Paid Search Management: Campaign Organization, Part 1
By Jeremy Hull
I love RTS (real-time strategy) video games. Collecting resources and building an effective base of operations in games like “Starcraft” fulfils some sort of obsessive-compulsive need for organization in me.

One of the most fun challenges is planning out my base — figuring out the most effective layout that makes the most of each building, while leaving room to scale without losing effectiveness. Yeah, I’m a nerd.

And being a nerd, I can’t help but draw a parallel between RTS games and paid search campaigns. Read the full article in Search Engine Watch.

Paid Search Management, Campaign Organization, Part 2
By Jeremy Hull
In part one, we discussed strategies for dividing paid search keywords into campaigns based on budgeting considerations. Now we’ll look at Google’s targeting features.

Google AdWords offers a multitude of targeting options that savvy advertisers should take full advantage of. And guess what — all of these features are set at the campaign level! Read the full article in Search Engine Watch.

Paid Search Management, Campaign Organization, Part 3
By Jeremy Hull
Welcome to the final part of an increasing nerdy look at paid search campaign organization. In parts one and two we covered budgeting and targeting considerations for optimal campaign set-up, focusing primarily on Google AdWords.

Now we’ll take an in-depth look at two special considerations to keep in mind in order to get the most out of the campaigns in your Microsoft adCenter account. Read the full article in Search Engine Watch.

Let’s clarify, I am not Don Draper. But if I was, I would be on my 3^rd bourbon, 6^th cigarette and 100^th good idea. Can performance marketing be cool? Why is it that most performance marketers get pigeon holed into a specific type of strategy? Heck, it’s understood that we will grow your search programs. There is no question we will knock the pants off last month’s comparison shopping revenue totals. Yes, we expect to see growth in your dynamic remessaging program this holiday due to results in customer formation.

This being said, why do our branding/creative counterparts get to partake in a more liberal metric orientation? As a performance marketer, we have the unique ability to quantify and qualify brand experience. Why don’t we get any brand love? There are a few barriers to entry, although slowly but surely… more performance marketers are making the brand case.

1. Direct Response vs. Direct Opportunity
   Hey, we hit the ceiling in brand search. We can’t find any room to grow our CSE program and our email strategy is functioning at the highest open rate in the last few years. Where can we scale the program? Your DR programs feed off solid brand strategy. Look for direct opportunity, which I consider to be anything outside of our comfort zone. In a stagnant economy, partners tend to be on the flexible side. Do we have the ability to back into a CPC? Will they guarantee impression volume based on conversion metrics? Is rev share out of the question?
2. Appropriate Expectations
   “You crashed and burned Mav” – Believe me selling a branding buy like a performance placement doesn’t click. Most advertisers have separate P&L for ecommerce and brand initiative. This typically means that you are also talking to two separate parties, which then means two different marketing speaks. Work with your branding counterparts on stylization. Create a wow factor with supporting performance metrics (i.e. reach and frequency + realistic demand, latency estimates, conversion results and interaction to revenue goals). Make sure that your goals are quantifiably “liberal”.
3. Management Comfort
   We are crushing their numbers. Why throw a wrench in what we know best? These strategies will not take the place of your foundation. Go ahead and keep Google’s lights on, but also think about incremental opportunity. What branding placements have intrigued you? What type of metric do these partners focus on during RFP? What branding worked in the past and what type of metrics where reported? How can you apply the same metrics plus your standard performance outlook (i.e. conversion, AOV, demand and revenue per impression)?
4. Piece of the Pie
   Marketers, particularly agencies, love to share budget. Psych! This is hard point to grasp, but performance and branding agency cross-over can be efficient. Learn from each other. Consolidated strategy tends to optimize consumer interaction, thus increasing the likelihood of program success. In the end, it helps to scale business for the client and their partners.

Don Draper, I dedicate the above to you. Let me know if you have any questions.

• Make sure to allocate appropriate budgets and include promotional messaging on key shopping days like Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Green Monday
• Incorporate the spirit of the holidays in all marketing channels, including the Web site
• Create unique landing pages for Holiday Gift Guides and Specials
• Test marketing messaging and offers to see which resonate best with your audience
• Be relevant to your consumers and personalize when possible

In the world of online, luxury brands often get a reputation as late adopters. Here goes the stereotype: They were cautious to launch ecommerce websites. Then, they were cautious to market them and let everyone know the site exists. However, with every stereotype, there are exceptions.

What intrigues me most about luxury brands is how brands have longevity at such an elite status. Most brands have been around for several decades if not longer. They have evolved with changes in media and survived tough economic times. All of this tells me that they must be doing something right.

How these brands approach their brand equity and image is applicable on many levels….which brings me to my personal variation on Robert Fulghum’s All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten:

All I Really Need to Know I Learned Marketing Luxury:

1. Be True to Yourself. Luxury marketers are the best at staying true to their brand. They are very cautious in their marketing strategy to ensure brand image.
2. Respect Your Friends. Luxury buyers are loyal. As brands are expanding into new channels, they are very conscientious of their customer base. They respect their friends (read: customers) by developing “insider” groups and lists to keep the most loyal “in the know.”
3. It’s About Who You Know. We’ve all heard this one before, and it’s no different with prestigious brands that revel when a celebrity name-drops their brand. They take the buzz and make it work for them in their marketing strategies.
4. “Don’t Be Evil” says Google. Luxury brands fight evil everyday by policing their brands to maintain their quality online through trademark infringements and gray marketers.
5. Enjoy Quality, Not Quantity. Marketing strategies for prestigious brands involve quality placements for quality products.
6. Balance Is Key. Luxury brands continue to implement strategy that includes a cross- channel, diverse media mix. They understand the need to reach consumers at all steps of the buying process.

Don’t get me wrong, I love paid search. It’s my specialty. It’s logical, predictable, and organized, which appeals to my OCD nature. Social media and mobile may be the next “big things,” but from my vantage point, they’re still very nebulous and unorganized. Give me a basic paid search campaign any day, and I’ll sculpt it into something that will make you some money.

That being said, I can’t help but feel paid search as a whole is getting a little stale. The past several years have seen lots of new ideas and innovations—improved targeting, more control, the capability for real-time changes—the list is actually kind of long. However, recently it seems like every time I hear about a new paid search feature from any of the major engines I get a strange feeling of déjà vu.

Take Yahoo’s recent inclusion of favicons in paid search ads. For those that don’t know, favicons are the snazzy little icons that appear in your address bar next to the http when you visit a website. Taking your site’s favicon and putting it next to the display URL really makes your paid search ad stand out on the page, and helps reinforce your brand:

Neiman Marcus Search Ad

This is a great idea for improving paid search—just like it was when Google tested the exact same thing six months ago.

As another example, take a look at the brand new ad format Google is current beta testing, “Ads Sitelinks.” This feature allows you to add four quicklinks below your paid search ad to let users navigate deeper into the site with a single click:

Ebay.com Search Ad

This is a fantastic idea for segmenting traffic and increasing conversion rate by taking a searcher whose query was very generic and allowing them to choose what portion of your site they’re most interested in. But I can’t help thinking it’s somewhat familiar….where could I have seen something like that before….a Yahoo SSP listing, perhaps?

Ebay.com Sitelinks in the Google SERPs

Yes, you saw it here first. Google is now officially stealing ideas from Yahoo. Sure, both Google and Yahoo offer quicklinks in their natural listings, but until now, Yahoo was the only one to offer them in a CPC ad format. A good idea is a good idea, but I get a little worried when Google’s exciting new feature is something Yahoo has been offering for the past two years.

Yahoo unveils paid search Geo-targeting…..which Google has been doing for years. Microsoft adCenter releases a program that allows you to download campaigns and upload changes from your desktop….just like AdWords. Microsoft’s new Bing features “search within search”….which Google tested last year (granted, Microsoft’s version is much better than Google’s).

I’m not complaining about each engine’s learning from its competitors and “borrowing” ideas that work. I just can’t help but wonder where the new ideas are. What’s the next big thing for paid search? In the past six months I’ve seen massive improvements in content networks, media networks that can target to hit any metric, and social media finally start to come of age. Paid search had a head start on all of these programs, but does that mean its feature set has already peaked?

Interactive marketing is projected to encompass 21% of all marketing spend by 2014….but by then, what percentage of that spend will be for paid search?

Maybe I should get busy learning how to run a social media campaign.

My personal feeling is that it has lost shelf space to things like ‘social marketing,’ which are not nearly as immediate and are much more expensive. So how do we approach local search?

1. Get a comprehensive feed for your brand listing all properties that includes the following information:
   • Physical Address
   • Phone Number
   • Official Property Name
   • Property Page URL
   • Property ID
   • Amenities (if available)
   • Rate Per Night (if available)
2. Submit to your feed to the engines at least once a week, and definitely submit it immediately if there are major changes in the property list. Also be sure to contact your engine rep to see if there is any way they can help accelerate changes and fixes.
3. Utilize a third party aggregator to disseminate your feed throughout other web properties. There are hundreds of outlets for local listings to be shown aside from just the big 3 search engines. There are companies out there who will submit your feed in any and all formats those outlets require for a nominal fee and even report back on traffic and other metrics. Well worth the investment.
4. Monitor on an ongoing monthly basis.

Now all of the above sounds complex, but it’s really not. The result? A much more comprehensive approach to local search that doesn’t break the bank and allows for much greater coverage across many smaller local outlets.

As brand owners, we wouldn’t think about putting our brand alongside something with a negative connotation, but in PPC, it happens every day. In fact, you could argue that it’s impossible to avoid completely. However, paid search mismatches can be greatly reduced with a few basic strategies every agency should be implementing.

Broad Match and Search Query Reports:

What broad match means for those of you who are unfamiliar with the lingo is that your search query will match to “similar phrases and relevant variations”. For example bidding on “chips” on broad match will allow you to show up for terms such as“Paint chips”, “potato chips”, “poker chips” and “chips TV series”. Extended broad match in Google will further allow you to show up for things like “Erik Estrada”. As you can see it can be very dangerous to bid solely on broad match, especially without an extensive list of negatives and other match types to support it.

Solution: Google gives you the ability to run Search Query Reports which show you the exact queries you are matching to. If we pulled one for a paint brand, we would see things like “eating” in the search query report and know we needed to add it as a negative keyword. Think of a negative keyword as the opposite of a keyword. It’s something you don’t want to show up for, like a C-SPAN fan club meeting or a really awkward party. Negative broad matching of the word “eating” would ensure that you won’t show up for any search query that contains the word “eating.”

Utilize exact match once you have narrowed the keywords you want to show up for. Exact matching will allow you to show for EXACTLY what the search query type in is. So, if you want to show up for “Paint Chips” you will not show up for anything that contains other search variations such as “eating paint chips”. This will not only make sure you are targeting your creative correctly, but it will also often result in a lower CPC and a higher conversion rate. Obviously, people searching for “eating paint chips” are either looking up movie quotes from Tommy Boy or the phone number for the poison control center.

Brand Image:

While it’s costly to inadvertently appear for terms you don’t want to be associated with, there are farther-reaching implications. When someone is searching for “eating paint chips” and your handcrafted kettle chip brand appears, what do you think that consumers are going to think or associate with your brand?

If you work with an agency ask them about this. If you don’t, make sure this is part of your strategy.

This tells me that luxury retailers/brands should cater their major initiatives to ‘refinement of living, indulgence, enjoyments of comforts and pleasures’. As such, shouldn’t the online experience be as comforting and pleasurable as the product itself? Doesn’t it make sense that a buying a luxury brand’s product should be easier and more enjoyable than a buying a discount product from a mass retailer or discounter? So why is it so difficult to even find the luxury official website? Most of the time, I never see an ad where I frequent online and I rarely see search listings (paid or natural) when searching for products (or sometimes even the trademark name) in the search engines. And when I finally find the site, I still have to navigate through flash, wait for video to load, experience a confusing site search and endure a clunky process just to order something. That is not a luxurious experience; it’s a trip to the DMV.

Luxury retailers are highly protective of their brand. Why not treat their customers with similar diligence and care? If your luxury brand’s purchase process has more in common with a trip to municipal court than Monaco, you might want to try the following:

• If you’re going to have beautiful images through flash/video ads to remind me of the brand and show me the beautiful new products, have them where I spend time online. Better yet, make them clickable right to the product I want to buy, or at least interactive so I can hover /explore, then go to the site when I’m ready to purchase.
  • STRATEGY: Have a strong presence on major networks. Use re-targeting and behavioral targeting to reach your customers/potential customers. Creative test/use multiple messages to ensure your audience is getting the ad units they like best.

• You’re present in the engines, so be there like you mean it. When I’m looking for a product like yours, make it easy on me to find you. When I’m looking for you by searching for your brand name…be there. Every time.
  • STRATEGY: Have a strong presence, both from a brand and non-brand presence, both from a paid listing and natural/organic standpoint. Make the creative and meta-description clear by telling me who you are and why your brand is special.

• When I finally end up on your site, make it easy on me to purchase. Let me see the beautiful, large images of the products I am interested in, show me descriptive words to describe the product, and when I’m ready to buy, let me be able to do that quickly and painlessly. Better yet, thank me for doing so and make me want to come back again and again.
  • STRATEGY: Use large multiple images. Use descriptive and detailed copy. Remember me if I’ve registered with your site before so I don’t have to re-enter all my personal information. Test! Use conversion optimization tools to target and refine the most customer friendly purchase paths and website organization.

I think it’s very fair to say that most luxury retailers and luxury brands do a tremendous job of making beautiful and luxurious products. It’s the basis in which all their efforts are based. Catalogs and image ads are gorgeous and classy, and so is the typical in-store experience. So why is it that luxury retailers are usually the last to make the online experience as luxurious and comforting as possible? Why is it the mass discounters and retailers of the world are the ones that make the online shopping experience comfortable and convenient? Online works amazingly well for most advertisers, and it’s trackable. That’s no secret. Focus on making that entire online channel as luxurious and comforting as that handbag or skin cream your customer loves you for, and you’ll have me coming back again and again. Or at least on payday.

There are two main ways of looking at the value of branded paid search:

1. It does not make sense to run branded search if you have strong organic rankings for your brand because your organic listings will pick up that traffic and conversion. Why pay for something that you can get for free?
2. People who search for a brand term are often in a research mindset rather than a purchasing mindset, and with paid search ads you can present these potential customers with a much more compelling offer and land them on the ideally optimized page to convert traffic. Your conversion rate and total site conversions will be higher if you run a well executed brand paid search campaign. Also, if you don’t bid on brand terms than competitors who bid on your brand terms are more likely to steal traffic and revenue from you.

For the test we are trying to figure out how to maximize our paid search spend in terms of generating total conversions. We have seen that our non-brand search spend has a tremendous impact on the organic traffic and revenue of this particular client. We don’t care who gets credit for the conversion that comes through; we are only concerned about maximizing conversions as a whole. Therefore, our goals for the brand test are to:

• Understand whether we should be running branded paid search terms
• Figure out how to truly maximize site bookings for a given budget
• Better understand the relationship between paid search and natural traffic and conversions

To hopefully accomplish these goals we are running a period of true non-brand search (with the true brand term set as a negative keyword) followed by a period of full branded paid search. We plan to keep spend levels perfectly constant between the two periods and monitor total conversions through Omniture. We are going to ignore Bluestreak paid search data entirely and look at combined organic and paid conversions. The period with higher conversions wins.

Of course, there are many variables that can throw off our results: holidays, conversion window, organic search trends, paid search competitors, etc. There is no way that we can run a perfect test. Our hope is that something will really jump out at us though and we can feel confident coming to some conclusion.

Right now, we are in the middle of our test. We are running just non-brand. In a few weeks we are going to run full force brand and compare results between the two periods. We are eager to see how the test turns out and get back to the client with our recommendation as to whether or not they should be running branded paid search.

One of our travel clients recently signed on with us to do SEO.  Now keep in mind that this particular client has a very well-established brand and secure market position, so we were going to have to bring EXTRA big value to the table.  Our task from the outset was clear: take SEO and “integrate” it with all other site initiatives to give our client the biggest bang for their buck.  To be fair, the client-side team is excellent and was instrumental in getting this done.  As such, RANGE can’t take all the credit—“Other site initiatives” included copy updates, new page design/implementation and many other projects not strictly related to SEO (rankings and traffic).  Regardless, we knew they were related in this particular situation, and we had to find a way to manage all of them together.

Basically, we got together via the magic of a conference call and divided the labor between the design/copywriting team, the client-side web designers, the client’s account team at Range and Range’s SEO department. We established up front a communication channel and schedule, broke the project up in phases and then got to work.

It sounds pretty intuitive, but the results were almost instant.  Not only did the set-up allow for easier communication between the parties involved, but more importantly it also resulted in better work.  Every design project was SEO-friendly…every SEO project was design-friendly.  As we move ahead into the second quarter of this year, things are rolling along nicely, and the client feels their money is well-spent.  Credit is due all around, but from the RANGE and client side, everyone has just been phenomenal.

So the next time you’re at a loss as to how to position SEO effectively within a larger organization, take it from me, integration can make your life a whole lot easier.