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.
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