Tue, September 02, 2008
Google is the central point of discussion in many marketing meetings I sit in and there is one particular topic that continues to bug me. Yes, there is no doubt that we all know Google is the primary portal into the web for most consumers. Yes, we know that we can spend $1,000 and see $30,000+ in return. But what is often not spoken about is the segmentation of those sales you are seeing from search marketing and what they really mean.
Follow me for a minute... there are two primary categories that you need to know about - 'branded search' and 'non-branded search'. 'Branded search' means you buy keywords relating to your brand typically including any string of keywords that includes your show's name. Essentially, you are buying keywords targeting people who have expressed interest in your show.
'Non-branded' search means you are buying keywords that target consumers looking for something relating to your show which may include 'broadway tickets', 'new york city entertainment' or an actor from your show. Here, you are buying keywords aiming to convert a new prospect you think would be interested in your show based on what they are searching for.
As you can see, these are two totally different audiences. 'Branded search' implies the consumer is saying "I'm interested in your show!" while 'non-branded search’ implies the consumer is saying "I'm interested in something relating to you!" Huge difference – yet, the sales and expense from both of these categories is often discussed as one ROI analysis.
We handle the search marketing for clients across the globe and without question when you split these keywords out into their appropriate categories you begin to see a more accurate indication of how your ad dollars are performing. From our experience, shows using 'non-branded' search terms for popular keyword categories (like the keywords relating to ‘Broadway tickets’) have often done so to only see poor sales performance. When you consider the average cost-per-click for the keyword 'broadway tickets' is upwards of $7 per click, you would need a pretty high conversion rate to be successful from a sales perspective which we typically only see with shows that have real national brand recognition.
It drives me absolutely nuts when these categories are not broken out because as a lump sum, it doesn't tell us anything. These categories need to be analyzed and held to very specific sales goals relating to the audience you are talking to. If 90% of your budget is spent in branded search and 10% towards non-branded, you could potentially expect a return on investment of over 20X. If it was flipped, with 90% being non-branded terms, you could be looking at a return of 3X- 5X your money. Unless you break the keywords out into these categories (at a minimum), the lump sum is meaningless.
It can be a very confusing topic and one that we have been studying quite closely as of late, so feel free to contact me if you want to discuss the topic in detail.
Here’s a quick read on related topics surrounding branded and non-branded search. It’s an interesting and important topic I highly suggest you keep a close eye on.
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