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Offline Marketing or Search Engine Marketing. Which
Do You Choose?
by Jim Hedger
May 21st, 2003
Advertising campaigns can only be measured against one standard ruler,
the return on the advertiser’s investment. If spending $10,000 on
advertising your product or service returns $17,000, you’ve probably
spent your money well. If you’ve spent $10,000 and only see $7,000
back, chances are you should question your marketing strategies. There are
dozens of unique facets that go into a well-planned marketing campaign.
For many small to medium sized businesses, the two most important factors
are cost and coverage.
As the general economy presents another series of poor numbers and the
terrifying face of deflation threatens, mainstream advertisers are forced
to ask themselves some very difficult questions. Limited purchasing budgets
must stretch further and attract a buying public wary of spending their
own limited purchasing budgets. Coupled with the declining value of the
US dollar, many companies cannot afford a failed advertising campaign but
still need to attract new customers and reach out to past clients. There
are several forms of advertising media available both in the online and
offline worlds, all of which have shown solid returns for advertisers and
all of which carry their pros and cons. The question is, which combination
of media will generate the highest returns for the advertising dollar.
Search engine marketing is the least expensive method of getting the word
out to millions of well educated and often well paid consumers. The most
important fact about these consumers is that they have taken the time to
pre-screen themselves. Every time a search engine users enters a set of
keywords looking for information on products or services and finds your
business website, you can be reasonably certain they are not simply browsing
or window shopping. The search engine users actually took the time to type
those specific keywords and are definitely looking for your specific product.
Take advantage of their curiosity and be certain you can be found where
and when it counts.
Compared with other forms of marketing, search engines have a far wider
potential reach, are much cheaper, and allow for the revision of content
quickly without producing cost overruns. Search engine marketing also allows
for a greater number of listings spread over a wider array of keyword phrases,
thus producing far more opportunities to be found by potential clients and
customers.
Compare the costs and coverage of search engine marketing with the following
other forms of traditional marketing, Yellow Pages, Print and Broadcast.
Phone Directories vs. Search Engines
A yellow pages listing can cost over $10,000 per year. For that money, a business
gets a display (or graphical) listing in a large print book servicing their
local area. Their listing is placed in alphabetical order to be found amongst
all their local competitors. The Yellow Pages remains an essential form of
advertising for most small businesses but once the listing is placed, it
is static and cannot change for the remainder of the year. As an advertiser,
unless you are willing to take out a full page listing, you likely have very
little control over the placement of your listing aside from naming your
business “AAAAAAAAA1-Website Design”, a name that will inspire
little confidence from your potential clients. The local Yellow Pages are
important as a business owner does not want their competitors to be seen
without the chance of being seen themselves but given the growth of the Internet
in North America, the Yellow Pages are no longer the only essential game
in town.
Print vs. Electronic
Every city, town, county and municipality has a form of print media, most having
more than one. In our mid-sized city, there is only one mainstream newspaper,
which, being unique in its market is read by over 90% of all adults in the
city at some point in the week. Advertising in print is expensive. A typical
1/8th of a page ad can cost over $600 for a one-day run and can cost up to
$3000 for a full week’s run. That is extremely costly considering an
entire website can be constructed for less money. While the distribution
and readership ratios may be extraordinary, unless you are a long-term advertiser
or willing to spend substantially more for the ad, chances are you will not
be able to choose or effect the placement location of the ad. Other issues
advertisers need to consider is the use of color in the ad, the amount of
space provided for image and text in the ad, and the production of a photo-ready
graphic if images are to be used in the ad. Again, search engine advertising
presents several clear advantages over print. For the same cost of running
an ad for a full week in a newspaper, a small business can generally have
a website created and marketed on search engines. Concerns about the costs
of color, size and preparation are virtually eliminated while the versatility
of the Internet offers the advertiser a greater range of options. Another
important point to bear in mind when deciding where to spend your advertising
dollars is that, while we often wish to throw our computers in the trash,
we rarely do. Newspapers and magazines on the other hand are recycled, used
in the birdcage, or donated to the local doctor’s office. Unless the
ad you’ve invested in is seen the on the first read, chances are it
will never be seen again.
Broadcast vs. Broadband
There are two types of broadcast media, radio and television. Both are extremely
expensive and difficult to work but both allow for extended versatility from
advertisers. Radio and television ads are difficult to produce, often costing
in the tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars. Once the advertisement has
been produced, purchasing spots to air the commercials can be extremely expensive
and complicated. To further complicate the issue, tracking the success of
broadband advertising campaigns is also extremely expensive, statistic heavy
and time consuming. Most television and radio advertising is conducted by
larger businesses with a good deal of money to invest in production and the
purchasing of commercial airtime. Broadcast advertising is rarely an avenue
smaller businesses can pursue or compete on. Again, the Internet and search
engine advertising emerges as the great equalizer. A small business can have
a much better website than its larger competitors and be perceived as the
stronger of the two companies. Aside from the size of the website and the
number of incoming links to the site, all things are equal in search engine
marketing and it doesn’t take a lot of extra money or effort to push
the small business website higher than its corporate competitors.
Professional Advise
The world of advertising is extraordinarily competitive and in the decade old
realm of Internet advertising, the rules often change quickly and without
warning. While an effective SEO job can often be performed by website owners,
(and aside from our obvious interest), it is wisest to speak with a professional
search engine optimizer before starting your search engine marketing campaign.
Many SEO firms, including StepForth provide highly detailed consultancies
as well as offering hands-on-services. With the rapidity of change in the
SEO industry, it is good to know your advisors are fully up-to-date and informed.
End Game
Advertising is all about getting attention and pushing ideas into the public
realm. It is an important and necessary function in the course of business
and can be extremely effective if managed properly. Unless CNN is coming
to visit your shop on a regular basis you will need to invest a portion of
your budget in marketing. Take your time to consider the effectiveness and
longevity of every form of advertising available in your community or business
sector.
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