Direct Response Marketing and Search Engine Marketing (SEM) Principles

I produce Pay Per Click how-to training sessions geared to help online marketers increase their search marketing ROI. As Chairman for PPC Summits http://www.ppcsummit.com/overview.html?article1, I meet online marketers from around the world, and there is one common theme that seems to reoccur frequently: the myth that SEM is some kind of rocket science. What most marketers dont understand is SEM falls under the category of Direct Response Marketing.



Marketers have bought into the idea that SEM is something that can only be properly utilized by those who know the correct "voodoo" to make it work. But really, SEM is just another form of direct response marketing and many of the same principles apply. Successful marketing messaging resonates with the intended audience and the same controls apply to search marketing campaigns.

Here are some direct response marketing principles that should also apply to your SEM campaigns:

· It takes work. Successful marketers have to constantly test response rates: copy, keywords, placement, pricing, messages, landing pages

· You have to test. In direct response marketing, testing rules is never-ending. Just like testing in direct mail, the cost of the campaign can be justified if the lift in the conversion rate is enough to offset the expense. If the lift in conversion offsets the cost of optimizing the pages, keep testing and roll out new ones.

· You have to track results. Just as savvy offline marketers can tell which piece of mail and from which specific message a customer converted, you have to be able to tell which keyword, message and referrer drove your sale. Tracking is easy to do on PPC, harder on search engine optimization, but critical on both.

· Creative is key. Google rewards those with high click-through rates on PPC by better placement, and the way to get high CTRs is to write great copy that resonates with your audience. Similar to an offline campaign, online creative should be tested frequently.

· It's all about the benefit. Successful marketers sell on benefits, not features, and look for the messages that play on their customers' emotional responses to their product or service. Over time, you will discover offers that work only online, but like offline marketing, it comes through the same test-and-learn discipline.

· The "Lead to Sale" conversion rate is important. Just as in the offline world the key to conversions from search is providing the right hook in your listing at the right phase of the buying cycle, and then converting that lead into a paying customer with the right offer on your landing page.

· Analysis is your friend. Like any good offline campaign, you learn a great deal from analyzing your testing and conversions. One set of keywords can perform significantly better than the rest; but because even changing a keyword from singular to plural can have dramatically different results, you have to test and analyze each variable separately.

· It's all about CPA or CPL. All search engine marketing campaigns need to be analyzed by cost per acquisition (CPA) or cost per lead (CPL).

· Create customer loyalty. Search engines are looking more and more at how many websites link to yours.. You need customer evangelists driving more sales, and links can provide that.




Direct response marketing skills and experience are some of the key drivers in SEM campaigns. There are some nuances of SEM that you can only learn by experience, but if you go into it with the mindset that these rules apply you will demystify the whole experience.



ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mary OBrien is the Chairman of PPC Summits--Gain Better Pay Per Click Results in 2 days! Mary was formerly senior director of sales at Yahoo Search Marketing and currently produces Pay Per Click workshops worldwide. To learn how to maximize your Pay Per Click marketing and gain better results on Google Adwords and other search engines, please visit http://www.ppcsummit.com/overview.html?article1 PPC Summit is coming to a city near you: Boston March 3-4, Vancouver March 31-April1, London April 14-15, San Francisco May 19-20, and Los Angeles Sept. 2008.

Recession Marketing Part 2: Internet marketing

We've talked about the four major categories of marketing and the importance of balancing your marketing effort in Part 1: Beating the Recession. So where do you begin?

If you had the time and resources to only pursue one avenue of marketing, make it internet marketing; it's one of the least expensive and most effective ways to get your name out there and it has the potential to reach the full spectrum of your client demographic.

There are four crucial investments you need to make to ensure a long-lasting return on your internet marketing. These include a professionally designed website, press releases, articles, and social media marketing.

Think of your website just like you would a brick-and-mortar location. What are some of the most important considerations when opening a store?

1. You want a good location that's easy for your customers to find.
2. The storefront should have good curb appeal; it should capture the attention of prospective customers and be pleasing to the eye.
3. The interior of the store should be easy to navigate, and customers should be able to find what they want quickly and easily
4. Maximize your layout by positioning items so that customers can find other products or services on the way to their original objectives.
5. You should have a quick and painless means of capturing customer information so that you can follow up with them in the future. (Ever given your name and phone number to a sales rep while checking out?)

The same timeless principles above apply just as readily to your website.

Location: Your domain name should be short and to the point. The longer and more difficult it is to spell or remember, the less likely it is that the customer will ever make it there.

"Curb appeal": Your front page is your image. It should convey the order and professionalism you want your company to convey to your customers.

Layout/Navigation: Your website must be easy to navigate. Customers who can't find what they want generally leave a website after SIX SECONDS, never to return.

Optimization: Buddy up your products. If you have a product that sells very well and a product that's suffered in the past, place them close together in your site navigation. Coupling a popular product with a lesser-known product will dramatically boost your traffic and sales for less popular lines.

Lead capturing: Placing your company's phone number in a highly visible location on your front page and placing a tasteful contact form in a prominent location will increase the amount of leads you get by as much as 300% in many cases. Better still, offer coupons, a free quote, a free newsletter packed with useful tips, or a chance to win a product or service to entice visitors to complete contact information.

Now that you've finished your website, you need to get the word out to customers. Of course, you'll want to do this in the most powerful, long lasting way possible for the least amount of money.

Well written, internet optimized press releases and articles are an incredibly powerful means of getting publicity, generating buzz, and attaining highly qualified leads for your business. Unlike running an article or a press release in a print publication, press releases and articles on the internet stay on the web permanently, getting you traffic and qualified leads for months or even years to come.

An experienced PR firm will get your press releases into venues such as Google News, Yahoo News, MSN News, and Reuters, and your articles into high traffic information sites such as about.com, ehow.com, and work.com. If the pieces are properly optimized, they'll include a link back to your website and tastefully include keywords related to your business to boost search engine results.

Lastly, we have social media marketing. Think of it as business networking online. By utilizing pre-existing networks such as Face Book, MySpace, LinkedIn, and business forums, and even creating your own business blog, you can forge partnerships, acquire affiliates, and generate word of mouth with thousands of prospects and business owners. Better still, you can repurpose all of those excellent articles and press releases as blog content.

Following the advice in this article and I guarantee you, you will get results. Keep an eye out for the next article in our Recession Marketing series, Part 3: Television Marketing.

About the Author
Tony D. Baker is Oklahoma’s leading Internet marketing expert with over 1,000 clients and over 12 years of Internet marketing experience. As an author and public speaker, Baker has written several ebooks and has spoken at conferences throughout the United States. Tony D. Baker is currently the host of Xeal Radio, Sunday at 12 noon on Tulsa's Talk Radio 1170 KFAQ AM.