Brand Advertisers – Are They Ruining Search Marketing For The Rest Of Us?
By Anna Johnson on August 28th, 2008ClickZ reports that more brand advertisers are embracing search marketing.
Hooray… not.
This may be good news for the search engines and media agencies representing brand advertisers. But it’s NOT good news for direct response Internet marketers.
A major downside of brand advertisers pouring their bigger budgets into search marketing is having them bid up the cost of clicks. And because many, if not all, are likely to be motivated by BRANDING reasons, that means their spending won’t be constrained by the need to generate a reasonable return on investment (ROI).
In other words, without any real care about making their cost-per-click deliver a specific ROI, brand advertisers are likely to spend tons of money on getting that top #1 or #2 spot in the paid listings. All of which will bring up the cost of clicks for everyone else competing in that space.
Think brand advertisers won’t attack YOUR market? Think again. Niches to do with weight loss and dieting will have brands like Kellogg’s Special K and Weight Watchers to contend with. Finance and investment niches will have banks to fend off.
And you can probably think of other areas where a brand advertiser may barge in, all guns blazing, willing to spend whatever it takes to get prime positioning. (Quality Score, what Quality Score?)
Maybe I’m being a little harsh. Perhaps it won’t be so bad. It’s possible that some brands will embrace search marketing as a direct response medium.
But having worked closely with a large corporate that unapologetically regards search marketing as BOTH a direct response AND a branding vehicle, I am a little wary.
Could there be a silver lining? Could bid prices for the lower spots in the paid listings still be accessible to small marketers? Could brand advertisers essentially train searchers to ignore or lower their regard for the top positions (because brand advertisers are less likely to display ads that are as relevant)?
Share your thoughts!
Source: Anna Maria Virzi, “Search Is No Longer an Afterthought for Brands”, ClickZ, August 20, 2008
