Search Engine Marketing Is NOT Advertising?

A controversial SEM article by Josh Shatkin, in Ad Age Digital. Do read the article here first, then read my comments below. Though Josh sounds very convincing in his article, he fails to see many other important things.

• JOSH:“SEM is the worst form of advertising, but bear in mind that it is the best form of targeting”
• DIGITAL DUDETTE: How does he come to a conclusion that SEM is the worst form of advertising? 

Based on a poll, clients’ preference in general or personal judgement? Nice argued by the first commenter, Danny Sullivan who says “the ‘best’ form and ‘worst’ form of advertising depends on the advertiser”. And Josh contradicts himself when he says that search is the best form of targeting. If we could use a medium to target effectively and we pay to use the medium, is it considered advertising?

• JOSH: “Search loses the persuasive power of display” 
• DIGITAL DUDETTE: Why are you comparing oranges to apples? 

Text ads may not be as impactful visually as tv ads, but it has the power to allow consumers to reconsider their preference and it effectively does so within a limited number of characters. This is simply because the ad appears when a consumer is open to receive the information. Search does not need fancy visuals i.e. page take overs, expandable banner ads to be persuasive. Beauty of search is buying the right keyword combining it with the relevant text ad to convince the user. And according to a study by iProspect, “Exposure to both paid marketing messaging drives likelihood to purchase (73%) in the future.”

• JOSH: “Search needs a future”
• DIGITAL DUDETTE: Search is the future.

Has tv advertising/print/radio ad evolved since it was first done? The technology to make the ads has grown tremendously but the strategy of how it’s done remains the same. It’s ability to provide accurate data and reporting for measurement supersedes any other traditional medium.

• JOSH: “Search retargeting and search will (and should) live together” 
• DIGITAL DUDETTE: Retargeting is crucial if client has a long term branding campaign/follow up campaign.

It does not make any sense to use retargeting technology if the campaign is all about short term awareness campaign. Online media mix is very much dependant on the campaign objective. I don’t think anyone can say for sure which medium would work best with the other unless they have ran multiple campaigns from different industries. 

CONCLUSION:
Search possess a great opportunity for brands to connect with their potential clients and expand their user database, with statistics to prove. That makes it a good advertising platform for me. What do think?