According to Yahoo’s Buzz Index, the most popular searched terms for the current week is “Pet Food Recall”. Yet, not a single pet food company thought to purchase a paid ad to address these concerns.
Obviously, there is a large concern in the public for the recalls on specific dog food. However, not a single company saw a need to address the public with these concerns. Yes, I am sure there were press releases and announcements, but if there was really a need to reach people then paid search marketing would have been the quickest way to reach customers.
Every major pet food company should have gone straight to pay per click to answer consumers’ questions. Even companies that were not affected, especially these companies. What better way to let your customers know that everything is fine and you are not affected?
Paid search marketing would have allowed companies to control the message and the brand and ultimately relaxed customers’ worries. Instead customers were forced to read news bites and stories, without getting a full grasp of the details and who is affected.
It amazes me how many larger corporations still do not seem to get the power behind search engine marketing.
However, I should point that one company did “GET IT” recently.
Taco Bell, in order to provide answers to people concerned about E. Coli, turned to paid search marketing. Not only did Taco Bell’s ppc campaign answer questions, but it eliminated the amount of clicks going to non-official websites. This prevented bad information from polluting the customer. Using PPC advertising allowed Taco Bell to control the message and ultimately the brand.
The pet food companies need to learn from the marketing experts at Taco Bell.
More From John Ellis
- Pay-Per-Click Tip: It’s not about the keywords
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Tags: Pay Per Click, pet food, PPC
May 8th, 2007 at 9:50 am
I don’t know what you were looking at but there were several companies that took advantage of the recall and bid on those terms - even the day after.
May 8th, 2007 at 11:36 am
There definitely does now seem to be pet food companies stepping up with information on the pet food recall.
However, when I first published this post, the paid listings did not mention the pet food recall.
Just buying keywords is not enough. The ads need to address concerns by taking users to a landing page that helps answer questions.
Either way, it is good to see several stepping up now including Whiskas and Sheba, which are both part of the Mars Corporation. Thanks for pointing this out.
Congratulations to Mars for stepping up and answering questions and concerns