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Adding Search to Your Marketing Mix
By Scott Buresh (c) 2009 Medium Blue
(http://www.mediumblue.com)

The powerful capabilities of organic search engine optimization
(SEO) are now a highly sought after marketing tool by many
companies that want to alert customers to their products or
services by focusing on certain keyphrases that highlight these
offerings. And though SEO has embarked on a meteoric rise in the
past few years, other non-traditional forms of marketing are now
gaining a great deal of well-deserved credibility as well. More
and more marketers are using paid ads to hone in on a
potentially profitable client base, while other more traditional
channels, such as PR and print ads, appear to be becoming
somewhat less effective.

In a recent study (1), Forrester Research found that interactive
marketing spending will reach nearly $55 billion by 2014,
representing 21% of all marketing spend. And the fact of the
matter is that marketers are continuing to place more stock in
newer forms of marketing and social media, leaving many
higher-ups to wonder if it is time for them to include these
channels in their own marketing mixes. And with the help of your
search engine optimization company, it's possible to achieve
outstanding rankings and results!

What follows are some common considerations that should be
analyzed prior to the launch of an SEO campaign so that you will
know what you are getting into, what you will need from your own
team and your prospective search engine optimization company,
and how to most effectively pursue this particular form of
marketing.

Achieving Buy-in

Search engine optimization is unlike many traditional forms of
marketing in that several departments must be involved in order
for the SEO campaign to be successful. Apart from the obvious
need to get buy-in from upper management (unless, of course, you
are upper management), you will also need to get buy-in from
your sales department and, very importantly, your IT department
before pursuing the powerful capabilities your search engine
optimization company can bring to the table.

Upper Management

While a well thought out, highly targeted SEO campaign is
becoming an increasingly popular marketing tool, many "old
school" bigwigs are uncomfortable pursuing something that is
completely foreign to them. This is not an indictment of the
individual - keep in mind that the traditional marketing methods
that the company has likely relied upon (trade shows, direct
mail, print advertising, etc.) have been relatively unchanged
for decades.

While these traditional marketing channels may have remained
relatively stagnant, the allocation of spend for them has not.
According to a 2008 SEMPO report, more marketers are shifting
their budgets to search rather than spending it on the more
traditional channels of the past. Nearly 26% of advertisers
shifted budget for print magazines to search; 23% from direct
mail; 18% from print newspaper; 15% from website development;
and 7% from email marketing.

One of the reasons for this is obviously the effectiveness of
the channel. In the same study, SEMPO found that respondents
viewed online marketing efforts as their strongest tactic or
best ROI. 63% of respondents saw paid search as the best return
on investment in terms of marketing or advertising efforts; 49%
for organic SEO; 43% for email marketing; 12% for conferences
and exhibitions; 11% for public relations; and 6% for print
magazines.

Another reason for the shift in marketing dollars, which can be
used as ammunition when you are trying to convince your
higher-ups to go with a search engine optimization company, is
the ultimate accountability that goes along with online
marketing: the data that indicates success or failure of your
SEO campaign is of the black-or-white variety.

When describing the effectiveness of a company's marketing
strategy, there is often an old sentiment tossed around - "I
know that half of my marketing is not working, just not which
half." Because of the analytics involved in search engine
optimization, your company higher-ups can take comfort in the
fact that this is not another marketing initiative that will
self-perpetuate indefinitely - the metrics involved in your SEO
campaign will demonstrate that it is working, justifying the
continued expenditure.

When trying to get buy-in from upper management, you also have a
formidable weapon in the actions, or inaction, of your
competitors. If your hated rivals are actively embracing the
tools offered by a search engine optimization company, there
will be a tendency among upper management not to want to let
them get too far ahead. If none of your top competitors appear
to be actively pursuing this channel, your company can gain
traction before your rivals do and thus gain the competitive
edge. Whichever the case, it is now much easier to present a
compelling argument to pursue an SEO campaign.

Sales Department

There is often a mutual suspicion and distrust between sales and
marketing, but in order for your SEO campaign initiative to be
as successful as possible, you should involve sales in the
process of selecting a search engine optimization company as
early as possible. Achieving buy-in from the salespeople is
critical in making certain that the leads that are generated
from the website are followed up on as diligently as they should
be. By asking sales to assist in important areas of the SEO
campaign, like creating an ideal prospect profile and helping to
identify targeted keyphrases (after all, they talk to your
prospects more often than anyone), you should be able to ensure
that when the leads start coming in, your sales team will
believe that leads from the website are high-quality and worthy
of their immediate attention. After all, without increased
revenues, the SEO campaign is not a success - and your
salespeople will play a crucial role in determining this.

IT Department

This can be your most difficult challenge. Unlike most other
forms of marketing, search engine optimization is a mixture of
marketing and technology. Without achieving buy-in, or at least
acceptance, from the IT team prior to the launch of an SEO
campaign, you are likely to run into problems. IT teams can be
particularly protective of their "turf" and may be reluctant
to hand over information to your prospective search engine
optimization company. This is not inherently bad (it obviously
shows dedication to the job), but it can make things difficult
when your search engine optimization company is requesting that
changes be made to the company website or that analytics
platforms be introduced (to name only two likely scenarios).

If you are not used to dealing with your IT department, it would
probably serve you well to involve your prospective search
engine optimization company in the process of achieving buy-in
with them. After all, the vendor should have years of experience
in approaching these situations without ruffling feathers. If
you choose to approach IT yourself, make it a point to let them
know that they will receive a fair share of credit for the
success of the initiative and involve them in how you are
defining success. This may be enough to win them over to your
side.

Works Cited

1. U.S. Interactive Marketing Forecast, 2009 - 2014
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Scott Buresh is the CEO of Medium Blue Search Engine Marketing,
which was named the number one organic search engine
optimization company (http://www.mediumblue.com/) in the world
in 2006 and 2007 by PromotionWorld.  Scott has contributed
content to many publications including The Complete Guide to
Google Advertising (Atlantic, 2008) and Building Your Business
with Google For Dummies (Wiley, 2004), MarketingProfs, ZDNet,
WebProNews, DarwinMag, SiteProNews, ISEDB.com, and Search Engine
Guide. Medium Blue serves local and national clients, including
Boston Scientific, Cbeyond, and DeKalb Medical. See how we can
help you achieve your online marketing goals. Contact Medium
Blue (http://www.mediumblue.com/contact.html) today!
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