Professional SEO in Your Marketing Mix - Convincing Your Company
While professional SEO (search engine optimization) is becoming
increasingly recognized as an extremely effective component of
an overall marketing mix, the SEO industry itself is still very
much in its infancy. Because SEO is a relatively new industry,
many key decision makers are not even aware that professional
SEO exists, or they simply believe that it could not work in
their industries or with the existing marketing mix. This is not
because these decision makers are ineffective or backward
thinking, but rather because, in most companies, marketing
efforts are focused upon activities that have already been
proven effective as a part of the marketing mix (direct mail,
print advertising, trade shows).
Very often, the people who first recognize the potential
benefits of professional SEO are not the key decision makers.
They are the people on the front lines of the organization - the
ones who deal with prospects and customers every day. However,
proposing professional SEO as a new marketing initiative to the
people higher in the chain of command can be a frustrating
process - very often leading to disenchantment and a general
sense that the marketing decision maker doesn't "get it".
Usually, however, the approach was more flawed than the decision
maker.
Reality
Before getting into some ideas for approaching your marketing
decision maker, it should be mentioned that if your company does
not have a history of trying anything new, you may be better off
spending your energies elsewhere. Professional SEO as an
addition to your marketing mix can be a hard sell to a company
that is still relying on computers that were cutting edge during
the Reagan administration, no matter how convincing the
argument. If your experience with your company tells you that
your efforts will be in vain before you begin, you obviously
don't want to waste your time.
Speak on Their Terms
As previously mentioned, your motivation for suggesting
professional SEO may not necessarily inspire your marketing
decision maker to immediately add it to your company's marketing
mix. What will? Most marketing execs have a hot button issue,
and they are rarely shy about sharing it. Is he or she concerned
with increasing overall revenue? Is he or she always discussing
cutting marketing costs? Does he or she talk about reducing the
cost per lead? Does he or she always espouse the value of
improving your brand recognition? For each of these scenarios
(and virtually any other), there are specific studies on SEO
that will support your recommendation. If you approach your
marketing decision maker without keeping the issues most
important to him or her in mind, you will diminish your chances
for success.
Use the Competition
While different marketing decision makers can have different
hot button issues, few things seem to motivate companies as much
as the action (or sometimes the inaction) of the competition.
With professional SEO, there are two potential scenarios -
either some of your competitors have added it to the marketing
mix effectively, or none of them have. If they have, it is
fairly easy to demonstrate this fact by taking your marketing
manager through a few keyphrase searches on any major search
engine and showing him or her that your hated enemy figures
prominently in the results while your company does not. This, of
course, makes a compelling argument. On the other hand, if your
known competitors have clearly not embraced the channel, it is
just as easy to show a few searches on keyphrases demonstrating
that you can have (for now) a competitive advantage. Such
keyphrase searches can also turn up additional competitors -
lean, forward-thinking companies that are embracing new
marketing tactics. This eye-opening experience can also
encourage a decision maker to act.
Use Your Potential Vendors
Talk to some established professional SEO firms before
approaching your company with the suggestion that they consider
adding SEO to the marketing mix. A good SEO firm has encountered
all of the objections that you are likely to face and should be
able to help you with your approach by compiling relevant stats
and offering compelling case studies. Your time is valuable, and
you needn't spend it reinventing the wheel when you can get
professional assistance for free. If a firm is unwilling, or
unable, to help you to present to your marketing decision maker
in a manner that will speak directly to them, perhaps you should
look elsewhere. An inexperienced SEO firm might not be able to
help you in this specific manner, and an overburdened firm will
likely be unwilling to spend the extra time to help you
customize your approach. The good news is that asking for this
type of assistance can not only help you to sell to your
company, it can also help you in the early stages of the
all-important vendor selection process.
Offer a Plan
Piquing interest from the decision maker is only the first
step. You should be prepared to offer a clear project
description, including the price ranges of your proposed
professional SEO vendors, how long it will take to see results,
and, most importantly, how success will be measured. This is
another area where your potential vendors should be more than
willing to help - good firms will collect extensive data at the
outset to measure success, and will be able to clearly define
what "success" will look like.
As many companies are discovering, professional SEO is an
incredibly powerful and cost-effective addition to the existing
marketing mix. It is a sure bet, however, that the marketing
decision makers of many of the companies currently embracing
professional SEO did not come up with the idea independently.
Some underpaid visionary in their organizations brought it to
their attention first!
About the author:
Scott Buresh is the CEO of Medium Blue Search Engine
Marketing. He has contributed content to many publications
including Building Your Business with Google For Dummies (Wiley,
2004), MarketingProfs, ZDNet, SEO Today, WebProNews, DarwinMag,
SiteProNews, ISEDB.com, and Search Engine Guide. Medium Blue, an
Atlanta search
engine
Written By: Scott Buresh