Search dominates consumers’ everyday life when it comes to information gathering, and it also continues to grow exponentially in marketing.
Search-engine marketing (SEM) is becoming a must for most companies, including those in real estate and multifamily housing, according to Google’s Director of Local and B2B Markets, Sam Sebastian. He offered advice during the AIM Conference in late April for apartment owners—large and small—who are interested in starting or improving their SEM, as well as for those who might feel intimidated by the process.
SEM is a form of Internet marketing that seeks to promote websites by increasing their visibility in search engine result pages through the use of search engine optimization, paid placement, contextual advertising and paid inclusion.
“It’s important to not engage in SEM until you know what a lead, lease and click are worth to you,” Sebastian said. “You can’t just decide to throw a bunch of money at a plan and then quickly give up, thinking, ‘Oh, that didn’t work.’ ”
Once a business understands the algebra of the price points and sets goals and objectives, it can plug in any marketing plan of any size, Sebastian said. Once an SEM plan is in place, Google makes it easy to track the progress, he said. He admitted that the hard work begins when the plan is implemented. Analyzing SEM can be done internally or through a third-party consultant. Sebastian said Google, too, has resources to help businesses get started.
Businesses entering SEM should start small, Sebastian said. “We work with many companies that first go after one market and then try to grow,” he said. “We grow with them, but only at a pace where they are comfortable. Now, some that started so small are some of our best customers.”
Google does $25 billion in revenue per year, but don’t let that sound intimidating, he says. “We have no long-term contracts with anyone. We do business with one- and two-person companies. It’s all on a day-to-day commitment basis. You are not tied to long-term ad buying like you might be in television or print advertising. You can learn the system as you go. When you are comfortable with the system, you can bring the process in-house or add consultants.”
“These days,” Sebastian says, “content is king. Businesses are paying for the searchable ad words, but they are working toward building relevance, too. It’s not just about raising your hands and being able to pay the most for a popular search term.”
In business, the importance of search now overrides the importance of a first impression, Sebastian said. “It used to be that the ‘first moment of truth,’ as they say, was when a company got the consumer to walk through the door. Now, search has moved up the chain. Online research via search results has now become the zero moment of truth. SEM helps connect the dots between businesses and consumers.” —NAA’s Paul Bergeron