Why Marketers are Refocusing on SEO
Three weeks ago, much of our marketing became useless. Ads now run in empty lifts, billboards fill vacant streets, and all events have been cancelled.
Businesses worldwide are trying to figure out what to do in response. Many are cutting back their marketing budget significantly. However, some are seizing this moment to set their companies up for long-term success, not just short-term survival.
Budgets are going down, goals are not
Businesses are facing big decisions: how do I respond to this unprecedented situation, how do I make the right budget cuts and how can I best help my customers?
65% of marketers anticipate cutting back on their marketing budgets to survive the coming months. However, 63% of marketers have immediately started refocusing on SEO. Helping them effectively reach their goals in the current climate.
Why the sudden importance of SEO?
Where are your customers? Not in lifts or town centres, but at home. Using search engines like Google, YouTube and Alexa in record amounts.
People depend on the content they find from sites like these to make nearly every decision they make, from what brands to buy, clothes to wear and all the best ways to market effectively in the current climate. This is something that has only increased with social isolation in place.
With over 20 billion estimated searches everyday people will need help finding you. Have you made it easy? Or will they find someone else first?
Low risk, high yield
Most media investments are fleeting. You buy an impression, you get an impression. You buy a click, you get a click. In times of plenty, it’s viable to deploy large amounts of capital on media campaigns, although this is expensive and inefficient. So when consumer demands and budgets decrease, it becomes harder to rationalize these investments.
On the other hand, your content and SEO are like bonds with low-risk and high-yield rewards. Investing today means you begin to get yield today. If you execute your SEO well you can continue to drive value for many years, without needing to make further investments.
SEO is the compounding interest in your marketing department, one that grows itself.
Most content gets a traffic spike for a few weeks but then suddenly dies off. However SEO-driven content that is created to meet customer demand continues to build value over time.
If you continue investing in long-term content and SEO, you will get a stream of visitor dividends that will become a material ROI. This is a major advantage over competitors who are fully dependent on paying market rates for new customers.
