Irish firm features in major search conference
17-08-2006
by Charlie Taylor

One of Ireland's leading online marketers recently hobnobbed with the big names in the internet world at a major international conference in Silicon Valley.

Martin Murray, CEO of the online marketing agency Interactive Return, joined internet celebrities such as Google's CEO, Eric Schmidt in sharing his expertise to over 10,000 delegates at the prestigious Search Engine Strategies Conference, held at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, California last week.

Interactive Return, which was established in 1999, is a provider of online marketing services and specialises in online advertising, web usability testing, and e-mail and search engine marketing.

The firm has become well-known for its Search Marketing Campaign Manager software solution which enables online marketers to develop successful online advertising campaigns. Interactive Return's clients include Tesco, Vodafone and Guinness' parent company Diageo.

Murray was selected to speak about his company's experience of helping the drinks industry to overcome challenges in using the internet to attract new customers.

"The Search Engine Strategies conference is the largest event of its kind in the world and attracts a large number of advertisers, technology providers and search engine specialists.

"The presentation I gave was on search marketing for regulated industries such as pharmaceuticals, gambling and alcohol. I spoke in detail about our experience of working with Diageo over the past six years on promoting brands such as Guinness, Baileys and Johnnie Walker online," said Murray.

Given the fact that companies in the industry are restricted from using paid-for listings on search engines due to legislation, Murray spoke to delegates about other ways that firms in the sector can boost their brand online.

"I discussed our experience about the challenges of achieving success in a regulatory environment. With Google, for example, you can't opt for sponsored listings if you're a drinks firm so a lot of the work we do is on the organic side of online marketing which involves developing an optimised website that's search engine friendly."

In global terms, Interactive Return may still be a small player in an industry that's valued at USD14 billion in 2006, but Murray is confident that the exposure gained from speaking at the conference, together with a healthy upswing in spending on search engine marketing means that the firm is likely to continue to grow in the near future.

"Things are very healthy with regard to online advertising right now. Figures from the US for last year show that there was a 30 percent rise in spend in the search marketing area during 2005. Meanwhile in the UK, there's now more money spent on online advertising than on outdoor or radio advertising.

"While those markets are slightly more advanced than the Irish market, which has been held back by the broadband rollout delay and a lower PC penetration rate, we think that the fast growth that those markets have experienced is about to reach here and we're in a prime position to take advantage of it," said Murray.