Commentary

Get Your Search House In Order For The Holidays

The numbers are in. The National Retail Federation (NRF) is, not surprisingly, predicting another dip in holiday spending in 2009, starting with an 1% drop in sales during the eighth-largest U.S. spending holiday, Halloween.  It's a dismal outlook for marketers, but one that doesn't have to leave us scratching our heads and biting our nails until the actual sales figures are reported. 

 

Even with dour consumer spending and strained marketing budgets, smart marketers can adjust their marketing strategies to divert search traffic from rivals and gain an online competitive advantage.

It's no longer about picking keywords out of thin air; it's about finding and leveraging words that are driving consumers to action.

In head-to-head battles with rivals, effective search marketing will pay off; just look at this example from Halloween.  A quick glance at which retailers paid to drive Web traffic from consumers searching for "costumes" shows an immediate discrepancy: Target paid and Walmart didn't.  In fact, Target bid on a number of Halloween-focused search terms ("Halloween decorations" and "kids Halloween costumes," etc.), while Walmart didn't seasonally adjust its paid search strategy for October. 

Target's search marketing strategy paid off.  The store's site was among the top ten traffic-generating destinations from searches containing "Halloween" and "costume."  By contrast, Walmart doesn't even crack the top 50 sites on these lists.  Target also heavily invested in Target.com/Halloween.  The landing page (listed in paid search results) featured interactive ads and costume displays, links to holiday entertaining ideas and a free shipping offer.  With a claim of more than 5,000 available costumes, it's evident that Target wanted you to buy now and buy online. 

Walmart appeared to have a different approach.  It's not that it ignored the holiday.  The company's Web site clearly displayed discounted costumes and decorations, and Walmart offered party planning tips and ghoulish polls to entertain shoppers.  They even slashed the cost of shipping.  Still, a visit to Walmart.com/Halloween led you directly to the "In Stores Now" tab, indicating they'd rather entice you to visit a retail outlet than sell you a heavily discounted costume online.  Could it be that instead of online spending, Walmart was banking on you to stock up on candy in one of their stores.

Regardless of the reason they shunned the spooks this year, Walmart left costume-seeking consumers' dollars on the table.  Search is not only an effective brand marketing tool; it's also a powerful acquisition channel.  Halloween is just the beginning of the holiday shopping season, and it's an important online indicator and the beginning of the holiday Web shopping traffic spike.  Walmart needs to quickly get its online search strategy in order for this month and December to attract an increased share of what remains of online holiday spending. 

Search marketing is a secret weapon - it's easier to fine-tune than other ad strategies and makes a measureable impact quickly.  Walmart and its fellow retailers can get a jump on creating winning holiday search marketing campaigns.  Here are some quick tips I've pulled together for getting started: 

Be smart about which search terms drive traffic.  Look at what's happening days, weeks and months ahead of the holiday.  How do search terms differ on Black Friday versus Dec. 15?  Then optimize your Web site to include content that uses less competitive, but highly engaging keywords.

Gather insight into the search terms competitors are buying.  In the example above, Walmart can clearly see which words it could start buying to poach costume traffic from Target.  In the same way, you can identify the sources that are driving referral traffic to your category and to your specific competitors.

Know which words and phrases are driving highly engaged traffic.  Eyeballs don't count if they're not willing to open their wallets.  Which terms are driving lingering and converting traffic?  Start by looking at trended historical search data and identifying which paid and organic referrals have driven highly engaged traffic to your site and to your competitors.  

The secret to paid search marketing success is up-to-date visibility into actual searching behavior and bidding strategies.  By understanding the value of specific search terms, smart marketers can identify opportunities to incorporate keywords that are performing well for competitors and for their industry category.  Building an effective paid search strategy doesn't have to take months - marketers should be able to see results in near real-time as they adjust their strategies.  It's not too late to get your search house in order for the holidays.   

 

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