A solid digital marketing strategy, if the budget allows it, is not merely SEO (Search Engine Optimization), only PPC (Pay-Per-Click), or just some paid Social Media ads. A good digital marketing strategy incorporates an eco-system, a synergy between organic and paid. A hybrid strategy is, well, to be blunt, the best strategy. In this blog, we are going to dive deeper into the marriage of organic and paid. Let the wedding party begin.
The very basic gist is that organic marketing takes a long time and paid media yields quicker results. Oh, yes, of course, one very important difference is that if you do organic marketing yourself, it’s free. Regarding social media, a good organic social strategy will improve your online presence, increase customer engagement, and build you a reputation online. Social media management is time-consuming but the result will be worth it as it is with all organic digital marketing efforts. On a high-level, you can follow the OCTO formula, i.e. objectives – content – targeting – optimization, and then you repeat the cycle. Organic social is paramount to increase the connection between your business and your targeted audience. Paid social will help you to build awareness, increase your business’ reach, and allow you to remarket to a targeted audience to optimize for conversions. For a good social media eco-system and to capitalize on business growth, you would need both.
SEO, i.e. Search Engine Optimization, is the organic effort to improve your website’s traffic and to rank for keywords that can bring relevant traffic to your site. SEO involves the technical side, content strategy, and off-page elements like link building. Link building is a long process but an important one as the search engines’ bots like to see who you “hang” with in the online world and good links will improve your business’ organic ranking over time. In regards to search engine marketing, SEO is important for a solid upper-funnel strategy while paid search will assist you tremendously with your mid to lower-funnel digital marketing efforts. To learn more about SEO 101, check out an informative blog here. SEO is also an important building block to build your site’s authority and trust. SEO requires a lot of expertise and a DIY approach is usually not recommended unless you truly know what you’re doing. If your business needs SEO assistance, please contact 4Elements Digital here.
To get the most clicks on your search ads you want to be on TOP of the SERP (Search Engine Result Page) and SEO will NOT be able to do this. Only paid search ads with the proper expertise and optimization can get your business’ name on top of the SERP. When it comes to paid search, we usually recommend a combination strategy of Bing and Google Ads. You can read our blog “Grow Your Business With Bing Or Google Ad Or Both?” to get more insights into why a combination could be fruitful for your business. As with paid social media, paid search engine marketing allows you to target your audience, remarket, and optimize for business conversions. If your business has a solid organic and paid search engine marketing strategy, you’ll control much activity above the fold (above the viewable results on the screen), which will improve your business’ growth.
It’s vital to optimize your site for mobile. Much relevant search traffic is coming from mobile these days. Paid search allows you to optimize for mobile and you could, for example, launch ads that are call-only ads so potential customers can quickly call your number from their mobile devices. You can see if your site is mobile-friendly here. Below you can see how important mobile optimization is for paid search traffic. The chart shows paid mobile search click share in the U.S. as of 1st quarter 2019.
Source: Statista
In conclusion, a good combination of SEO and paid search strategy will optimize your brand’s growth. Paid search will land your ads on top of the SERP and therefore give you the high-intent-clicks traffic driving to your site. SEO will give your site more credibility, domain authority, and trust over time. Further, a good SEO strategy can block your competitors’ organic traffic efforts. Lastly, for SEO, the most obvious benefit is cost-effectiveness. However, both are needed to close the circle and give your business the growth it needs.
That’s all she wrote folks. It’s an interesting topic for sure and it’s easy to dive even deeper into these digital marketing concepts. Don’t forget to leverage your business data for good digital marketing strategizing. You can read our blog “Leverage Business Data For Successful Digital Marketing” to find out more. If your business needs growth assistance, please contact us here. If you already have a paid search strategy, we’ll be happy to give you a free audit. For now, stay safe out there during these challenging times. A vaccine is right around the corner and soon business will pick up for many. Cheers!
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