Marketing Clique

Question: As it relates to pay per click search marketing (PPC), is it worth it to bid on your company's own brand keywords, like your company name, and branded product names?

Answer: Maybe. This post gets "into the weeds" a little bit, but many marketing executives have questions about the validity of pay per click marketing (PPC), especially when it comes to bidding on branded keywords.

There have been many studies commissioned to explore the various effects of bidding on branded keywords. The most exhaustive studies have been conducted by the search engines, themselves. While it may be tempting to dismiss the search engine studies as being subjective and self-serving, they are detailed and helpful. Still, it will come as no surprise that the search engines' studies advise buying one's own branded keywords. The studies typically focus on high potential, big ad spend categories, like retail, entertainment, and automotive.

Cost is the issue: both time and money. Google, Yahoo!, and Bing have become exceptionally good at ferreting out and displaying relevant results for organic searches. Displaying a relevant brand result in the organic search result section of the search engine result page (SERP) is, then, highly likely. Given the greater than 70% likelihood of a searcher to click on an organic result, as opposed to the PPC sponsored search result ad, then why spend time and money managing a company's branded search terms for PPC? Depending on who is managing the search marketing campaign, how many times those ads get clicked, and what the conversion rate is, it can be slightly expensive, or very expensive.

A February 2010 study by Wunderman gets closer to what I think is helpful:

The research finds that the search experience on different search engines yields different results, with some being more relevant to the consumer than others. This, according to the research, contributes to overall customer and brand awareness. If the results of the search satisfy the needs of the consumer, then the search engine has greater appeal to that potential customer and he or she will have a deeper connection to the brand and the search engine. Therefore, the research indicates, search engines provide different degrees of a “brand lift” to the destination site.

One of the golden rules for speakers is to know thy audience, and search marketing is no exception. Considering the persona of the searcher's search engine preference, according to the Wunderman study, can help guide the search marketing strategy. Afterall, the study points out, searchers start by choosing their search engine, and search engine choice becomes a habit. So the take-away is to take a closer look at the types of results on each search engine, like different magazines for targeting different advertising demographics.

Remember, advice on course of action will have ulterior motives:

• The search engines are motivated by quantity of PPC clicks. What the customer does with the traffic, after the click, is the customer's challenge. Therefore, any additional traffic that can be garnered with increased spend on sponsored search traffic works in the search engines' favor.
• Third-party search engine management (SEM) agencies are motivated by however they are being compensated. For example, if their compensation is based on monthly spend, they may also be in favor of increased sponsored search (PPC) spend. On the other hand, if the search agency is paid based on key performance indicators (KPIs), or quality, they may be in favor of throttling back if the PPC KPIs are not as high as the organic results for brand terms. Decreasing sponsored search spending, however, should be carefully considered because there may be complicating factors, like how long it takes prospects to typically make a buying decision.
• Internal search management teams may be motivated on conversion. If the person who is in charge of managing the search campaign cannot demonstrate that there is significant conversion on the PPC branded keywords there may be motivation to decrease spend. But just like the search management agency, that decision should be carefully analyzed.

WHAT TO DO?

1. Decide on the opportunity cost. How much does it cost the company to not be showing up in the sponsored search results area?Depending on how much money a company is spending, the search engines will gladly run this report.
2. What percentage of sponsored search results are being conquested by the competition? Are other companies showing up in the sponsored search results area? How much is that costing in lost business?
3. What are conversion rates on the branded sponsored search ads? If click through rates (CTR) are high, but conversion is low, even after testing different scenarios, it may mean taking a closer look at how prospects convert. If there is a long and winding road leading to the product purchase, it may be worth it to continue bidding on branded keywords. If the product is direct response-oriented, and there is low conversion, try testing. If additional testing does not produce favorable results decreasing spend may be the best option.
4. Consider the buying cycle. If the company product requires a long decision-making process, it may be cogent to be there when people are searching, even if they do not make a decision for six months.
5. How strict are the key performance indicators (KPIs)? If the KPIs are strict, and not being met with branded sponsored search results, it may be necessary to hold back. What are the KPIs? Can they be categorized in different buckets?

The answer of what to do is not clear-cut. Additional studies will be done, and there will always be different waring camps of opinion. The best decision of whether to bid on branded keywords warrants a closer look by management. Weigh advice from "experts" based on their motivation. And remember, even third-party, so-called objective research is almost always sponsored in some way, and is always assembled by people, who are subjective by nature.