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How to Generate Leads Online-Study Shows Surprising New Insights For Internet Marketing

By
Services for Real Estate Pros with Dulci Digital

How To Generate Leads Online: New Insights for Internet Marketing Strategy

With over 70% of consumers reporting that they go the internet first to search for what they need today it is no surprise that internet marketing and lead generation on-line are trending topics which are critical to the success of any business today. Days of the phone book are long gone...and businesses have to catch up or get left behind. 

As an internet marketing consultant I work with businesses along the Gulf Coast and all over the US, and as a consultant it is my job to stay on top of the latest trends so I can leverage them to help position my clients as leaders in their local markets. I read case studies and internet marketing strategies everyday, but those are not always worth sharing; however, a study showed some surprising insights that I simply must share. 

Here in an excerpt of the study conducted by Yahoo: 

Better Together

Maximize the return on investment and value of your on-line marketing by using search and display ads together.

Advertisers tend to separate their digital advertising—they think of search advertising for performance marketing and turn to display ads for branding. But the reality is that search advertising coupled with display advertising yields better results than when used independently.

Implementing this proven tactic allows advertisers to optimize their campaigns while increasing both their reach and results. So bottom line: 

Search Ads (Pay-per-click) + Display Ads (such as Yahoo Display Ads)= More Leads

Display advertising generally is measured by direct responses—a click of some kind—which is the simplest metric to track. But this method misses a great deal of an ad’s effectiveness and makes it impossible to accurately determine the return on a campaign spend. That’s because nearly as many Internet users respond to online display advertising by performing a search on a search engine (27 percent) as those who simply click on the ad itself (31 percent), according to iProspect’s study Search Engine Marketing and Online Display Advertising. 

This means that when users are exposed to banner or display ads, there are significant increases in related brand-term searches, such as for the name of the brand, company or product. Aligning the messaging in display and search marketing ads maximizes their impact by creating a cohesive experience for users.

Value City Furniture tested this philosophy, running display ads along with search ads, and was extremely pleased with the results. The company discovered that its Yahoo! display campaign increased branded-term searches by 168 percent. As a result, Value City Furniture increased its display advertising budget by 30 percent.

An extensive study by Specific Media proved that the Value City Furniture study isn’t merely an anecdotal example. It tracked more than 60 campaigns over 12 months and found distinct evidence that display advertising and search supported each other.

The study confirmed that consumers exposed to display advertising were significantly more likely to search for brand terms (i.e. automotive manufacturer), and segment terms (i.e. vehicle class), than unexposed consumers. On average, there was a 155 percent lift in search activity across eight industry categories. These impressive results also prove how essential it is to evaluate campaign effectiveness using methods that track more than just click rates.

For Property & Real Estate the average lift in search was over 130%!!

Here is the chart that shows the impact of Display + Search Ads and the lift in searches:

 Behavioral Targeting and Display Advertising

 

There’s a lot going on beyond the click.

Yahoo! conducted the Retail Reconnaissance study, which measured other kinds of actions consumers took beyond clicks. It found that there was a 59 percent lift in conversions when users searched for retailers after being exposed to display advertising.

So, in other words combining display ads and search ads yields higher results in search, more clicks, more leads and more conversions! To me, this is a winning strategy. One of the other advancements includes behavioral targeting for your display ads. What does that mean exactly? It means Yahoo is using collected information on the user based on their internet activity such as typed searches, pages viewed, etc to determine what ads to place in front of them. They have isolated two groups: engagers-people who are in early stages of buying and learning about a product; and shoppers-people who are at the end of the buying cycle who are ready to make a purchase. Using this method you can target the right customer, in the right geo-graphic area at the right time! If you want to learn more about Yahoo Behavioral Targeting and how our company manages those programs check out the video by clicking the link below: 

Yahoo Behavioral Targeting


What are your thoughts? Are you using pay-per-click or display ads currently? What results are you getting? Do you have other questions about how this works? 


Comments (2)

Alan Kirkpatrick
Austin Texas Homes - Round Rock, TX
Alan in Austin

Megan:

This is a great post and very helpful. Thanks for taking the time to share it with us. 

Nov 03, 2011 03:29 AM
Megan Anderson
Dulci Digital - Birmingham, AL
Digital Marketing | Founder | Strategist

You are most welcome! I am happy to hear it was helpful. 

Nov 03, 2011 03:34 AM