SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

Putting your stake in the industry

Search engine optimization is typically viewed as being the “magic” that gets businesses to reach the top of search results in Google, Yahoo, and Bing when a customer is looking for a specific service. The truth is, SEO is actually focused on thorough research and overall consistency for a business’s web presence. When it comes to a search engine result page (SERP), there are only ten spots on the first page of your search. For example, you may click on any of the businesses you see on the first page of a Google search. Right? Those spots on the first page are filled by the companies that have clearly defined their target to the search engine and to provide a unique and quality experience to the users that browse the website. To beat the competition, you have to be better than the competition.

To an average search user (and potential customer) the rankings in search seem to relate to the quality of the business. So, being on the first page means that business get recognized while any other business on page two and beyond will not even be considered. There are many factors the search engines look for to determine the “strength” of a business in the digital space. Our digital team have a long history of building, managing, and improving upon to keep our clients at the top of search results and capture customers that would otherwise give their business to the competition.

Benefits of SEO

• Have the business be considered for users doing their own research.
• Capture new customers from highly-competitive (and expensive) search terms without having to pay for each click.
• Receive a constant stream of traffic to a website from a specific target audience.
• Display dominance the industry by ranking higher than the competition.

SEM (Search Engine Marketing)

In front of your customers at the top of search

Marketing in search engines gives businesses the opportunity to have their website at the top of the search page and capture their target customer as they are looking for services and products. A well-constructed campaign will put a business at #1 right as it begins and maintain that position for as long as a budget allows.

Search engine marketing most often functions on a pay-per-click basis. With that being said, it is crucial to be sure that the terms used to trigger an ad to appear are both high quality and relevant to the business in order to avoid wasting any budget. It is important for an agency and a business to work together to set defined goals for a SEM campaign, so we may continually track the return on investment.

SEM campaigns are very customizable and can be structured to include additional information about the business, such as other services that are offered or a phone number for easy contact ability. An often-overlooked aspect of an advertising campaign is what the customer experiences after clicking on an advertisement. At Blakely + Company we make sure that no lead is lost, and each dollar spent towards advertising drives potential customers to a landing page designed to result in a sale. Through the path of seeing an advertisement to visiting the website, we want to make sure that messaging is consistent to the brand. This helps the consumer trust they are making the right decision to give a company their business.

Benefits of SEM

• Top of search results right away.
• Easily customizable to change messaging at any time.
• Know exactly which demographic results in the highest ROI.
• Show customers additional services or products they may be interested in.

Creative Google Display Advertising

A consistent reminder of your brand

Display advertising focuses on serving appealing ads to a specific target audience on the websites they are browsing in their everyday life. Targeting through display advertising allows for flexibility based on how Google views each user. Once we determine who a business is looking to capture, we create a profile of what that target customer looks like in the digital space. Display ads will target users based on their interests when they browse the web and can be tracked accordingly. The strength of display advertising is in the amount of impressions on a webpage, also known as how many times someone has seen the advertisement. These impressions serve as a reminder of a brand and the benefit a customer will receive by choosing to give that brand their business. Historically, we’ve seen users vary between choosing to click the advertisement directly and conducting their own research on the brand through search. Regardless of which they choose to do, it is important to remember that this interest was gained through that initial impression on a web page.

We typically recommend leveraging a strong display campaign to work in unison with a search campaign to “follow” that customer across each platform. We also recommend to our clients that we incorporate some retargeting strategy with display advertising to serve up ads to customers who previously interacted with a display advertisement but decided not to purchase. This gives a soft reminder of the services and benefits that the customer can receive by choosing to give their business to that brand.

Benefits

• Target new customers on websites they already browse.
• Utilize eye-grabbing images and messaging to attract customers.
• Lower cost-per-click than search engine marketing.
• Access to over 2 million websites for the brand to be displayed on.

Video Advertising on YouTube

Unique messaging on an ever-growing platform

Video is becoming increasingly popular as a form of media that consumers enjoy and use to communicate with others. Chances are that you’ve spent a good chunk of time watching YouTube videos for a wide range of reasons. We see users everyday watch videos for enjoyment, to learn a new skill, or to research a topic they’re interested in. Since there is a wide range of genres of videos, then there is something for everybody. Businesses are not only recognizing this, they are capitalizing on it to make it profitable to them and help reach their goals. With 300 hours of video uploaded to YouTube every minute it is important to leverage this platform and make it benefit the business.

Similar to display advertising, we are able to place our video ads to play before videos that our target customers are interested in. Video advertising typically functions on a pay-per-view basis to ensure no budget is spent unless a user watches or engages with a video advertisement. These provide the opportunity to tell your story and express a benefit to the target customer in a unique format. We see our clients utilize this platform to let their customers know of sales/promotions, new products, upcoming events, and of course to express the features and benefits that their brand provides. Consumers love being in control of their purchasing decisions and what better way to help them decide than to speak directly to them with video. The Blakely + Company digital team is proficient in getting these ads in front of the target audience and is supported by a professional creative team who is able to create amazing video for businesses in any industry.

Benefits

• Unique messaging to attract customers to a brand.
• Cost-per-view tends to be pennies and never pay for skips.
• Full customization to choose which YouTube videos and channels ads are displayed on.
• Add offers onto the advertisement to attract sales.

Social Media Advertising

Inclusive targeting based on your customer’s lifestyle

Advertising on social media platforms, such as Facebook, provide a unique benefit that other forms of advertising do not. With 58% of all adult Americans having a Facebook profile, most of us have been “profiled” in ways we don’t even realize. Targeting a consumer can be set by the typical demographics of age, gender, location, etc. but also expand to target personal details such as relationship status, the car a consumer drives, purchasing habits, and more. The public shares so many details about their lives on social media that advertising has evolved to find how those details relate to an ideal customer. Social media advertising is unique in that a business can utilize video, still images, and even full galleries of the product and/or service in their ad efforts. This type of targeting allows for much more direct messaging to speak to the unique qualities of different customers and provide them with offers accordingly.

Benefits

• Target a customer based on their lifestyle and personality.
• Flexibility in the types of ads that are served up.
• Easy tracking implementation to see ROI.
• Currently less expensive and less competitive than Google advertising.

For any questions about how digital marketing can benefit your business or if you’d like more information on any digital service, please contact our Digital Director, Tyler Noe, at: tnoe@blakelycompany.com.