I have been meaning to post this article for weeks and now that I am finally getting around to it, I have additional thoughts on Search as a branding tool.
The article talks about the branding lift a marketer can receive with paid placement search marketing. That is great news but there is a down side. Beware… Search is addicting! I have some clients who started doing business with my company with the objective of increasing traffic to the site and giving their brand increased awareness. When we reviewed the early results of the program, the client became obsessed with search's ability to do more than brand. This awareness and visibility campaign is now turning into e-commerce, which is fine but not the original intent.
Whatever makes the customer happy is fine with me…
Yes, Virginia, There Is SEM Brand Lift, Part 1:
"This week, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) Search Engine Effectiveness Committee published a study on the brand lift of textual paid search results. The results will knock your Christmas stockings off. Search can cause brand lift to soar!"