By Lydia Chen Shah, Director Marketing Communications
A couple weeks ago, one of the agencies WebMetro provides search engine marketing services for asked me how to justify to a client bidding on the client’s own brand via a PPC campaign.
Even after the agency explained to the client it is imperative to utilize brand-related keywords as part of a pay per click campaign to support brand awareness promoted from other media venues if a consumer conducted a brand-related search, the client believed strongly that adding its company name as a keyword would be a total waste of marketing budget.
The agency contact explained further the competition could own branded terms if the client allowed competitors the opportunity.
This conversation reminded me of a blog written last year by Michael Behrens – I Will Save Your Brand in Five Minutes.
Michael wrote the blog in regards to contextual advertising in the search engines’ content networks but the gist of the blog certainly applies to the situation…at a slightly different angle than brand awareness.
Brand Protection.
If a company has worked (non-stop and improving continuously) to build a solid brand with some legs to stand on or run with, it’s enticing for competitors to bid on that brand and steal away potential and current customers.
I believe a brand needs to be present if a consumer, existing customer or potential, is looking directly for it. Especially if it’s a branded search!
Including a company name as a keyword is just one more measure that keeps users focused on a brand when users search specifically for the brand. Why give the competition the opportunity to divert traffic away from your brand?
You’ve got the user this far down the funnel, searching for you by name. Don’t waste the combination of marketing efforts (and dollars!) now by not protecting your brand.