In the marketing of my youth, the traditional marketing goal was brand awareness. Building a brand identity and promoting it everywhere a potential buyer might be were the law. Television. Magazines and Newspapers. Bill boards. Mailers. Placement on store shelves. Marketers worked hard to create that optimal number of impressions that brought brand recognition and consideration.
Herald the arrival of the Internet and the advances in Internet search. In a 2007 Digital Consumer Behavior Study by Avenue A | Razorfish,
- A whopping 54% of connected consumers would use a general search engine to begin their search for a product to "see what comes up".
- Another 15% would visit a specific eCommerce site that specializes in the type of product and search there.
Talk about leveling the playing field.
This is not to say that brand identity and awareness play no role in today's buyer's processes. But the sheer volume of money thrown at search list placement would argue that simply being found is perhaps more critical. The importance of being remembered (branding) versus being found (placement) is changing.
Given the growing use of Internet search in being found, the interesting question for marketers becomes what terms do buyers use as they begin their buying process. Marketers need to make sure that their company and products place well in buyer searches.
The challenge is that at the earliest stage of the buying process - awareness of a need - many buyers aren't going to start by searching for your brand name. When buyers first become aware of a need, desire or problem, they often don't have the fine-tuned vocabulary of the marketer who is trying to create blue ocean space for their product.
Instead, early stage buyers search for things like "big screen tv", "birthday cards", and "learn french". Being the leader in "LCD tvs", "on-line greeting cards", or "language learning software" won't help them find you when your products don't appear on their search results list.
It is important to note, that as the buyer works his/her way through their buying process, the terms he/she uses in their searches become more specific. So, don't breathe a sigh of relief just yet. If that big screen tv buyer decides that they really want a plasma tv, you are not going to be considered if you sell LCD tvs.
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Rule #1: You must place well in the category searches to avoid being eliminated from buyer consideration at the earliest stage of the buying process.
Rule #2: You must continue to place well in specialty searches to remain in consideration during the rest of the stages in the buying process.
Avinash Kaushik provides an interesting discussion on this issue of being found in his posts on The Long Tail.
Avinash suggests that marketers use SEO for the short head and ad word buys for the long tail search terms.
But before you start buying, you must understand your buyer (think buyer persona) and methodically go through the buying process stages to identify relevant search terms.
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