As if anyone could have missed the news, the world entered a new age of consumerism not so long ago and traditional marketing practices are being sidelined to make way for faster, sharper and stronger techniques offered by SEM and SEO.
These two terms are used often together and even interchangeably. The biggest difference is that SEO refers to the organic or non-paid marketing efforts that can increase a website’s ranking in the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages). This doesn’t mean SEO is free, only that it doesn’t apply paid advertising methods. SEM, on the other hand, will include Search Engine Optimization techniques, but also understand the various online advertising and upgrades and techniques like PPC (Pay Per Click). There are some considerable advantages to bolstering the effects of SEO with some paid strategies for increasing awareness and making a bigger scene where it is needed.
But, no matter your chosen route, both SEO and SEM marketing provides considerable benefits over traditional marketing strategies. In the following post, we will take a look at some of the most important points that set these revolutionary marketing strategies apart from the rest.
1. Improved Brand Awareness and Visibility The single most important purpose of advertising has always been the same, bring the right people to the products they are looking for, more specifically the ones your business is offering. In the online markets, this means getting your options listed higher in the SERPs where your customers and potential customers will be more likely to find them. Even if your brand never actually makes it to the first spot, just being in the top ten or the first page is a big enough boost. Anyone who sees your site there is looking for the good or services you provide and have made an important association between your brand and the solution to their problems, needs or desires.
2. Increased Trust and Credibility Trust is crucial when you work in the online markets and a giant billboard on the side of the highway just won’t cut it anymore (not that it wouldn’t help). The thing about the modern consumer is they tend to believe what the Search Engines say. If they asked for “dentist Berlin” and your business is in the top ten recommendation by the all-knowing search engine, they will place a huge measure of trust in what they see. Even if they have never visited your dentistry before, they will prefer your business simply because they have a familiarity with it –– and that’s marketing psychology 101.
3. Trust, Conversions, and Profits As your trust increases, you will begin to attract greater quantities of clients to your website. But, this is not just a hapless visitor who has wandered into the wrong section of the mall. These visitors belong to the crowd we refer to as “high-quality targeted traffic”. In other words, they have already made their interest known by entering your businesses search terms in the search query box. These customers who already have the intention of doing business are already warmed up to your products and services and will not need the whole marketing spiel –– just present them with the offer they can’t refuse and take that money to the bank!
In conclusion There are two final, but ever-important, reasons Search Engine Optimization and SEM are crucial to your business’ capacity to grow and prosper. One is that your SEO or SEM campaign can be started at any moment with the resources you have available. As you grow and expand your business, the campaign can scale upwards with you so that you are always making a good connection with customers you need to fuel your growth. And the other concerns the competition. If you haven’t begun your digital marketing campaign there is a good chance that your competition already has one up and running and is building a considerable head start. If not you have the chance to take this advantage for your own.