Ensuring sustainable search marketing results despite rising CPC costs
In addition, the company, that provides complete consulting services for businesses looking to market their products or services online using integrated marketing communication solutions, is also considering international expansion.
The company emphasises on its expertise and uniqueness in this domain as it starts its approach with search (PPC and SEO) — then leverages insights gained therein to tailor appropriate, incremental digital strategies for the specific needs of the client.
Steak Media’s Director of Strategy Duncan Parry says paid search campaigns can be used to test keywords, ad copy and landing pages to find the best performing combinations. These keywords can then be used to inform the natural search strategy (e.g., helping selection of the terms with the best conversions) and further landing page iterations tested over time with paid search (client resources permitting) to increase conversion rates.
“The most successful landing page text for the PPC campaigns can then be tailored for use as landing pages for other advertising formats (banners, MPUs etc), and the most successful ad text used to inform copywriting for the aforementioned formats, in addition to advertorials and e-mails. Some of these techniques we have successfully used for Enjoy England across search and digital advertising,” Parry told EyeforTravel.com’s Ritesh Gupta ahead of Travel Distribution Summit Europe 2007 to be held in London on May 22- 23.
It is being observed that suppliers have been working with optimisation partners and beginning to build our natural search presence, which is vital to minimise paid for expenditure.
On trends in this arena, he said, “Any savvy site has had a natural search campaign for some time. There are arguments for turning off expensive PPC keywords with a high natural ranking; however there can also be a negative impact of this: a competitor is ceded a slot in the advertising space at the top of the page, and click through rates (CTRs) on the natural search listing can decrease, as the site may be perceived by the search engines as less credible without a presence in both paid and natural search listings.
“Also, natural search result snippets cannot always be quickly influenced/changed and may not therefore include the latest special offers, current brand message etc. - whereas PPC listings can accommodate impact from timely, real world events. An intelligent balance must be struck that does not focus on individual cost per clicks (CPCs) alone to ensure one decision does not have a negative impact elsewhere,” he said.
With more companies advertising on search engines, bid prices are rising and there being saturation of high-volume keywords. In this scenario, what is the key to search marketing?
Responding to the same, he said, “The key to a successful search marketing campaign is—and in reality always has been—understanding the business model of the client’s website, the mindset of their target audience, and the targets they set for their digital marketing.”
“This means ensuring the campaigns target the right keywords using the right language (for the target audience), whilst ensuring they achieve and when ever possible surpass the client’s KPIs (whether measured as an average CPC, traffic target, cost per sale etc). Continuous campaign optimisation is vital, whether it be keyword expansions (“the long tail”), landing page copy, shopping cart process, advert copy, or site structure of link building.”
“Even in a market with rising CPC costs, this proven approach generates sustainable results that add to the client’s bottom line and provide a good ROI. This is best achieved by working not as a supplier but as a close partner with the client’s marketing staff, understanding their wider business, integrating the online messaging with their other marketing efforts and working closely with their technical and copywriting teams,” he said.
Parry will be one of the speakers during the forthcoming EyeforTravel’s Travel Distribution Summit Europe 2007 (Business Design Centre, London 23-24 May 2007).
