NEW YORK – A growing number of marketers that have begun using pay-per-click for more than acquisition. It can be used to head off negative news, piggyback on positive news and to support branding campaigns.
Miva executives Chrysi Philalithes, vice president of global marketing and communications, and David MCCarthy, vice president of advertising and business development, were panelists at the session titled “Pay-per-click Beyond Acquisition.”
“People are searching not only for brand terms, but also for news associated with a brand,” Ms. Philalithes said. “Marketers can use the stories to their advantage.”
She used Pedigree as an example. The dog food company bought the keywords “dog food recall,” and when a user searches for that on Google, Pedigree comes up as one of the top results. The ad says, “100 percent safe. Not part of recall.”
“To fend off negative news, harness the immediacy of PPC, as it is more reactive than SEO,” Ms. Philalithes said. “Its great because you are communicating with the customer on their terms. They are keying in what they are looking for.”
With a positive news story, launching a PPC campaign to highlight impressive news is a good idea, too, she said.
“Subscribing to news alerts is a great way to keep up with what’s in the news about your company,” Mr. McCarthy said. “Yahoo and Google have them.”
All you do it enter keyword like your name, your company and product names and any news stories with those keywords in them will be e-mailed to you.
Mr. McCarthy said it is important to consider affiliate strategies and to avoid mixed messages.
He suggested that your message to consumers be informative and not persuasive, as many times consumers are turned off by persuasive messages. This calls for truly understanding the buying process.
“Integrate SEM and PR teams to monitor emerging stories,” Mr. McCarthy said. “In addition, point to positive blog postings and forums to limit additional workload.”
