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Year: August 2008
Type of Promotional Material/Activity Tested:
Integration of search marketing efforts with offline marketing channels.
Sample Population:
Online survey of 289 search engine marketers (screened for familiarity/ involvement with marketing their company's product or those of clients)
Study Objectives:
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To uncover the extent to which search marketing efforts are integrated with a variety of offline marketing channels
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To reveal the specific search marketing and integration techniques in use
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To identify obstacles to the integration process.
Top Line Results:
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Only 55% of search engine marketers report coordinating or integrating their efforts with at least one offline marketing channel. Direct mail is the most frequently used channel:
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Direct mail
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34%
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Newspaper/Magazine ad
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29%
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TV ad
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12%
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Radio ad
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12%
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Billboard/Sports venue advertising
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7%
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Outbound telemarketing
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7%
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Company store/physical location
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5%
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Sign on company truck, car, van
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2%
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Sign on taxi, train, bus
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1%
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| Other |
6%
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iProspect’s 2007 study “Offline Influence on Online Search Behavior Study” finds that 67% of online users are driven to perform a search as a result of an offline marketing message, and 39% of those offline-influenced searchers ultimately made a purchase. Building upon this, the 2008 iProspect study notes that despite the demonstration of the power of integrating search and offline channels, nearly half (45%) of search engine marketers still do not integrate their online marketing efforts with offline channels.
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Reasons given for lack of integration:
| Don't advertise in offline channels |
24% |
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Lack of budget
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19%
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Lack of human resources
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15%
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Didn't think/consider the option
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13%
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Lack of senior management buy-in/initiative
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11%
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Separate people manage offline channels/SEM
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11%
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Don't see benefit of coordination/integration
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9%
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- Integration techniques most frequently employed by search marketers:
| Included company web address prominently |
84% |
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Included company name prominently
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66%
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Used same colors offline that were used online
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41%
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Included company slogan/tagline prominently
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40%
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Included product/service name prominently
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40%
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Used same image/video offline as used online
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34%
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Offline offer that could be acted on online/offline
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30%
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Used same keywords offline that were used online
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26%
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Offline offer that could only be acted upon online
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23%
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Take Away:
From the study: “The key take-away from this study is that the techniques and practices employed by search engine marketers do not always take advantage of the behavior of search engine users. As a result, under certain circumstances, search marketers are wasting time, effort, and budget that could be better invested elsewhere. Be it the types of digital assets on which search engine marketers focus their optimization efforts, the extent to which they integrate their search marketing campaigns with offline marketing initiatives, the offline channels on which they are focusing their integration efforts, or the techniques they use to integrate their search marketing and offline campaigns – marketers would be well-served to align their efforts to match user behavior. Given the power of offline channels to drive search referrals and purchases, marketers would be wise to diversify their marketing mix to include offline channels.”
Complexity rating: 1
(complex statistical analysis scale: 1=none, 2=moderate, 3=difficult)
Link to full-text of iProspect Search Engine Marketing Integration Study.
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