Read Site-Reference latest featured article titled “Super Bowl Advertisers Who combine Television advertising with Search Engine Marketing gain the most Benefits”. [Article Reprint]


Site-Reference newsletter article by Holly Berkley is reprinted here.

Super Bowl Advertisers Who combine Television advertising with Search Engine Marketing gain the most Benefits

by Holly Berkley

Creating a Web tie-in extends the life of the 30 second commercial

Combining traditional advertising methods with New Media marketing elements is proving more essential in today’s business world than ever before. The importance of directing potential customers to your web site was proved during the 2006 Super Bowl. During the game, top companies spent more than 200 million dollars with ABC to showcase their brands, but only 40% mentioned a web site.

The companies that not only mentioned their web site but also made sure they had top search rankings for their product keywords reaped the most benefits.

Companies ensure top search engine rankings by having their web site professionally optimized for specific keyword phrases. However for those major brands who wanted immediate control over top placement and messaging, simply purchased keyword phrases on top search engines such as Google and Yahoo!. Buying keyword phrases (also know as PPC or pay-per-click advertising) is a highly effective way to ensure your marketing message is up to date and at the top of the search engines at the right time.

Just days before and after the 2006 Super Bowl, Yahoo! reported an 800% increase in super bowl ad search related terms. Companies who actually included an online video version of their Super Bowl commercials online reaped the benefits of having their commercials viewed again and again as well as benefited from the Internet’s most powerful marketing tool –viral or word of mouth marketing as many were forwarded back and forth among friends via email, blogs or message boards.

Other companies skilled in buying time-appropriate keywords phrases through Yahoo! Search simply made sure their brands appeared at the top of these high volume search terms. These companies included Cadillac, Honda and Dove which according to Yahoo!, all bid on the phrase “Super Bowl XL Commercials” and took advantage of the resulting increased search traffic.

Cadillac was one of the few companies in the auto industry which must be aware of the stat that 70% of today’s auto buyers research online before visiting a dealer. As a result, they made sure to buy keywords releated to their autos, specifically the Cadillac Escalade which was featured during the Super Bowl. Yahoo! reported that seaches for the car increased over 75% just after the Super Bowl ad appeared and traffic to the Cadillac site increased 250% (comScore Media Metric)

Ford on the other hand, severely missed out by not purchasing related keywords after their super bowl ad aired promoting the new Escape Hybrid starring Kermit the Frog. In fact, this oversight lead not only to missed traffic, but actually helped their competitors! For example GM purchased the word “Kermit” to promote their own hybrid car line, getting the targeted traffic from the Super Bowl ad, with out the huge costs!

Even if your company is not a specific advertiser in a major event such as the Super Bowl, thinking of other related search phrases users may be searching for around a specific holiday or event can help you find access to new customers. For example, during the 2006 Super Bowl there was more than a 100% increase for keywords searches such as “Appetizer Recipes”, “Salsa” and “Chicken Wings”. If you are a local restaurant that delivers, a caterer, or another company that can benefit from these type of keywords phrases, you can put your company ad in front of a target audience without having to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Clearly the biggest winners in the SuperBowl XXXIX ad campaigns were the Dot Coms, obviously due to their understanding of the power of the Internet in measuring ad success and encouraging customer interaction with brand.

CareerBuilder.com, GoDaddy.com and Overstock.com all complemented their SuperBowl television ads with keywords buys and targeted landing pages that rewarded users for visiting their sites after the game.

According to comScore Networks, GoDaddy’s “wardrobe malfunction” ad campaign proved most successful shooting their traffic up 1564% after the Super Bowl add, achieving more than 439,000 unique visitors for 1 day. The controversial company played on the fact that their first rounds of commercials were not suitable for air on ABC, and specifically told audiences to “see more coverage at Godaddy.com” This direct call to action helped GoDaddy achieve more Internet traffic then any of the other top brands who purchased 5x more airtime than the controversial dot com.

About this author

Holly Berkley is the CEO and Director of Internet Marketing for San Diego Based Internet Marketing and Technology Consulting company Vantage Internet Services, Inc (www.VantageInternet.com). The above is an excerpt from her book Marketing in the New Media. You can download a free chapter from the book at http://www.vantageinternet.com/holly_berkley.html

These and many more Internet Marketing article, news and resources can be found at www.site-reference.com

Related IMNewswatch Post

Read Site-Reference Latest Newsletter

*IMNewswatch would like to thank Site-Reference for granting permission to reprint the latest articles.

 

 

 

 

Sharing is caring