Yahoo! announces Big Bang marketing initiative
29 Apr 2009
Yahoo! Search Marketing announced a search marketing initiative called the 'Big Bang' initiative for small business, investing up to $24 million in the advertising activities of Australian small businesses.
The campaign will be run for the next three months in conjunction with Yahoo search marking specialists who will coach successful applicants to help them make optimal use of search marketing.
Willie Pang, managing director of Yahoo! Search Marketing, said that the Big Bang initiative will be available to 160,000 small businesses across the country, providing businesses with a free three-month search engine advertising campaign.
The main objective of the Big Bang initiative is to educate and help small businesses to fully understand that search engine advertising is a compelling alternative that will make a positive impact on their bottom line.
The Big Bang intends to take make online advertising smooth. A Yahoo! certified local specialist will be fully managing each small business campaign at no cost, without the expense of a flashy website to succeed.
The campaign will kick off with a direct mail to 160,000 businesses. Each one to take up the offer will receive the services of a search marketing consultant and $150 worth of Yahoo search advertising at a cost-per-click through that varies according to how much the advertiser had bid the keyword that triggered the ad. However, Pang said that Yahoo Search Marketing would not stop the campaign if it reached the 160,000 before the end of the three months.
Although there are estimated to be close to two million small businesses in Australia, Pang said that only about 40,0000 made use of search marketing, yet about 80 percent of consumers use the Internet to inform their purchasing decisions.
According, their goal is to ''drive a paradigm shift'' among small businesses, encouraging them to utilise the web to ''better connect with consumers searching for their products and services online''.
The announcement comes as Google Australia unveiled a small businesses 'stimulus' in the form of a free $75 search marketing campaign.