Technology Marketing by Tatum MarketingJust another WordPress weblog

First in a series of high level looks at online marketing.

A few weeks ago I wrote a post about “new media” marketing and promised to dig a little deeper into each of the new media tactics.

Let’s start with Search Engine Marketing (SEM).

Not surprisingly, SEM is a category of marketing that uses search engines, such as Google, Yahoo and MSN, to drive potential customers to your website. The term “search engine marketing” includes both pay-per-click advertising (PPC) and search engine optimization (SEO). We’ll get to those two very different tactics individually in later posts.

For business-to-business companies, SEM is hugely important because a substantial majority of prospects begin their buying process by turning to their search engine of choice. If you’re in the software or technology businesses, it’s a no-brainer. You have to pay attention to this. Otherwise, you’ll be difficult to find online. And that is rarely good.

There are agencies that specialize in pay-per-click, agencies that specialize in search engine optimization, agencies that specialize in all types of search engine marketing, and full service agencies that offer this along with other marketing services. There’s also no lack of books and “courses” aimed at helping you handle your own SEM.

My advice? Before you take the plunge, think carefully about what role you expect SEM to play in your overall marketing program. It’s a marketing tool just like any other marketing tool; and it’s a great way to waste money unless it’s carefully integrating into a complete marketing process.

For a good introduction to SEM I recommend reading Insider SEO & PPC; How to Get Your Website to the Top of the Search Engines by Andreas Ramos and Stephanie Cota. It won’t really tell you everything you need to know to get a top ranking, but it’s a solid start. And it may very well tell you everything you need to know to direct the SEM people on your marketing team.

Technorati Tags: SEM, PPC, SEO, search engine marketing, pay-per-click, search engine optimization, b2b marketing