September 6, 2004
According to the American Marketing Association, brand image is the perception of a brand in the minds of persons. The brand image is a mirror reflection of the brand personality or product being. It is what people believe about a brand-their thoughts, feelings, expectations.
"One of the things you can do with your brand, if you have a very well established brand with search, is you can take control of how your brand is interpreted, "said Kevin Ryan, Director of Market Development at Wahlstrom Interactive. "One of the key elements of brand presence is controlling search results."
Tony Wright, Vice President of Media/Interactive Marketing at Zunch Communications, presented the following tips:
- Use all of your real estate - both natural search engine optimization (SEO) and pay-per-click (PPC) search engine advertising.
- Make sure your keywords are what people are searching for.
- Make sure your company name appears in all descriptions and creatives.
"I have some clients that ask why, if they have great organic listings, should they buy a PPC listing," Wright explained. "The reason is the more times your brand is displayed, the more frequency you'll receive and you can increase your brand image."
Search engines can also hurt brand image. Contextual ads can appear in inappropriate places, such as an incorrect geographic location. Descriptions in search engine results (SERPs) should be fine tuned so that your company appears to be the most relevant result. Additionally, search engine advertisers should stay on top of the ad game.
"If you are not appearing under your major keywords, potential consumers might not consider you a leader in your space," said Wright.
"The bigger your brand, more you have to protect it," Ryan continued. "At first you may think, why should I have to pay for my own branding? But if you're in a competitive category, it's a must."
Leslie Marable, Senior Analyst of eCommerce at Nielsen//NetRatings, breaks online ad campaign strategies in 4 different buckets: driving sales, driving traffic, positioning, awareness. Positioning campaigns position a brand in a market, change consumer perceptions of a brand, or to create an emotional response. Awareness campaigns work to communicate knowledge of a brand.
In 2002, awareness branding comprised 33% of all ad impressions. In 2003, it dropped to 25%. "Awareness branding has not played as large a factor as earlier, said Marable.
Even with this drop in ad impressions, awareness branding through PPC search engine advertising can still be an effective means of marketing a site. Marable cited as an example Expedia.com, which did multiple, large awareness campaigns.
"There is a positive correlation between ad impressions and traffic to the site, including a 50% jump in traffic over a three-month period," Marable explained. "As Expedia.com increased their ad impressions online, there was more activity specific to the Web Fares campaign."
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