Search engine marketing (SEM for short) is a crucial component of marketing strategy for e-commerce sites and businesses in the service industry. Just think about it: SEM enables companies to reach their target consumers at all days and times of the week. It plays a crucial role in customer research and ensures businesses are highly visible in the market!
SEM is not a luxury for businesses today — it's a necessity. If you want your business to enjoy sustainable growth, SEM must be a significant factor in your overall marketing plan.
Customers Research Solutions Online
One key advantage of SEM is the ability to reach consumers as they research solutions to specific problems. That is a widespread occurrence in the home services industry. As just one example, what do many (if not most) homeowners do when their air conditioning unit goes out in the middle of a heat wave? They typically go online to find any "quick fixes" on their own. If they can't, they'll start looking at and comparing local HVAC repair companies to see which one they should hire.
Your company will only be visible to these consumers if you've invested in SEM. If you haven't made SEM a priority, you'll miss out on a large percentage of business coming from individuals in similar situations. On the other hand, a solid SEM-oriented strategy will help you reach and engage with customers at the early stages of their buyer journey while searching for solutions to their pain points.
Show Customers How You Can Help
Putting your business name out via SEM is a crucial piece of the puzzle. However, it's not the only piece. You want your presence on search engines to provide prospects with helpful information about your company — specifically, how it can help them.
For instance, you want your website to have plenty of information relevant to customer concerns. You want to answer critical questions consumers may have, such as:
- What services do you provide?
- What's your availability?
- Do you provide free quotes or estimates?
- What's your reputation in the community?
- How do your rates compare with competing companies?
Owning a detailed, professional-looking website containing answers to these and other questions will boost your credibility and encourage more prospects to reach out.
Providing this information via SEM makes the research process much more convenient for your customers. Realistically, not many people will proactively seek out service options from outdoor ads, mail flyers, or other non-digital means. However, investing in SEM ensures that your solution is front and center for customers — with just a few clicks of the mouse and strokes of the keyboard!
Reach Customers at Crucial Moments
There's a point in the customer's journey referred to as "the zero moment of truth." It's when the customer has researched a product or service and is about to make a purchase decision. The question is: How can your company win that moment?
Here again, SEM is critical. The capabilities that Google and other search engines offer us have changed the ways consumers shop and make purchases. Interaction with a business listing on the search results page is often the last touch point customers experience before deciding to follow through with a call, email, or chat.
With that in mind, it's easy to discern how SEM plays a critical role in pushing the customer journey forward and moving prospects through the sales funnel. In many cases, SEM is the all-important bridge that crosses the gap between the "evaluation" stage of the funnel (when customers are actively researching options) and the "decision" stage (when they're ready to commit to a particular company). If you can win that moment, odds are you'll win the customer, too.
Leverage a Strong SEM Strategy to Grow Your Business
Search engine marketing should play a key role in your overall marketing plan. Service businesses can leverage SEM to become more visible to their target demographic, help customers conduct research, establish and fortify credibility, and move prospects through the sales funnel toward a final purchase decision.
If you own and operate a business in the service industry, then you should consider implementing SEM as part of your marketing mix (if you haven't done so already). With the help of an experienced digital partner, you can use SEM to grow your consumer base and capture a larger share of your target audience's attention. A strong SEM strategy equates to a more successful, sustainable business — and who wouldn't want that?
Written by Karlie Mandigo
Karlie Mandigo is a Senior Digital Marketing consultant for Federated Digital Solutions. She has been leading the consulting team since 2017 and has developed a particular skillset that focuses on the automotive industry. Her passion for her career comes from the ability to cultivate trusting relationships with clients. She enjoys putting all the puzzle pieces together to create a strategy that will help achieve and exceed her client’s goals year over year. Karlie puts the work in with her clients and it shows as she knows and believes that true commitment starts AFTER the sale.
