How important is branding to your online marketing strategy? Very important, if you are going to listen to your target audience.

The results of a recent research conducted by Search Engine Land and SurveyMonkey shows that almost 70% of consumers look for recognized retail brands when choosing what results to click during product searches online. The results that followed were discounts or sale offers, and free shipping.

Visual Info, Reviews, and Location Major Deciding Factors

Search Engine Land and SurveyMonkey conducted a study that looks at the behavior of audiences when doing product searches.

The survey also shows some elements of your marketing strategy to be important deciding factors for consumers. Results showing the image and price of the product(s) consumers are searching for ranked fourth as a deciding factor. Reviews and location came in fifth and sixth, respectively.

Google+ surprisingly was not as important a deciding factor as it is a ranking factor. The number of Google+ followers of a brand received the least number of votes as a deciding factor for clicking on a search result.

Google the Leading Source of Gift Information

In line with the upcoming holidays, the survey also asked the respondents which sites they will be using to search for gifts this year. Google was the top answer, with 67% of respondents saying they will be using the search engine for gift shopping. Amazon came in at a very close second, being cited by 66% of respondents.

Of the three big search engines, Google was way ahead at first, with Yahoo! coming in at fifth and Bing trailing behind at eighth. Etsy and Groupon were even ahead of Bing for gift idea searches.

Google is the leading site for gift searches this year, with Amazon coming in at a close second.

Main Takeaways

The results of this survey clearly shows what you need to do to reach your market effectively. Consistent and strong branding is important in promoting recall and building the kind of trust relationship that makes consumers become repeat customers of a brand, also helping your conversion rate optimization in the long run.

The survey results also show that the following online marketing elements help your campaign become more successful at gaining market share on search:

Implement rich snippets that show pricing on your SERPs.
Include updated, high-resolution images of your products on your website, whether or not you’re an ecommerce site. Visual stimulation is a powerful deciding factor for your audience.
Update your business information on your website, and include a business hours rich snippet to optimize for local search.
A combination of strong organic and local search strategies is important in getting your target audience to click on your website.
Plan different marketing promotions for your brand, and integrate this with your online marketing strategy.
Talk to us today to learn how you can improve your current marketing strategy for branding and online promotion. We’d be glad to help you create a strategy to boost your brand and reach your market effectively.