An estimated $270 billion is spent on advertising each year with approximately 90 percent of that invested in ‘traditional’ methods. As I’m sure you have heard, read or seen, the Internet is altering this at an increasingly rapid pace. In particular, Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and EMail Marketing (EMM) are quickly becoming the [advertising] industry standard for reaching, targeting, and selling to businesses and consumers alike.
In today’s ‘digital’ age traditional advertising and marketing mediums are quickly becoming antiquated. Of course these traditional mediums, such as newspaper, magazine, TV and radio will continue to exist for years to come, however their value to the paying businesses will increasingly be challenged by the Internet – primarily by Search Engine and [permission based] EMail Marketing.
Powerhouse online advertising companies like Google and Yahoo! are quickly proving this to businesses worldwide, as well as their investors that utilize Search Engine Marketing (SEM), generating a healthy ‘Return On Investment’. Their ability to reach such highly targeted users of the vast and growing Internet is mind-boggling. Furthermore, SEM is unique in that it is a ‘voluntary and non-intrusive’ means of attracting potential customers. This makes it appealing to Internet users because it effectively puts them in control.
With hundreds of millions of Internet users searching via Google, Yahoo, MSN and AOL daily this has become a ‘no-brainer’ marketing tool for B2C operations, but is it as good for B2B companies? A recent study of 1500 participants revealed some interesting facts:
- When participants were asked to indicate how they would go about making a B2B purchase, 93.2 percent said they would research the purchase online.
- When asked if they would use a search engine at some point in this task, 95.5 percent of participants indicated that they would.
- Most users decided which listing to click on in seconds upon scanning the page therefore position is a factor, with over 60 percent clicking on the top 3 listings.
- When asked where they would start their search for information, 63.9 percent of participants chose a search engine over consumer review sites, e-commerce sites, manufacturer’s sites, and industry portals.
- When taking budget into consideration, manufacturer’s sites and industry portals were the chosen starting place as budgets increased. However, 86.9 percent of participants said they would visit a search engine after visiting those sites.
It can be concluded from delving into this and other research that search engines play a dominant role in B2B purchases and I highly encourage all businesses to participate accordingly. Additionally, you will find that search engines are used in the early- or mid-research phase of the buying cycle. It is at this juncture your business should be well prepared with their EMail Marketing (EMM) messages – permission based of course – to maximize your Return On Marketing Investment (ROMI).
Because search engine research takes place early in the buying cycle it is critical that your business [moreover its web site] capitalize on this traffic by collecting three simple pieces of data about your visitors – Name, Phone and Email Address. Of course it is advantageous to collect additional profiling data from the visitors but often times you will lose more than you gain by attempting this too early in the sales cycle.
Once you have these data points your email marketing messages – which should follow suit with your sales message and process – can increase the likelihood of a sale. If you’re wondering how, let me elaborate. Your email messaging can be helpful in making the sale by automating your email message sequence, thus leaving more time for your sales staff to focus on closing the opportunities that are ready to be closed. These automated email messages still appear to come from the appropriate sales person and are personalized with the recipient’s name but each email message can serve your entire sales staff. Additionally, the email messaging sequence can be [automatically] altered based on how the recipient is interacting or not interacting with your email messages. Hopefully by now you can see the enormous time savings [making your sales team more productive] and brand strengthening email marketing can deliver.
Now, let’s address the fundamental reason both SEM and EMM are so popular and so valuable – analytics! Yes, big brother [that being your business] is watching, learning, analyzing and reacting to, almost in real time, what your potential buyers are searching for and clicking on.
Imagine your sales team receiving leads like this:
Prospect Name: John Smith
Prospect Phone: 212-555-1234
Prospect Email: jsmith@xyzco.com
Keyword/phrase Used: Online Marketing Services
Date Searched: January 10, 2006
Date Subscribed: January 10, 2006
Email Activity
Businesses are always looking for a way to save money, reduce the sale cycle, and increase ROMI. With the rising cost of print and broadcast marketing, marketers are quickly turning to Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and Email Marketing (EMM). SEM ensures top rankings in Yahoo, Google, and other main search engines so your website is listed at the top and seen first in the sponsored links.
SEM allows you to find targeted traffic and EMM to follow-up with emails that can be personalized and segmented to those customers. Instead of paying an employee to track and pursue each lead, the cycle can be geared toward each prospective customers’ action automatically. Plus SEM and EMM also allow you to easily track your results and amount spent per conversion through reporting.
This translates quickly and easily into massive ROI. One of the best examples is taken from a current customer. With SEM and EMM, a leading golf retail customer saw an increase of 500% in sales revenue over the same month last year. This is not hard to believe when you consider the success and expense reduction that both of these methods provide together. Sending out a 1000 emails will probably cost you about $50.00 where as sending out 1000 printed materials will cost you at anywhere from $500-$15,000 with no reporting, and a long wait for results.
So remember, SEM and EMM are each like a scoop of ice cream. One scoop is good by itself, but two scoops are always better. So if you not using SEM and EMM, you are missing out on valuable opportunities to save money, reduce your sales cycle, and increase your ROMI.
