Steve’s blog :
random musings of a professional scribbler

Plus ca change…

According to agency Neutralize’s recently published report, Search today attracts upwards of a third of UK marketers’ online budgets. Inevitably, this trend has spawned a whole new breed of consultants, whose job it is to help us come to terms with this latest addition to the black arts.
Good luck to them. But I can’t help but feel that old school direct response copywriters will, as a consequence, enjoy a certain sense of validation.
And of déjà vu. For Search Engine Optimisation, and Pay Per Click advertising, are as much – if not more - to do with understanding your business, and your markets, than of arcane algorithms and IT-based ‘solutions’.
Indeed, Search is, to my mind, the very essence of direct marketing. And the time-honoured principles of research, targeting and testing – espoused by Caples, Reeves and others – are as valid today as they ever were.
Meantime, the development of an array of staggeringly sophisticated campaign analysis tools means copywriters are now more accountable than ever before.
Which means those who can’t deliver will be – very quickly – found out.

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