Successfully scaling an organization requires more than simply capturing demand. In order to build a brand of meaningful size, it is important to consider all areas of the funnel – upper funnel marketing (Awareness), the middle of the funnel (Interest), and the lower part of the funnel (Convert). Is it enough to rely on one marketing area, search, to grow an organization through all 3 sections of the funnel? My experience is that it is not enough to simply focus on search when scaling a company.
It is widely held that GoTo.com was the first paid search advertising marketplace. GoTo.com was started in 1997, and since that time, paid search has been a channel that marketers have used to drive high-quality traffic to their brands. I visited the GoTo office in California several years after they launched a paid search marketplace. I worked for a company where we utilized GoTo to drive traffic to our contact lens e-tailer. It was marvelous. We could drive high-quality traffic to our website for a few pennies, and it converted. It converted well. Unfortunately, simply capturing “paid search” traffic is not enough when it comes to scaling an organization.
I know friends and peers that have worked in the paid search space since it was conceived in the late 90s. There are very few instances where I would not recommend starting with search, whether paid search and/or organic. I believe it’s foundational as a brand to launch strategies to capture demand. When a consumer becomes aware of your brand and is ready to purchase from you, your brand must be in a position to fulfill that need. Whether it’s 1997 or 2022, consumers often involve search engines to research and purchase their products.
While it is wise to ensure the lower part of your funnel is established, it would be a huge mistake not to invest in the mid and upper-funnel of your brand/product. Many people become so reliant and fascinated with the benefit of search that they fail to move into strategies that develop the middle and upper parts of their funnel. Only focusing on lower funnel marketing leads to diminishing returns, stalled growth, and a business that slowly begins to die on the vine. Plus, running multiple channels has intrinsic and data-back value that has been proven time and time again.
If you have launched and established paid search and organic for your organization, here are a few ways to utilize paid search to move into the mid and upper-funnel more effectively by using programmatic marketing.
- Keywords and Learnings from Paid Search
- You have undoubtedly gained insights and data through your search campaigns, whether paid or organic. Providing those learnings to your programmatic agency will yield significant benefits and results. The keywords can be targeted directly across the web using programmatic techniques. The keywords also can be used for contextual targeting or to help select private marketplace opportunities.
- Optimization
- A fundamental part of paid search is optimization, whether using A/B testing on ads or multi-variant techniques on landing pages that receive the search traffic. Similar testing strategies should be used when running programmatic. In fact, ad testing in programmatic can be highly effective and yield helpful findings in a relatively short amount of time.
- Consistency
- A well-run search campaign will create consistency and cohesion from start to finish. The keyword should align with the ad copy, which should align with the landing page. Some companies will even ensure that the IVR or phone experience integrates the keywords into its structure, taking consistency one step further. The same focus on consistency should be utilized in programmatic. The ads and landing page should be a consistent and cohesive experience for whatever audience is used. It should not be subject-matter whiplash as the consumer goes from ad to landing page.
- Structure
- The best-paid search gurus will take a methodical, well-thought approach to structure their accounts. One of the most critical decisions that paid search managers will undertake is their approach to organizing their campaigns within the account. One common practice is to have a campaign(s) that focus on the brand. Then another campaign(s) that will focus on non-brand categories. For example, you might have a “credibility” campaign group that you utilize to target consumers that are searching on things like “xyz reviews” or “xyz testimonials” or “xyz experiences.” Another common approach is to consider which part of the funnel a consumer is in when constructing their campaigns. The same approach should be taken within programmatic. You can use particular programmatic tactics to target the lower funnel (retargeting), mid-funnel (CRM), or upper funnel (3rd party segments on CTV). There are many tactics that you can use in programmatic, and those mentioned above are very small sample sizes.
- Measurement
- A fallacy in programmatic marketing is that it’s “fluffy” or that you can not measure programmatic marketing. This could not be further from the truth. Paid search or organic marketing is valuable for many reasons, but the ability to measure the results directly within search is unique and invaluable. Programmatic, when done correctly, is measured just as effectively as search marketing. Unfortunately, many groups take a “1 and done” approach to programmatic marketing. They are happy to get a client on board for a few months, not focus on tracking, then expect the relationship to end once the gig is up. Above The Fold starts the conversation by discussing the objectives and desired results. As the goals are understood, we work with our in-house analytics team and any resources that our clients have to craft a defined measurement approach.
At Above The Fold, we love it when our clients are already running search marketing. Honestly, it makes our lives as an agency partner much easier. A variety of potential clients have approached us without having a solid lower-funnel search marketing approach established. When that happens, we either recommend that we help them first establish a lower-funnel search marketing strategy, OR we are very specific in the recommended programmatic tactics we will utilize. The worst thing we encounter is when companies have waited too long to launch mid/upper-funnel campaigns, and they are feeling the pain of stagnation. Let us help you analyze your funnel and provide a personalized list of tactics that we can utilize to help you grow your overall funnel.
PS – Curious about how Google DSP and programmatic compare, check out our recent summary.
