Whether or not you manage your paid search campaign internally or through an ad agency, one of the hottest topics for debate is what approach should be taken in regards to brand keywords. One of the most common questions from marketers is, “Why would I want to pay for traffic from brand keywords when I rank high organically for these terms?”. In order to help answer this question, below are four reasons to include brand and trademark keywords in your paid search campaign.
- Control the Messaging – Paid search ads allow you to control the marketing message that searchers see. While a top organic listing may portray the brand appropriately, it lacks the dynamic quality of a paid search ad. Tip: Focus the ad copy on your latest promotion or customer focused messaging which will help you engage the customer.
- Brand Protection – If you are not bidding on your brand and trademark terms and displaying relevant ad copy that captures the searcher’s attention, it is likely that other advertisers will (including your competition).
- Offer Testing - Bidding on your brand and trademark terms can serve two purposes. First, they are an inexpensive way to drive conversions (these paid search ads typically have a high click through and conversion rate). Second, these keywords provide a great opportunity to conduct research on the marketing messages that resonate with your customers. Using your brand terms, it is quick and easy to set up a simple A/B ad copy test (Free Shipping, Volume Discount, etc) to determine which message generates that highest conversion rate, average order value or return on investment. Once you know which message appeals to your customers the most, you can apply it to other online marketing channels, including email, affiliate, and banner advertising.
- Aligning Marketing Campaigns - Paid search ads complement other online marketing efforts such as online banner advertising. According to a study conducted by iProspect, 27% of people who respond to online banner ads search for the product, service, or brand featured in the advertising.
Here are some tips for managing your brand keywords in your paid search campaign:
- Before launching your brand keyword campaign, create a baseline report based on the organic results from your brand terms that focuses on the all the core metrics (i.e. visitors, conversions, order value, conversion rate, etc.). After launching your paid search campaign, run analysis to determine if you are receiving uplift from the campaign or if it is cannibalizing your organic results.
- Build out robust keyword lists for brand terms, incorporating plurals, misspellings and description variations.
- Combine brand keywords generic terms to expand your reach among competitors.
- Decide whether you will allow affiliates to bid on your brand terms in paid search. If you forbid this, be sure to monitor our affiliates as some may choose to make a quick buck by ignoring your request.
- In your campaign reporting separate the performance of the brand keywords from the rest of the campaign. Also set different ROI goals for these campaigns because typically brand terms have a higher conversion rate and a significantly higher ROI than “general” terms.
- Be aware of additional marketing activities (i.e. email blast, direct mail, TV advertising, etc.) that would potentially increase the volume of searches surrounding your brand keywords.
- Provide enough budget so that your brand campaign remains visible 100% of the time – consistency is important when establishing a strong brand presence online.
Author: Brian Rice
