Most SEM advertisers would probably agree that efficiently executed brand campaigns are fundamental to the Client success. With acquisition volume high and cost per acquisition low, we often depend on these brand campaigns to hit aggressive goals.

This is especially true in Paid Search. And recently, MSN ad Center published some helpful tips for leveraging your brand through PPC.

As the article points out, bidding on all of your branded keywords and pronouncing your brand in ad copy can bring in traffic - but you don’t need to be everywhere all of the time.

Brands need to be safeguarded; “leveraging” too often turns into “saturating.” In the realm of celebrity, they say “there is no such thing as bad publicity.” Well, in the realm of search, there is. And it can cost you!

There are a lot of people searching online, if they’re not searching for you, then you don’t need to be found. Instead, it’s all about qualified traffic, and in Paid Search there’s a few things you should consider when it comes to your keywords:

Negatives:

• One of the easiest ways to qualify traffic is with negative keywords.
  
  
• Search your brand terms. Do ads for irrelevant products or services show up due to same/similar names? If so, add a negative.
  
  
• Is your brand a “real” word? For example, most people who search for Nike are looking for athletic products. But what if someone searches Champion? Or Diesel? Do they want to shop Diesel jeans, research diesel engines…or visit Diesel night club in Pittsburgh? If you’re the clothing company, add “engines” and add “night club” to your negatives (don’t necessarily add Pittsburg; maybe someone wants to locate a Diesel store in the city?)
  
  
• Once the campaign collects enough data, you might uncover more negative keywords through search query reports.
  
  

Match Types:

• Like negatives, exact and phrase match types are a pretty straightforward way to qualify traffic.
  
  
• Exact and phrase will bring up the quality score and the ad position of your brand campaign.
  
  

Web Addresses:

• I see these a lot in brand campaigns, and I’ve certainly seen them perform well. www.brandkeyword.com is good to include, but be cautious. A lot of people mistake the search bar for the address bar.
  
  

Band-aid, iPod, Kleenex:

• Brandnomers present different issues depending on who you are. Are you Kleenex or are you Puffs?
  
  
• This doesn’t necessarily have to be a competitor issue. Keep in mind that someone searching for “iPod” might really be searching for “Mp3 players,” possibly making your brand a contender. A competitor, in a keyword sense, might actually be your ally.
  
  

Acronyms and Abbreviations:

• Again, acronyms and abbreviations can be good to include, but be cognizant of irrelevant matches.
  
  
• Acronyms and abbreviations often have more than one meaning – schools, cities, companies, airport codes, stock tickers, etc. - so add negatives to weed out traffic that doesn’t connote your brand.
  
  

Logos:

• A lots of brands have character or logo counterparts that are just as popular as the brand name - include them in your keyword list and consider them in your ad copy.
  
  

Align Your Offline Initiatives:

• If you’re running a new print campaign or airing a new television sport, chances are people will be looking for you online - be there!
  
  
• Carry the offline messaging online: update your ad copy and your keyword list with language that mirrors the offline marketing campaign.
  
  

Many of these suggestions deal with sifting through excess search volume to make your brand appearance more meaningful. But what if you don’t have excess traffic to navigate? What if your brand recognition is pretty dismal, and no one is even searching for you? Building your brand awareness is an issue I’ll tackle soon, so stay tuned!