Planning for any marketing campaign is challenging. Most of what we read about starting the program is focused on keywords, campaigns, urls, etc. These all should be. But there is a missing element. In today's dynamic business environment, there is a lot that search marketers need to coordinate along with the campaign itself.

I have read about launched campaigns being rejected or with an inflated min bid because the site was down. Or the product page text was not search engine friendly, or the offers did not match up. So, a quick review of things to proactively get into.

1) Server Maintenance Schedule. Most maintenance does not necessarily take down the sites. However, this is the time when the site is very vulnerable. If something is going to happen, now is the time.

Why care. Don't launch just before or during these times. The engines are going to inundate your servers with bot hits to get content and assess access. Depending on your campaign, this can be significant. While normally not an issue, if something happens with maintenance, these hits can complicate it. It also will be a problem for your campaign's validation and quality score assessment if the server goes down.

2) Production schedule. This is important in two areas. One, like server maintenance, this is vulnerable time. But, it is also a time when hidden problems can happen. Where content or pricing is not what you thought. This is particularly true with dynamic content or product sites. In my view, it is best to closely coordinate this effort and confirm the target page content prior to launching any new campaigns. With existing campaigns, this is a time to double check the landing pages.

 
3) Marketing campaigns. As we move products and services through the development cycle at an ever increasing pace, the opportunity for the outbound messaging to fall behind the product offering also increases. By not waiting for new offers or product information to be given to you and working your way into the pre-launch discussions, you'll be sure that whatever you're launching is in sync with the products.

 
 4) Site design and development. How many times have you launched a product only to learn that the landing page is generic, or full of images and no or little text relevant to the product? Anyway, long before the launch of any search campaign, you need to involve yourself, at some level, with site design and development.

 
5) Analytics, reporting and application development. These are related to each other and usually are in place well before the process of creating search campaigns even begins. This is all the more reason why search people need to be well ingrained in the overall business. It is too late to raise your hand as you put your campaigns together and ask for special development, reporting or analytics support. Again, insert yourself in the long range process involved with these areas.

 
 I have said many time that search marketers need to be more than just search marketers. They need to be good marketers and involved in there company's business. Get involved beyond search.