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Thursday, 7 April 2011
Leveraging your Web marketing through virtual catalogues
Although virtual catalogues have been around for a while, they have suddenly become a valuable tool for marketers. African Business Review asks ‘How can virtual catalogues help marketers build their online presences?’
BY: Melissa Rudd | Thu Jan 6, 2011
TAGS: Brandbank, catalogues, Flash, HTML, Jim Coogan, keyword searches, Melissa Rudd, online catalogues, online retailers, usability, virtual catalogues, web images, web marketing
Virtual catalogues have become a valuable tool for marketers .. Share
In the marketing world, the advent of the Web completely transformed traditional methods of advertising and brand awareness. Virtual catalogues have long been a part of this, but now, more than ever before, they are integral to enhancing a company’s overall online presence.
In their most primitive form, virtual catalogues are the Web versions of shop windows, displaying to consumers the products or services a company or retailer has to offer. But the introduction of affordable technology now allows for much more than this. In terms of viewing a product with 360-degree views, multiple angles and extreme zoom, users can do practically everything except touch the product they are looking at on-screen. Information can now be found via keyword searches and presented better with sharp text.
Print or virtual?
When comparing the costs of a virtual catalogue to a print version, it is no wonder marketers are turning their focus towards the former. According to Jim Coogan, president of consultancy firm Catalog Marketing
Economics, prices range from $6 a page (around £3.83) to upward of $30 a page (around £19.14). On this basis, a 52-page catalogue could be made for as little as under £200. Add up printing and distribution costs for the paper variety and this figure is dwarfed.
As Coogan points out, a major benefit is “the ability to access catalogues anywhere or anytime - whether on your mobile device, at home, or the office - without having to search for the actual printed copies”.
In business terms, usually a reduction in costs equals a cheaper but less effective alternative. Not in this case. The features of a virtual catalogue have vastly improved from their humble beginnings, the advancement in technology providing a direct correlation with how valuable they are to marketers.
The power of the picture
Coogan notes the ability to convert Flash to HTML search-enabled text so that spiders and bots can search catalogues is a major factor. Less technical features include having higher resolution photographs and a reduction in loading time for catalogue pages.
A report by Brandbank, digital content providers for ecommerce, found that having multiple images of a product and having accurate information about a product are two of the most important features that consumers use to help them make a decision about purchasing online.
Some marketers have taken this to a new level. Many clothes retailers, for instance, now feature ‘catwalk views’ on their catalogues, showing a video clip of a model walking down a catwalk so consumers can see how the garment in question looks when worn.
Usability
The addition of a virtual catalogue to a website not only gives the consumer more to browse through, but also allows for greater analysis of products. Put simply, a user is much more likely to buy something if they can read more details about it and see more pictures of it. This is why they have become such a valuable tool for marketers.
A credible and engaging virtual catalogue is now both easier to create as well as easier to use from the consumer’s point of view. There is little doubt that hits to a website will be increased if one is able to search for products as if they were flicking through a printed catalogue – another feature that has been enabled.
Are they effective?
Measuring the effectiveness of virtual catalogues is far easier than trying to do so for the print variety. A wide range of statistics can be obtained through various methods to give insight into the consumer market. The number of unique visitors through email links, advertisements, and click-throughs can be tracked so that the optimum way of increasing an online presence can be utilised and benefitted from.
If the object of marketing is to increase sales, then marketing online certainly fulfils that aim.
Brandbank claims that companies have reported a 40 percent increase in sales from products being represented on the internet. An established online presence in today’s digital age is vital to marketers desperate to increase revenue, especially in the current financial climate.
Creating a fully functional, stylish and attractive virtual catalogue can only enhance a consumer’s view of the company, online and in the real world – and marketers are now cashing in like never before.
BY: Melissa Rudd | Thu Jan 6, 2011
TAGS: Brandbank, catalogues, Flash, HTML, Jim Coogan, keyword searches, Melissa Rudd, online catalogues, online retailers, usability, virtual catalogues, web images, web marketing
Virtual catalogues have become a valuable tool for marketers .. Share
In the marketing world, the advent of the Web completely transformed traditional methods of advertising and brand awareness. Virtual catalogues have long been a part of this, but now, more than ever before, they are integral to enhancing a company’s overall online presence.
In their most primitive form, virtual catalogues are the Web versions of shop windows, displaying to consumers the products or services a company or retailer has to offer. But the introduction of affordable technology now allows for much more than this. In terms of viewing a product with 360-degree views, multiple angles and extreme zoom, users can do practically everything except touch the product they are looking at on-screen. Information can now be found via keyword searches and presented better with sharp text.
Print or virtual?
When comparing the costs of a virtual catalogue to a print version, it is no wonder marketers are turning their focus towards the former. According to Jim Coogan, president of consultancy firm Catalog Marketing
Economics, prices range from $6 a page (around £3.83) to upward of $30 a page (around £19.14). On this basis, a 52-page catalogue could be made for as little as under £200. Add up printing and distribution costs for the paper variety and this figure is dwarfed.
As Coogan points out, a major benefit is “the ability to access catalogues anywhere or anytime - whether on your mobile device, at home, or the office - without having to search for the actual printed copies”.
In business terms, usually a reduction in costs equals a cheaper but less effective alternative. Not in this case. The features of a virtual catalogue have vastly improved from their humble beginnings, the advancement in technology providing a direct correlation with how valuable they are to marketers.
The power of the picture
Coogan notes the ability to convert Flash to HTML search-enabled text so that spiders and bots can search catalogues is a major factor. Less technical features include having higher resolution photographs and a reduction in loading time for catalogue pages.
A report by Brandbank, digital content providers for ecommerce, found that having multiple images of a product and having accurate information about a product are two of the most important features that consumers use to help them make a decision about purchasing online.
Some marketers have taken this to a new level. Many clothes retailers, for instance, now feature ‘catwalk views’ on their catalogues, showing a video clip of a model walking down a catwalk so consumers can see how the garment in question looks when worn.
Usability
The addition of a virtual catalogue to a website not only gives the consumer more to browse through, but also allows for greater analysis of products. Put simply, a user is much more likely to buy something if they can read more details about it and see more pictures of it. This is why they have become such a valuable tool for marketers.
A credible and engaging virtual catalogue is now both easier to create as well as easier to use from the consumer’s point of view. There is little doubt that hits to a website will be increased if one is able to search for products as if they were flicking through a printed catalogue – another feature that has been enabled.
Are they effective?
Measuring the effectiveness of virtual catalogues is far easier than trying to do so for the print variety. A wide range of statistics can be obtained through various methods to give insight into the consumer market. The number of unique visitors through email links, advertisements, and click-throughs can be tracked so that the optimum way of increasing an online presence can be utilised and benefitted from.
If the object of marketing is to increase sales, then marketing online certainly fulfils that aim.
Brandbank claims that companies have reported a 40 percent increase in sales from products being represented on the internet. An established online presence in today’s digital age is vital to marketers desperate to increase revenue, especially in the current financial climate.
Creating a fully functional, stylish and attractive virtual catalogue can only enhance a consumer’s view of the company, online and in the real world – and marketers are now cashing in like never before.
Social Media: Word of mouth on digital steroids
Mobile tools are enabling the power of social media to reach underdeveloped areas of the world
Social media has taken the world by storm. Facebook consistently achieves the largest amount of weekly traffic in the US; one in every eight couples married in the US met via social networking portals and incredibly social media has overtaken pornography as the number one activity on the internet.
Erik Qualman, author of Socialnomics and prominent commentator on social media, says: “We don’t have a choice on whether we do social media; the question is how well we do it.” And this comment is put in perspective when one considers that if Facebook were a country, it would be the third largest in the world; its influence is incomprehensible.
Social media is no longer dominated by teenagers but is rather the hub of social commerce, utilised by millions of people every day. Global companies have embraced the social media phenomenon, recognising the scope and demographic of customers they can reach relatively cheaply, easily and perhaps most importantly, instantly.
“Whether you are in politics, whether you are selling products or concepts, whether you are raising money for charity, social media allows you to get your word out into the public domain,” says Qualman. “It is like word-of-mouth on digital steroids; word-of-mouth becomes world-of-mouth. Social media has developed faster than anybody could have ever imagined. It is a really exciting time.”
In 2009, Jon and Tracy Morter ‘raged’ war against Simon Cowell by assembling a ‘ragetribe’ on Facebook to relegate the bookies favourite - X Factor winner, poor and unsuspecting Joe McElderry - to Christmas No. 2 by encouraging all 557,074 members to download Rage Against the Machine’s, Killing in the Name, demonstrating the global impact one man and his Facebook page can have.
Extending social media to the developing world
The potential impact social media creates can also be utilised in more productive ways by reaching out to underdeveloped parts of the world. “One thing that is brilliant about social media is the way it opens the barrier of entry into the global spotlight for many small companies,” says Qualman. “If you want to start a business in Africa and you cannot afford a shop or even a website, historically you would have failed at the first hurdle. However, avenues and platforms like Facebook and Twitter enable companies in the developing world to launch their businesses and begin taking transactions for virtually no fee and no entrance costs.”
Another aspect of social media opening the gates for underdeveloped areas of the world, namely Africa, is the new mobile tools available on websites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube. Large manufacturers have, in the past, faced criticism for high product turnover; however Qualman suggests that such a high rate of product development has made powerful electronic devices more accessible in third world countries.
“The biggest global developments happening at the moment are related to the introduction and development of mobile tools,” he explains. “Ten years ago, developing countries began using mobile phones in favour of landlines as high product turnover meant that recent mobile models were becoming readily available at relatively cheap prices. Advancement in technology is hugely beneficial in developing parts of the world and we are about to see evidence of this once again with the introduction of tablets. As a result, smartphones are going to become relatively inexpensive and more accessible in developing nations. Mobile and social media work hand-in-hand and with the introduction of these phones worldwide, global communication will be driven forward exponentially.”
The introduction of mobile tools is particularly important in this development when one considers how much cheaper mobile smartphones are than computers and laptops. With access to the internet being extended to mobile phones, the impact social media can have is multiplied substantially.
Erik Qualman, author of Socialnomics and prominent commentator on social media, says: “We don’t have a choice on whether we do social media; the question is how well we do it.” And this comment is put in perspective when one considers that if Facebook were a country, it would be the third largest in the world; its influence is incomprehensible.
Social media is no longer dominated by teenagers but is rather the hub of social commerce, utilised by millions of people every day. Global companies have embraced the social media phenomenon, recognising the scope and demographic of customers they can reach relatively cheaply, easily and perhaps most importantly, instantly.
“Whether you are in politics, whether you are selling products or concepts, whether you are raising money for charity, social media allows you to get your word out into the public domain,” says Qualman. “It is like word-of-mouth on digital steroids; word-of-mouth becomes world-of-mouth. Social media has developed faster than anybody could have ever imagined. It is a really exciting time.”
In 2009, Jon and Tracy Morter ‘raged’ war against Simon Cowell by assembling a ‘ragetribe’ on Facebook to relegate the bookies favourite - X Factor winner, poor and unsuspecting Joe McElderry - to Christmas No. 2 by encouraging all 557,074 members to download Rage Against the Machine’s, Killing in the Name, demonstrating the global impact one man and his Facebook page can have.
Extending social media to the developing world
The potential impact social media creates can also be utilised in more productive ways by reaching out to underdeveloped parts of the world. “One thing that is brilliant about social media is the way it opens the barrier of entry into the global spotlight for many small companies,” says Qualman. “If you want to start a business in Africa and you cannot afford a shop or even a website, historically you would have failed at the first hurdle. However, avenues and platforms like Facebook and Twitter enable companies in the developing world to launch their businesses and begin taking transactions for virtually no fee and no entrance costs.”
Another aspect of social media opening the gates for underdeveloped areas of the world, namely Africa, is the new mobile tools available on websites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube. Large manufacturers have, in the past, faced criticism for high product turnover; however Qualman suggests that such a high rate of product development has made powerful electronic devices more accessible in third world countries.
“The biggest global developments happening at the moment are related to the introduction and development of mobile tools,” he explains. “Ten years ago, developing countries began using mobile phones in favour of landlines as high product turnover meant that recent mobile models were becoming readily available at relatively cheap prices. Advancement in technology is hugely beneficial in developing parts of the world and we are about to see evidence of this once again with the introduction of tablets. As a result, smartphones are going to become relatively inexpensive and more accessible in developing nations. Mobile and social media work hand-in-hand and with the introduction of these phones worldwide, global communication will be driven forward exponentially.”
The introduction of mobile tools is particularly important in this development when one considers how much cheaper mobile smartphones are than computers and laptops. With access to the internet being extended to mobile phones, the impact social media can have is multiplied substantially.
SEO is not the only way
A top African marketing guru considers the cost of simply relying on SEO and reveals other online techniques
Web 2.0 enables businesses to actively engage with customers and collaborate with them on product development, service enhancement and promotion. In terms of marketing, this drive towards user-created content means forming a direct link with the consumer and providing them with product news and information.
Increasingly it seems, businesses are relying solely on search engine optimisation techniques to market their products or services. Although this is an effective tool in making potential customers aware of your product, it neglects other online marketing methods.
As an internet marketing technique, SEO takes advantage of Web 2.0, improving website visibility through understanding how search engines work and what the user is looking for. SEO techniques look to modify HTML code and website content in order to increase results.
However, whilst increasing website visibility, SEO does not create a strong brand image or product reputation.
SEO and credibility
Chris Patheiger, Vice President, Business Development, Redux Media, believes that marketing companies or departments should not confuse SEO with credibility.
“With enough money, SEO can buy you visibility. But credibility is what drives actions (clickthroughs, purchases, etc.) – and that involves more than tagging pages,” says Patheiger.
One company based in Johannesburg, South Africa, lends credibility to Patheiger’s argument that SEO has its advantages and disadvantages. Marketing guru organisation Afridesign looks to broaden its Marketing 2.0 potential, through PPC campaigns, mobile marketing and social media websites. It has championed the cause of SEO in the past but feels its time to explore other avenues of visibility maximisation.
Established in 2000, Afridesign is a web design and development studio which also focuses specifically on mobile and online marketing. Debating the pros and cons of SEO for modern business, Laura Prall, Head of Online Marketing, Afridesign, agrees that SEO is an important technique in online marketing, not only for her company website, but also for its clients. However, she says that Afridesign is now looking at other options as the cost of relying on SEO is significant as well as limiting for her firm.
“As long as search engines are around, SEO will be an important part of online marketing,” says Prall. “Clients are familiar with these forms of online marketing having been around for some time. They are comfortable with the idea of investing money in SEO and paid search and are more likely to take these routes. Having said that, I strongly believe that social network sites such as Facebook are starting to give traditional search engine sites such as Google some competition.”
“It also makes sense that a business should be advertising and marketing itself where large volumes of people are going on the web every day, not just on search engines,” Prall adds.
Search engines
Indeed, the nature of search engines are changing and evolving constantly, so unless a company has a dedicated member of staff monitoring SEO operations, then website traffic is at risk, especially if a business relies on this technique.
According to Afridesign, it is important to diversify operations and customise online marketing techniques which are specific to each individual business, utilising both SEO and social media channels.
“It is advisable that a website should have many different sources of traffic. I believe that there is no formula to be followed, and there is no ‘one size fits all’ solution. However, businesses need to fomarketing 2.0rmulate their own online marketing strategies,” Prall says.
South Africa and social media
Convincing businesses to invest in other techniques can be a problem, as SEO is a familiar and proven technique. Afridesign believes the online community in South Africa, for example, remains in the dark when it comes to social media marketing (SMM) and mobile marketing. Although these techniques are being utilised by bigger brands with sizeable marketing budgets, “Mobile marketing and SMM are still relatively new and developing industries, it takes someone who is not afraid to take some risks, to embark on these forms of marketing,” Prall says.
Afridesign continues to develop its own marketing strategies by building a strong online reputation through a range of techniques. Through blogs, Facebook and Twitter, followers and potential customers are made aware of the services Afridesign offer. “We try to provide our followers with valuable, insightful information, as opposed to just marketing ourselves and our services. From time to time we may showcase some of the projects we have been involved with on these three platforms,” Prall points out.
In conclusion, one can safely say that although SEO is an excellent marketing tool, providing businesses with product visibility, it neglects credibility and requires continuous attention due to the constantly changing nature of search engines. Other marketing 2.0 techniques can prove very useful as social media marketing has proven in Afridesign’s case when it comes to reaching a large volume of people in one place every day. “Each product or service a business provides requires an individual marketing strategy, which would benefit massively from utilising a wide range of marketing 2.0 techniques,” Prall concludes.
Increasingly it seems, businesses are relying solely on search engine optimisation techniques to market their products or services. Although this is an effective tool in making potential customers aware of your product, it neglects other online marketing methods.
As an internet marketing technique, SEO takes advantage of Web 2.0, improving website visibility through understanding how search engines work and what the user is looking for. SEO techniques look to modify HTML code and website content in order to increase results.
However, whilst increasing website visibility, SEO does not create a strong brand image or product reputation.
SEO and credibility
Chris Patheiger, Vice President, Business Development, Redux Media, believes that marketing companies or departments should not confuse SEO with credibility.
“With enough money, SEO can buy you visibility. But credibility is what drives actions (clickthroughs, purchases, etc.) – and that involves more than tagging pages,” says Patheiger.
One company based in Johannesburg, South Africa, lends credibility to Patheiger’s argument that SEO has its advantages and disadvantages. Marketing guru organisation Afridesign looks to broaden its Marketing 2.0 potential, through PPC campaigns, mobile marketing and social media websites. It has championed the cause of SEO in the past but feels its time to explore other avenues of visibility maximisation.
Established in 2000, Afridesign is a web design and development studio which also focuses specifically on mobile and online marketing. Debating the pros and cons of SEO for modern business, Laura Prall, Head of Online Marketing, Afridesign, agrees that SEO is an important technique in online marketing, not only for her company website, but also for its clients. However, she says that Afridesign is now looking at other options as the cost of relying on SEO is significant as well as limiting for her firm.
“As long as search engines are around, SEO will be an important part of online marketing,” says Prall. “Clients are familiar with these forms of online marketing having been around for some time. They are comfortable with the idea of investing money in SEO and paid search and are more likely to take these routes. Having said that, I strongly believe that social network sites such as Facebook are starting to give traditional search engine sites such as Google some competition.”
“It also makes sense that a business should be advertising and marketing itself where large volumes of people are going on the web every day, not just on search engines,” Prall adds.
Search engines
Indeed, the nature of search engines are changing and evolving constantly, so unless a company has a dedicated member of staff monitoring SEO operations, then website traffic is at risk, especially if a business relies on this technique.
According to Afridesign, it is important to diversify operations and customise online marketing techniques which are specific to each individual business, utilising both SEO and social media channels.
“It is advisable that a website should have many different sources of traffic. I believe that there is no formula to be followed, and there is no ‘one size fits all’ solution. However, businesses need to fomarketing 2.0rmulate their own online marketing strategies,” Prall says.
South Africa and social media
Convincing businesses to invest in other techniques can be a problem, as SEO is a familiar and proven technique. Afridesign believes the online community in South Africa, for example, remains in the dark when it comes to social media marketing (SMM) and mobile marketing. Although these techniques are being utilised by bigger brands with sizeable marketing budgets, “Mobile marketing and SMM are still relatively new and developing industries, it takes someone who is not afraid to take some risks, to embark on these forms of marketing,” Prall says.
Afridesign continues to develop its own marketing strategies by building a strong online reputation through a range of techniques. Through blogs, Facebook and Twitter, followers and potential customers are made aware of the services Afridesign offer. “We try to provide our followers with valuable, insightful information, as opposed to just marketing ourselves and our services. From time to time we may showcase some of the projects we have been involved with on these three platforms,” Prall points out.
In conclusion, one can safely say that although SEO is an excellent marketing tool, providing businesses with product visibility, it neglects credibility and requires continuous attention due to the constantly changing nature of search engines. Other marketing 2.0 techniques can prove very useful as social media marketing has proven in Afridesign’s case when it comes to reaching a large volume of people in one place every day. “Each product or service a business provides requires an individual marketing strategy, which would benefit massively from utilising a wide range of marketing 2.0 techniques,” Prall concludes.
How to raise an online profile in Africa
By using the internet as a marketing tool; and by using it properly, small businesses in Africa can gain valuable publicity and get ahead of the established market leaders
You would expect the main challenges when running a search engine marketing (SEM) campaign in Africa to be fairly tactical things, such as communicating with small, fragmented markets; a variety of languages and cultures; poverty; bandwidth and infrastructure constraints; and the propensity for governments under threat to simply switch off the internet.
But according to a couple of Cape Town, South Africa-based SEM experts the education of businesses is still the number one challenge in the field; the result being that companies who do “get it” have an opportunity to get ahead of the established, traditional players.
Here we take a look at the local search engine optimisation (SEO) and paid search or pay-per-click (PPC) markets, and also consider the impact of that newer kid on the block, social media.
Have to have
According to Christine da Silva, head of search at Neo@Ogilvy South Africa, although implementing SEO in Africa is pretty similar to anywhere else in the world, the local market still does not fully understand the role and impact of the practice.
It has been a long process convincing companies to take a tiny fraction of the huge sums they are spending on traditional advertising and invest it in improving their organic search rankings, she said. “It is a have to have,” da Silva said, “but the good news is the costs are far less than other channels.”
There is however huge opportunity for the local companies who do get it. According to da Silva, “Other industries are not even on the map,” compared to the property, financial services and travel sectors in South Africa, which are very competitive.
And even in the more competitive sectors, you do not have to go head to head with the big guys. “It is marketing 101,” said da Silva, “determine your unique selling proposition and build a niche market.”
Do the maths
Jonathan Gluckman, CEO of paid search company Clicks2Customers, concurs that education is the main challenge when offering PPC services in South Africa.
The bulk of his clients are based in the US, UK and Australia and when Clicks2Customers launched services in the SA market around two and a half years ago, Jonathan realised the extent to which local companies needed to be brought up to speed on why and how to use paid search.
“While PPC is essentially a commodity, companies do not understand the difference between good and bad PPC, or the metrics used to measure them,” Gluckman said.
This lack of understanding has the potential to seriously harm the nascent industry. Customers need to do the maths and understand the business model, said Gluckman. Your PPC cost is going straight to Google. An agency charging a flat 15 percent commission is more than likely setting up your campaigns and not doing any ongoing management, which is not going to deliver the best results. A far better option is remuneration based on a percentage of gross profit because then you know your campaigns are being well maintained.
“If you do not do search properly,” said Gluckman, “budgets will not grow.”
He expects South Africa to follow the same market path as Australia, which he puts around two years ahead. Initially new entrants and smart entrepreneurs will grab e-commerce market share from the traditional companies who will doggedly stick to off-line marketing campaigns and perhaps a brochure site, he said.
Travelstart and Wantitall are great examples of new entrants in the busy travel and retail space. They have literally appeared from nowhere and leapfrogged the established players.
This opportunity will be short-lived though, predicts Gluckman, because inevitably the established players will add online as part of a multi-channel strategy and will have the financial resources to play the game properly.
SEM gets social
“While search has taken off in the last two years,” said Gluckman, “it has recently lost some market share to social media, because of the hype surrounding it, and the lack of understanding around the roles of the channel.”
While Gluckman is frustrated by companies thinking social media can play the same role as PPC – and deliver actual conversions – Da Silva sees social media as an exciting extension to search.
When Google launched its instant search service last year and started serving social media platforms in its search results, social media became an organic search marketer’s secret weapon. With Google results changing on the fly with instant search, and added new content such as video, maps and so on to the search results, you may only see one or two actual organic search results. Without a managed social media presence, and the chance to appear high up on the results page with multiple listings, your brand risks being lost, she said, especially if you are in one of the more competitive sectors.
Search on the move
Both Da Silva and Gluckman see huge opportunities for mobile search in 2011. With mobile phones being the primary internet device for a lot of Africa, there are huge opportunities to reach customers via the mobile internet. Add social media on mobile platforms into the mix, and “hopefully mobile will live up to its promise in 2011,” said da Silva.
Although still relatively in its infancy on the continent, SEM is going to give smart companies the edge for the time being.
Email tom gallagher at tompetergallagher@hotmail.co.uk
But according to a couple of Cape Town, South Africa-based SEM experts the education of businesses is still the number one challenge in the field; the result being that companies who do “get it” have an opportunity to get ahead of the established, traditional players.
Here we take a look at the local search engine optimisation (SEO) and paid search or pay-per-click (PPC) markets, and also consider the impact of that newer kid on the block, social media.
Have to have
According to Christine da Silva, head of search at Neo@Ogilvy South Africa, although implementing SEO in Africa is pretty similar to anywhere else in the world, the local market still does not fully understand the role and impact of the practice.
It has been a long process convincing companies to take a tiny fraction of the huge sums they are spending on traditional advertising and invest it in improving their organic search rankings, she said. “It is a have to have,” da Silva said, “but the good news is the costs are far less than other channels.”
There is however huge opportunity for the local companies who do get it. According to da Silva, “Other industries are not even on the map,” compared to the property, financial services and travel sectors in South Africa, which are very competitive.
And even in the more competitive sectors, you do not have to go head to head with the big guys. “It is marketing 101,” said da Silva, “determine your unique selling proposition and build a niche market.”
Do the maths
Jonathan Gluckman, CEO of paid search company Clicks2Customers, concurs that education is the main challenge when offering PPC services in South Africa.
The bulk of his clients are based in the US, UK and Australia and when Clicks2Customers launched services in the SA market around two and a half years ago, Jonathan realised the extent to which local companies needed to be brought up to speed on why and how to use paid search.
“While PPC is essentially a commodity, companies do not understand the difference between good and bad PPC, or the metrics used to measure them,” Gluckman said.
This lack of understanding has the potential to seriously harm the nascent industry. Customers need to do the maths and understand the business model, said Gluckman. Your PPC cost is going straight to Google. An agency charging a flat 15 percent commission is more than likely setting up your campaigns and not doing any ongoing management, which is not going to deliver the best results. A far better option is remuneration based on a percentage of gross profit because then you know your campaigns are being well maintained.
“If you do not do search properly,” said Gluckman, “budgets will not grow.”
He expects South Africa to follow the same market path as Australia, which he puts around two years ahead. Initially new entrants and smart entrepreneurs will grab e-commerce market share from the traditional companies who will doggedly stick to off-line marketing campaigns and perhaps a brochure site, he said.
Travelstart and Wantitall are great examples of new entrants in the busy travel and retail space. They have literally appeared from nowhere and leapfrogged the established players.
This opportunity will be short-lived though, predicts Gluckman, because inevitably the established players will add online as part of a multi-channel strategy and will have the financial resources to play the game properly.
SEM gets social
“While search has taken off in the last two years,” said Gluckman, “it has recently lost some market share to social media, because of the hype surrounding it, and the lack of understanding around the roles of the channel.”
While Gluckman is frustrated by companies thinking social media can play the same role as PPC – and deliver actual conversions – Da Silva sees social media as an exciting extension to search.
When Google launched its instant search service last year and started serving social media platforms in its search results, social media became an organic search marketer’s secret weapon. With Google results changing on the fly with instant search, and added new content such as video, maps and so on to the search results, you may only see one or two actual organic search results. Without a managed social media presence, and the chance to appear high up on the results page with multiple listings, your brand risks being lost, she said, especially if you are in one of the more competitive sectors.
Search on the move
Both Da Silva and Gluckman see huge opportunities for mobile search in 2011. With mobile phones being the primary internet device for a lot of Africa, there are huge opportunities to reach customers via the mobile internet. Add social media on mobile platforms into the mix, and “hopefully mobile will live up to its promise in 2011,” said da Silva.
Although still relatively in its infancy on the continent, SEM is going to give smart companies the edge for the time being.
Email tom gallagher at tompetergallagher@hotmail.co.uk
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