Every time Gord Hotchkiss, President of Enquiro based in Kelowna (BC) Canada and also Chairperson of SEMPO, write an article, you can be confident that he is going to hit the nail right on the head. In his most recent article on Ad Agencies and Search Marketing, Gord mentions that Ad Agencies are far from “getting” search and follow search marketing best practices. Even when they include search, for as little as they do, they miss the mark by a mile. It is especially dramatic when it comes to budgeting for it. Media plans & budgets are based on arbitrary numbers which are not a reflection of comprehensive business objectives. According to Gord, “Search dollars should be the first ones in, not the last. Take as much search inventory as you can get. Judge your costs per acquisition not against your top performing keywords, but against your other channels, both online and offline. If even the marginal search traffic is generating a lower CPA, beg, borrow and steal as much budget as you can and top up search. Only then should you move from “pull” (prospects holding up their hands to purchase through search) to “push” (trying to persuade latent prospects to purchase). Only put restrictions on your search campaign if you’re absolutely certain that another channel can exceed its effectiveness.”

Gord Hotchkiss, Enquiro

For a review of all the benefits for doing Search Marketing, budgeting for it as well providing a perspective on the utilization of search to reach branding objectives, take a minute to read the article.

If you want more, take a minute to read this: Search And the Digital CPG Shelf. It is about the utilization of Search Marketing for Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG), an area that has historically never used Search Marketing. The findings of the study are quite revealing and will convince the most skeptics.