By Year
11 Nov 2005
Marketing Week: Search and branding
Search is an effective direct-response tool capable of delivering sales leads at low cost, but many companies still fail to see how essential brand search is in building their brand image overall.
Search marketing has grown hugely in the past ten years. According to figures released by the Internet Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers, the total spend on advertising in the UK in the first half of 2005 was £490.8m, an increase year on year of 62 per cent. Paid-for search accounted for 40 per cent of the total, or just under £200m.
A huge amount of untapped revenue could be diverted into search marketing, if the search-engine operators and search marketing agencies could convince brand marketers that search is far more than a direct response medium, and that it can be used for branding purposes.
This point is echoed by Jim Brigden, chief operating officer of agency. "If people want more information about a product or service after seeing an ad on TV or in the press, what are they going to do? Many will go to a search engine, and that's the real issue for brands."
