Search plays a more critical role in traditional ads than you might realize. Find out how to create a successful integrated campaign.

Consider this scenario: You see a product on television, in a magazine, or hear of one on the radio that sparks your interest. You go online (probably first to a search engine), and do some research. You search on keywords related to the product type (perhaps you can't remember EXACTLY what it was called), and then begin to narrow your search by brand name, or perhaps a location qualifier. You find what you are looking for, and where you can buy it. You walk into the retailer in your area, find your product, examine it and make the purchase.

You have just gone through the five main stages of the purchase cycle (awareness, familiarity, comparison, pricing and purchase), and you have used a multi-media channel approach; an approach an increasing number of your customers are taking. 

Marketers need to be sensitive to this sort of scenario, which has become more frequent than ever in the past few years. According to Nielsen NetRatings' Summer 2007 release, 83.6 percent of the U.S. population has internet access either from work or from home. Additionally, approximately 53 percent of U.S. households have a broadband connection, according to Point Topic (March 2007).

Why is this important? With broadband penetration, which allows the internet to be quickly and consistently accessible, we are seeing a rise in cross-media audience duplication, which encourages the sort of multi-channel approach described above.

To further illustrate the multi-channel approach, here are the results of the Multi Channel Shopping Transformation Study compiled by The e-tailing group/J.C. Williams Group/Start Sampling in 2006:

A multi-channel approach to the purchase process means that marketers need to ensure their online and offline efforts are integrated. There needs to be consistency in the brand message that is employed in television, on the radio, in newspapers, through SEM, et cetera so that users who come into the awareness phase via one media vehicle are able to recognize the brand as they move to a different vehicle.

Don't forget SEM
Many advertisers are getting better at merging offline marketing efforts with online, when it comes to promoting their site URL within television commercials, radio ads, magazine, newspaper, and yellow pages ads. But what about SEM? This is one area where there remains room for improvement.

In many cases, the agency or group that manages a company's SEM program is different than the agency or group that manages the offline marketing campaigns. Often times, the SEM program is managed in a vacuum, and is optimized strictly based on clickthrough and conversion rates, and ad messages are created based solely on search marketing trends, or specific campaign performance data. And while it is extremely important to ensure that your SEM campaign is optimized on an ongoing basis to generate optimal performance, some care should be taken to ensure that the brand is recognizable online, in relation to what is being promoted offline.

Consider this scenario: You find an ad in a newspaper advertising a sale on toasters at a particular retailer. You want to learn more about this, and go to a search engine, and type in a "toasters at retailer" query. You are served an ad for the retailer. You click over to the retailer site, and are forced to search for the toasters. You find them, but there is no mention of the sale. Confusing and frustrating, but a rather common situation.

Ideally, advertisers need to be aligning their SEM efforts with the offline marketing. Within the above scenario, the user experience would be much more positive if the "toasters at retailer" query returned an ad that clearly promoted the toasters, mentioned the sale, and then led the user to the toasters' area of the site, where the sale message was once again reinforced. 

A case study
TMP Directional Marketing recently worked with one of its clients to incorporate an offline promotion into an SEM campaign. The client was running a springtime sweepstakes, which it was promoting via television show sponsorship, magazine ads, as well as online banner advertising. We worked to incorporate the promotion into the ad text within the SEM campaign. We created a landing page specifically for branded keywords, highlighting the promotion.

The result? Clickthrough rates on the engines increased by more than 200 percent in some cases, and the landing page served to drive a high amount of traffic to the sweepstakes entry form.  

The most compelling results for integration of online and offline come from the study of buyer behaviors in recent months. In March of last year, comScore Networks issued a study that showed that 63 percent of purchases were completed as a direct result of a search query.

As shoppers continue to become savvier in their purchase process, through the use of a multi-media channel approach, marketers need to work to ensure that their online and offline efforts are being aligned. A cohesive approach will help to simplify a customer's purchase decision. Or at the very least, a consistent brand message among the vehicles will ensure a top-of-mind awareness as the customer moves through the purchase process and from one media channel to the next. 

Stuart McKelvey is CEO, TMP Directional Marketing, the world’s largest local search/yellow pages agency. Read full bio.