Without question, traditional and offline marketing activities influence behavior in search. A new TV commercial prompts the audience to search based on what they saw, recognized, or remember from the commercial; the same is true of press releases which raise questions in your audience, questions that are best answered by a search engine.
With the buzz or interest created by marketing and PR, why miss an opportunity to draw in a qualified customer who has already expressed interest in your brand, product, or service by nature of the fact that they searched for it? The country of France today missed a significant marketing alignment opportunity when they failed to support a PR event through Paid Search.
France opens secret UFO files covering 50 years
“It is a world first,” said Jacques Patenet, the aeronautical engineer who heads the office for the study of “non-identified aerospatial phenomena,” citing France as the first to release its documenation of more than 1,600 sightings to the public domain.
Of the 1,600 cases registered since 1954, nearly 25 percent are classified as “type D”, meaning that “despite good or very good data and credible witnesses, we are confronted with something we can’t explain,” Patenet said.
With such reliable data and “credible witnesses,” the public is no doubt scrambling to review these documents to satiate their unending demand for the confirmation of extra-terrestrials. Since the July 1947 UFO incident near Roswell, New Mexico, non-identified aerospatial phenomena have become a part of American pop culture yet, surprisingly, with concrete evidence available, such as the 1998 documentary The X-Files Fight the Future which recorded the heroic efforts of United States FBI agent’s Fox Mulder and Dana Scully to stop extra-terrestrial colonization of Earth, most still crave confirmation, proof.
France may very well have released that proof today but, save for the prominence of the release (I’m sure you’ve already heard the news as it is being broadcast on all major networks and websites), neither the gouvernement, Parliament, ministres délégués, nor Prime Minister had the foresight to acquire keywords to respond to the demand and interest generated.
Where can these documents be found? Search for ‘alien,’ ‘UFO,’ or even ‘terrestre supplémentaire‘ on any of the major engines and we’re presented with movie promotions, conspiracy websites, and the ever present wikipedia listing. Without consideration of Search, the French govenment missed on opportunity to capitalize on the strength of their brand, the reach and popularity of the press release, and goodwill that could be nurtured with UFO enthusiasts searching for answers.
Don’t make the same mistake! Remember that offline activities, events, marketing, and press are successful in generating awareness, interest, and demand. Increasingly, customers turn to search for answers.
Happy fun Friday 😉
