SEM: Wachovia and Wells Fargo Miss Out on Windfall from Search Engine Interest
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Written By Noah Mallin | October 3, 2008 | Share This
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Millions of consumers and business who have accounts and dealings with Wachovia and (last week with Washington Mutual) found themselves wondering some pretty basic questions: Is my money safe? Do I have to switch banks? Is the other shoe going to drop?
Increasingly the first place Americans go to when that want answers fast is a search engine. It makes sense – this is when the ability to deliver a relevant result out of the vast sea of information available online truly shines. So why does corporate America still not get it?
Wachovia just announced their purchase by Wells Fargo in the latest in a series of dizzying financial defensive moves by debt saddled institutions. Even more confusing, this comes barely a week after a government arranged shotgun wedding between Wachivia and Citigroup. So what happens when consumers did a search for “wachovia” or “wachovia” and “financial crisis” or “wachovia” and “wells fargo”?
In most cases lots of negative news reports. In a few cases a Wachovia search engine ad will appear to suggest you open up a free checking account. That smacking sound you hear are thousands of account holders slapping their foreheads and thinking “Yeah, that’s how I ended up wondering whether my money was safe in the first place…”
What could Wachovia do differently? How about a search engine ad leading directly to a dedicated information page? Speak directly to the fears of account holders – “Looking for more information on the Wachovia merger with Wells Fargo? Click here.” This is a time when people want the official line from their institution of choice – take advantage of that to get your message out.
As Google Trends data shows (above), Wells Fargo shareholders were a big group of searchers who wanted answers. An ad that proclaimed “See what the historic Wachovia merger means for Wells Fargo investors” with an optimized topic-specific landing page would be a great way to start to settle some of those investor jitters.
Search Engine marketing is a great tool to re-assure and educate in a fast-moving crisis situation - if only more marketers would learn to use it this way.
Topics: Advertising: Online, Google, SEM: Ad Creative, SEM: Keyword Generation, SEM: Paid Search, Search: How-To |
Nice Post. Thanks for sharing this information with us.