Sometimes, working for big brands can be quite difficult insofar as search is concerned. Very often your value to the institution is called into question, especially if the company has a very strong brand but a poor SEO strategy prior to your joining.

It doesn’t help that there isn’t much freely accessible research that may lend itself to causal arguments when it comes to brand searches and offline marketing activities. One of the most difficult questions to answer is what value you add in terms of search, especially when the company spends millions in offline activity. At the same time, you are expected to work with other online channels and have to constantly battle cut downs on various supporting online activity such as display and affiliate strategies.

Does search marketing optimisation play a role in maintaining and increasing revenue for a strong brand in brand-related searches?

In a nutshell: yes.

To justify and explain search behaviour and search's relationship to other forms of media, I came up with the over-simplified and intuitive model: IRRAC, or CARRI ;-) .

It is my contention that there are various stages that a consumer goes through before making an online purchase, before and after the concept of the need has seeded itself. It is in similar stages that the consumer comes across the brand:

Introduction
This is the stage where the consumer is first made aware of the brand – and traditionally, this is a huge remit of offline media,  such as TV, radio, newspaper adverts, magazines, etc.

Reintroduction
As such, this is a repetition of the above exercise with a key difference – there’s a stronger call to action – visit our website, call us, text use, etc. This stage encourages the consumer to take active interest in the discovery of the brand and form the basis of a two way relationship. Normally this would develop into a database of customers and create a general awareness of the offerings of an individual brand. Potential customers are encouraged to believe in the brand offerings.

Reinforcement
From a search point of view, this is where most non-search focused companies may or may not lose out on conversions. Reinforcement is the consumer's self directed effort at weeding out the marketing spiel against the reality – in traditional media, this was third party awards, referral from friends, magazine reviews, etc.

In this day and age, it's much easier "to Google” what one is looking for. Seeing strong positions for brand terms inspires a vote of confidence – as does the availability of third party reviews on other sites (social media, anyone?).

Assurance / Affirmation
This is an odd one – does your search messaging reflect what message the brand puts out? Can I see your offers on your search results (paid or organic, depending on your strategy)? Does my brand-longtail search query deliver the correct result?

This stage is important, because it’s the second to last step in the process – and often coincides with the consumer's research into offers available. There is a strong argument for strong sales messages, delivered in either an emotive or commercial way at this point.  

Finally:

Conversion
Are the previous results I checked still there? Can I get to the site quickly? Are any competitors offering better deals just before I change my mind?

Arguably, in modern SEO-oriented firms, search should and does play a role at all stages. For example, in the Introduction stage, generic keywords are targeted to align the service product with the brand. In traditional firms, brand searches are high and so are conversions. But with a focussed search strategy, the RAC part of IRRAC can really boost those conversions. Fine tuning messaging during key stages drives not only a high quantity of traffic, but quality traffic as well.

The above has been a very simplistic view of the model – but does help create a focus framework to help internal buy-in for search strategies. Arguably, the model is based on a few similar type firms, and is completely open to criticism and development.