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
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?
Top 10 Pharma Search Stories from 2010
2010, like every other year, was a busy one in the world of search marketers. For pharmaceutical search marketing, there were many stories that had significant repercussions throughout the year. I wanted to take a moment to reflect on the 10 of the biggest changes from 2010. These are not in order of impact, but rather are listed as events/facts which have played a lasting role in search, from my perspective.
10. Search Use Continues to Grow
While not necessarily a specific event, the simple fact that search usage continues to climb is very impressive. Users continue to rely on search engines to find the information they are looking for. At the beginning of 2010, search volume estimates from Comscore showed search volume at around 15.1 billion searches. In November 2010 (December #s not yet available), search volume was estimated at just over 16 billion searches. That’s a 5.7% increase in search volume in 2010.
9. Social Search Connection Grows
The connection between social media channels and search engines became even more cohesive in 2010 with the integration of various channels. Google kicked off the year by partnering with Twitter to show real-time tweets on major topics. Bing and Yahoo followed shortly with their own partnerships with Twitter. Bing further enhanced their social media integration by pulling in Facebook Like data into Bing results.
Think Social Search!
Over the past 2 years, in case you have lived under a rock, the bulk of pharmaceutical marketing conversation has revolved around social media initiatives like Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, etc. The value of social media channels can’t be argued…this is where the people are and marketing basics tell you that you should go where the people are. I’m a huge fan of leveraging social media channels as a part of an integrated marketing strategy, but I’m not a big fan of putting all your eggs in one basket. I’m an even bigger fan of the concept of social search. The fact is, search marketing and social media initiatives can be improved and empowered by an integrated approach. Add additional online marketing channels – like display media, mobile media and e-mail – and you will find a very powerful online marketing strategy.
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
