After years of industry expertise, Royal Caviar House has unveiled Numero Uno, a new deluxe caviar brand for the middle east. Our task was to craft a distinctive brand identity, one that transcends diverse product lines and continents. In a cluttered market brimming with claims of unparalleled quality and minimal unique selling points, our primary […]
Source:: designmadeingermany.de
XXII Elissa ist eine umfangreiche Schriftfamilie aus dem Hause Doubletwo Studios entworfen von Lecter Johnson, bestehend aus 32 Schriften, unterteilt in drei spezifische Unterfamilien: Poster, Sans und Text. Die „Poster“-Unterfamilie zeichnet sich durch hohen Kontrast aus wie üblich in klassizistischen Antiqua-Schriften und ist ideal für fette Überschriften. Die „Text“-Unterfamilie ist für Sublines und Fließtexte konzipiert, […]
Source:: designmadeingermany.de
Search engine optimization (SEO) and search engine marketing (SEM) are different forms of digital marketing that require distinct skill sets and approaches, but one is not complete without the other.
Utilized correctly, SEO and SEM complement each other, allowing a marketing team to balance short-term and long-term gains to achieve their goals more effectively than they could using only one or the other.
Read on to learn how both SEO and SEM work, and why they serve as complementary cornerstones in an effective digital marketing strategy.
Search engine optimization is the practice of continuously updating web pages to ensure they rank as well as possible for search engine result pages (SERPS) related to the keywords they’re targeting.
SEO refers to all activities focused on enhancing a page’s organic SERP ranking. Unlike SEM, SEO practices don’t involve explicitly paying search engines to appear in SERPs. Instead, this discipline is about creating and optimizing high-quality content that aligns with user intent to rank near the top of searches for important keywords and queries.
All on-page website optimizations you implement to improve a page’s SERP ranking could be considered part of your SEO strategy. These include keyword research and implementation, content optimization, link building, user experience improvement, and more.
Search engine marketing is sometimes used as an all-encompassing term for search-related marketing activities (including SEO), but often refers specifically to paid search engine advertising. Where SEO aims to rank on SERPs organically by providing best-answer content, SEM initiatives involve using paid advertisements to increase SERP visibility for a predetermined set of highly valuable keywords. SEM ads can appear in the “sponsored” section at the top or bottom of a SERP, or in an additional designated space to the side of the results.
Though SEM involves direct paid advertising, it still requires considerable strategic planning and maintenance. Most search engines use a bid-based pay per click (PPC) model to determine which paid advertisements appear per SERP. These auctions occur whenever a SERP is called up by a user; winners are determined not only by the amount bid by each advertiser, but also by the quality, relevance, historical click-through rate, and more.
The primary difference is that SEM refers to appearing in SERPs by paying to place advertisements in them, while SEO refers to everything you do to appear in SERPs without explicitly paying search engines to be there.
This distinction means SEO and SEM are typically used for two different but interrelated purposes. SEO is considered the long-term play for rankings. By steadily building authority and following SEO best practices, sites can improve their SERP rankings and, therefore, their brand’s visibility and share of mind.
Meanwhile, SEM is considered a short-term play for rankings and visibility. Though paying to appear in SERPs perpetually is not cost-efficient compared to SEO, SEM does offer brands the ability to appear at the top of SERPs for valuable keywords almost immediately, driving more surefire conversions. This allows organizations to devote extra resources to promoting tentpole marketing initiatives like special deals, announcements, or branding pushes.
Despite their differences, brands tend to get the most out of both SEO and SEM by using them in tandem. The two approaches to search marketing naturally complement and enhance each other in several ways.
SEO takes time, but it’s ultimately the best way to drive sustained, relevant, cost-efficient traffic to your website. SEM produces immediate visibility, but relying on it for too long will lead to high CPAs and diminishing returns. A strategy that uses both, however, can get the best of both worlds.
By targeting high-value, conversion-focused keywords with SEM, you can quickly generate attention and engagement in a short period. While driving these quick results, you can then focus on organically optimizing your landing page (and the rest of your supporting content), benefitting from the added traffic and first-party data it produces.
Unlike most auctions, the winner of an SEM auction isn’t necessarily whoever pays the most. Maximum bid per SERP is one element search engines consider when awarding these positions, but they also consider user experience, content quality and relevance, keyword rankings… and a whole host of other factors that are primarily impacted by your SEO.
The bottom line is that search engines like Google recognize they can’t simply sell out for the highest bidder; they need to deliver a good and meaningful experience to searchers.
By incorporating SEO on the landing pages you’re promoting with your SEM initiatives, therefore, you can win auctions more frequently without necessarily having to pay more to do it. The more relevant, appealing, and search-optimized your content, the more bids you’ll win for your budget and the more effective your SEM campaign will be.
Ideally your SEO strategy will start driving enough qualified traffic over time for important keywords that you can scale back or even stop running paid campaigns for them.
One of the most effective forms of SEM is retargeting ads. These ads automatically follow up with users who provided you with their contact information or previously interacted with your marketing or website.
The more effective your SEO, the more visitors your website will receive, and the more relevant those visitors will be. This will help you create a robust list of users you can retarget with SEM.
Because SEM campaigns generate so much engagement so quickly, they’re also a great way to learn about what your audience wants.
By A/B testing multiple SEM campaigns with small changes, for example, you can see what kind of promotions and messaging perform, and which don’t. Use this information to inform your larger SEO and content strategies.
Of course, this can also work the other way. If you experience exceptional organic success with a page or piece of content, try to figure out what made that content resonate with your audience. Apply what you learn into your next SEM campaign for better PPC rates.
By integrating and coordinating SEM and SEO campaigns this way, you will continue to generate highly useful information about how to market to your audience more effectively.
Learn more about elevating your brand’s rankings and authority in search.
The post How SEO and SEM Strategies Work Together appeared first on TopRank® Marketing.
Source:: toprankblog.com
The concept of a marketing funnel is one of the core differentiators between B2B marketing and B2C marketing.
This audience-centered model creates a tangible and visual depiction of the long and complex nature of B2B purchase cycles, while also providing a framework for marketing teams to build their strategies around.
The B2B marketing funnel is a representation of the progressive stages that businesses and their decision makers go through when making a purchase. It is described as a funnel to portray the expected narrowing of an audience from the top point (broad awareness) to the bottom (converted customers).
Traditionally, the B2B marketing funnel has been divided into five categories.
Marketers often use the marketing funnel as a way to categorize and position their content. For example, top-of-funnel (TOFU) content might be focused on building brand awareness and expanding visibility with your target audience.
Bottom-of-funnel content (BOFU) is usually more oriented toward warm prospects who are already familiar and more likely to take action.
Although they are often used interchangeably, you might sometimes hear “marketing funnel” and “sales funnel” referenced in different contexts. Some companies distinguish the two models based on their specific functions.
A B2B sales funnel might look more like this:
The two variations are fundamentally similar in that they narrow down a broad field of potential customers into a more qualified set and eventually convert some of this set into won customers.
“79% of marketing leads never convert into sales due to a lack of lead nurturing.” (WifiTalents)
Historically, B2B marketers have had an understandable tendency to focus overwhelmingly on the lower part of the funnel. They are under pressure to drive and prove results, and the bottom of the funnel is where marketers can demonstrate their most direct revenue impact.
However, it’s critical for B2B companies to recognize that the vast majority of their potential buyers, at any given time, are not actively in the market for their solution. Marketing only to the small fraction of people who are ready to buy means missing a huge opportunity to develop brand recognition and salience with those who will be ready to buy in the future.
An effective upper-funnel strategy is essential for maximizing conversions within that segment of active buyers. Someone who knows, trusts and likes your brand is more likely to remember it or consider it when a need arises.
Reaching buying committees early is vital: A study by McKinsey found brands that made it into the initial consideration set were more than twice as likely to win business compared to brands considered later in the decision journey.
Read more on our blog: Top SEO Strategies for Lead Generation
The funnel concept is valuable as a shorthand tool for explaining the B2B customer journey and how marketing interacts with it at a high level. However, certain limitations should be considered, such as:
As Anouschka Elliott of Goldman Sachs Asset Management shared with Marketing Week: “The funnel is very, very useful to explain to non-marketers what we do… But we’re missing advocacy, we’re missing the loyalty, we’re missing that continued relationship we need to be building, and all of the complexity of the actual journey.”
Despite these shortcomings, the B2B marketing funnel is certainly helpful for orchestrating your marketing strategy at a high level. Here’s a framework.
Building a customized B2B marketing funnel tailored to your specific brand, solutions, and audience is a helpful exercise for guiding your keyword strategy, content creation, and measurement approach.
#1. Conduct in-depth audience research
Lay groundwork for your marketing funnel by understanding it from the perspective of your customers and prospects.
#2. Develop an intent-based customer journey map
Intent-driven keyword research will help you understand how your audience searches for information and engages with content at each stage of the marketing funnel, from their first interaction to the completed purchase.
#3. Create strategic content for various funnel stages
Organize your content strategy around the marketing funnel, as informed by your customer journey map, to ensure you are meeting user intent at every stage. CTAs should be dictated by the logical action that helps prospects progress forward.
#4. Integrate organic and paid marketing activities
A balanced and coordinated combination of organic and paid marketing helps a full-funnel strategy work. Use broad organic acquisition to fill the upper funnel and invest in paid media to generate demand, nurture prospects, and convert customers.
#5. Measure and optimize
As with any aspect of B2B marketing, rigorous and relentless measurement will hold the key to success. Track the effectiveness of your content and ads relative to their specific funnel stages to keep optimizing for desired outcomes across the customer journey.
The answer to this question will vary based on the brand, solutions and audience. However, a survey by Semrush (via Search Engine Journal) found that these content types are most effective at different marketing funnel stages. As you’d expect, educational content and resources are most popular at the top, while case studies and product information lead at the lower funnel.
Top of Funnel Content:
Middle of Funnel Content:
Bottom of Funnel Content:
70% of marketers say organic search is the most efficient channel in attracting traffic at the top of the funnel. (Search Engine Journal)
Ensuring that your measurement strategy aligns to your marketing funnel is how you verify that you are optimizing for the right outcomes. For example, marketers who measure solely by lower-funnel metrics are at risk of sacrificing future growth by overlooking key upper-funnel metrics.
These are some common marketing metrics used at each stage of the B2B funnel:
Awareness
Interest
Consideration
Conversion
Retention & Advocacy
The support of seasoned experts who fully understand the B2B marketing funnel and its fundamentals is invaluable. Learn about TopRank Marketing’s strategy and planning services, and how we can help you build a sustainable growth machine.
The post What Does a B2B Marketing Funnel Really Look Like? appeared first on TopRank® Marketing.
Source:: toprankblog.com
Fine Principles (FP), das von Alexandra Schwarzwald gegründete Schmucklabel mit Sitz in Berlin, präsentiert die erste Kollektion ‚Serie XF‘. FP fängt die Schönheit der grafischen Regelmäßigkeit von Falttechniken ein und verwandelt sie in facettenreiche Schmuckstücke. Mithilfe von 3D-Technologie werden diese in Traditionsbetrieben in Pforzheim mit RJC–zertifizierten Edelmetallen hergestellt. Die visuelle Sprache von Geometrie & Raster […]
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