Getting Your Brand Out There Using Search Engine Marketing

The way in which businesses market themselves has changed drastically over the last decade. Instead of funneling advertising dollars into expensive billboards and TV commercials, many business owners have discovered the power of Search Engine Marketing as a cost-effective and efficient way of increasing traffic and gaining market share. If you own a business with a web presence, here are a few things you need to know in order to get customers to remember your brand the next time they need products or services like yours.

First, it is important to have a general understanding of what search engine marketing is. Not to be confused with search engine optimization, SEM is an advertising method in which businesses purchase online paid advertising links on web searches that directly correlate to their products or services. For example, if you own a company that makes all-natural cleaning products, you could purchase a banner ad on websites that have content that is related to your products. It is a great way to put your company and your brand in front of customers who are already actively searching for what you have to offer.

When planning your SEM strategy, you want to make sure you get as much out of your advertising dollars as possible, and you certainly want to encourage your potential customers to remember your brand when they think of all-natural cleaners.

The key to creating brand awareness is to learn how to directly target the customers you need for your business. This is where search engine optimization is important. You want to make sure you are building your online advertising campaign around a particular set of keywords that your customers will be searching for.  If the brand name your company is trying to build is Smith’s Cleaning Products, for example, it is unlikely that your potential customers will be searching for Smith’s Cleaning Products.  Instead, they will typically search for keywords such as natural cleaners or environmentally friendly cleaners. Therefore, it is important to utilize keywords that will be a guide to your brand of products.

Targeting the right demographic is also an important consideration when planning your search engine marketing campaign. You need to build your advertising in a way that reaches the type of consumer that would typically be searching for you. For our example of all-natural cleaners, it probably would not be prudent to spend advertising dollars to target college-aged boys. For this type of product, you would want to advertise to a different demographic that might be interested in your products.

Once you have your keywords in place and your demographic is chosen, you will need to spend some quality time creating your ad design. Make sure your logo and brand message are prominently displayed on each ad. Also, be sure that your design and message are as eye-catching as possible. A well-designed ad can get your brand in front of millions of people, and if done correctly, you only pay for the advertising costs of qualified traffic.

For more information on how we can help get your brand out there, please contact us.