Rotten Tomatoes Present a Sudden Opportunity for Search (SOS)

Posted by Dan Malachowski, Product Marketing Manager (Natural Search)

I was worried I may have eaten one of those bad tomatoes, so I went over to Google and performed a search for “tomato scare” to get some answers. Luckily, lawyersandsettlements.com is bidding on the keyword “tomato scare" using  copy that reads “Suffer from salmonella contaminated red tomatoes? Choose a lawyer.”

As of this morning, no other companies were running a paid search campaign for “tomato scare,” as John Battelle pointed out at the Conversational Marketing Summit, covered in AdAge.  Incidents such as the recent tomato salmonella problem present marketers with a Sudden Opportunity for Search (SOS).  These lawyers are using the sudden opportunity to get in front of people who may be sick and angry.  Large grocery chains who sell tomatoes should also be using the opportunity to manage their reputation to let people know they’ve pulled the product from their shelves.  When an incident such as the tomato scare, dog food recall, toy recall, or other corporate mishap occurs, consumers turn to search for answers.  Paid search is a quick and efficient way to get in front of people in order to manage your reputation, regain trust, or assure consumers that you have their best interests in mind.