Should my business be doing SEM? (Search Engine Marketing)

As a local business in 2019, it’s important to consider implementing a Search Engine Marketing (or SEM) campaign into your marketing plans.

SEM compliments any SEO that you’ve worked hard on perfecting. It helps get your brand at the top of search engines like Google. SEM is a major key in your online presence and could be the one thing that is keeping you from having a perfect marketing strategy.

What makes SEM so important? It costs money, and taking a risk can be detrimental to your business. So why take the leap of faith?

When you dig a little deeper, however, you’ll notice that your leap into SEM would be more stats based than faith based. And there are a few great reasons that will work in your favour. Here are some of the main reasons you need to be implementing an SEM campaign in your marketing strategy:

Spend Money to Make Money

SEM puts you directly in front of customers who are searching for what you have to offer. Being able to outrank organic results puts your business at an advantage above the competition, so even if you’re paying for every click, it’s been proven to be worth the investment.

According to Google, on average every $1 spent on AdWords generates $2 in revenue for businesses. Plus nearly 52% of browsers who click on PPC ads follow up with an interaction with the advertiser. These ads also run on over 300,000 available mobile apps. (source: Acquisio.com)

This means that with a smart and successful SEM campaign, you’re not only investing in great search engine positioning, but in getting the opportunity to directly interact with customers. Whether that means driving traffic into your store, increasing subscribers to a page or newsletter, or simple building web traffic, it all means better results for your business.

Increases Brand Awareness

Google also highlights that search-ads lift top of mind awareness for businesses vs those who do not use SEM. In fact, in industries such as Automotive, Business-to-Business, and Retail, statistics show a lift of about 10% more brand recognition (source: Google/Ipsos MediaCT search ‘Brands Industry Research June 2014). This is likely because these ads are appearing at he top of the page in searches, where other businesses can be near the bottom, or even on page 2 which often goes unnoticed.

This can help your business in a number of ways. By being a recognized brand, you can attract potential clients who previously weren’t aware of your business. Solid branding also puts you top of mind when people are in need of services or products you offer. Strong brand presence makes your business more likely to be referred or talked about among your customers. But most importantly, a solid lift in brand awareness through SEM can result in people choosing your business over your competitors.

SEM Loves Local

SEM loves local businesses. Because SEM platforms allow for a business to advertise only to specific areas it operates in, you can almost guarantee exposure for targeted searches.

Searching for something such as “Restaurants Near Me” or “Buy Used Cars in Sydney”, it is the local businesses using SEM that are going to have the leg up on their competition. By targeting a specific radius for your ads to show up in, regional businesses are connected with the people who make these requests.

A targeted audience means better qualified leads. The better your leads, the better the chance of converting them into loyal customers.

SEM is Scalable

What makes SEM campaigns perfect for any sized business is scalability.

When it comes to almost any other form of advertising, such as TV, Radio and Print, it’s almost impossible for small businesses to compete with the budgets of big brands. With SEM, a small business can create as big or as little a campaign as they’re willing to invest in, and still compete with other businesses.

SEM is also easy to measure. Businesses can play around with different keywords and campaigns to see what is working, then adjust accordingly to achieve the best results. Knowing you don’t need to overspend on an ad campaign, and still see effective results means that you can manage your cash flow funnel efficiently, taking stress off your business.

We know that a smart SEM campaign is a great investment, builds brand awareness, effective for local businesses, and helps your business manage an efficient advertising budget. But are you still not sure where to start?

CONTACT OUR TEAM TODAY and we’ll walk you through how to create a winning campaign.