boards and chat rooms are monitored on a continual basis so you can keep some control over what is posted. After all, you don’t want visitors posting derogatory or negative things that may affect your public image. And while customer feedback from websites may encourage you to modify your product or service, don’t let visitors control your brand. (Even the writers of Lost allowed only certain staff members to see the viewer comments, to make sure the entire show didn’t get skewed in the wrong direction.)
Combine Traditional Ads with Keyword Buys for Maximum Impact
The importance of directing potential customers to one’s website was proven during the 2006 Super Bowl. During the game, top companies spent more than $200 million with ABC to showcase their brands, but only 40 percent mentioned a website. The companies that not only mentioned their website but also made sure they had top search rankings for their product keywords reaped the most benefits.
Companies ensure high rankings on top search engines by having their website professionally optimized for specific keyword phrases (more about how to optimize your website in Chapter 7). However, those major brands that wanted immediate control over top placement and messaging simply purchased keyword phrases on top search engines such as Google and Yahoo!. Also known as PPC or pay-per-click advertising, this is a highly effective way to ensure your marketing message is up to date and at the top of search engine results.
Just days before and after the 2006 Super Bowl, Yahoo! reported an 800 percent increase in searches for Super Bowl ad-related terms (comScore Networks, February 2006). Companies that included an online video version of their Super Bowl commercials reaped the benefits of having their commercials viewed again and again. They also benefited from the Internet’s most powerful marketing tool — viral or word-of-mouth marketing — as many online commercials were forwarded to friends via email, blogs, or message boards. (More about social networks and word-of-mouth marketing in Chapter 2.)
Other companies simply made sure their brands appeared at the top of these high-volume searches. These companies included Cadillac, Honda, and Dove, which according to Yahoo! all bid on the time-appropriate phrase “Super Bowl XL Commercials” on Yahoo! Search and took advantage of the resulting increase in search traffic.
Cadillac must know that 70 percent of today’s auto buyers research online before visiting a dealer because Cadillac made sure to buy keywords related to their cars, specifically the Cadillac Escalade, which was featured during the Super Bowl. Yahoo! reported that searches for the car increased over 75 percent just after the Super Bowl ad appeared, and traffic to the Cadillac site increased by 250 percent (comScore Networks, February 2005).
Ford, on the other hand, severely missed out by not purchasing related keywords after their Super Bowl ad aired promoting the new Escape Hybrid starring Kermit the Frog. In fact, this oversight led not only to missed traffic, it actually helped their competitors! GM purchased the word “Kermit” to promote their own hybrid car line, getting the targeted traffic from Ford’s Super Bowl ad without the huge costs!
Maximize the effectiveness of keyword phrases
Even if your company is not a specific advertiser in a major event such as the Super Bowl, thinking of phrases users may be searching for around a specific holiday or event can help you find access to new customers. For example, during the 2006 Super Bowl there was more than a 100 percent increase in searches for “appetizer recipes,” “salsa,” and “chicken wings.” If you own a local restaurant that delivers, or a catering service, or any company that can benefit from this or related keywords, you can put your company ad in front of a target audience without having to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Clearly the biggest winners in the Super Bowl XXXIX ad campaigns were the dot-coms. They understood the power of the Internet in measuring ad success and encouraging customer interaction with brands.
CareerBuilder.com, GoDaddy.com, and Overstock.com all complemented their Super Bowl television ads with keywords buys and landing pages that rewarded users for visiting their websites after the game.
According to comScore Networks, Go Daddy’s “wardrobe malfunction” ad campaign proved most successful, shooting their traffic up 1,564 percent after the Super Bowl ad, achieving more than 439,000 unique visitors for one day. The controversial company played on the fact that their first rounds of commercials were not suitable for air on ABC, and specifically told audiences to “see more coverage at GoDaddy.com.” This direct call to action helped Go Daddy achieve more Internet traffic than any of the other top brands that purchased five times more airtime than Go Daddy (comScore Networks, February 2006).
Use every opportunity to generate buzz
Not only did some advertisers miss the opportunity to benefit from search engine and website presence following the Super Bowl, the television shows that followed also missed out on a chance to generate longer term buzz.
Grey’s Anatomy is the television show that followed the Super Bowl. Although I am an avid watcher of the medical dramedy, I was a bit shocked by the very steamy opening shower scene that appeared just after the Super Bowl. In fact, I was a bit embarrassed when my husband’s friend announced, “THIS is the show you watch every Sunday night!” At first I thought the show had taken a turn for the worse, but then I realized the opening scene was a great marketing ploy to get the attention of the men in the room, who may previously have considered Grey’s Anatomy a “girly” show.
The episode really drew in the new audience and kept everyone at the edge of their seats. However, the show missed out on capturing that audience even further because it did not purchase specific keywords that had to do with the show and therefore failed to get the new audience even more hooked. After the episode, searches for “Grey’s Anatomy” increased roughly 400 percent on Yahoo!, while the search phrase “code black,” referring to a mysterious event in the show, jumped over 1,000 percent.
If you go to the Grey’s Anatomy website (through ABC at http:// abc.go.com/primetime/greysanatomy/), you will notice that like most television shows, they are taking advantage of new media opportunities such as ringtones, music downloads, DVD sales, blogs, and other interactive content to really get their audience hooked. They even have a list of all the diseases and medical problems mentioned on the show — with links to related sources.
Although the site is professionally designed and employs some cutting-edge design technology (for example, clicking on the character bios lets you actually flip through their files on a clipboard), it can feel like information overload. Even to someone like me, who is a fan of the show and Internet technology, there is simply too much information on this site. It seems they added all the new media elements for the sake of adding them. I consider this overkill — and not very effective.
Creating an interesting and interactive web presence for your company, service, or show is essential, but it’s also important to have a good reason for adding those online elements. Never use technology for the sake of technology. There must be a reason that makes sense for your target audience and provides something useful to them. With that said, below is an example of a show that captured all the elements of Internet marketing to create ongoing excitement and buzz around their show.
Rock Star Marketing: Effectively Combining Traditional and New Media
The concept behind the 2005 reality show Rock Star: INXS was nothing new. Put a group of 15 strangers in a house together, make them compete, and then eliminate them one by one until you’re left with the next lead signer of INXS. Think of it as Survivor meets American Idol, but with an edge.
