SEM or Search Engine Marketing is revolutionizing how marketers and businesses think and market to their target demographics. With more people than ever using online search engines (Google, Bing, and Yahoo!) to purchase products/services, research companies, locate businesses, and read informative content, a rock solid SEM strategy is essential. SEM is a great way for a company to build brand awareness, increase website traffic, and drive sales and growth. Without an effective SEM strategy and online presence, companies will lose out on potential qualified leads, increased market share, and revenues that drive growth.
So what does an effective SEM strategy look like? For the most part it will vary from company to company as budgets and consumer behavior will differ. Furthermore, business models will dictate what metrics and KPIs are most important. For instance, if a business is a local brick and mortar style operation, then walk-ins, and phone calls would take precedence. On the contrary, if a business is an e.commerce website and the majority of their sales are made online, then driving traffic to the website and increasing conversions are of high importance. That said, there are some basic steps that must be designed, implemented, and executed in order for any SEM strategy to be successful: Define key campaign goals/metrics, track all key conversions, and monitor and optimize key metrics as needed.
Define key campaign metrics/goals:
Defining key campaign metrics and goals should be the first thing done prior to designing and implementing your SEM strategy. Key metrics and goals will vary, however, some ideas would be: Increasing website traffic by 30%/month, increase call volume by 50%/month, increase sales by 60%/quarter, increase walk-in traffic by 25%/month, increase newsletter subscriptions by 15%/month, etc. Once you have defined why you are implementing a SEM strategy, you should input said goals directly into your AdWords or Analytics platforms for ease of tracking. A SEM campaign that has the goals of increasing foot traffic to a brick and mortar looks different than one that has the goal of increasing online conversions. Having a predetermined set of goals will enable a company to focus only on what is necessary to their specific goals, thus saving money and maximizing efficiency.
Implement conversion tracking for all key goals/metrics:
If your SEM goals are to increase phone calls you will want to track which ads are converting and which are not, and the only way to know is to enable the appropriate conversion tracker. This can be executed in AdWords or a third party services such as Response Tap, Call Rail, Call Tracking Metrics, etc. Without the appropriate tracking method in place there will be no way to determine how or why phone calls have increased or have fallen off; which keywords and ads are working and which are not, etc.
Let's say you are a blogger and want to increase your subscribers by 25%/month so you decide to try SEM; therefore, every new subscriber would be a conversion. With this in mind you would want to track all users that click on your ad and then proceed to subscribe to your blog. This is easily done within your AdWords campaign interface. Again, without conversion tracking there is no way to know how many new subscribers have come from your SEM campaign, which ads are working and which are not, and if your SEM campaign is providing an optimal ROI.
The same can be said for an e.commerce website that wants to increase its online purchase conversions. You will need to identify which webpage(s) on your site, typically a "Thank you" page that appears after a purchase has been made, to implement your conversion tracking. This will enable you to see which ads/keywords led to the conversion, and the who, what, where and when the conversion happened.
Monitor and optimize key metrics as needed:
Once you have all your metrics and goals identified and have implemented the appropriate conversion tracking methods, you will need to monitor, compare, and optimize the data in your SEM campaign. Let's say you set out for a 100 new visitors/month to your website. Google Analytics will enable able you to benchmark your monthly visitor stats against the goals you set at the beginning of your SEM campaign. Maybe, your campaign has fallen short by 25 visitors, well you'll need to go into your AdWords campaign and find out which ads and keywords are converting and which are not, and take the necessary steps to rectify the situation. Or let's say you wanted to increase your call volume by 25%/month and your conversion tracking is telling you you have increased your call volume by 35% this month. That is great, this would mean your SEM campaign is working based on your initial goals, therefore, you may want to increase your budget, hire new sales staff, etc., of course this is based on if your sales goals are being met as well. You may have an increase in call volume, but the percentage of sales converted have decreased significantly. This is where you would want to optimize your SEM campaign accordingly to ensure your ads and keywords are reaching the right customers.
Optimization of an AdWords SEM campaign can be quite complex and is not recommended without professional consultation; however, if you do choose to handle this on your own be sure to start off with only the basics as far as KPIs and measurements. Additionally, it is of great importance to review and compare your data on a regular basis and make calculated decisions based on your analysis. Remember to allow enough time to collect enough data, I like to wait at least 30 days or so prior to making any decisions. And when you do make changes, only make one or two at a time, then run reports again 30 days later to compare and contrast -- ensuring the decisions you've made are actually working.
As always, I'd love to hear your comments and thoughts on this topic.
If you are in need of any business and/or marketing consultation, feel free to shoot me a brief introduction note at: modernbizstraetgy@gmail.com.
Cheers,
ModernManTellsAll
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