew Girdwood, Bigmouthmedia

Jan Feb Mar Apr May June

Traffic from non-branded organic terms

Per

cent

age

Incr

ease

50

40

30

20

10

Traffic increase

Look to non-branded organic search terms as good indicator

29


PR involves weaving hooks and angles into great stories and great stories get shared online by influential people. Associate your brand with highly searched key phrases and consumers will find your content above competitors.

Facts and tips 1. Creating clever stories and hooks is the best way to

motivate influencers and the public to share your brand messaging.

2. Creative storytelling can tap into consumer passions and encourage sharing across searchable social networks like Twitter – brand mentions by consumers in Twitter appear high in search engine results pages.

3. Ensuring you have long term on-going conversations with influencers over the course of months or years creates a substantial estate of backlinks containing brand messaging rather than one off and unrelated posts.

4. Authority, authority, authority - backlinks from high Page Ranked influencers increases the SEO of your brand over and above low quality news sites.

5. Bloggers want tailored stories rather than a generic press release wired and emailed to all.

6. The advent of Google’s Panda algorithm means it is even more important to have quality backlinks and content, low quality content is actively being pushed out of the engines. Strong relationships with online influencers mean they are more likely to pass on your brand messages and key phrases.

7. Social search is now emerging as one of the fastest growing personalised search methods - Bing offers personalised results based on the opinions of friends on Facebook and Google+ has been created because according to Google: “People consult their friends on decisions. It’s a very easy way to make search results more relevant.”

Case study: Sony Twilight Football • Objective: extend the lifetime of one story to generate

huge amounts of valuable backlinks.

• Solution: Immediate Future formed media partnerships with online influencers to promote a one day global football event designed to show off the low-light functionality of the Sony Cybershot. Bloggers documented this unique event over 10 months. They generated rich, positive sentiment content that extended the 24 hour event.

• Results: in the week prior to the event, searches for Twilight Football rose by 158%. Searches for “Cybershot” increased by 385% across the campaign. Bloggers shared images via their Twilight Football communities on Facebook, Twitter and Flickr. In total the Sony Twilight Football campaign delivered an ROI of €12.5 thanks to our partnerships and the rich content it produced.

Case study: bmibaby • Objective: to standout

in a hugely competitive search arena.

• Solution: bmibaby wanted to appear high in the search results for ‘value for money’ and travel. Influencer engagement formed the heart of the campaign, but high authority travel influencers are savvy and understand their importance to travel companies. Immediate Future’s approach was to form long term and reciprocal relationships and use bmibaby’s Twitter account. Real-time review trips were organised for our influencers through the use of Twitter. All this blog and Twitter content was highly searchable and packed with key phrases like ‘budget travel’ and ‘value for money.’

• Results: In total, the targeted relationship-building activity generated more than 700 pieces of rich content and mentions, 100% of this coverage was positive or neutral in tone.

Online PR and SearchCreative PR stories make content shareable and searchable Immediate FutureBy Katy Howell, immediate future

30


It is commonly felt that online search activity drives

people into stores; however it remains a troublesome

theory to prove. The relationship between the two

behaviours seems rational, yet brand owners will often

underestimate the value of search due to the lack of

reliable technology to track this interaction. In response

to this we are seeing developments in mobile, location

and social technology which are helping to close the

gap between search and in store behaviour. As well as

panels that fuse online and offline customer data (such as

Yahoo! Consumer Connect and GfK).

Facts and tips

1. Integrate online and store sales targets to reduce the

barriers of running promotions which drive people in

store or online.

2. Invest in mobile search. Jupiter Research estimates

most consumer products companies spend less than

1% of their total advertising budget on mobile.

3. Use location based technology to communicate

to your customer when they are on the move with

location specific advertising or promotions via search

through their mobile devices.

4. As search goes mobile, retailers will have to make

product available from anywhere to anywhere by

integrating with social platforms.

5. As consumers increasingly use their mobiles to

compare prices or search for out of stock products

whilst in store, retailers need to effectively compete

with live stock information across all channels to

secure the sale

Case study: Adidas

• Objective: to find new ways to drive customers to stores.

• Strategy: Google Mobile’s ‘offer ads’ enable advertisers to place coupon offers, redeemable in to store into their sponsored listings on Google.com.

• Solution: Adidas offered consumers 15% off purchases of $75 or more. Interested users could store the offer either via email or SMS. They also ensured a fully integrated approach through stating a phone number and a map of their local Adidas store, so that the customer had all the necessary information to purchase in store. During the trial Adidas saw a 28% higher click-through rate than past mobile advertising, and they saw that the mobile Offers Ads campaign doubled in-store coupon redemption and increased the average in store order value. All redemptions were fully trackable back to the mobile Offer Ads.

Useful Links

• Google mobile blog: “Adidas boosts in-store sales with Mobile Offer Ads” http://bit.ly/k4Ov3j

High street retail and searchHow search can help to drive footfall into

high street stores

By Ross Duncan, Trade Doubler Search

31

Although 15 years old, search remains today in its infancy: it is bound to evolve and become even more pivotal in our lives as consumers and marketers. Search evolution has accelerated in the last few years, and is expected to further increase its pace with some game changers like mainstream social search offerings and new devices like smartphones or connected TV. Brands are yet to evolve how they truly tackle this discipline.

Traditionally search was topical, with large sets of blue links offered as fulfilment of an intent voiced through a handful of keywords. The evolution of consumer access to new devices and services has led to the creation of new information layers, such as social and location based services. People are more connected and count on their social networks to keep in touch, find information, and make decisions. At the same time, information on the world around us is increasingly digitised in a way to provide context that enhances our understanding and experiences. Think about augmented reality for instance. This enriched consumer ecosystem is favourable to greater marketing integration, on and offline.

Search has become more than the gateway to the web. Of course it retains its navigational usefulness and marketers should never underestimate the role of search in capturing traffic generated from other media, but search is now a lot more: informational, transactional and experiential. Consumers are coming to search engines to accomplish tasks. They do not only want a link to a weather forecast, but to organise a weekend. Understanding the true intent forces us all to put the consumer back in the centre of the strategy and to de-silo the information to offer a more cohesive and unified experience across our marketing activities.

As such, search cannot be restricted to the final step in the conversion funnel, the “last click”. As search engines evolve to address these new consumer needs, the channel embraces greater responsibilities for brands. Many marketers agree that traditional decision-making funnel AIDA (Attention/Interest/Desire/Action) must be

retired in favour of a more accurate model: consideration, evaluation, purchase and advocacy. Search already forms the backbone of this journey.

Increasingly, social network data is being layered into the search experience, improving the personalisation of the results for greater relevancy. Search engines are increasingly integrating social networks with search results, for example Bing and Facebook‘s recent convergence hints at a stronger impact of search marketing in the advocacy stage.

Secondly, the transactional power of search. Both paid and natural have built their credentials on this attribute. Yet with the surge of smartphones to consume online content, the role of search to help consumers evaluate in store and purchase will be further strengthened. Not to mention that search engines could evolve into true ecommerce platforms to fulfil the actual intent.

To boot, further innovations will establish search as a pillar of the consideration stage. Today, 50% of UK computers are defaulted to a search engine as their homepage. When a consumer fires up a browser, they may not have a clear intent in mind. The user may be after inspiration and serendipity– similar to watching TV sets and channel-hopping without a specific programme in mind. For instance, search engines are rolling out rich ads in search which integrate expandable video. They enable marketers to relay visually consistent messages across more channels, hence further maximising the multiplier effect of multi-media strategies using search as a complement to other media such as display, TV and outdoor.

Ultimately though, the future of search integration is to evolve from being a media complement to a more central role, as is already the case for consumers. Search can contribute not simply to visual uniformity, but also to truly immersive brand stories with different “entry points” across devices, playing a definite role in the narrative. In that context, search has to become in itself a layered experience with many opportunities to engage and drive brand

engagement.

Future of search integration: placing the consumer back in the centre of the strategy by David Pann, General Manager - Search Network, Microsoft

32


Microsoft Advert to go

here

Acknowledgements

33

About the Search Council

The IAB Search Council is the only search committee in

the UK with senior representation from the top search

engines, Bing, Google and Yahoo!, a panel of leading

search agencies and a selection of the UK’s biggest

advertisers.

The Search Council’s mission is to inspire and educate

marketers and agencies on search marketing through

research, best practice and education.

IAB Search Help Centre: www.iabuk.net/search

Published: July 2011

Thank you to our sponsors Microsoft Advertising

and everyone that contributed time and content to

help shape this report.

We couldn’t have done it without you! In particular,

we’d like to thank…

The contributors

Mark Riseley, Group Product Marketing Manager, Google Colin Schabort, Business Director, Mindshare

Cedric Chambaz, EMEA Marketing Lead, Microsoft Advertising Colm Bracken, Group Search Manager, Microsoft

Chris Lewis, Group Account Director, LBi

Simon Morgan, Senior Industry Head, Google Merinda Peppard, Global Marketing Manager, Efficient Frontier

Nick Beck, Managing Director, Tug

Simon Turner, Search Business Strategy, Yahoo!

Paola Lopez, Senior Digital Marketing Manager, COI

Stuart Bryce, Search Engine Marketing Manager, Telefónica UK (O2)

Mike Teasdale, Planning Director, Harvest Digital

Katy Howell, Managing Director, immediate future

Andrew Girdwood, Media Innovations Director, Bigmouthmedia

Ross Duncan, Group Client Strategy Director, Tradedoubler

Gareth Owen, Head of SEO, Steak Media

Carl Uminski, Founder and COO, Somo

Ciaran McConaghy, Group Head of Data Analytics, Havas Media

Liz Wood, Online Marketing Manager, RAC

Mary Jeffries, Client Services Director, aevolve

IAB

Jack Wallington, Head of Industry Programmes, IAB Guy Phillipson, CEO

Harriet Clarke, Senior Communications Executive Chris Probert, Project Manager

Tim Elkington, Director of Research and Strategy

Design & Artwork by evolve

www.evolve-ddm.co.uk

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the vital ingredient in every tasty campaign - IAB UK...marketing mix (IAB Search Barometer 2010). lmost 90% of the active UK internet population - 35.5 million people - regularly