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The rise of the reluctant consumer means that bland search ads just won't cut it. Here's how to create simple ads that leave a lasting impact.

Paid search is now an integral part of online media campaigns and has come to rival display in terms of online media spending. Paid search enjoys this preeminence for a variety of reasons, but perhaps none is more important than search marketing's perceived high ROI and the fact that a marketer only pays when a user clicks.

Because the "last click" before a purchase often comes from a search query (even if simply navigational in nature), the search engine gets 100 percent of the credit for the sale. This of course likely understates the impact of other marketing messages, but it is a convenient fiction for the big search engines, and one that they are happy to perpetuate.

Most of us use search engines as we once did the old, thick Yellow Pages books: it is everyone's "go to" resource to find what we need. But more importantly, search engines have become everyone's "go to" research resource to find out about what we need. 

For most consumers, the traditional consideration phase in the sales cycle takes place, more and more, through online search engine research. They use search to get to information sites like Wikipedia, WebMD, Consumer Reports, and other sources of information about a product they are considering. They also use search to inform themselves about what kind of services they may need to address a concern or solve a particular problem. 

Once consumers are comfortable with the information, they then use search engines to navigate toward a purchase from a particular vendor. In this post-research process, they are often importantly influenced by their pre-conceived notions of brand and brand value.

Readily available metrics have tracked the "click trails" leading to the final click. According to sources like Atlas, DoubleClick, Eyeblaster and others, paid search needs to share credit for the sale with display ads and the consumer's informational research, which make critical contributions to the purchase path leading to the final sale. 

There is a vital inflection point, after the consumer's consideration phase is over and their purchase intent has been formed, when the customer is most susceptible to marketing messages delivered by paid search advertising. However, absent a compelling, interesting, or engaging prompt from paid search ads, we believe that in most cases the consumer's attention falls like a pachinko ball, bouncing harmlessly off dull and non-engaging paid advertisements toward a name that they already trust or recognize.

This trust, or brand recognition, has no doubt been formed, over time, by personal experience or exposure to advertising in other media channels that is more creative than what is likely to be found in the paid search section of any search page. 

If you are a company with a new product or service, and you have not yet had the opportunity or the financial resources to build brand trust and awareness through multi-channel media display campaigns, this situation creates a huge opportunity. The inherent power of search to inform and influence the consideration phase plus the creative inertia of most search ads can let you, in the immortal words of Ty in "Caddyshack," "Be the ball."

Instead of letting your prospective customers just bounce harmlessly off your paid ad, you can create interest, engagement, and emotional connection through better and more effective creative approaches in paid search. We believe that by applying tried and true reward- and incentive-based promotional strategies in your paid search ads, you can take control of the consumer and strongly influence the ultimate purchase decision.

Football fans have all seen the recent Sears/Brett Favre TV spots where he "considers" his purchase till past closing time, despite the salesperson's efforts to re-assure him on price protection and get him to move to a purchase decision. This indecision is certainly a take-off on Favre's history of changes of mind regarding his retirement from pro football, but it is also a tacit recognition of a reality in the current marketplace: the emergence of the "reluctant consumer."

With the hard economic lessons of the recent past still resonating with consumers at all levels, everyone's customers have become less impulsive, more inclined to save rather than spend, more wary and frankly more frightened for their long term economic health. Search creative that does not interest, engage, or activate specific consumer behavior or lay the foundation for future commerce is no longer good enough. This is true not just for lesser known vendors, but for the big brands as well. The "reluctant consumer" syndrome impacts all vendors.

This is the reason we believe that reward- and incentive-based paid search creative, which applies the tested and true principles of promotional marketing is going to be a big part of the future of  paid search.

Especially in tough economic times, the power of reward- and incentive-based promotions to create interest and engagement and to turn consideration into activation is unmatched. Paid search copy that refers to an incentive or reward element will catch the reluctant consumer's eye and lead to clicks that would be lost with more vanilla copy focused on product features or benefits alone. 

These rewards or incentives can be as simple and straightforward as $1-off, buy one/get one, or "free premium with purchase" offers. This type of offer can strengthen the value proposition for activation and capture even the interest and attention of the reluctant consumer. Reward- and incentive-based offers included in paid search ad can provide a stronger voice at the point of sale and strongly influence the direction of the ultimate sale.

Here are four key takeaways for you: 

·         Understand that the online sales process importantly involves product research and information consideration and that brand perception remains a key factor in selecting the ultimate vendor. 

·         Remember that the online consumer is a reluctant consumer, both because of the economy and because of the dynamics of a remote sale.  

·         Appreciate that typically vanilla creative approaches to paid search present a huge opportunity for competitive advantage. 

·         Resolve to take control of the ultimate sales trajectory by creating a more powerful sales voice through creative approaches that inject interest, emotion, and engagement by incorporating proven promotional marketing strategies.

Sweepstakes, rewards, incentives, coupons, and sampling can all be part of a new creative focus to help your paid search advertisement stand out and win.

By Alan Gerson and  Bob Heyman

Alan Gerson http://www.imediaconnection.com/profiles/iMedia_PC_Overview.aspx?ID=396 is President & CEO, Enteractive Solutions Group, Inc. http://www.enteractivesolutions.com/