Even today, many business owners still see SEO as an addendum, failing to appreciate its real value over the marketing strategies selected based on familiarity. While Print, TV and radio advertising shouldn’t be completely done away with, today’s business owners need to understand the importance of SEO and integrate it into their marketing plan to realize great benefits.
Investing in integrated advertising
Take this scenario: your marketing team puts together a catchy compelling ad for print, TV and radio, one that gets consumers interested in your products and/or services. They go online to look for your business, but since they don’t remember its name, they just search for what you do/offer.
Because your business is nowhere near the top, the consumers will simply settle for the first name they see offering the same products and services. Without an SEO strategy, your business is nowhere near the top, implying that your ad simply pushed your potential clients into the waiting arms of your highest online ranking competition.
Integrated marketing is the present
My point isn’t to get you to quit print and other conventional advertising channels; rather to give equal consideration to digital advertising, so that you have an all-round campaign – radio, TV, Print, social media, web-optimized design, link strategy and online banner ads, etc.
Having a strategy like this gives you the opportunity to connect with a more targeted group of consumers that you wouldn’t otherwise have with just your old marketing strategies. Your business name needs to infiltrate as many different channels as possible, to enable you foster brand awareness and get a platform to broadcast more information to your audience on your business and its offerings, and in a meaningful, more personal way.
SEO promoting CTAs
The main gist of a print or commercial ad is to convince the consumer to make a call, or drop by your offices or check out your website, but chances are that at the exact time they see your ad, they’re not in a position to do so. However, using SEO, a CTA can be immediately effective because a client browsing the web for you is usually at a more advanced stage and hence more prepared to follow through with some action.
This is especially true for consumers searching using mobile devices – they’re prepared to take the next step: scheduling appointments, making a purchase, subscribing, etc. However, conventional ads do not give you the option of hitting a button to get directions or make a purchase or other options. You can only hope that the customer will remain interested and remember your business when they’re ready.
