Is Search Engine Marketing cost effective enough to increase
profits for B2B marketers? As you know, B2B transactions differ
from most consumer transactions because these decisions require
coordination between a number of different personnel before the
final transaction is made. Therefore, the process requires a
period of time between researching the product and placing the
order. It’s an ongoing rather than snap decision.
“The Role of Search in Business to Business Buying Decisions” is
a well-designed study of approximately 1500 participants responding
to a 40-question survey that was validated with pre-testing before
implementation. You can download
the entire report for free, and here are a few highlights:
- When participants were asked to indicate how they would
go about making a B2B purchase, 93.2 percent said they would
research the purchase online.
- When asked if they would use a search engine at some point
in this task, 95.5 percent of participants indicated that they
would.
- When asked where they would start their search for information,
63.9 percent of participants chose a search engine over consumer
review sites, e-commerce sites, manufacturer’s sites, and
industry portals.
- When taking budget into consideration, manufacturer’s
sites and industry portals were the chosen starting place as
budgets increased. However, 86.9 percent of participants said
they would visit a search engine after visiting those sites.
The study is rich with too many details to cover in this article,
but following are some important conclusions:
- Search engines play a dominant role in B2B purchases.
- Search engines are used in the early or mid research phase
in the buying cycle.
- Google is favoured over other search engines.
- Search engine research takes place at least one to two months
before the buying decision.
- Good balance between organic and paid search is necessary.
Organic SEO gets over 70 percent of the clicks.
- Position is a factor, with over 60 percent clicking on the
top 3 listings.
- Most users decide which listing to click on in seconds upon
scanning the page.
With all this qualified traffic originating from search engines,
it is more important than ever for B2B marketers, wholesalers,
and B2B exchanges to ensure their Web sites are correctly optimised
for good positioning in search results. There is also great value
in SEO/SEM as a user-friendly marketing tool.
The Uniqueness of Search Engine Marketing
Search engine traffic is highly targeted. That's because potential
buyers who find your B2B offerings through search engines are looking
for your products and services on their own, so they are predisposed
to hear your marketing message. You can’t find a more qualified
prospect than that. Here’s what distinguishes search engine
marketing from other types of advertising:
- Non-Intrusive: Search marketing is a non-intrusive
marketing tool. Most advertising, both online and offline,
interrupts consumer behavior. If a user goes to a web site
for info, up pops an intrusive ad. Reading a newspaper? Ads
dominate and force articles to be continued on another page.
With search engine marketing, the user is actively seeking
your products, services, and information. They are delighted
to be driven to your site.
- Voluntary: Search marketing is the result
of user-originated behavior. Your visitors from search engines
and directories have voluntarily clicked on your listing rather
than any competitors, thus they are motivated to explore your
offerings.
|
