🔥 This is a topic I’ve been discussing with many of my clients recently, so I wanted to share an excellent ‘Oldie but Goldie’:
A while ago, Byron Sharp published an article called “Why Paid Search is Like Shelf-Space.”
Here is my take on it.
I firmly believe that (Paid) Search is a fantastic channel, especially during Go-to-Market, as it can achieve highly efficient growth. 💥
However, it’s crucial understand the channel’s role in the marketing mix. To illustrate, let’s compare an online business to a brick & mortar retail setup. In this view, search is akin to customers already being inside the shop. Once that’s the case, it’s absolutely essential that we convert as many of them as possible, both on the search engine and on our website – arguably our most vital marketing tool. 🛒
Every lost customer here should be taken personally because they were actively seeking what we have to offer. 🕵️♀️
BUT relying solely on search will always limit us to the number of people actively searching for our product or service (obviously), those who are already in-market with the highest intent.
Real growth, the kind that makes us into category leaders, will only be unlocked through what happens in other places. In channels where we can introduce our offering to people who didn’t know they needed it or might not even be aware such an offer exists. 🌍
To make this happen we need to follow Byron’s advice: “This is the magic of good creative advertising combined with broad reach media. The opportunity to reach brains that are not currently interested in the category.” 🎯
While I agree with nearly everything he says, I want to challenge one point:
In his article, Byron Sharp asserts that “paid search is like shelf-space, and, like shelf-space, it needs to be always on.”
I believe there are a few exceptional cases where it does make sense NOT to invest in search, and these are when one (or more) of these three situations exist:
1) We’re operating in a category that doesn’t generate searches because people are unaware it even exists (in such cases, our primary goal is to ‘get people into the store first’).
2) Our conversion funnel isn’t competitive compared to other players bidding on the same keywords (if so, we need to address this).
3) Our organic (non-paid) presence is so robust and there are no ads due to lack of competition that we rank on the actual top of the Search Engine Results Page (SERP) anyway (Congratulations!). 🏆
By the way, if you’ve made it this far and haven’t yet read Byron Sharp‘s and Jenni Romaniuk‘s book ‘How Brands Grow,’ then I strongly recommend doing so. IMO, it might just be one of the most pivotal marketing books ever written. 📚
I’m curious to hear whether you agree or disagree.