Confession: I’m a bit of a keyword research addict. I love finding profitable keywords to target for paid or organic search marketing campaigns. What I keep noticing time and time again, is the value of having a known brand name when it comes to online marketing.
Here’s an example I came across recently while exploring office supplies and stationary type keywords, using one of my favourite keyword research tools, SEMrush (aff). The results below show the top 10 keywords Kikki-K.com rank for in Google’s organic search results.
What are the results telling us? The SEMrush data suggests that 22,200 people are searching in Google for the brand name “Kikki K” as opposed to 5,400 people searching for “stationary”. This business has done such a great job building brand awareness, that more people are searching for their brand name than for “stationary”. They’ve managed to capture the hearts and minds of consumers jack of boring black canter-leaver folders.
This is a great illustration of how building brand awareness means fewer people can compete with you online in the search results. It would be very difficult, nigh impossible, for someone to setup a website and achieve a position #1 ranking in Google for Kikki K. In fact, if you do a search in Google for Kikki-K, you’ll see they own (figuratively speaking), or have access to, almost all the results on page one.
Building a brand also means your AdWords clicks will (generally) be cheaper. In Australia you can trademark your business name in Google AdWords to prevent others from bidding on it and mentioning it in ad copy. This means there’s no one else competing in AdWords for your main search term, thus making clicks cheaper, much cheaper.
SEMrush suggests that bidding on the term “stationary supplies” will cost your around $2.52 per click, while bidding on the band term “Kikki-K” will only cost $0.18. Does this encourage you to invest in brand building? It should – Google is the new Yellow Pages.
I’m not for second suggesting brand building is an easy marketing strategy, this is a long term strategy that takes time and money. However, it is worth keeping in mind that a quirky, non-english-dictionary word can be a good long term strategy.
As an aside: If you’re not familiar with Kikki-K’s work, they’re a very groovy stationary and office supplies business who have done an amazing job of turning the industry on it’s ear. If you pass one of their retail outlets, make sure you walk in a see how different they are compared to other boring office supply retailers – or just check out their product online.
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Companies like Nike, eBay, and Zipcar are making inroads through innovative approaches to customer outreach. Here are five ways to keep your brand relevant and successful. With overstimulated consumers, growing investments in innovation, and an economy in recovery mode (fingers crossed), taking a fresh look at your customer experience in-store and online, and with your brand in general, is paramount to staying relevant with your target audience—and winning.
Lukie is a keyword junkie!
Lukie is a keyword junkie!