• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, March 18, 2014

Most CEOs spend many waking minutes thinking about industry challenges and how to overcome them. Sometimes I think those with the data to back assertions spend a little more time, compared with others who don't analyze the numbers themselves. So when I asked AdGooroo's CEO Richard Stokes about the one thing he expects to happen this year that hasn't happened already, here's what he said.

You would think consumer product goods companies have search down to a science, but most don't. "I keep expecting CPGs to fully embrace and master search engine marketing," Stokes said. "The CPG industry is different because of their massive size, and the people who budget the marketing campaigns are rarely the same who run them."

Stokes said there are some very smart people addressing the challenge. This year he has seen large, more traditional brands breaking down the barrier between paid media and search engine marketing.

There's a real disconnect between groups that creates structural challenges. The organizational challenge means getting the television media buyers together with the search engine marketers. "Wow, think about that meeting," Stokes said. "No problem is insurmountable, but the problem with search points to dollars spent on campaigns, though the exposure to consumers remains much less compared with television, so it's difficult to get the same attention."

Not many brands are doing it, but Stokes said that Pepsi ran a Super Bowl that relied on search engine marketing ads and keywords to continue the conversation with consumers after the big game.

As the for 1% mentioned in the AdGooroo research that ran in Search Marketing Daily last week, Stokes said to put it in perspective, there are nearly 24,700 advertisers in the U.S. that dominate paid search. The study was done on behalf of the Festival of Media Global.

Several reasons behind the 1% dynamics: branded terms that drive traffic, offline advertising and the connection with brand awareness and search click-through rates, generic terms that tend to serve fewer ads, and click-through rates with high-quality advertiser's ads that end up at the top of the page.

There are many overlooked opportunities. Google's a money machine -- a "printing press," Stokes said. Do it correctly and a brand can put in $1 and get $10 back.

"Printing Press" photo from Shutterstock.