I was at the e-consultancy pay per click round table the other day,  shout out to Ashley for pulling together a smart bunch of people from our peers, Google and some big brands (Google, Euroffice, Debenhams, Post Office, Signet, Alliance & Leicester, Churchill Insurance., Lloyds TSB, TUI, Performics, Wheel, Bigmouthmedia, Performics, Spannerworks, The Search Works ), and Linus for buying the beers afterwards :-)

The agenda was broken down into three main topics, but one that really caught my attention and generated the most interesting discussion was:  Can Paid Search be used effectively as part of the wider marketing mix, aligned with TV for example for maximum response, or specific seasonal placements?

This was a hot topic, and we had all spotted real lifestyle changes happening, laptop and TV being a common evening combination. Richard Gregory pointed out that at Google they could see the really high online response correlating to what was actually on Television, jokingly questioning as to whether anyone was actually watching the programmes.

Obviously the Pontiac advert in the US came up to demonstrate that television advertising was a very powerful way to drive direct response online. But I had to point out that in fact it was also better a case study of why all the marketing departments needed to be working more closely, because in reality Pontiac dropped the ball by not having a  pay per click strategy and their cool TV ad campaign got hijacked by Mazda in the SERP.

A note to anyone considering running a TV campaign refencing a SERP, or directing anyone to the internet, back it up with a proper search strategy or don't bother, you can call me if you need help - 0870 0630707.

Also this highlighted that the current 9-5.30 opening hours policy of the search engines wasn't suitable anymore with most agencies operating outside of these times, so Google/Yahoo! et al if we can't get 24/7 support can we at least have 7am-midnight as a starter?