It’s All About Search
Search is my favourite acquisition channel.
The key reason, in my book, that it trumps every other acquisition channel is a little thing called intent. In this modern world, where time is so precious and there are so many ways we can spend it, the time an individual takes to visit a search engine and look for products or services should be viewed as precious. Although Google’s servers take a micro-second to load and the average Joe can type-in the query in 3 seconds, it’s the realisation that this user – depending on the type of keyword he’s using – is willing to invest a few minutes looking at multiple websites in order to find what he’s looking for that should have marketers clambering over one another for his attention. And of course they do – search is very competitive after all.
Depending on which industry the marketer finds himself in, this intent-effect can be multiplied. A user looking for help in planning their wedding is usually in it for the long haul. I’d know. Wedding planning bores me, so I only do it when I’m in the right frame of mind and I’m willing to invest a decent amount of time. The technical term is get-it-over-and-done-with-so-I-can-get-back-to-that-interesting-stuff. Wedding websites that are there when I’m looking for them will get my undivided attention. When I’m searching for the weather forecast though, I’m in and out like a shot. Did I notice the website’s *relevant* banners advertising their wares? Did I hell.
So I guess I’m saying that search is a more valuable medium in certain industries, than others.
Other acquisition channels generally include display advertising, affiliate marketing and now certain types of social media can chip in with acquisitions every now and again. Each has it’s pros and cons. Affiliate marketing is a results-based business, but to be competitive it can take a while to build your affiliate base up to a level where they are driving lots of traffic – and they have to trust you. Trust can take a while to garner and a second to destroy, so you have to be careful there. Display advertising is getting cheaper and certainly gets your brand out there, but as a straight acquisition channel I dislike it. Click through rates from adverts are generally appalling and there is very little intent from your new visitors.
My company has the biggest type of display advertising campaign you can get. We’re on television. Not just any television either, we’re on terrestrial TV stations 7 days a week. Although it’s even more difficult to measure the top end of this acquisition channel’s funnel (exactly how many people watched our shows every night? How engaged we they? Were they even awake?), the traffic we get through to the websites is just phenomenal. By using a variety of drop-down menus and forced cookies, we try to track this generally un-trackable medium to the best of our ability. And it’s fair to say that, purely on volume, this is the best way we’ve found to bring players to our shores. But is the intent there?
Our average Joe took time out his day to seek our services. In our case, he really wanted to play roulette or blackjack, and went on the hunt to find somewhere to play. Can the same be said about the players who stumble upon our show on TV at 1am? Are they looking around for something to watch, find us and decide to give it a whirl?
Our stats certainly show that search-acquired players are better players than their TV-acquired betting buddies. Players we acquire through PPC, for example, wager more heavily than those who watch our shows then play. They are also more likely to become VIPs and they deposit more throughout their lifetime as our customers.
I believe this has a lot to do with the mindset of the player when they first interacted with us, or their intent. Search players know what they want then go and get it; TV (and display) players don’t have that same urge and this is mirrored in the respective player quality of both channels.
And that is why search is my favourite acquisition channel.
*But ask me to choose either search or TV as an acquisition channel and I’d want both. Search provides better quality players, but TV provides a helluva lot of them! 
*
No related posts.