Joshua Stylman takes Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH) Chairman Steve Harty to task in this post, for Harty's recent comments pooh-poohing an agency's use of search marketing to promote itself.
"We're not convinced that the people we are marketing to are using that as a channel..." Harty said. "We have a more targeted strategy than, 'We're open for business.' Search is kind of
indiscriminate in a way."
Stylman uses BBH's presence (or lack thereof) in the SERPs to illustrate why agencies actually do need to establish a strong paid and organic search
practice for themselves.
"While BBH may not be using search to draw in new clients you can bet that prospective clients, employees and strategic partners are using search to get a
sense of how it would be to work with their potential new agency, its chairman, or their creative team," he says. "I would bet that one of the first things someone does after getting a business card
from someone at BBH is to look for them and their company on Google. The results are lackluster--a potential client might wonder whether the results of a marketing campaign developed by BBH will be
any better."
Read the whole story at Searchviews »