9xb - Creating Online Success

SEARCH ENGINE MARKETING VS. PRESS ADVERTISING (ROUND 1)

Whether you're a new, young company or a well-established local firm, you've probably had a sales call from your local newspaper or a company like Yell.com. Perhaps you've been persuaded to part with a few thousand pounds for a block advertisement, or a year-long series. In this article I hope to explain why we think setting some of your budget aside for search engine marketing is a far better strategic option than putting all your money in one basket. Allow me to explain...

Why Might You Choose Local Press Advertising?

Many companies have been buying the same type of advertising for years and when it comes to renewal time, they're short of ideas and scared of changing something that may have worked for them in the past.

But if they were being honest about it, they probably have absolutely no idea how many customers found them through these advertising methods. Rather than actively looking at how much business their advertising is generating, they think that they have to do it, because they always have.

My point here is that in the vast majority of cases, at least some of the money spent on local newspaper or Yellow pages advertising, would often be far better spent on search engine marketing instead.

Show Me What You Mean

Let's look at a real-life example, recently experienced in the 9xb office. The names have been changed to protect the innocent.

Bob Smith runs a successful firm serving both business and personal clients; most of his clients are sourced from his locality in a catchment area of roughly 20 miles from his office. His business is well known as the leading firm in the area.

In order to publicise a recent re-branding and generally drive new business, Bob's investing £8,000 in advertising with his local rag – "The Newtown Rant" (circulation claimed is 200,000 people weekly) – over the next 12 months.

Sounds good at first glance doesn't it? 8 grand to reach all those people?

Now, I'm not saying that this won't work; it's perfectly possible that Bob will get some good clients from this. Perhaps there will be one big client who spends £25,000 and brings the whole campaign into profit immediately. Amongst the readership who catch the ad skipping between the letters page and the horoscopes will be people who see the ad, like it and remember the name the next time they need those services.

But, if Bob had given me £8,000 to spend on Google Adwords for him, 999 times out of a 1,000, I would deliver him far more leads and sales. Let's be clear here, Bob would make far more money with Google Adwords than would be made with the same budget on press advertising.

Better still - he'd know exactly what money he had made, and would be in a far stronger position to make future advertising decisions (and negotiate with other advertising agents).

In Part Two...

My bold claim explained - why you should test the search marketing waters - and what you can expect for your money...

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