A good overview article by Frederick Felman published on MediaPost talks points out that brand scammers are simply knowledgeable marketers that use best practices in interactive marketing - using the same tools as a legitimate brand marketer. Channels such as search engine optimization (SEO), paid search advertising (PPC), social media, and affiliate marketing. According to the article, Felman references that $13 billion is spent on search marketing each year, while HitWise finds that 14% of branded searches go to a site other than that of the brand. If you do the math - thats $1.8 billion of industry search budget being diverted. Factor in lost sales, increased support and service costs and negative effects on lifetime value of a customer and these numbers become even more sobering.
