The SERP Advertisement Trilogy: Part 2

The Trademark Approach

The following blog is a part of the SERP Advertisement Trilogy. In part 1, we discovered that there are three types of ads. This blog is the sequel – the return research visit to further examine the Google Adwords trends.

The head of Predikkta’s exploration team felt vindicated by their discovery of the different trends. Although most of the prior research had been based on the Marketing technique, the other two types deserved some further investigations. So it was decided that a second, better equipped, research team would return to the wilderness in order to study these trends further.

Which is why we found ourselves on the digital equivalent of the Himalayas (a feeling not helped by the fact that the heating stopped working that day). But the victorious feeling of discovering the rare, yet thoroughly intriguing, Trademark Approach made everything worthwhile.

A Reminder of What We Have Learned So Far

Before delving into the Trademark Approach, it is important to quickly go over what the first expedition/article covered.

We at Predikkta have discovered a trend of repeated patterns in the SERP.

After research began, it was quickly established that there were generally three types of Ads appearing on the SERP:

1. The Marketing Approach: if pulled off successfully, this ad tends to have the highest Click Through Rate (CTR).
2. The Trademark Approach: a rarer creature that seeks to encourage trust in the user, generally has the second highest CTR.
3. The Standard Ad: by far the most common type of ad. This style tends to have a slight hit-and-miss with audiences, although if worded correctly can still draw enough attention away from the other types.

This second expedition is proud to present our findings on the second group, Trademark Ads: the elusive and effective Trademark Approach.

What It Is

Who Uses the Trademark Approach?

All companies engage in branding. In the non-digital world, a walk down a shopping boulevard or a in a shopping mall will show that. In the digital world too, it is obvious that branding is key to being successful. Look at the example of Google, whose brand name has become a verb, or Facebook, which has essentially created a product that is not going away in the foreseeable future.

In the digital world, sometimes brands can be even more accessible or well-known than in the real world (name 5 mining companies without researching. Or medical companies. Then name 5 Internet companies – pretty easy to do). It’s pretty obvious that branding is essential.

Of course, just as with the non-digital world, it is not a fair playing field. Companies that have already made it big in the non-digital world will obviously have both the resources and the gravitas that is necessary to run a successful Trademark Approach campaign by sheer virtue of their established size and trust.

Small businesses that use the Trademark Approach often have to portray a sense of being bigger than they actually are in order to gain that trust – which, if pulled off correctly, the Trademark Approach can actually assist with.

Benefits and Costs

Pros:

1. As has been hinted at, the Trademark Approach can help increase trustworthiness, especially when it comes to smaller businesses. For this to work, the smaller brand needs to present not only the ad as legitimate and/or high quality, but they must also create high quality websites to back this up.
2. It is easier to correctly execute the Trademark Approach over the Standard Ad Approach, and as a result it can be a safer method of getting higher CTR than the latter.
3. It does not have the “cost” of reduced margin as compared to the Marketing Ads.
4. Eye catching: an ad that features a trademark symbol or an eye-catching brand name will certainly draw attention away from your competition, which is something you really want in the cutthroat world of digital marketing.

Cons:

1. When competing with a high quality Marketing Approach ad, the Trademark will generally have a lower CTR. This is because the branding is just that and not a usually a call to action or a specific sales pitch.
2. Related, there can often be a lack of direct information about what is being advertised. For big companies whose reputations for particular goods or services has been established (such as McDonalds, or Bunnings for example), this is not a problem, but for smaller companies, unless your brand name is unmistakably related to your product (MySuperNanny for example), it can be difficult to tell what the company is about.

CONCLUSION

The Trademark Approach is something that can be very useful to companies. It can build a sense of trust and scale, something which is very important when in the digital world that is full of mistrust and scams. It can help fill the gap between marketing campaigns and it is generally a positive for branding.