4/25/2024 11:37:00 AM
Winning Google with Intelligent, Integrated Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
The benefit of search engine marketing (SEM) for small businesses is immeasurable.
Done correctly, it puts products and services in front of clients/customers/consumers ready to make a purchase. Purchasers are literally raising their hand by searching online, saying “I need this product/service and want to buy it”.
It sounds simple enough, which is why we believe it’s important to point out the difference between budget invested in strategic search engine marketing and money spent on unskilled pay-per-click (PPC).
So what is unskilled PPC?
First, let’s talk about unskilled PPC. This is where an agency or consultant charges a monthly fee that seems reasonable to create, implement and manage a pay-per-click advertising campaign, promising web traffic and new customers. They typically apply half the monthly fee to their service hours where they create campaign assets (headlines, descriptions, keywords, etc.) configure the campaign online, and then apply the rest of the budget to paid media. Then they sit back and watch. When the results are positive, they attribute it to their stellar strategy … and when results come in below expectation, they typically point to budget as the issue and advise the client an increase is needed.
Is this the worst way to spend advertising dollars? Probably not the worst … but it is certainly far from the best. With this approach once the budget runs out and the spend stops, there has been no residual value creation. There have been no assets created, no benefit to web content, no improvement to social content, no increase in social proof, no lift in organic search engine results … and when the campaign ends, so does awareness and engagement.
A better approach to Search Engine Marketing
Now let’s talk about intelligent, integrated search engine marketing … a much better approach. While PPC is a core element, it is so much broader, creates long-term value, and when done correctly is self-funding. Integrated SEM includes:
- Pay-per-click Ads
- Social Media Ads
- Mobile-first, Conversion-optimized Landing Pages
- Reputation Management
- Social Proof
- Website Content
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
- Business Profiles
- Business Listings
Intelligent, integrated Search Engine Marketing (SEM) leverages insights and data collected from the paid media effort to inform content creation for a business’ owned media. Effectively turning a push, paid media outreach campaign into an integrated campaign that creates both push and pull, building brand assets, awareness, and audiences organically over time.
Our integrated strategy allows us to win on page one of Google where clients businesses are showing up in three places on the search engine results pages … virtually creating a 360 surround effect and dominating page one on Google.
There is a lot more to the strategy that we have refined over years that we would be happy to share with you as clients so
drop us a note.
What type of businesses can benefit most from Intelligent Search Engine Marketing?
Almost every business - even businesses without ecommerce - can benefit from intelligent search engine marketing, including (but not limited to):
- Attorneys and Legal Services
- Accounting and Tax Professionals
- Engineering Services
- Healthcare Providers
- Real Estate Professional Services
- Photographers
- Restaurants
- Retailers
- Jewelers
- Dry Cleaners
- Home Builders
- Pool Contractors & Service Providers
- Tile and Flooring Contractors
- Air Conditioning / HVAC Contractors
- Water Softener Companies
- Landscape and Yard Service Providers
- And More
