Beyond Direct Response: Search's Role in the Media Mix for Branding and Offline Sales
Hi, my name is James Lamberti, SVP Search and Media at Comscore. I’m heavily involved in our search work and often partner with clients and the industry to dive deeper into the role and value of search. On June 27th, I am delivering a keynote at Searchnomics 2007, titled “Beyond Direct Response: Search's Role in the Media Mix for Branding and Offline Sales.” This keynote is a great opportunity to show the industry, using a variety of real data points amassed over the past year, that search is much more than the direct-response vehicle that launched the industry.
One key data point at the center of this discussion is the offline sales impact of search. We have conducted research across dozens of retail and non-retail categories and find consistently that 65% to 90% of conversion occurs offline. These figures alone have a profound impact on the strategy and economics of search. For example, pure-plays like eBay and Amazon rely extensively on search to drive ecommerce. How do the economics change when multi-channel nationals like Wal-Mart and Target achieve 5x or 10x the ROI as pure-plays? Issues like the value of search in branding, its link to other media, and the opportunity to re-engage agency creatives are all a part of the next level of search marketing. Be sure to check out the Searchnomics 2007 event and check back here over the next few days to hear more thoughts about the keynote theme.