Search Marketing is Your Foundation
I recently contributed an article to the Intouch Soul Blog and wanted to take a moment to expand a bit further upon the conversation I started there. The title of my post – “Thinking Beyond the Search Box” – was intended to illustrate the point that search marketing is no longer about the engine and the search box (that’s why I don’t typically say “search engine marketing”). While marketing through search engines is still a large part of my job, it’s more about leveraging all the different search engine-powered technologies that can help expand reach well beyond Google and Bing. Read more
Google Ads for Pharma: Think Outside the Box
One of my favorite things about working with Google (not, I do not work AT Google) is the fact that they are always testing and trying new things to see what works and what doesn’t. Due to their tremendous success, Google has been able to continuously update and innovate new ways to make search more user-friendly. One of the many things they have done lately is create pharma-friendly ads, which I have blogged about in the past. These pharma ads were presented during the FDA hearings in November 2009, and while there has been no official word from the FDA, some brands have started using these ad formats. Specifically, black-box drugs have been using the “black box” ad format. brands using this include ENBREL, PLAVIX and ELITEK (see screenshots below)
What is a Search Marketer?
Digital marketing for pharmaceuticals is a very challenging business, and one that often leads to various levels of frustration for me as a search marketer. Search engine marketing requires a combination of many skills in order to truly be successful. First and foremost, you have to know the basic needs for search engine optimization (SEO) and paid search marketing (PPC). You have to know what factors to are the most important, and which factors you can “sacrifice” if the battle becomes too heavy. You have to know that keyword research can always help as it provides a deep level of insight into HOW people are researching a specific topic. What kind of language are they using? Does the specific order of the words within a phrase make a difference? Is your target audience more likely to use one phrase over another?
Facebook Muscling in on Google Ad Revenue?
Thanks to a @dannysullivan tweet today, I found an article on AdAge.com entitled “Facebook Books $1.86B in Advertising; Muscles In on Google Turf“. While the article brings up some interesting facts, I found it interesting that the actual headline is completely misleading. If you read further into the article, there is a specific quote that pretty much spells out the facts.
That doesn’t mean that Facebook is taking any significant market share from the search titan; indeed, Google makes more than $2 billion in advertising revenue in a given month. But Ms. Williamson believes there’s an emerging duopoly in the self-serve online-ad realm. The social network now accounts for almost 5% of total online-ad spending, and its share may increase to as much as 8% in 2011. Read more
Bing to Power Yahoo! Search Starting This Week
In case you had missed the news or weren’t aware, as of this week Bing has started powering organic search results on Yahoo! Search for the English language in the United States and Canada. With this transition, Bing will move from a small competitor to Google to a significant competitor and possibly even a slight threat. Google still dominates with over 60% share of search, but Bing and Bing-powered Yahoo will now power more than 5 billion monthly searches (around 32% share of search in the US). As a search marketer, this is a significant change from what we have been used to and it offers a strong opportunity. Read more
