NOTE: I originally posted this story last year right before the Super Bowl. I thought it was timely and in addition, I’ve updated it with a little more information. I will agree that this technique is sometimes frowned upon in the search world. This is by no means a supplement for creating an amazing product.
Don’t have $3MM to spend on a 30-second Super Bowl commercial? Take advantage of your competitors deep pockets by bidding on long-tail memorable ad keywords that your competition may have missed. For example, Career Builder put out a series of spots during last year’s game that focused on “Follow Your Heart.” Users who searched on the “follow your heart” terms most likely didn’t remember the brand behind the commercial. Monster.com took advantage of Career Builder’s publicity by bidding on their tagline and directing a large amount of focused traffic right to their site.
NEW: Here’s how to get started. AdAge has a list of 2010 Super Bowl commercials and the creative behind them. First, take a look at your competitors and see if you can find any holes or key terms from their spots that may stand out in a user’s mind.
Results from Google keyword tool
Next, drop on over to SpyFu and input your findings from above. So for example, I’m a competitor to Dockers and I see that they’re running an ad with the song “I Wear No Pants.” From what I’ve found via SpyFu and cross-referenced through Google Adwords tool, I see there isn’t much bidding going on for the term. There isn’t a lot of search volume on this term either, but that could change. Again, we’re really just trying to find a small niche of long-tail terms. The likelihood that you get rich on these is slim to none. Heck, you may even want to go as far as registering a keyword happy domain and using it for a landing page. I hear that www.I-wear-no-pants.com is available.
Lesson: If you’re the guy paying $3MM for a single TV commercial, make sure you have a little extra left over for other channels as well. If you’re the guy who can’t afford the budget, riding your competitors coat tails, doing a little recon and spending a few hours setting up a landing page could turn you into the MVP.
{ 0 comments }
