Part 7: Which Digital Lead Generation Channel Is The Best For You?

Lure Creative is a full-service marketing company in Kansas City. We help small businesses Get Found & Be Known. In our adventures, we’ve found that many small business owners have questions about marketing, marketing budgets, and just what it takes to grow their business in this digital/online world. We have answers! So we decided to try to answer some of those questions in an ongoing series of blog posts. Part 8 of our Small Business Marketing Questions Answered series focuses on a common question: 

Small Business Marketing Questions Pt. 7: Digital Lead Generation Channels

Of all the digital channels (email, social, LinkedIn, etc.), Google is the one that reaches people when they are actively searching and ready to buy. That’s what makes it so effective. On every other channel, people are simply browsing and any marketing presence is seen as an interruption.

That being said, there are two different ways to use Google to generate leads. Which is better? It all depends on your goals and your budget: 

Search Engine Marketing 

If you are a business that is just starting with digital marketing and you want leads right away, SEM (Search Engine Marketing) will get results quickly. SEM is paying to increase your search visibility on the internet. These are the results that are located at the top and bottom of the search engine results page that always start with the word “Ad”. SEO is a long-term play, while SEM can get you leads in a matter of days or even hours. However, as soon as you stop paying for these ads, they’re gone and so are your leads.

Search Engine Optimization

Ongoing SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is a long game and you need SEO to help people find your website when they are searching on the internet. SEO involves using the right keywords, backlinking, internal structure, design, etc., within your website to get Google to move it up in the search engine results when some types in their search query. 

Unfortunately, everyone is battling for the top spots, so it’s not an easy task. There are many factors that impact your placement and it requires SEO experts who have the knowledge and experience to get results. Unless you have a good grasp of SEO, if you try to do this yourself, you will be wasting your time. Oh, and also, Google changes their algorithm quite often in an attempt to improve the search experience for users. Or is it just to keep everyone in the dark about how to get to the top? Sure seems like the latter when you’re trying to crack the code, so to speak. 

You Need SEO & SEM Lead Generation Channels to Grow Your Business

Obviously, we all want more leads and Google is the best place to find them. Millions of people are searching every day for the things they need and want. As a small business owner, you must be able to be found. While SEM can bring you leads quickly, they disappear just as quickly when you stop paying for them. You need to build your visibility with ongoing SEO for the long game and use SEM in the short term. Bottom line – you need SEO and SEM to grow your business.

If you have questions about SEO or SEM, please feel free to contact us at Lure Creative. We’d like to be your marketing partner and help you Get Found and Be Known.