Search Engine Journal

Applying the Lessons of Search to Other Direct Marketing Initiatives

The main session at 11:00, The Search Landscape - moderated by Danny Sullivan, was unfortunately full and was limited to “sitting on your knees between aisles room only”, since all of the standing room was already taken. So, I gave up on trying to sit through Danny’s session since it would have probably taken quite a toll on my knees, and hightailed it to one of the little known backroom sessions - Applying the Lessons of Search to Other Direct Marketing Initiatives.

It was a fairly interesting session which revolved around how the Internet marketing industry has taken a definite turn towards Direct Online Marketing since the technology bubble burst. Such other Direct Marketing Initiatives include using search to drive users to a subscription landing page, the hybrid use of behavioral targeting and search, search and driving users to a measurable download page, and the use of online advertising networks with reaching the same ROI as achieved in search.

The main drive behind the program was lead generation, which is relevant to both B2C and B2B direct marketers. Search is a proven form of lead generation and even though loyalty is questioned in this channel, search is seen as an important part of the future of lead generation and marketing / salesforce follow up.

One panelist commented that those who have applied search have seen enhanced conversions with subscription/registration from paid search over normal registration from online site forms. This is attributed to more “efficient and intimate” targeting in search related advertisements.

The moderators were all from JupiterResearch with no search oriented ‘celebrities’ (which explains all of the empty seats) but proved to be a quite sophisticated session for those who do not only focus on search for the entire Internet Marketing campaign.

Besides email and search integrated marketing, the potential of personalization and behavioral targeting in search was also discussed. Such behavioral search targeting is in its infancy, but companies like AlmondNet (who I’ll be interviewing tomorrow) are doing it already - exposing users to display graphic/banner advertsements relevant with search terms which were done by that searcher over a specific historical date range.