Search Plus: “Ringing the Common Sense Bell”

This week, I lash out against search engine marketing fundamentalists with a "can’t we all just get along" integration approach, replete with political undertones:

So why are some so disdainful and dismissive of SEM? Much of the blame falls on search marketers themselves. There are a vocal few with this god complex, preaching the salvation of search marketing. "Search is everything!" they scream. "Shift all your budgets to search or repent! Everyone is searching billions of times a day, and they’re telling you what they want. If they’re not searching then you will never figure out what they want so you shouldn’t even bother reaching such heathens!"

Fanaticism provokes fanatical responses. Every time a preacher cries out from the Evangelical Church of Search, an apostate will bristle and repudiate all of SEM. Ideologues hamper the dialogue we should engage in; it’s the moderate approach that will foster the healthiest growth of search engine marketing. To this end, I propose Search Plus.

You can read the entire piece at MediaPost.

Meanwhile, theAgency President Heidi Hayes, appreciating my ringing "the common sense bell," had a great addition to the piece: "You overlooked the all-important Search Plus Print. Even more than direct mail, print advertising has a greater opportunity to engage the end user and deliver a targeted message."

She’s dead on. There are quite a few Search Plus examples I couldn’t get into with the word count; yours are welcome.

Also, please send a line if you know how to make my URL work without entering the WWW. I need to figure that out one of these days.