HIJACKING: HOW TO STEAL SEARCH DEMAND

Morning!How's the week been? 

I've had one of the best weeks of my whole year. Smashed out client work, onboarded a new client and currently spending the weekend mapping out some training for our new hire.Oh and I'm writing this by the pool - an added bonus to my week. 

Anyway, a few people have moaned that I'm making these too long. So today, I'm restricting myself to 1,000 words. So let me know what you think of the shorter breakdowns!Lean, mean, marketing machine. Let's get into it...What you're in for:- My favourite billboard campaign ever- How their competitors hijacked it- How you can become a hijacker tooEst Read Time: 3 minutes

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Breaking Down The Strategy

If you've ever visited South Carolina, I'm 99% sure you will have seen this sign:

They're fucking everywhere. Like seriously. You drive a mile in any direction and you'll see one. 

For years, I've driven past them and thought what a shit billboard. Until the other day I was sat discussing (arguing) about the future of billboards with my Mrs and I realised the only billboard I knew by heart was this one. Akim had got to me.Not only did I know the billboard, I knew his number off by heart. 777-7777.

After years of talking shit about Akim, I'd become the biggest fan of his billboard - all in the space of a 30-minute argument. Then when my brother was in town last weekend I asked him if he knew the billboard. He laughed and said "Of course", but when we got chatting he told me he had no idea what the number was though. It got me thinking...If the majority of people don't remember the number, but just remember the catchphrase "Don't scream, call Akim". Then chances are 99% of the ROI of this campaign would come from people searching the catchphrase and converting online.So, I thought fuck it. I'll give it a search and see...

And it was then that I found my favourite piece of marketing this year.3 different law firms have PPC campaigns running targeting searches for "Don't scream call Akim". They have completely hijacked his billboard campaign. Akim spends thousands of dollars every month drilling his catchphrase into passerby's heads - and don't get me wrong it's great marketing. But what Akim doesn't do is actually have the name of his law firm drilled into people's heads. So, there's a very good chance that those PPC campaigns are clicked more than Akim's law firm. 

Akim did the hard work and got thousands flocking to Google a catchphrase.The other law firms did the smart work and took the traffic. 

This "hijacking" technique doesn't just have to be used exclusively with billboard campaigns though. I honestly think it applies better with stuff going viral on social media - especially TikTok. In fact, Carrie Rose explained a similar hijacking example in a recent Twitter thread around Zara's pink jeans going viral on TikTok. 

Long story short:Zara's pink jeans were going viral on TikTok↓People searched for "pink jeans"↓Zara's didn't rank (appear when you searched)It's the exact same thing: A brand creating huge search demand and another person working smart and benefiting from it. 

It's absolutely genius. Out of every marketing campaign/strategy I've broken down, campaign hijacking is by far my favourite. So simple, but so effective. 

But how can you do the same?

I must admit, I'm far from an SEO or PPC expert. So I can't give you any actionable steps in terms of PPC or SEO. But when it comes to strategy, well it's as simple as this:1) Identify search demand

As mentioned, this can come from anywhere. A trend on TikTok, a billboard, a hashtag on Twitter - literally anywhere. The key is to identify it early. Speed is important here.

2) See what you're working with

Once you know the demand is there you need to see who else has spotted it. If there are already 3 companies with PPC campaigns on that key phrase, it's probably not going to be worth it - unless you want to pay huge amounts of $$$ to outbid them. Also, see who's ranking organically. Maybe you can leverage some SEO like Carrie mentioned with Zara. 

3) Capitalise 

You've spotted an opportunity. You've scanned the competition. All that's left is to reap the rewards. 

And that's all for today! A marketing strategy breakdown all in just 876 words - not too shabby!

Have a smashing rest of your day.— Niall

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This has been a breakdown of the hijacking marketing strategy. I hope you have learned something and can implement a similar strategy in your business!

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