Rescue GM – With Google AdWords?

First of all, I’m not going to take sides here, I’m just going to hypothetically talk about something I would do if I were a GM. One thing, honestly, I’m surprised they’ve already started doing (to some extent), and that’s using paid search.

It’s no secret that I’m a big proponent of paid search marketing, and maybe I’ve been a little too excited about it lately since I started looking into the Obama campaign’s brilliant use of defensive PPC and internet marketing, but I I think I’m on to something. One of my Facebook friends posted an article the other day titled “GM Facts and Fiction” which led to the website of the same name. The site is a GM-run marketing tool that does a good job of segmenting why you should support the bailout from a variety of perspectives: employee, retiree, dealer, concerned American, and supplier.

Also, the home page limits the options to a few clear, yet highly actionable paths. You segment yourself for targeted marketing efforts, forward the site to others, watch a video, or go to a “learn more” page that further emphasizes the message.

As Americans seek to learn more about the effects of these bailouts (Google reported over 4,000,000 searches for the term “bailout” last month!), this is obviously a good political tool to sway public opinion in your favor. . But this is only one step. The site, like any other, is useless without some marketing efforts to attract people.

A quick search for “gm bailout” brought me the following Google sponsored link: GM Bailout AdWords Ad

Without much thought, we thought, “Nice move, GM, way to get your message across.” But I feel this is myopic. GM’s budget has to be tight in the first place, so they should save every penny on this (or at least give the appearance that they are), so why am I seeing this ad in Michigan, where Both politicians and the general public are firmly behind this cause already? Ultimately, they are preaching to converts…and paying per click!

If I’m running this campaign, I’d be geo-targeting ads to make up reps who are deemed more likely to reposition. My marketing mind says I would target the campaign at areas where the representative voted for the first bailout or represents a large number of autoworkers. Making sure these people get the message and providing them with tools (the site forwarding option) could be a very effective way to build grassroots support for GM’s cause.

As it stands, the effort may still be effective, but not profitable. Unfortunately, I’m not surprised.