Do big brands still need SEO? I often get this question from household names, because they say:
“When we do a search for <insert our brand name> our site is already #1!”
That is right – and all other brands are normally number one for their trade name!
The bottom line is this: Does that help you reach your revenue goals? After all, businesses need to hit their bottom line in order to thrive!
If you’re a big brand contemplating on whether you really need to hire an in-house SEO, an agency, or a SEO consultant, remember these 5 missed opportunities if you won’t do SEO:
1) You won’t be able to tap into opportunity niches
2) You cannot make branding revenue-driven
3) You won’t be able to establish long-term website traffic & ROI
4) You won’t be able to leverage on your content marketing machine
5) You cannot decrease your cost-per-acquisition
In the last 5 years, SEO has become more than just a ranking, or even traffic-generation game. It has largely become revenue-driven, and user-focused. That is why SEO should still be part of your marketing mix no matter what year or age we are in – as long as user search behavior is there.
Let’s take a closer look at these missed opportunities without SEO:
1) You won’t be able to tap into opportunity niches
Rand Fishkin of Moz does it best in his tips on how small websites can compete with bigger brands in terms of SEO. He proposes to focus on niched-markets where you can dominate and crack a slice of the competition. Big brands can’t normally scale long-tail content generation because they are not as agile or not as invested in these smaller, niched markets.
Boom! That’s your opportunity.
Niched markets may not be as big as your main target demographic, but these segments can convert more easily for you if you know how to market to them. Search queries like, “how to spend a weekend in Cebu City on a budget” provide insights on opening up content topics that will appeal to a market you can tap. Niched markets are specific in their wants. You might say this isn’t your target demographic. But it is an opportunity that’s readily available for an established brand like you to dominate in terms of SEO.
And if you can win in the bigger pond, what could be more difficult in a small pond?
2) You cannot make branding revenue-driven
Without the disciplines of SEO, launching branding campaigns may be just this : It’s only nice to have. While you can make a revenue-driven branding campaign via paid search, long-term traffic and lower cost-per-acquisition are more likely to be achieved with SEO.
For decades, ad agencies have focused on what they’re good at: creative campaigns, launching brands to generate massive and lasting awareness or recall. While some marketers say branding drives revenue, it’s pretty difficult to prove it unlike when you tie it up with SEO. Thanks to website analytics!
Targeting branded search terms + intent keywords is the key. You could say, your home page is already ranking for those types of terms (because of the brand name). But the key is to crafting landing pages that target intent-driven keywords and satisfying the user’s need — so that he’s more likely to convert. That’s what I mean by making a brand more revenue-focused.
It is not just generating massive traffic or noise about your brand, but actually doing the work of converting people who know you/your name, and who are ready to opt-in or buy from you.
3) You won’t be able to establish long-term website traffic & ROI
Some marketers or business owners think SEO is some sort of a growth hack strategy that you lather on your site, and then brings in the leads overnight or in a week’s time. It cannot be farther from the truth. I don’t believe SEO is a hack. It is a long-term investment that delivers long-term ROI to you, as well.
SEO’s goal of bringing more targeted traffic to your website (i.e. keywords with intent – see #2) leads to long-term ROI. Unlike viral social media campaigns that give a sudden boost to your traffic but shuts off after some time – SEO, on the other hand, will continuously serve people from search (who are looking for you/your product) to land on your website.
People go to search engines, not to social media sites, to buy!
Source: http://searchenginewatch.com/sew/how-to/2399909/landing-page-conversion-organic-content-optimization
4) You won’t be able to leverage your content marketing machine
This can be debatable. Of course, you can tap your big-budget content marketing teams to create viral memes, emotional videos, compelling narratives, etc, to do their magic on social media. If the storytelling is great, you experience optimum levels of engagement and reach for your brand. Look at how Jollibee achieved it through their #hugot Valentine Video campaign.
Again, these are short-lived. Content without SEO elements can just go to your social media archives after a while. But when you:
+ incorporate SEO practices in producing content; or
+ repurpose content for SEO; or
+ craft content to satisfy a search user’s problem or query….
….it will increase your visibility in the search channel. And by now, you know what that means: long-term traffic + ROI.
So make the most out of your content teams. Bring in SEO into your content-marketing strategy for better results.
5) You cannot decrease your cost-per-acquisition
Cost-effectiveness is one of the most advantageous aspect of SEO. It’s way cheaper than TV ads, billboards, or even a pay-per-click campaign. While it may take months to experience results from SEO (yep, long-term investment!), the cost-per-acquisition gets lower and lower as time passes by.
How? With continuous optimization efforts, sooner or later it will be easier for you to rank for more competitive keywords. As you establish the strength of your site, you’d be able to dominate more related searches that your target customers are typing in to Google.
While an Adwords PPC campaign will deliver instant results, the stakes are usually high (top bids for high-demand keywords), hence cost-per-acquisition would be higher compared to SEO.
So if you’re a big brand and you think you don’t need search engine optimization any more, think again! There are far more important opportunities you would be missing if you don’t consider.
Let’s start your brand’s SEO Strategy!
Need help with crafting an effective SEO strategy for your business? Send me an email for a free initial consultation.
Or we can do a 1-on-1 consultation for my upcoming SEO Hackathon for Brands. Email me for details: mail@romeladeleon.com
Romela de Leon-Ortega
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