**by Travis Fairchild**
The adage time is money often proves true in business, however,
these days, most of us feel like we don't have nearly enough of
either.
A few months ago, I attended an industry conference and happened to
strike up a conversation with the owner of a small travel agency. As I
was expressing my enthusiasm over the advancements in search engine
marketing, he smiled and said, Yes, that's all fine and good but
Travis, I only have $300 per month for my search engine marketing
budget. I get sales pitches from major search engines and online
directories constantly and they all promise the same results. If you
were in my position, where would you advise I spend my ad dollars to
get the most impact for my money?
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It was a great question and frankly, it got me thinking. Given all of
the options for local businesses to consider, and with so many
distribution outlets to choose from, how would a local business owner
know which option will provide the most qualified leads or potential
customers?
Before making a decision about which distribution to use, he should
think about what action he wants consumers to take in response to
seeing his advertisement. Is he looking for a phone call to set up an
appointment or a visit to his business' Web site? Do his sales occur
over the phone or through his e-commerce Web site?
When he replied that his business relies on phone calls and not on
his Web site for sales, we moved to the next step - selecting the
appropriate distribution vehicle. In order to effectively reach his
target consumer, he needs to think like one. If you as a consumer were
looking to contact a business directly over the phone, what Web site
would you use to find a phone number? Or, what distribution outlet
naturally lends itself to the action he's seeking from a consumer - in
this case, a call?
Anticipating the expectation
Consider this theory: When consumers visit a search engine or online
directory, they are likely to have a pre-determined expectation for
the type of action they will need to take. For example, if I was to
visit Google, I would likely conduct a broader search for a business
or service and click to the specific Web site to gather more
information. If I was to visit an online directory, the action I would
likely take would be to search for a phone number, resulting in a
call.
Once you understand which consumer intent matches up with each
distribution option, as well as determine that specific action your
business seeks, it becomes clearer which option will best meet your
business needs.
Following are additional examples of consumer intentions associated
with the two options we discussed - search engines and online
directories.
Search engines
When consumers use a search engine such as Google, Yahoo! or Bing, to
fulfill a need, the intent is to receive additional information about
a business delivered through a click or by being directed to a
business' Web site or landing page. Thus, the response an advertiser
using this distribution choice will receive is a sales lead in the
form of a click to their Web site or an online form completed by the
prospective customer. Businesses that conduct sales through e-commerce
will largely benefit from advertising on a search engine as clicks are
the desired action to convert the sale.
Online directories
The pre-determined intent for consumers who visit an online
directory, such as YellowPages.COM or Superpages.com is most likely to
find a phone number. Typically, at this point, the consumer has made
the decision to set-up an appointment and is now looking for either a
specific provider within that category or is simply looking for the
business phone number. Essentially, they're ready to pull the trigger
on the purchase. The business that would most benefit from advertising
with an online directory primarily seeks customers through phone
calls.
For the purpose of this specific business owner - a local travel
agency that primarily conducts business over the phone - the most
sought after consumer intent is a phone call. Given this preference, I
advised him that an online directory will provide a higher likelihood
of sales conversion than a more general search engine.
With search engine marketing evolving rapidly, local businesses have
many great options from which to choose. It comes down to deciphering
what action you want from the consumer and selecting the best vehicle
to deliver those results. A campaign can be successful on even the
most conservative of budgets but it must be well thought out with
special focus and detail paid to ad copy and distribution source
selection.
Opinions expressed in the article are those of the guest author and
not necessarily Search Engine Land.
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