The Internet has impacted business in a powerful way.  With more information available to the consumer, product options, vendors, and on-demand interaction, the buyer has many options, and so does the seller.  Any business can go global with just a few key strokes.   But, selling via the Internet is more than just putting up a Web site.  As a marketing platform, it poses a challenge for many businesses, whether they are start-ups or established.  It is within this niche that professionals in Search Engine Marketing (SEM) firms provide expertise and leadership in leveraging the Internet as a marketing tool for both online and offline strategic initiatives.

Search Engine Marketing is a tactic that addresses the marketing principle of place.  Consider a retailer’s marketing decision to achieve greater sales.  To do so, the retailer might open a new store in a shopping mall heavily trafficked by its target market.  This is analogous to what Search Engine Marketing does on the Internet.  The location of the shopping mall represents the keyword; the mall is the Search Engine Results Page and the store front would be the paid ad.  In both cases, the business’s presence capitalizes on consumers when and where they’re demanding service.

However, successfully driving click traffic involves more than positioning listings above the fold.  It’s not the listing itself driving customers to their business’s page.  The Center of Media Research identified the top three media triggering an online search.  Two of the top three were magazines and television.  Therefore, SEM should not be an exclusive tactic but one component of an integrated communication plan.  

What businesses don’t realize is that in addition to tactics that drive traffic and create clicks, SEM agencies provide insights for online and offline strategic initiatives.  One of the most valuable is that derived from tracking consumer interaction with the Internet.  Following Internet activity, a footprint of consumer interests and actions is left behind, revealing key insights into their behavior.  Analyzing search engine user’s keywords is an example of this.  If a business markets its product to satisfy a specific need, keyword research might reveal that consumers refer to the same need differently than the business.  Therefore, SEM agency expertise on mining keywords can be an important resource for businesses to communicate with consumers more efficiently.

Insights uncovered by SEM agencies have major advantages over those provided by traditional market research.  First, Internet data is readily available and, therefore, much less costly in both time and money.  But, more importantly, insights are derived through direct customer action observed in real time rather than self reported action uncovered through qualitative and quantitative methods.  Because the Internet uncovers insights with much less bias, its intelligence is more actionable and insights more comprehensive. 

Marketing opportunities fueled by mining Internet data include emerging markets, new product opportunities, price considerations as well as receptiveness to creative and branding.  Therefore, clients should turn to SEM agency consultation for more holistic marketing recommendations that will impact a greater part of their business.