Develop a Search Engine Marketing Plan

Any serious marketing initiative begins with a solid marketing plan, search marketing should be no different. It is however an unfortunate fact that many search marketing campaigns are conducted without the firm foundation and clear direction that a good search engine marketing plan can provide.

Furthermore as world SEM revenues continue to climb, search engine marketing campaigns will demand increasingly stable and intelligent management approaches which incorporate time tested methodologies common to traditional marketing.

A carefully crafted SEM plan, like a traditional marketing plan, can assist the "powers that be" in making a favorable decision to approve budgetary allocation for a search marketingprogram. And while, the focus of the strategy that follows is on assisting the creator of theplan in gaining a greater insight into their e-venture, the structure also lends itself readily tothe former.

In the series of articles to follow I will detail the essential components of a basic Search EngineMarketing Plan. Every attempt has been made to generalize the instructions and examples sothat a greater diversity of readers will find the guidelines that follow to be a good startingpoint upon which a very insightful and effective SEM strategy can be developed. Each numbered item represents a unique section within the plan itself.

Part 1: The Title Page

Understanding the "Why" of search marketing

  1. Define "success" for your campaign. What is a successful search marketing campaignto you? Is it increased brand awareness? Is it an increase in traffic? Conversion?Popularity? Market Share? Market Reach? Be specific and define what success meansto your campaign in terms of concrete and measurable criteria.
  2. State the purpose of the search marketing plan. Why is this plan being created? Is it toexplore the possibility of SEM? To codify the details of a decision to use SEM? To gaindirection in the application of SEM?
  3. Explore the organization's purpose on the Internet. Does the organization exist solelyon the Internet? How do the traditional and virtual aspects of the business interact?What are your target markets? How does this translate into the online arena? Outlinecompany business philosophy and mission. Focus on what this means for yourbusiness on the Internet. What are the strengths of the company? What benefits doesthe online customer receive by doing business with the company?

Part 2: Market Research & Competitive Landscape

Understanding "What" you are marketing.

  1. Products/Services Description: Briefly discuss benefits, features, description, pricing information, etc. Then explore what makes this product competitive with similar products that can be found using search engines.
  2. Target Market: Include any specific searcher behaviors which have been identified through your market research, describe product buying cycle, social, demographic, economic, technological, political, etc. Again the emphasis is on how this information applies to search engine activity. Traditional business does not necessarily translate directly to the search engine arena. Accordingly these are important issues to work through prior to initiating a search marketing campaign.
  3. General Search Activity: It is assumed that you have already determined your primary targeted search phrases, around which you are basing this campaign. (Many resources available on the web for researching targeted search phrases, and as that is a subject which is outside of the scope of this paper, I would advise consulting the search engines for direction.) Give detailed information about Estimated Daily/Monthly search volume across top defining search phrases. If available, include temporal statistics such as information about seasonal search activity and how this correlates with purchase decisions. Additionally it would be wise to brainstorm any external events that could trigger a change in search activity for your phrases. For example if you are targeting a search phrase that is potentially related to a company that has recently filed for an IPO, you need to explore and prepare for how their public offering could affect your campaign in terms of search activity and visitor interest.
  4. Competitors: Discuss your top competitors for your targeted search phrases. Do these companies also exist as your competitors off-line? Discuss this dynamic. What are your competitors strengths both obvious and subtle? Describe market share. Ideally a complete website analysis for your top 2-5 competitors for each of your targeted search phrases should be completed. Competitors that appear for multiple targeted search phrases should be given careful analysis to determine exactly what you are up against, especially if they exist across multiple search engines as well.
  5. Financial: Describe product/service financial dimensions including cost, delivery, life, trends and projections. Do you also offer your product or service through traditional sales channels? Does the virtual sales channel allow greater latitude for competitive pricing? Is your pricing competitive? Can you offer special promotions or incentives?
  6. Other: Any other significant factors affecting your ability to produce, market, sell, deliver and support your product/service

SWOT Analysis:

A standard SWOT analysis is certainly in order and is applicable directly to the overall search marketing campaign. Specifically the SWOT analysis should be applied to your online business, including your website, products/services, etc. as they relate to the search engine arena.

Strengths: There is no need to be modest here, and the balance will be found by completing the next step.

Weaknesses: Be honest and realistic. Insight now, even if uncomfortable, prevents disappointment and failure later.

Opportunities: In the e-business landscape, opportunity is defined by a strong niche. A niche is a small gap that exists between supply and demand. Detail how you plan to bridge the gap.

Threats: This step is not just about your competition; you must identify and prepare for trends, budding developments and subtle currents that could destroy your viability.

Part 3: Describing Your Customer

Understanding "Who" your customer is.

The following elements are far from a complete demographic taxonomy; however they should provide a starting point for understanding your audience. This information as it is applied to SEM, affects targeted search phrases, and ideally provides data that can be turned into targeted search phrases which put you right in front of your ideal customer.

Other points of interest:

Part 4: Defining Your Presence

Understanding and Refining "Who" you are on the web.

It's been my experience that often people have "funny" ideas about the web, search engines and e-commerce. People tend to view Internet businesses as somehow less real, less important and something of a novelty when compared with a brick and mortar operation. Consequently many web entrepreneurs begin their ventures with the idea that their great website idea is going to carry the project and bring success.
The web is awash with great ideas. Billions of them. The web is not awash with Billions of success stories.

In terms of failure or success; having a great idea is essentially meaningless. You need to bring much more to the table than a good idea.

Most websites exist in an endless ocean of nameless, faceless destinations, that are bobbing invisibly in the shadows that are cast by a few well lit successes.

Achieving distinction is essential to your success online.

You must be visible, loud, useful and memorable to be noticed, selected and remembered: OR YOU WILL FAIL!

Showing up in the search results for your targeted search phrases is a significant accomplishment; however it's only about 25% of the battle. The rest goes something like:

This is why finding the "gaps" to fill is so important. However once you have found your gap you need to develop a powerful image and a unique position which clearly insists why the grass is greener doing business with you instead of one of your 53,000,000 competitors.

This process begins with what may be the most timeless and powerful of all the tools in the marketing arsenal: The USP.

A well developed and clearly defined Unique Selling Proposition has the ability to:

An exceptional USP can do all of this in only two or three sentences, which have been crafted with care and precision that rivals the artistry of the Mona Lisa.

The technical development of a powerful USP is beyond the scope of this short informational; however I will offer the following resources for further exploration:

USP Wiki
USP at Abraham.com

SERPS Appeal: In this section of your SEM plan, you will describe yourself as you would to your ideal customer. List your USP(s)*, your brand, slogans, etc. Now take a look at your top competitors; would you select your listing over theirs? Get outside opinions and gather hard statistics concerning searcher behavior. Are there transparent factors that can be leveraged to improve your click-through? I absolutely guarantee there is. The catch is that all of this must be done while observing the restrictions that are inherent in the search engine results listing: limited text, limited space, direct competitor interference, etc. There is a clever tool called Poodle Predictor that can assist with this process

Part 5 - Strategy

Understanding "How" you will accomplish your goals.

At this point you will clearly map out your search engine marketing strategy. This portion of the search marketing plan should describe in detail all marketing efforts that you plan to implement which seek to capitalize on targeted search engine traffic. For example:

Campaign Objectives: The first order of business is to clearly define your objectives and goals for your search marketing campaign. It is important to take the time to define non-financial goals in addition to financial objectives. For example:

The point is that they must be measurable objectives, for which a clear label of "mission successful" or "mission failure" can be applied at the completion of the campaign or any appropriate phase thereof.

Strategies: Here you will outline your search marketing strategies. Be very specific so that this information can be used as a map to keep you on track if need be at any point in the campaign. Each strategy should include a discussion of why you have chosen these strategies, what you hope to accomplish with each and the intended order of implementation.

For Example (A generic SEO campaign outline):

Optimization of Web Pages:

Develop web pages that are highly optimized and designed to rank well for targeted search phrases across the top 5 U.S. Search engines: Go ogle, Yahoo!, MSN, AOL, Ask. (Discuss your methodologies, etc.)

Improvement of Specified Web Pages:

Application of marketing principles and usability guidelines to improve the user experience and visitor conversion for the optimized web pages. (Discuss specific principles and their intended effect on the campaign.)

Augment Website:

The creation of additional website features that are supportive of the campaign objectives: Site Map, RSS Feed , User functionality, New Features, etc.

Buzz Marketing:

The use of strategic citation building, viral marketing, press releases, manual industry interaction, etc. to generate an initial public interest and search index presence.

Ongoing Support:

The ongoing application of citation and content development systems to facilitate a continued improvement in organic search engine rankings as well as improve brand awareness. Etc. etc.

Tracking and Adjustment:

The monthly tracking of campaign progress using the following metrics: (Detail all performance tracking and metrics that will be employed). Any scheduled enhancements or upgrades for the website should also be detailed.

This of course would not be a sufficient strategy for an actual search marketing plan, it should however provide conceptual support for developing the strategies section of your unique search marketing plan.

Why this process is important:

It’s too easy to focus on each element of the campaign piece by piece as you are implementing each one in turn and thereby potentially becoming distracted from the larger vision of the overall campaign. By writing down your entire plan of attack, you are creating a means to quickly see the bigger picture and make adjustments to your processes as necessary.

Accordingly these need to be reviewed periodically to see if your proposed course of action is still the optimal course of action. Put it in your appointment book; to review this section of your plan once each month for the next 12 months.

Step 6: Forecasting, Timelines and Final Considerations

Determining the "When" of your campaign .

Here you will discuss budgetary issues, describe anticipated performance and explain your method(s) of implementation.

Budget: Begin this section by outlining your proposed budget in great detail. Leave yourself some breathing room, but account for everything. Generally this section would also be used to discuss any budgetary / financial factors that could potentially impact the campaign. Especially those that could necessitate additional investment to ensure campaign success.

Performance: This is a crucial element of the SEM plan, especially if your plan is being used as a corporate proposal. This is where you need to define some clear benchmarks against which your campaign will be held accountable. Good solid research is a non-negotiable requirement for this section as you must now describe confidently and realistically the chronological performance indicators that you have established to measure the progress of the campaign.

For example at GreenBUILT R&D we employ a variety of metrics one of which is Access Probability or AXP. Accordingly we make AXP score projections during the planning phase of every campaign and they look something like this:

Access Probability (AXP) Graph

You could also employ targeted search phrase rankings in your projections, which, along with targeted search engine traffic projections, would allow you to make conversion and revenue projections as well.

Implementation: Method of implementation will be specific to your particular plan and should describe in detail the actual techniques, programs, etc. that will be employed to fulfill the objectives of the plan. Specific emphasis should be on describing the resources and tools that will be used to carry out your strategy. Include alternative means of implementation whenever possible to ensure that the campaign can progress uninterrupted.

Final Considerations

The final section of your search marketing plan should present any mission critical information not already covered and any other important concepts that could be applied towards the success of your campaign. For example: