SEM, SEO and Social Media

Advertising can be a challenge, especially if you don't know where to begin. Learn more about advertising to the right audience, and all about SEO, SEM and Social Media advertising below.

Knowing Your Audience

There are many successful ways to advertise your business, digital advertising being the most popular one. The first way to be successful at advertising and probably the most important one (next to branding) is to know your target audience and who you are offering your services or goods to. This will ensure you're always creating ads and searches for the right kind of customer.

Building a Powerful Brand

The next way is branding. Choosing the right brand can make or break your business. Branding tells the consumer what they can expect from you, your product or service and allows you to stand out in a competitive market. Brands should be clear, consistent and concise.

SEM and SEO

Another way you can advertise is through SEM or search engine marketing. SEM is a broad term that covers all strategies to ensure the most traffic to your business and that your business ranks well in searches, it includes both paid traffic and organic traffic techniques (SEO).

However, SEM is more commonly associated to PPC (pay-per-click), CPC (cost-per-click) and paid search advertising.

SEM involves a business paying a web browser such as Google to have their ads appear when someone searches for a particular service or item. It's a great way to get traffic for your business since it puts your ads directly in front of potential customers when they are looking for what they need.

SEO or search engine optimization involves generating free/organic traffic to your business' website from a search engine's results page. There are several techniques to achieve this, including tweaking the design and content of your website so that it's more appealing and targeted. Doing this might help your website appear on the first page of a search engine's results page. It takes time and effort.

SMO and SMM

It can also include SMO (social media optimization) and SMM (social media marketing) by using viral marketing techniques to generate a buzz for your business and to network with others that share a common interest in the services offered.

SMO and SMM are especially popular because it allows the customer to interact with the business owner in a more public setting, get the answers they need without having to reach out directly. Social media marketing can greatly impact your sales if done correctly.

Programmatic Advertising

Another new popular way to advertise is through programmatic advertising. Programmatic advertising involves choosing and placing ads using artificial intelligence and real-time bidding specifically targeted for certain demographics.

Ads can be placed on different platforms such as social media, mobile or video campaigns and online displays without having to go through the traditional route of buying and negotiating with a salesperson. This cuts down costs, time and improves ad relevancy by making sure your ad is seen by your target demographic.

There are many ways to advertise successfully and by adopting some of these practices you have the potential to increase product or service revenue in various ways.