In the last few years, digital marketing strategies have enabled brands to reap rich dividends. Whether it is Social Media Marketing (SMM), Search Engine Marketing (SEM), or Search Engine Optimization (SEO), businesses have pursued each of them aggressively.
With COVID-19 changing the way businesses used to be run and marketing used to be conducted, traditional channels and platforms have become nearly redundant.
This has increased the emphasis, focus, and budgets on digital marketing models and strategies. Marketers, brands, and agencies know that in the face of changing consumer behaviors, it is only digital frameworks and strategies that can guarantee success.
In this article, we are going to look at Search Engine Marketing. Specifically, we are going to discuss five important things you need to know about it. We are also going to shed light on an important question that is always raised by brands- SEO vs SEM – Which Marketing Approach Should You Take?
Search Engine Marketing (SEM): Meaning and Definition
As compared to SEO that involved earning organic and natural clicks, SEM stands for monetary investments that enable a brand to buy the clicks.
Every brand can be represented by a set of keywords that define what its customers are looking for. For example, a Pest Control Company in New York knows that the following are some of the keywords, its clients/customers type into Google when they want to get in touch with pest control companies-
- pest control services in new york
- pest control near me
- termite removal company
The Pest Control Company bids on these keywords on Google AdWords or Microsoft Bing. It bids to ensure that whenever someone types in any of these keywords, the company’s website is shown right at the top. The bid numbers are also referred to as Cost Per Clicks or CPC.
Every brand wants the CPC to be as low as possible to generate the best ROIs on an SEM campaign. SEM allows a brand to rank on top of the SERPs for its keyword and generate the highest number of clicks.
List of 5 Important Things you should know about Search Engine Marketing
1. Your SEM Campaign will stop as soon as your Budget Exhausts
SEM campaigns on AdWords continue to be shown to users as long as the budget lasts. For example, if you have invested $100, and your CPC comes to $1, then Google will stop showing your ad to users, once 100 individuals have clicked on it. This is unlike SEO, where your website continues to rank whether you pay the search engine or not.
2. SEM is best for Flash Campaigns, Discounts, and Holiday Sales
While some of the bigger brands run Google AdWords all year round, smaller brands run them near big-ticket events. This is because for starters they do not have the budgets to compete with the bigger brands for the same set of keywords. Secondly, brands also tend to push for SEO strategies and organic growth prospects right through the year.
3. SEM campaigns result in Immediate Traffic and Sales
Every SEO knows how tough it is to generate web traffic and sales by ranking the website on SERPs. However, a PPC specialist just needs to start an AdWords campaign and start seeing immediate web traffic and sales queries, and ultimate sales on the website. This is one reason why brands continue to run SEM campaigns right through the year- traffic and sales.
4. SEM enables Fixing of Exact Target for Sales and Lead Generation
Modern search engines have become so technologically sophisticated that they can set targets on an unreal level. Right from creating the buyer’s persona to selecting the geographical location, you can run highly optimized sales and lead generation campaigns through SEM. For most digital marketing experts, the ROIs on SEM are what make it such a desirable strategy.
5. Builds Competitive Advantage for a Brand over a period
Immediate results are something SEM can guarantee. Brands that know its true potential are willing to invest in it right through the year. Brands that play the wait and watch approach, are more than likely to lose out to brands that are investing in SEM. If you want to enjoy a competitive advantage over others, SEM is one strategy that can help you achieve the same.
The Bottom Line: SEO vs SEM – Which Marketing Approach Should You Take?
There is and will always be a lot of debate between marketers surrounding the best digital marketing strategies brands should pursue. However, to be honest, both SEO and SMM are mutually exclusive in some respects and complement a brand in wholesome terms.
You need to understand that neither of the strategies is a substitute for the other. Brands need to pursue both SEO and SEM according to their needs and requirements. While SEO guarantees long-term organic growth, SEM is great for short-term bursts of performance.