When you run a search marketing campaign, the questions is bound to arise at a point of time whether we should bid on our competitor brand keywords?

There is no correct answer for this question in reality. It’s legal that you can bid for a competitor brand keyword. So is it worth?  When you want to bid on your competitor brand keyword, just have these following thoughts in mind

•  What you offer is a relevant or an alternate to whatever your competitor has to offer.
•  Check the price & compare it to yours. If you have low price then you can bid for it.
•  When the competitor is targeting your brand keywords then boy don’t even think about it fight back aggressively.

Some situations you shouldn’t bid on your competitors brand keywords when,

• Your competitor price is lower than yours.
•  You are worried that your competitor will fight back by aggressive advertising on your brand keywords
•  You don’t want to take a chance.

Key points to remember when you bid for competitor brand keyword.

• Avoid keyword insertion in your ad messaging (not to use dynamic insertion).
• Don’t be disconcerted by small traffic volumes from competitors brand terms.

So, as you can see there is no definite yes or no answer to whether bidding on competitors brand keyword is a good or bad thing.  However, think about the points above and if you choose to begin bidding on competitors terms TEST the results and then analyze the data.

Contributed by Rajasekar Ragavan

Online and Search marketing are even more important now to marketers in the current recessionary environment. It is more cost-effective and measurable than other media. Further, expectations from Search and Social Media Marketing are now much higher than before.

How to advertise effectively using Social Media networks?

Join Position2 in Effective Advertising via Social Networks, a panel discussion on Social Media and Video forum at the five-day Search Engine Strategies Conference from August 10 to 14, 2009. For the first time in 11 years, the Conference will include a full-day track Social Media and Video, where Position2, represented by Soumya Ravi, Director of Client Management, will share insights on Effective Advertising via Social Networks.

An expert on Social and Search Marketing, Soumya Ravi says, “Social Media acts as a catalyst that enables companies to shorten their marketing cycles. Today, online video and social media are experiencing significant growth compared to the past couple of years, from both the audience and engagement standpoints. The adoption of social networking capabilities, by both consumers and corporations, has seen online outperforming all other media in terms of growth. This has helped digital marketers achieve their goals faster and improve their ROI.”

At the Panel Discussion, Soumya will share her experiences and learning on using Social Media as an effective tool for advertising. The discussion will open with a keynote by Clay Shirky, a New Media expert and author of the book Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations. Nate Elliott, Principal Analyst, Forrester Research will moderate the discussion. Other panelists, apart from Soumya Ravi, include Stacy Gratz, Social Media Marketing Manager, H&R Block, and Beth Murphy, Sr. Director of Marketing & Communications, Digg.