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for integration

Contents

Executive Sum mar y 2 Why is search in te gration impor tant? 4 Search activity measure of adv is in itself a 6 er tising’s impac t Search is not ju s t a funnel response bout lower 8 Search response online to offline extends beyond 11 channels Amplifying the e multimedia mix ffect of the 13 Measuring sear econometric moch in the mix: 16 delling Measuring sear mix: Summar y ch’s role in the 19 of methods Intro Recipes or Inte gration - Brands in aFdigital age Factsheets 22 Understanding consumer and the tools Future of seathe r c h in tegration to get you there 31 Acknowledgem e n ts Brand-building in action 33 How online can drive brand engagement Conclusion

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SEA R C H F O R I N T EGR ATION

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

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

EX ECUTIVE SUM M ARY

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)

E xtend

- search captures interest generated by other media, extending

engagement significantly in an environment where consumers sell to themselves (see chapter 2)

A ll-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

3

(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.

TH E SEA R C H FO R I N TEG R ATION

for integration

search integration

why is

important? 4

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.

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).

WHY IS SEARCH I NT E G RAT I ON I M PORTANT ?

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

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

marketing mix?

0.9% 5.6% 28.7%

Fully Partially Not at all

64.8%

Don’t know

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 reevaluate 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.

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search activity

is in itself a measure of advertising’s

impact

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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.

All marketing activity has some impact on the consumer use of search. This is true whether you’re running an abovethe-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).

S E ARCH ACTIVITY I S I N I T S E LF A M E AS URE O F A D V ERTI SI N G ’ S I MPA C T

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).

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. banking Figure 3 sector above the line advertising

SEM Click Change after a TV Spend Spike

SEMS Clicks

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”.

4500 4000 3500 3000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 0 1

2 3 4 5 6 7 Weeks elapsed from TV spending spike

8

9

Source: Efficient Frontier 2010

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 ininNumber Overall increase numberofofSearches searches due due to to banking sector above the line advertising banking sector above the line advertising

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

10%

9%

Brands

11%

Debit/ credit card

6%

Generic

9%

Information

Overdraft/ phone

Open/ apply

Source: Mindshare 2011

10%

Current accounts

10%

7%

Internet

29%

Internet banking

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.

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.

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Search is not just about lower funnel response 8

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).

Figure 4 - AIDA

Awareness

Interest

Desire

Action

S E ARCH IS NOT JUS T ABOUT LOW E R F UNNE L R ESP O N SE

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.

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.”

Navigational search and brand terms

Examples of generic 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.”

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

“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” In the previous chapter we saw the way in which abovethe-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

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

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.

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“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”

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

Search helps build brands

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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.

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 Recall

Purchase Intent

Brand Affinity

(do you remember it?)

(would you buy it?)

(do you like it?)

+2.5x

+1.14x

+1.18x

58%

43%

58% 54%

24%

Control

64%

62%

60%

54%

Side Sponsored

Top Sponsored

Control

Source: 12 studies across different categories in the UK, France, Germany Enquiro, Ipsos & Google (2008).

Side Sponsored

Top Sponsored

Control

Side Sponsored

Top Sponsored

S E ARCH RESPONSE E X T E NDS BE Y OND ONLI N E T O O F F L I N E C H A N N EL S

for integration

Search response extends beyond online to offline

channels

hen considering search integration, it’s essential to factor in search’s ability to drive offline sales, not just online.

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).

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). 

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

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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).

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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 Of search related conversions occur

Offline via phone 8%

92%

Of search related conversions occur Source: Mindshare

Online

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.

A MPLIFYING THE E F F E CT OF T HE M ULT I M E DI A MI X

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Amplifying the effect of the

multimedia mix

esearch shows search integration with other media can cause a multiplier effect, improving the effectiveness of both (or more) media 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 15x display, 2x search impact 46.9

23.8

31 Display only Source: Microsoft Advertising 2008

Search only

Display & Search

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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

Conversions

22% Lift Over Search Alone

Display Click

14

Search Click

Display & Search

Source: Atlas Institute Emapping 2008

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.

A MPLIFYING THE E F F E CT OF T HE M ULT I M E DI A MI X

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

3

4

4

3 54%

4

3

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

Source: MetrixLab and Google 2009

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 350%

320.2% Brand

300%

64%

250% 200%

Non Brand

184% 154.7%

150%

54% 126.9%

100% 50% 0%

0% Impressions

10.3% CTR

Conversion Rate

Source: Efficient Frontier 2010

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.

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Measuring

search in the mix:

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econometric modelling

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

“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.

“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 underreporting 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%.

ME ASURING SEARCH I N T HE M I X : E CONOM E T R I C MO D EL L I N G

Using econometric models to specifically understand search’s role

seasonal variability, incentives and macro-economic indicators.”

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.

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 reallocation of budget, including increasing paid search advertising, could directly generate an 11% increase in responses (Smokefree, Marketshare, Google 2009).

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,

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.

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Case study: Understanding the synergies between search and traditional above-the-line in driving new account applications for a banking client Objective: a banking client of Mindshare’s wished to better understand the synergies between search and their above-theline 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:

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

The client’s business is heavily driven by paid and natural search Paid Search

• More accurate quantification of both search and ATL

Drives and additional 9% of client Branded searches

advertising in driving new account applications • A stronger basis for ongoing media resource allocation

Results: • Offline media drives a c10% increase in relevant search

Is responsible for 13% of new account applications

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

account applications

Drives 14% increase in Paid Search impressions

Drives 4% increase in organic search impressions

Drives 2% of new account applications

Drives 6% of new account applications

Search is responsible for 21% of new account applications

outcome 1. P  aid search is “directly” responsible for 13% of current

Client Above-the-Line advertising

AtL is responsible for 23% of new account applications

The remaining 56% of new accounts are driven by influencing factors not quantified within the model. These include but are not limited to: Seasonality, Price (rate), Word of Mouth, Underlying consumer demand. Source: Mindshare 2011

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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).”

Considerations for econometric modelling and search

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?

18

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.”

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

Chapter summary

exposure to a display ad 8. How can we put all of this data together in a meaningful way

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.

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. W  hat 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. H  ave you factored in any store based price promotions or other point of sale based activities?

ME ASURING SEARCH’ S ROLE I N T HE M I X : S UM MA RY O F MET H O D S

for integration

Measuring search’s role in the mix:

summary of methods

19

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!” 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.

TH E SEA R C H FO R I N TEG R ATION

Judging A medium’s impact on search

20

Role of search in online journey

Multimedia effect and Cross media effect (multiplier / amplification)

Method / tool

Approach

Challenges

Benefits

• W  eb Analytics programmes • Google Insights for Search • Microsoft Advertising Intelligence Tool (MAIT)

• C  ompare / correlate media activity and search response

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

• S  ee immediate, real-time effect of campaigns on online activity • U  se search to judge the effect of other media • Identify terms and keywords to use in other media • U  se to inform abovethe-line

• Marketing mix modelling

• E  conometric modelling of media and nonmedia drivers of search

• C  an be expensive and resource intensive • Tends to lack granularity

• Robust method • Investigate response and brand effectiveness

• P  anels of internet users by the likes of Nielsen and comScore

• D  ata mining user click paths (across sites)

• D  oesn’t take into account offline activity • Observes touchpoints but does not quantify influence within a path

• U  nderstand the complete online consumer path to purchase • L  earn about the role of brand & generic search

• A  dvertiser click path data from ad server / logs

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

• O  bserves touchpoints but does not fully quantify influence within a path

• G  ranular exposure and click data

• Marketing mix modelling

• E  conometric modelling of media and nonmedia drivers of conversions, sales, brand KPIs

• C  an be expensive and resource intensive • Tends to lack granularity

• Inform allocation of media budget • C  ompare the effect of search on a variety of different media • L  ook at each medium individually and in combination • A  nalyse brand impact as well as response • U  nderstand the complete picture by looking at all media influencers, not just paid advertising

• C  ross media optimisation study

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

• L  arge campaigns required • Expensive relative to media spend

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

ME ASURING SEARCH’ S ROLE I N T HE M I X : S UM MA RY O F MET H O D S

Judging

Method / tool

Approach

Challenges

Benefits

ROPO effect (research online, purchase offline)

• F  using customer data – GfK, Yahoo! Consumer Connect

• M  atch customer data from online databases to offline databases

• D  ifficult to link online consumers to offline activity

• U  nderstand the full, true purchase funnel, showing complete value of search and other online media • Inform allocation of media budget

• Marketing mix modelling

• A  s above

• As above

• As above

• R  edeemable codes and vouchers only offered in certain media

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

• O  nly takes into consideration the people that take up the offer • Does not establish brand lift / advertising influence

• S  urveys at point of offline purchase

• Interview or recruit for interview in store

• Interrupts customer • Does not establish brand lift / advertising influence

• C  ompelling data on level of online research prior to store • Isolate differences in customer / basket value

• U  nique tracking phone numbers

• D  ynamically show different phone numbers per search campaign

• N  eed lots of spare phone numbers, which are not memorable

• A  ttribute call centre sales leads that originated from online advertising

• Regional testing

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

• H  ard to execute • Requires intensive analysis • Not suitable for regionally skewed companies

• R  obust methodology • Measures lift caused by advertising differences • Establishes ROI

• O  nline only product launch

• L  aunch a product with only online advertising

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

• S  uccess down to online advertising

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

21

TH E SEA R C H FO R I N TEG R ATION

22

Cont

en

ts TV adv e Radio a r tising and se a d Online ver tising and rch 23 display search an Social m 24 edia an d search Mobile d 25 adver t search i si Website 26 s and s ng and search ea Online 27 PR and rch High s t S 28 reet ret earch ail and Future 29 se o Acknow f search integr arch 30 ation ledgem ents 31 33

R ECIPES FOR INT E GRAT I ON

h c r a e s d n a g TV adver tisin

g combination

ct marketin h are the perfe

TV and searc

ital

ale, Harvest Dig

By Mike Teasd

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.

• 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.

sures lumes from TV expo osures Uplift on search vo volumes from TV exp Uplift on search

$140,000

Provided by Tug

$120,000

400000 350000

$100,000

300000 250000

$80,000 $60,000

200000 150000

$40,000 $20,000

100000 50000 0

TV Spend

Brand Impressions

Case study: milk&more

$160,000

500000 450000

$0 Week k Week Week Week Week Week Week Wee 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 TV Spend

Source: Efficient Fron

Brand Impressions

tier 2010

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.

• 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 7 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

23

TH E SEA R C H FO R I N TEG R ATION

h c r a e s d n a g n i s i t r e v d a o i d Ra rough radio h demand th

Driving searc

, Telefónica UK

ce By Stuart Bry

advertising

(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. dia type. Media consumption by me Sunday Weekday vs. Saturday vs.

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.

50% 45%

24

40%

Weekday

35%

Saturday

30%

Sunday

25% 54%

20% 15%

Case study: Act on Co2 Campaign

10% 5% 0%

TV

Source: Kantar Media Intern

Internet

Radio

Newspapers

Magazine

et Monitor (Nov 2009)

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).

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’) Interest over time

Campaign Push

• 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.

Useful Links • RAB: The Online Multiplier - http://bit.ly/oxV5ME • IAB and RAB: Using Radio with Online http://bit.ly/oQmeYe

R ECIPES FOR INT E GRAT I ON

Online display and search By Simon Turner, Yahoo! Search, & Merinda Peppard, Efficient Frontier 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.

Searches per million people

The power of online mediums combine for acquisition, branding and awareness

219% Increase in searches 64% searches 54% per million

Non viewers

Viewers

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

25

TH E SEA R C H FO R I N TEG R ATION

h c r a e s d n a a i d e Social m

ly fellows, close d e b y p p a h re rch a r Social and sea lp one anothe e h to d e c la p eally related and id , LBi

By Chris Lewis

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.

26

“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

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.

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.

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

Case study: British Red Cross

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.

• 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.

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).

Useful Links • IAB Search & Social Media Report: http://bit.ly/mTUuhQ • State of Social, 2010, report: - http://scr.bi/sstate

R ECIPES FOR INT E GRAT I ON

Mobile adver tising and search Mobile display advertising has a direct correlation to your mobile search campaigns

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.

By Carl Uminski, Somo

5. Search engines are now offering up predictive phrase/ query results to speed up and simplify mobile search behaviours.

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.

Websites Visited via Smartphone 77%

Search engine websites

9. 79% of Google’s top advertisers do not have mobile optimised sites. It’s not too late to be early!

65%

Social Networking websites

46%

Retail websites

43%

Video sharing websites

38%

General consumer websites

26%

Brand or manufacturer websites Review websites, blogs or msg boards

25%

Health information websites

24%

Finance-related websites

24%

Travel-related websites

23%

Full-length TV programming websites

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.

Search is the most visited website

Coupon websites

6. Think location as a key driver to the differences and assume your audience are short of time – be punchy!

18% 17% 15%

Other websites

14%

54%

Magazine websites

Source: The Mobile Movement Study, Google

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.

Case study: Mobile searc ha better togeth nd TV working er • Objective: To show the effect of TV on mobile for one of Som search o’s clients • Solution: TV & Mobile search ran parallel acro month period ss a 2 • Results: Daily search im

pression for bran

d terms increase d 22% Overall mobile se arch campaign CP A’s decreased by 37%

Mobile search vis itors increased throughout the duration of the campaign

Useful Links • www.iabuk. net/mobile • http://google mobile.blogspo t.com • http://www.g omonews.com /c ategory/ mobile-search/

27

TH E SEA R C H FO R I N TEG R ATION

h c r a e s d n a s Website Planning early d By Andrew Gir

with

s integration websites help

wood, Bigmou

thmedia

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. Traffic increase Traffic from non-branded

organic terms

Percentage Increase

50

28

with search

40

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.

30 20 10

Jan

Feb

Look to non-branded orga

Mar

Apr

May

June

nic search terms as good

Case study: Etihad Airways

indicator

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.

• 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.

6. It is often the case that best practise accessibility is closely aligned with best practise technical search.

Useful Links

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.

• Google’s own SEO Guide: - http://bit.ly/iabgoogle • Search Engine Land: http://searchengineland.com

R ECIPES FOR INT E GRAT I ON

Online PR and Search Creative PR stories make content shareable and searchable Immediate Future By Katy Howell, immediate future 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. Realtime 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.

29

TH E SEA R C H FO R I N TEG R ATION

h c r a e s d n a l i a t High s treet re e footfall into

an help to driv How search c res high street sto

By Ross Duncan, Trade Doubler Search

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 adverti sers to place coupon offers, red eemable in to store into the ir sponsored listings on Go ogle.com.

• Solution: Adidas offered

consumers 15% off purcha ses of $75 or more. Interested users could store the offe r either via email or SMS. The y also ensured a fully integrated approach thro ugh stating a phone num ber and a map of their local Ad idas store, so that the customer had all the nec essary information to pur chase in store. During the trial Ad idas saw a 28% higher clic kthrough rate than past mo bile advertising, and they saw that the mobile Offers Ad s campaign doubled in-s tore coupon redemption and increased the average in store order value. All redemptio ns were fully trackable bac k to the mobile Offer Ads.

Useful Links • Google mobile blog: “Ad

idas boosts in-store sales with Mobile Offer Ads” http://bi t.ly/k4Ov3j

Future of

search integration: placing the consumer back in the centre of the strategy by

David Pann,

General Manager - Search Network, Microsoft 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 channelhopping 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.

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Acknowledgements

About the Search Council

The contributors

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.

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

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…

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

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