iProspect, a search engine marketing firm, wanted to examine how impressions of various digital media assets – and combinations thereof – produced brand lift. The company commissioned comScore to develop and conduct research with the objective of uncovering the true effect of the digital media channels, and the effect of branding on customers’ purchase paths.
The research spanned organic search impressions, paid search impressions, online display ad impressions, and all combinations thereof, across 15 brands within five vertical industries: retail, insurance, banking/financial services, software, and hotels.
The research involved both real-time monitoring of Internet user behavior, as well as post-behavioral surveying of those users. Panelists were surveyed about the brands they had been exposed to via these various digital marketing assets.
Key findings:
- Paid search result impressions have the greatest impact on brand lift, both in isolation and in combination with other digital assets.
- In aggregate, paid search results generate 44 percent lift in likelihood to purchase.
- Within the retail vertical, paid search impressions create a 54 percent lift in likelihood to purchase.
- The combination of paid + organic search impressions produce the strongest brand lift across most of the brand metrics measured.
- In aggregate, paid search results + organic search results net a 73 percent lift in likelihood to purchase.
- Within the hotel vertical, paid + organic search impressions create a 147 percent lift in likelihood to purchase.
- Online display advertising is also effective at producing brand lift, but makes its strongest contribution when used in combination with search engine results. This combination produced a surprisingly high brand lift across many of the verticals studied.
- In aggregate, organic search results + display ad impressions net a 16 percent increase in likelihood to purchase.
- Within the banking/financial vertical, organic search results + display ad impressions create a 64 percent lift in likelihood to purchase.
Does your marketing strategy take into account the branding benefits of a combined digital media advertising strategy?
Full story and PDF download of study at iProspect »
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