Catalyst online Search Marketing Blog

I read an interesting article on MediaPost Monday. The article discussed a recent study of pharma marketing managers’ opinions on marketing tools for their industry and found that a quarter of the brand managers believe their current marketing mix is only performing “reasonably well” or “not well at all.” Over 80% of respondents said an integrated direct marketing program is an important part of promoting a brand.

This article does not delve into the importance of SEM in the marketing mix, so I thought I would get up on my soapbox again and emphasize the importance of integrating an SEM campaign.

When investing in a DTC campaign, consider the ideas below; they will improve the integration and thus success of your marketing efforts:

1. After seeing an ad on TV, be it branded or unbranded, folks are going to go to the Internet if interested in more information.
2. 95% of health information seekers look for information on the search engines
3. Invest in paid search (in can be up and running in a matter of days)
   • The consumer may not remember your brand name; make sure you have an ad with your brand name in it (even if does not contain the condition - I love regulatory)
   • The consumer may misspell the brand name; make sure you buy all misspellings
   • Included all the relevant keyphrases used in the commercial, press release, etc.
   • When estimating your paid search budget, using historical numbers is only an estimate, we typically experience significant increases in keyphrase volumes during TV campaigns and even more if you are receiving a lot of press. A mention on Oprah 10x - be prepared!
4. Invest in SEO, organic search. As many of you know, it takes a while before organic search results begin to show up. Start the organic process at least three months prior to launch. If successful, your site will rank organically on the first page of Google for relevant keyphrases.
5. Studies show that if both a paid and organic listing appears in the SERPs, the performance of the campaign improves dramatically. Specifically, iCrossing reported when organic search listings and paid search listings appeared on the same page, visitors increased by 41% and actions increased by 45%.

Bottom line: Include Search Marketing!