e-dreaming

Do you remember that TV commercial years ago in which a new startup company launched their website with the team anxiously watching the computer screen?  They were all excited when they got their first order, then their second, then it just exploded!  That commercial likely spurred many an entrepreneur to launch their own web-based business.

Unfortunately, most e-commerce websites just don't see that kind of immediate response.  And even more unfortunately, many of those entrepreneurs don't really understand what is required to ensure that the world knows they exist (they sometimes assume the world will just know).  And sometimes, what seems like a creatively unique idea, either isn't all that unique, or is difficult to distinguish.

We have been doing search engine advertising for almost a decade now, and even search engine advertising alone cannot guarantee success (although it is pretty stinking cool stuff!).  Search engine advertising, to be successful, requires the following:

1. that the searcher /prospective customer uses search terms (i.e. keywords) that identify your product or service
2. that you have bid on those same keywords and are competitive in your bids
3. that you don't have a lot of competitors for those same keywords that can afford to outbid you!

Here's where it could get tricky.  Let's say that what makes your product unique is that it pairs two attributes that your competitors don't – and that fact, by itself, is great!  But if your prospective customers only search for one of those attributes at a time (the one they are most interested in at the moment), you have to be competitive with everyone selling that single attribute, and that could get very expensive if your competitors are better funded... which is probably the case, if you're a startup.

Let's say you are selling a cell phone that also keeps your coffee warm (I think I may have had a cell phone that ran that hot once).  Those two attributes – cell phone and coffee warmer – are not individually unique, even though the combination may be.  The challenge is, most of your prospective customers – coffee drinking cell phone users (which certainly makes a compelling market size) – isn't going to know to search for "coffee warming cell phones."  Rather, they're likely to just be looking for either a cell phone or coffee in their search.  So, in order to get your ads to appear when your prospective customer does a search, you've got to compete with everyone that sells cell phones and coffee... and THAT is a lot of competitors.

So, while search engine advertising can get you to the top of the search engines overnight if you're willing to pay the price, it doesn't ensure success.  You still need to look at a hybrid approach (one that may indeed include search engine advertising) because branding, public relations, social media, direct mail, and traditional mass media all serve important roles in getting your message out.