by Yahoo!

As people continue to move online for business, entertainment and socialising, it is becoming more and more challenging to effectively advertise and market to customers. In an on-demand, user-generated culture, it’s easy for your audience to tune out if they don’t agree with what you’re saying.

Savvy marketing necessary to create brand experience

The increasingly fragmented media landscape means marketers have to be more innovative in their approach to customers. This does not mean, however, that they should abandon traditional outlets in favour of new media. Marketers need to be savvy about how they reach their target audience by using all forms of relevant media available to engage rather than alienate consumers. This principal particularly applies to search marketing, as search engines have become the world’s primary research tool and often the first place people go after seeing relevant offline campaigns.

What is cross media integration?

According to a recent BIG study , 89 percent of people regularly/ occasionally research online before buying offline, yet only 7 percent of retail sales occur online. It is clear that exposure to online advertising is fundamentally changing the way consumers shop. Bearing this in mind, it’s surprising that more brands are not moving toward a blended advertising model which integrates online and offline activity with search at its heart. When brands are placed in multiple channels they take on a life of their own. Consumers can find them on Facebook, in the cinema or on the beach. It’s no longer simply what a brand says to us, or how it infiltrates our lives; it’s about being relevant and useful, and available when and where we need it.

What is the best way to bridge the gap between offline and online? The answer lies in search. A report issued last year by Hitwise UK entitled ‘The Hitwise Media Impact Report’ measured the impact of offline advertising on online consumer behaviour.

One of the key findings was that when Sky’s media campaign included both online and offline advertising (from September to November 2005) the strongest result was achieved online. Searches for the Sky brand increased 20% and searches for the Sky URL more than doubled. To underline the difference made by an integrated campaign, when an offline campaign ran without the integration of an online campaign in March and April 2005, the same lift in searches did not occur.

Search and display

Once consumers are conducting online searches then the key goal is targeted and effective advertising. Last year, comScore Networks conducted research to measure the impact of display and search advertising campaigns. The study, entitled ‘Close the Loop: Understanding Search and Display Synergy,’ found that when combined, search and display advertising deliver profoundly better results than when used independently. The overall results showed that when viewed together, campaigns that take advantage of both search and display advertising are far more engaging and effective than those viewed individually.

Online users who were exposed to both the search and display advertising campaigns increased their share of page views relative to competitive sites by 68 percent, and time spent by 66 percent. More importantly, among those exposed to both the search and display ads, purchases of the advertiser’s products and services increased by 244 percent online and 89 percent offline compared to online users with similar behaviour who were not exposed to these ads.

The study also found that exposure to a display advertisement increased the related trademark term searches (brand, company or product names) by an average of 26 percent during the campaign flight. This shows that interest generated from display advertising carries over to consumer search behaviour, making it crucial that marketers use the two in unison to take full advantage of their online brand presence.

Implications for advertisers

Put simply, changes in media consumption mean that the future of the advertising and marketing industries will depend as much on experiences and dialogue as direct messaging. As research heavy consumers engage with your products online, you can influence their eventual in-store purchase. Search is surging ahead in this respect by helping to combine all of the different media types. However, there is no room for complacency.

Integration is no longer simply between brand and media; it’s about creating experience and connecting brands with customers through informative websites that provide customers with ways to engage at a deeper level with your brand and your products. Using the advanced technique of integrating search with all your media messages, you can help connect consumers with your brand more efficiently and with greater results.