NewsLine Column: Advertising Utopia

Reaching the right people at exactly the right time is every advertiser’s dream. Sebastian Bishop, co-founder of Espotting Media, considers how pay-per-click search engines are helping to make this utopia a reality.

Down the pub, Joe is chatting to a mate about needing a new car. As if by magic, he opens a magazine and there’s an ad for the car he’s always wanted. It’s every client’s dream and as marketers, what we all strive for. Reaching the right person at exactly the right time. Too good to be true? Well it’s happening on the Internet. Every day, users are telling us what they want through search engines.

Search is the 2nd most popular activity on the internet after e-mail and 80% of web-traffic comes from search engines (Forrester Research). So for a company with a website that generates customers and revenue, getting listed on search engines is vital for their business. In fact, 70% of all e-commerce transactions originate from a search (Forrester Research) So, getting listed is an essential part of the online marketing mix. But getting listed and more importantly, getting listed prominently, is a tricky business. This is where pay-per-click search engines come in.

With pay-per-click search engines, companies bid on keywords relevant to their site in an online, real time auction. The higher they bid, the higher they are listed in the search results. Campaigns are written for the keywords and these campaigns appear as search listings when a user types in a relevant keyword. An editorial team checks every keyword on which an advertiser is bidding, ensuring relevancy for the user.

So what’s in it for the advertiser? Firstly, they are guaranteed ROI as the keywords are bought on a cost-per-click basis. They only pay when a user clicks through to their site. And because of this, the advertising is 100% accountable and cost-effective, allowing for easy analysis of the campaigns and consequently, their budget can be efficiently deployed.

This form of advertising is one of the best forms of permission-based marketing there is. You are getting your client’s website to the right people at the right time because they are actively requesting information about an advertiser’s products and services. This is unique to the medium and because of this and the fact that they only pay for the traffic they receive, high conversion rates are a norm. With Espotting for example, Interflora’s Mother’s Day campaign achieved conversion rates as high as 28%. For every £1 spent with Espotting, The Trainline achieved a return of £30.

Utopia can be a reality. Your client can’t lose. It could only happen on the internet.

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