What is SEM and why should you incorporate it into your business?

SEM stands for Search Engine Marketing. Due to the breadth of the marketing term and the debate as to whether it encompasses existing search engines on Amazon or social networks, there are multiple interpretations of the meaning of the word SEM.

The most widespread interpretation refers to the strategies and advertising actions that are carried out in a business to be visible in search engines such as Google, Bing, Yahoo!, etc. Therefore, in practice, when someone uses the SEM concept, it is very likely that they are referring to advertising on Google Ads, Google's advertising tool for its well-known search engine. We will focus on this interpretation of SEM.

How to implement a SEM strategy

Advertising on Google Ads consists of paying for each visit to your digital platform. It works under a bidding system in a very simplified way. The business willing to pay more for the visit of a potential customer is the one that appears more prominent in the search results. When we say that it works in a simplified way, it's because many factors vary this CPC (cost per click), such as the quality of the landing page and its direct relationship with the user's search, the effectiveness of the ad, among others.

The key to a good strategy is to achieve the lowest possible cost per click and make each sale with the lowest possible number of clicks. This can be achieved by targeting the most effective keywords for your business and the audiences most likely to buy. That results in the highest return on investment.

Why implement a SEM strategy?

A good SEM strategy will provide your business with several key factors:

Make yourself known among your potential customers

It will give you immediate and better-segmented visibility for your target audience. If you implement it correctly in your business, you will attract people who are really interested in your products. These potential customers can be impacted in different ways, such as:

• When they perform Google searches related to what you are selling.
• When they are browsing other websites.
• When they are watching videos on YouTube.
• When they are looking for physical businesses on Google Maps or in other less common situations.

Sell more

Google Ads allows you to carry out sales-oriented bidding strategies. With them, artificial intelligence focuses on catch the users' attention with the intention of buying your products through transactional keywords and audiences with higher purchase intent. Thanks to the fact that it has a precise system for measuring sales through its advertising, you can promote those keywords and audiences that generate the most sales or generate them most efficiently.

Insist with the undecided and build customer loyalty

One of the most efficient ways to increase your online sales is to impact users who already know you. Perhaps those who have already purchased one of your products or simply visited them previously. You can also reach new audiences by showing related or new products, news, or promotions. These actions allow you to insist on people who are still thinking about whether to buy our product and offer other products to customers who already trust us.

Boost your physical store

A local SEM strategy allows you to drive potential customers to your physical store and measure its impact on sales. Enhancing omnichannel sales is always a good thing. Growing digitally should not mean abandoning more traditional channels.

Know and optimize the return on your investment

One of the advantages of SEM is that all our actions and investment are fully measurable. Knowing exactly how much you are billing and what your most effective actions are, is a differential factor that is hardly possible in other channels.

Combine SEM with other strategies and become more successful

A good SEM strategy, on its own, can effectively scale a business. But if we also combine it with well-planned strategies in other channels such as SEO, social ads and social content, mail marketing, and marketing automation, and we get a good synergy between them, the results will be even better and your investment, more efficient.

Conclusion

SEM has become an investment. Nowadays, it's almost essential to invest in this channel if you want to impact your target audience effectively, as it will increase the visibility of your organic results in the SERPS or search results pages.