SEM Industry Research Snapshot

In my opinion, finding and reading research results cannot get brief enough for my schedule. So, with that in mind, here’s a very-brief wrap up of an already-brief summary document (that can be found in full HERE) about some not-so-brief SEMPO research.

Here are the Highlights of the Research Highlights

• North American Search Engine Marketing expenditures are expected to nearly double from approximately 13.5 billion in 2008 to 26.1 billion in 2013.
  • Spend and Growth will be Driven By:
    • Increasing advertiser focus on accountability and ROI
    • Increase in small-to-midsize businesses using SEM

• Surprisingly (to me anyway), the top SEM objective for advertisers was Brand awareness (63%) not sales (61%).

• For the first time, most advertisers allocated new funds for SEM programs. Where’s that money coming from?
  • Top 5 budgets being reallocated to SEM (in order):
    • Print Magazines
    • Direct Mail
    • Print Newspaper
    • Web site development
    • TV Advertising

• Everyone loves the idea of Behavior Targeting, theoretically.
  • Advertisers on average would pay about 10% more for both demographic and day part targeting, and 13% more for behavioral targeting.
  • While advertiser interest in behavioral targeting is very strong and virtually unchanged from last year, actual investment is still low.
  • 2 in 5 advertisers said they are not currently targeting or re-targeting searchers but plan to in the next 12 months.
  • Over a third (34%), said they are not currently targeting or re-targeting searchers and do not plan to in the next 12 months.

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