Search engine marketing is hot and getting hotter. Today, more than 60% of online budgets are spent battling over key word supremacy.
But often, search marketing is only doing half its job. Search alone does nothing more than drive anonymous traffic. Marketers may know from which search engine the visitor came, but they won't know the identity of that potential customer.
Search engine marketing must be tied to a system that can capture contact information, drive outbound email marketing, link to multichannel marketing initiatives and create intelligence that can improve marketing ROI.
Making Search Accountable
With key words getting more expensive every day, companies must find a way to convert search traffic into real customer relationships.
But many aren't because it requires them to build out their search strategies with the same rigor and processes that define database marketing.
So, here's how to put a face on all the anonymous traffic hitting your Web site.
For starters, every key word needs to point to a specialized landing page. And that page should feature an offer so compelling that consumers will gladly identify themselves. Next, companies must immediately acknowledge newly identified visitors with an email or at least a confirmation of registration or inquiry.
On the back end, contact information from all landing pages and some companies have several hundred of them must be fed into a central database. Here it can be analyzed and routed for appropriate follow up.
A company can use this information to improve their search engine strategies. For example, basic consumer contact information can be overlaid with demographics to narrow their geographic focus or hone in on a lifestyle trait.
Getting Everyone On Board
To make all this possible, someone needs to step up. And the obvious first choice is interactive agencies.
That's because agencies and some marketing service providers sit at the heart of a network of teams that collectively lead online marketing. They often form a bridge between email and database marketing teams.
Many interactive agencies realize this and have begun to host or manage a shared online marketing platform.
They use such a platform to host all landing pages, trigger emails and link to a multichannel database. The platform can also provide a shared set of tools to create landing pages and make them visible to all teams supporting the online effort.
The ROI of search marketing is about to shift from anonymous Web site visits to known customer relationships. The future of search is the integration of a mass marketing channel with direct marketing execution tactics such as data modeling, segmenting, email marketing and content personalization.
It's the pay off search has been seeking.
About Alterian
Alterian (LSE: ALN) is the leading global provider of software for Analytics Led Integrated Marketing making it practical and cost effective for marketers to gain insight into their data and use this to drive an integrated marketing strategy, across multiple online and offline channels, from a single set of applications and infrastructure.
A global community of over 70 business partners, including many of the leading providers of services to marketers such as Accenture, Acxiom, Allant Group, Carlson Marketing Group, Experian, Epsilon, Donnelley Marketing, Harte-Hanks, Merkle, Ogilvy One and Euro RSCG Worldwide, deliver the Alterian software platform alongside their own value-added services. These solutions empower market leaders like Princess Cruises, General Motors, Zurich, HSBC, MGM Casinos, Starz! Entertainment, Limited Too, Dell, Amnesty International and Vodafone, to drive competitive advantage through improved marketing performance and customer satisfaction.
Alterian was founded in 1997 and listed on the techMARK Index of the London Stock Exchange in 2000. With offices throughout North America and Europe, Alterian software is used in over 20 countries worldwide.
