P&G’s Focus on Search Increasing in Rough Financial Times
With tough financial situations everywhere, and things not looking to improve anytime soon, more and more marketers will be tightening spending and looking for ways to stretch marketing Euros.
A recent post on Ad Age (http://adage.com/mediamavens/peterson.html) showed that Procter & Gamble Co.’s Randy Peterson has focused on research that shows a surprising level of search activity around package-goods categories and branding impact for search ads, even if clicks are relatively sparse.
Mr. Peterson says he’s found a way P&G can enjoy a scale advantage in search — by treating it as one of the few truly global media for a company with two dozen billion-dollar global brands.
“Usually, in media, we look at it on a country basis,” Mr. Peterson says. “If you buy a TV ad in one country, you don’t really want it spilling over into [another] and paying for that. [But] with search, you can have one system that works globally … doing keyword analysis in country A and with little or no effort reapply that in countries B through Z.”
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“Seventy-one percent of consumers expect us to be there in the search-results page,” he says. “If you’re not there, it’s like not being on the shelf at the store. They think if you’re not there, you’re not a leading brand.”
Another big advantage for P&G in search is feedback that can create continuous improvement in marketing pitches, sometimes dispelling preconceived notions about what words have meaning for a brand. “You can see what keywords are driving the most results,” Mr. Peterson says, “and you should be trying to win against those words.”
How much time and attention do we place on making sure that the search experience for our consumers is supporting and encouraging the user?
