Search Engine Marketing, is simply the act of employing paid methods to improve a companies presence in search engines. This isn’t to be confused with the SERPs (search engine results pages), instead it involves the paid ad slots at the top of a search or appearing across blogs and forums using Google’s Ad Network. This is often referred to as PPC or Pay-per-click campaigns. These campaigns aren’t billed for impressions, instead they are invoiced based on clicks.
It’s important to note that search engines aren’t limited to Google, Bing or DuckDuckGo. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and larger blogs and forums are also variations of a search engine. Many of these outlets and platforms offer paid advertisement placements as well.
The most important consideration when rolling out a search engine marketing campaign is to clearly define your objectives. For example, some campaigns are used to drive traffic whereas others may be designed to drive sales or increase conversions. Businesses with larger budgets often have many campaigns going simultaneously. This can be a very powerful tool and allow them to split test (A/B test) their campaigns.
The Right Message
One mistake businesses make when investing in ads is throwing good money after bad. The best example of this is when they think that running a paid ad campaign is “Boosting Facebook Posts.” Boosting a post is fine if you just want a quick Press Release or if you’re in such a small town that people will have to drive by you at some point. However, the conversion and ROI (return on investment) on this is minimal at best.
Proper agencies will break down your monthly budget across many different campaigns. Each campaign has an objective or offer, and then that campaign is further broken into what’s known as “Ad Sets”. Each ad in an ad set will have different variations of the same message. This is done by changing the copy, images, videos or infographics and monitoring people’s reactions. This is where the real return comes from because it allows marketers and your brand to better identify their message.
The Right Audience
Another consideration is getting the correct message in front of the right group of people and knowing where those people are. For example, and in my experience, older demographics tend to gravitate towards Facebook whereas younger demographics are better targeted on Instagram or Tik Tok. Women prefer Pinterest and men generally gravitate towards Facebook or Twitter. These aren’t hard rules, but the important part is to identify where your target audience spends their time so that you can get in front of them.
The next piece is identifying and creating “lookalike audiences.” An example of this is say you have a clothing store for younger generations, you would want to use tracking such as Facebook Pixel to identify people who engage with content from Louis Vuitton or Supreme. Another example is if you’re selling some type of home improvement device, you would be better served by starting off with a lookalike audience who subscribes to DIY Channels or stores like Home Depot and Lowes.
SEM is a very powerful way to collect quick wins, especially for new businesses or those in the eCommerce space. SEO and organic traffic will always be our preferred strategy, but the best campaigns will leverage both. SEO takes time but the residual value is infinitely more valuable. The problem is most companies and brands may not have the time or patience to wait a few months to get ranked in the top SERPs. Paid traffic and crafty SEM campaigns can start to get traffic and sales right away.
Smaller businesses may not have a huge marketing budget to be able to cover everything, but if it’s possible, then the investment is definitely worth it. It’s important for business owners to understand that marketing isn’t an expense, it is an investment. Larger cities and bigger industries are more competitive. If you’re not going on offense, you can bet that your competitors will.
