Anthony Verre, Interactive Marketing Analyst, TMP Directional Marketing, 11-2007 Anthony.Verre@tmpdm.com  

2007 has been another year of tremendous growth for search engine marketing (SEM).  We’ve seen dominant engines become even more robust through acquisitions of key ad networks, like DoubleClick, Right Media, Third Screen, and aQuantive.  We’ve watched old algorithms of relevance become revitalized and updated to incorporate a variety of media: Google’s Universal Search, Yahoo’s Panama, and Ask.com’s Ask 3D.  Instant gratification of information and data has arrived.   

The money has shifted from more traditional forms of advertising and web advertising: website development, email marketing, print magazine advertising, TV advertising, and, even online yellow pages advertising, and is being recirculated into search engine marketing.  And the number of marketers using or who will be using SEM in the next twelve months are staggering: 85%¹.  

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The year is 1996. The World Wide Web has everyone’s attention. Marketers start to explore how the Internet can reshape how they go to market. Models are explored, sales channels analyzed and the first implementations make their way to the Web.

National brands that sell/deliver products through distributed sales organizations (dealers, franchisees, branches) develop dealer locators to help connect their sales outlets to potential customers. Then they provide dealers with options to link to these locators with either a template driven or customized Web site that has some ties to the brand.

Then, very little happens. What’s missing? (more…)