Quick! Who’s the latest American Idol favorite this week?

1. David Archuletta
2. Colton Berry
3. Alana Whitaker

You’re right if you chose #3.

The whole American Idol craze is hard to ignore. I’ll bet that even if you’re like me and hate American Idol, most of you have some idea who the current and past contestants are. Does the name Sanjaya ring a bell? Of course it does, as does the word made popular by one of his famous hair styles, the Pony Hawk.

Sanjaya was blessed more with great hair than he was with a great vocal style. Yet he was last season’s most talked about contestant on American Idol. He rode the American Idol wave to pseudo-celeb status. We all remember his name. We recall his hair. I secretly tuned into American Idol last season just to see what Sanjaya was going to do. Through a little differentiation, Sanjaya became a brand through the American Idol medium.

What does this have to do with Pay Per Click? Well, PPC vendors work in much the same way for advertisers as American Idol works for wanna-be idols. How so? Think about how contestants are approved each week:

• American Idol contestants have to win over judges in the early rounds with an apparent combination of factors such as: youth & relevance, a good singing voice, charisma, stage presence, etc.
• PPC advertisers have to win over the PPC vendors they’re advertising with through a combination of factors such as relevant keywords, editorially acceptable copy, adequate bid prices, approved landing pages, etc.

• American Idol contestants have to win over the American public in the final rounds apparently through good song choice, good audience contact, poise, and a sense of being ‘the next big thing’, etc.
• PPC advertisers have to win over searchers in the final phases of their campaigns through good campaign structure, targeted ad messaging, a unique value proposition (UVP), clear and persuasive calls to action, etc.

Advertisers can take a lesson from the brand awareness that American Idol affords some of its more visible contestants. Notably, some contestants were already in bands or singing for a living before trying out for American Idol. Yet, no other form of personal marketing could ever give them the national exposure or open more doors for them that simply being on just a few episodes of American Idol.

What’s the lesson for advertisers? A well-strategized and executed PPC campaign can propel your site into becoming a known and trusted brand, just as American Idol shaped Clay Aiken, Chris Daughtry, Jennifer Hudson, and other pop idols that were American Idol runners-up, but ultimately did not win. They lost first place, but instead they won the hearts and ears of the American public. Obviously, it’s highly unlikely they would have made it that far without the American Idol branding vehicle.

As an advertiser, your real objective should be not to rank #1 in PPC results, but rather to look for value. Win the trust of searchers through effective keyword research, ad messaging and landing pages. Use the branding power afforded by PPC vendors. The result is that your CTR will rise and your ROI and conversions will have a substantial boost. Delighting customers and improving your online revenues is the name of the game, baby.

What other lessons have you learned from pop culture?

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