Successful Search Strategy Requires a Common Goal…and Communication

By Allison Jacobs, Account Supervisor

Developing a successful search strategy is an in-depth process revolving around meeting a common goal (for example, maximize sales with a $X CPA).

Seems simple, but it is important to remember that before setting goals and diving into a new campaign or initiative, there needs to be a significant amount of communication between agency and client.

Of course, there are various ways to communicate effectively so that part is up to you to evaluate the audience and decide what communication strategy works best for you and/or the situation.

The objective of these initial conversations is to ensure there is unified understanding of the initiative and expectations. Having open discussions from the beginning can prove extremely helpful when developing an appropriate strategy to reach the goals.

Some examples of conversation starters might be “What are the key metrics for this campaign?” or “How does this Search campaign impact the project or your business as a whole?”

Additional topics that may help foster the conversation are listed below as well:
- Internal pressures
- Past performance
- New product launches
- Competition
- Other marketing communications
- Economic factors
- Seasonality

Another area to consider is how flexible is the goal?

For instance, if the client is keen on the $X CPA goal, showing we can return twice as many sales with a slightly higher CPA may facilitate a change in the goal.

Then, once the goal is determined and agreed upon, a proper strategy and execution plan can be developed.

Bottom line, only when agencies and clients take the time to communicate and solidify a common goal, can a proper strategy be developed and those goals achieved.

1 comments:

dgouldo said...

It's amazing how often a client is so sure about what their goals and objectives should be at the onset of a campiagn. But after an in-depth dialog on the topics you suggest, they realize that their objectives are not truely aligned or are not realistic. It pays to understand that as agencu reps, we should be experts not only executing campaigns, but also in understanding how thise campiagns fit into the clients' larger marketing objectives.

 
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