For a campaign that includes, TV, search, display and print, it is so important that all parties come together to talk about how budgets should be spent. No one is more important than the other. The bricks are no more important than the mortar, the water or the labor involved in construction. I could go on here, but you get the idea. Any one specific aspect of a campaign is just as vital as the other.

So here is where our learnings from our other posts kick in: communicate, plan and play together. Share those shovels and wheel barrows so that everyone comes out ahead. Talk about what budget your campaign needs to succeed, but listen to what others are asking for at the same time and learn to compromise for the benefit of the client.

The key is to focus on the synergy that is created when the different arms of advertising are integrated into one plan.  Recent advertising studies show a direct correlation between TV and online – specifically search.  Traditional advertising draws awareness to your product, prompting searches to get additional information/offers online.  Home page takeovers and banners can often lead to a growth in the search campaign.  It is important to incorporate as many advertising formats as your budget can hold.

Testing each medium also provides insight into how to allocate the budget.  It may take longer to find the right mix, but the benefits of working together to find that mix will be well received by the client and go a long way to showing the client how well all of our teams work together.

To get an initial budget, we suggest putting together a 3-tiered estimate that includes all ad venues.  The first is the efficiency plan – the bare minimum required to start the campaign. Secondly, a mid-range plan – which shows a more optimal budget.  Finally, an opportunity plus plan – this represents a budget that includes additional funding opportunities that may come up over the course of the campaign.  By presenting three levels, the client can better see what the dollars from each medium will provide.

Budgeting may be the hardest area to work through in your design plan.  Keep your mind open and try not to build so many walls that you don’t have an open floor plan. Be sure to remember that each medium benefits from the other! Above all else, remember teamwork to meet client goals is the focus – we’re still trying to build the ultimate sand castle together.

Next time, we will tackle the next stage of our castle – picking paint colors and fixtures, or in layman terms ­­– setting our campaign goals.

With the changes in the economy, everyone is spending less. From the average consumer up to the Fortune 500 Company, we all are experiencing limited spending powers. As a natural reaction, when faced with any of life’s limitations we tend to expand our imagination and brainstorm new ways of getting things done. We immerse ourselves in the “think mode” of how can I do more with less? This is even true for Search Marketing.

Owing to its fine ability to be measured as well as the high return on investment, SEM has become one of the most resilient areas of marketing. But now, even we, as Search Marketers, are accepting the reality that the budget cuts are affecting us too. We can no longer be so uber-focused on Paid Search as the “end-all-be-all” of online marketing. We are beginning to spread our wings and consider search from a more holistic perspective. This epiphany has shown the light on SEO.

The value of SEO has, for the most part, been undermined because of the time it takes to see the fruits of your labor and the labor itself. SEO as a standalone strategy works well for any brand whose idea of online success is coupled with the commitment to longevity. But SEO, as part of an overall strategy with paid, defines success with increased traffic, brand strength, brand authority and most importantly, cost efficiencies. Now that companies are cutting back on their overall budgets, thus having less to spend in paid search, they are considering SEO as their golden ticket to remain competitive in the online space.

In an article on iMediaConnection, Turn to SEO to help beat a bad economy, Seth Besmertnik does an excellent job of summing up WHY marketers will start to look toward SEO as the saving grace to online marketing. The point I found to be the most thought provoking was his closing remarks:

We have known for a long time that traffic in search is entirely disproportionate to spend. Eighty-six percent of consumer clicks happen in the natural space, yet the lion’s share of spend goes to paid search. Marketers have been told for years that this is acceptable because paid search is easier to justify. With new economic woes fueling stress in every market sector, and so much more to be gained in natural search, I am thinking that by next year, interactive will have a new favorite.

I’m a huge fan of SEO, but I’m an even bigger fan of integrating marketing efforts to experience a wider range of success; finding this article made it feel like Christmas again. SEO is no longer the red headed step child; instead it’s become one of the brightest members of the online marketing mix!

• 72% of Fortune 500 companies have very low to non-existent visibility for their most advertised keywords
• 20% of Fortune 500 companies have low to mid presence
• 8% of Fortune 500 companies studied showed mid to strong presence for their most advertised keywords

Why is SEO the red headed step-child of Search?

In my experience here at Outrider, I’ve found that the greatest challenge presented to SEO’ers is getting clients to own and commit to achieving success in the organic space.  As an agency, we tout the idea and proven value of approaching search holistically and using the historical data from paid to influence organic and vice a versa, but how often do search strategists and advertisers really reap the benefits?  Clients at large see the added value and necessity of attaining a visible presence in both the paid and organic space, but because of the cross-functional demands of SEO implementation, i.e. Marketing, Corporate Communications, IT, Legal,. advertisers’ commitment and participation falters.

Opportunity for engagement is lost when we don’t pursue and achieve synergy between paid and organic search.  I don’t know about you, but I know I’ve done the whole “70/30 rule” song and dance a many of times and while intentions are always great, I still haven’t been able to grasp the results that makes all that dancing worth while.  Clients know that their bottom line can be positively impacted with a graduated ROI, but they too have to put work into making that happen, and that’s not always so easy.  Paid search is instant gratification, where as organic search is like wine—it gets better over time.  I think in the minds of many major advertisers, this latent realization of success or failure AND the coordination it takes on their end to make things happen, justifies SEO being overlooked.

Now the question is how do we fix it?  What can we do as search consultants to put ourselves in a position to better manage our clients and provide advertisers with assurance that a solid SEO program can easily be accomplished, especially when working in tandem with your search strategists? What can we do to ensure that a strategists’ hard work in defining opportunity for improved SEO is not in vain, and most importantly, start building case studies around success stories to prove that to fully experience relevance we have to make the red headed step-child feel like it’s a loved and cherished part of the family too?

I’m interested to know what you think.  Let’s brainstorm together and see if we can develop a resolution that will increase SEO results for 2009!

PR: wait… I: wait… L: wait… LD: wait… I: wait… wait… C: wait… SD: wait…

As discussed in our previous post on SearchFuel, “Let’s All Play in the Sandbox Together,” it takes multiple steps to create and maintain a successful search marketing integration. Over the next several posts from the two of us, we will touch on each step and try to keep the sand out of our shoes while building our castle. Planning, communication, budgeting, goal setting, messaging and building/maintaining relationships are all important steps in working together.

Let’s start with the foundation: PLANNING!

This is where it all starts. Getting together to understand the advertiser’s business goals for the year, plan your annual campaign strategy and gather ideas are key. Without planning you won’t know when to start digging the moat, where to put the draw bridge, where you pen your pigs. You get the idea, there is nothing too small or insignificant to discuss. Timing is everything and you need to work together for the better of your client and the account.

Speaking of timing…when to start integration discussions is an important part of the planning stage.  How about now?  ‘09 planning is underway for most advertisers, so what better time is there to start the discussion than the present.

Where to start when integrating search with your cross-channel planning:

• Put together a benefit statement. Outline why various media, brand and IT teams working together is in everyone’s best interest, and give your basic ideas for the architecture of the castle.
• Gather input from the teams and identify opportunities to integrate and leverage the advertiser’s marketing program. Search out a contact from each group who can share the ideas with the rest and be the best lead contact moving forward.  Determine if any team is not on board, and try to find out why.  Do they fear they will get a smaller budget by working together? Do they worry about additional time spent? At this point, you may need to re-work the benefits statement or think through the challenges from their point of view – maybe they have a closet architect brimming with ideas for the castle. Remember: your ultimate goal is to deliver the best plan that will put your client at the forefront of consumer consideration.
• Deliver your holistic, integrated plan to your advertiser. Keeping focus on how your integrated approach brings value to their organization and will help solve their business objectives will get them excited about the potential of their marketing and communications platform. Support from your client can prove beneficial when additional endorsement is needed for other brands or groups that may be tentative about leverage certain media channels.  Share with your client the benefit statement that collectively the media teams of built and ask for their input – it is, after all, their castle.
• To keep the media teams moving in the same direction, schedule a call or a meet-and-greet with the team leads – perhaps not a trip to the beach, but a chance to talk openly and discuss processes and potential challenges from all of the builders.
• Get moving on finessing a cohesive and integrated plan together – re-work the benefit statement yet again, to address everyone’s concerns and consider this the first tower of your castle.

Obviously, by working as a team this can all come together and benefit everyone. But this is only the first step. In our next post we will dive deeper into the second level of the castle – communication. Stay tuned!

PR: wait… I: wait… L: wait… LD: wait… I: wait… wait… C: wait… SD: wait…