Commentary

Welcome Paid Search Marketers To Display Advertising

Frost-Prioleau

Familiarity makes people feel comfortable -- whether using a software program or attending an event with friends. A familiar user interface is how hardware and software companies like Microsoft and Apple built a loyal customer base.

So, it's no surprise several companies offering display advertising platforms surfaced in the past year to make paid search marketers comfortable in the medium. Meet Simpl.fi, founded in January and officially launched in September. It's another startup trying to make life a little simpler for marketers and advertisers.

Similar to Magnetic or BlueKai, Fort Worth, Texas-based Simpli.fi allows marketers to upload search terms into a self-service display ad platform to target consumers that search on keywords within the past month. Every startup must have a differentiator. According to Simpli.fi cofounder Frost Prioleau, at least one differentiator resides in keyword bidding.

The idea to build a platform similar to AdWords that aims to make search marketers comfortable in the world of display. So, once the 1,000 or 10,000 keywords get uploaded into the platform marketers can maintain different keyword cost-per-click (CPC) bids on each. They set geo-targeting and day-part. The platform offers word-level reporting and optimizing features. The efforts aim to show marketers the ease of display advertising in hopes of moving or upping budgets to include more display ads.

The reporting in Simpli.fi is based on how each keyword performs. It tracks the number of impressions-clicks and costs--on display ads for the keyword. The platform tells the marketer the terms and keywords that generate the traffic and where it comes from, allowing marketers to identify the success terms.

Prioleau, who also co-founded Personifi, a contextual and behavioral targeting company sold to online advertising network Collective Media in 2008, says search marketers and agency execs get the idea on what he's trying to do "in a heartbeat." Simpli.fi's display ad inventory comes from real-time bidding exchanges or display-side platforms.

So why co-found Simpli.fi along with former Havas Digital CEO Don Epperson? Prioleau found an industry need to make display adverting simple. Prioleau estimates most of the paid search ad budgets get spent on about 5% of the keyword inventory, so it seemed logical to look for a way to bring the workflow and processes from search to display where there's plenty of inventory at what Prioleau calls "reasonable prices."

Marketers tend to buy high-value search terms. I'm sure marketers have this number etched in their brain, as a reminder the IAB released numbers recently that estimate Internet advertising revenue in the United States reached $12.1billion for the first six months of 2010, with Q2 accounting for approximately $6.2 billion. Search revenue accounted for 47% of year to date revenue, flat over the 47% reported in the first half of 2009. Display advertising, the second largest format, accounted for 36%.

On another note, I'm looking for marketing or advertising companies that built technology ad-ons, features or services specially to support marketers through the holiday season. Email me when you get a minute.

Next story loading loading..