Search Engine Marketing Done Right

Part 3: Synergistic Marketing

In his series Search Engine Marketing Done Right, Steve Winkler takes a look at a 1990's trend that is seeing a renaissance -- synergistic marketing.

(May 3 2003) The history of Internet Marketing can be broken into a few main trends, which have come and gone as reduced popularity and diminished returns forced the discovery of new techniques.

Despite the nostalgia of past marketing wonders, few late 1990’s techniques currently hold value for the vast majority of marketers as they once had.

As we enter into the summer of 2003 we will experience a Renaissance of marketing strategy as new age marketing borrows from the past. This Renaissance will incorporate the likes of Search Engine Marketing, Email Marketing, Banner and Sponsor Placement and of course word of mouth viral marketing.

What should your approach be? The answer, in part depends on the desired result. As I have said before and as wise men before me have said, “Begin with the end in mind” as we explore the options available to you and some ways in which you can approach your mid 2003 campaign.

Understanding Synergy

Among the cliché buzzwords of the late 90’s “synergy” survives as a concept that simply makes sense. In essence, business itself is a synergistic process that requires balance and delicate concern in regards to the countless facets that are necessary in order for a business to run properly.

As you create a multi-faceted marketing campaign, balance is a must if you are to maximize the benefits of each focus and to benefit from the exposure that each separately offers.

Proper synergy relies on an evaluation of the cause and effect nature of each particular facet of marketing. The costs both of time and capital and the benefits of each program you choose will vary.

It is good practice to separately test marketing campaigns to see direct effects in order to gauge possible overlapping of marketing expenditures. Additionally the separate testing will enable you to gauge successes individually.

Internet marketing techniques, when executed properly have a natural propensity to work synergistically. A perfect example of well-executed campaign is one that my firm utilizes that is a Search Engine Marketing campaign that is backed up with generalized Opt-In emails and a regular follow up newsletter.

Each aspect of our campaigns enables our firm to reach a different type of prospective client, with a perfect harmony of active and passive marketing.

The Components of Synergistic Marketing

Active Marketing- Advertising in the traditional sense and through most forms in our society takes an active role in teaching us about things on which we should spend our precious hard-earned dollars on.

The prior description depicts typical active marketing. From newspaper advertising to festival sponsors to billboard advertisers to Hollywood product placement advertising surrounds nearly everything we do in our lives. Most marketing professionals spend all marketing dollars on active marketing components.

Sell the sizzle, not the steak with your active marketing. Your dollars are typically best spent attracting attention and further curiosity with your active marketing components. Logically active marketing will be the component on which you may be faced with the highest competition.

Consumer tolerance for active marketing steadily declines as active marketing increases in aggressiveness from year to year. Your chances for gaining your customers attention through active marketing online are smaller than they once were but still extremely significant if the proper marketing plan is executed.

Your active marketing can effectively include a moderate PPC campaign for exposure -- i.e. the use of pay per click search engine text ads; it may also include prominently placed banners on major portals and should include an email-marketing component.

Any single component above or a combination there of should embrace the primary goal of increasing exposure and your corporate name and message.

Passive Marketing- Since your customer is sold on the sizzle, now serve them the steak. Effective passive marketing campaigns can work in great synergy with your active campaigns if you include organic Search Engine Optimization/Search Engine Marketing (SEO/SEM) and newsletter email marketing.

Your primary focus with passive marketing should be to provide pointed and relevant information on a permission basis. Search Engine Marketing (SEM) while active in some respects takes the high road and delivers information that your end user is specifically looking for, when they are looking for it.

Email newsletters, whether sent daily, weekly or monthly should restate the importance and value of your company and or the pertinent products that you are marketing.

Press releases, company information and industry articles are great information to include in regular newsletter mailings

Caveats

Your synergy relies on your ability to balance your actions and goals. Many marketing plans fail for the simple reason that it can be difficult for analysis to reveal where the true value of a campaign originates.

Concurrently running multiple campaigns will not guarantee synergy, as there is a fine balance of active and passive marketing needed to attain the proper blend of results.

It is generally good practice to err to the side of caution in the consideration and implementation of pay per click campaigns for the purposes of passive marketing. Fundamentally the concept of pay per click does not meld well with the nature of the typical search engine user.

Remember, passive marketing offers “matter of fact” information to your target market and it should focus on providing information that bolster’s your ability to meet their needs better and more efficiently than your competition. All but the best and most informative ads on search engines are ignored.

Recently a representative of a major search engine mentioned that the majority of their users rely on the unpaid listings. Most search engine users consider sponsored listings as advertising and will put less weight on the credibility of these results.

Email marketing remains the quickest way to obtain response both for active and passive Internet marketing. There is a however, a high value placed on the acquisition and the maintenance of high quality lists for which you can send your information to and in turn an elevated cost structure.

Lists are privately available for rental through brokers and professional email marketing firms. Opt in emails, should be verified twice or more to ensure that the end user is a member of your focus. CPM [cost per thousand views] rates have held steady, as other forms of marketing have risen in cost. Select opt in emails to bolster your active marketing campaign.

The major caveat regarding opt in emails is purpose. It is generally not good measure financially to rent lists for your passive marketing endeavors. Utilize proper practice in generating your own opt in lists from internal resources.

If you do plan to maintain the rental of opt in email lists for the ongoing passive marketing of your company consider a Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) relationship with your vendor. CPA campaigns ensure a partnership relationship as you are paying only for the emails that result in business. Expect an elevated cost for a CPA campaign.

Under no circumstance should you make use of email address databases harvested by spammers. The addressees must have given their consent to receive such mail, and the use of unsolicited email campaigns may seriously damage your brand and reputation.

Marketing Management

Clearly define your purpose and goals in the planning of your synergistic marketing campaigns. Budget is a large consideration. In the event that your budget is very limited, SEM is a great way to approach your complete marketing program.

SEM is the passive answer to active marketing. You can kill two birds with one stone and minimize your financial vulnerability by utilizing SEM for approach both sides of the marketing mix.

If you are more liberal in your marketing expenditures, and you are promoting a very short-term program or promotion, include the quick response methods such as opt in email marketing and pay per click marketing.

As it has been said, “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.” If you plan on managing your marketing on your own over budget and market without reservation. Some of your marketing will not do as well as other marketing measures, but through careful review and analysis your optimal campaign strategies will reveal themselves.

You may also want to take a look at other installments in this series:
Part 1: The Order of Operations
Part 2: How Many Clicks does it Take?
Part 4: Close the deal

See also the Pandia Search Engine Marketing Tutorial.

Further reading:

. On finding the right search engine optimization and marketing firm
On the development of search engine marketing strategies
Rank Rage - on search engine spam
2003 Search Engine Marketing Buyer's Guide

Steve Winkler is the Business Development Manager of the www.KeywordRanking.com team of Search Engine and marketing professionals.

Steve Winkler has experience in demographic based marketing, interactive marketing programs and business efficiency consultation. Click here for more information, a free ranking report or a free in depth consultation. He can also be reached via email: swinkler@keywordranking.com

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