Once upon a time, those businesses who were investing in their online marketing would simply outsource a company to build a website. Then, along came SEO and this is where the bulk of the investment went although nowadays, things look to have changed again.
The development of social networks has once again transformed the manner in which online marketing works though. While the general practice used to be to attract new visitors via the search engines, the emergence of social media means that companies are not only trying to attract new custom via these means, but also retain existing clients. Subsequently, those online marketing costs have generally been split in half to cover both social and SEO expenses.
Of course, when it comes to new companies, the situation changes somewhat. With these young firms generally possessing small budgets and trying to attract as many initial customers as possible, it might not be as simple as simply splitting the budget between these two marketing ploys. We’ll therefore take a look at both from a young business’ perspective to highlight the pros and cons of each method.
SEO
While this used to be the undisputed leader of online marketing, you really should start to question whether or not it’s a viable option in the current climate. SEO companies generally charge an arm and a leg for their ranking services and while there are some decent value ones out there such as Seomers, these really are few and far between. Therefore, first and foremost, ensure your budget is large enough to cope with this method of marketing.
You’ve also got to realise that it’s by no means going to bring instant success and you will have to play the waiting game for months on end in some niches. Of course, the end results can be well worth it and there have been countless cases over the years of businesses being transformed through the amount of customers that arrive from search engines. This process is never going to be instantaneous though, and this is something that you need to factor into your decision.
Social Networking
Social media meanwhile is probably going to generate you fewer new customers, although if you have already attracted a decent nucleus of clients it might be worthwhile to consider this approach. While some people think that merely throwing up a Facebook and Twitter page is sufficient for social marketing success, this is seldom the case and you will most probably require external assistance to get the most out of this option. Whether it’s attracting new followers, updating the ones you already have with relevant information or simply making your page more open to your industry, there are countless tricks to achieving social success and it goes without saying that there are plenty of experts out there who know what they are doing.
If you aim is to drum up as much new business as possible, you could argue that social networking is simply not worthwhile. Most potential new customers will seek as much information from your website as possible, meaning that you will need to optimise it accordingly and this will not include much work from a social media perspective. While it would be beneficial to include a social element to your young business, most companies simply don’t have the budget to invest in both SEO and social and the latter is certainly more beneficial if your main aim is to increase the amount of new clients who come through your doors.