Maximize Brand Impact: Integrating Public Relations with SEO

Maximize Brand Impact: Integrating Public Relations with SEO

Maximize Brand Impact: Integrating Public Relations with SEO

5-easy-ways-to-generate-website-traffic

Combining PR and SEO Leads to Better Visibility 

In a digital era where traditional marketing approaches are often overshadowed by digital tactics, public relations (PR) has become an overlooked strategy. Visibility and thought leadership are critical components of the buyer’s journey—areas where PR excels. 

By integrating PR with search engine optimization (SEO), businesses can enhance their visibility across multiple channels, ensuring that their message not only reaches but resonates with the right audience. This article explores how the strategic integration of PR and SEO empowers businesses to better connect with their audience, fostering trust and establishing a commanding digital footprint.

What is Public Relations?

Public Relations (PR) is the strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics. At its core, PR involves managing and disseminating information from an organization to the public to influence their perception and maintain a positive reputation. It encompasses a variety of tactics including media relations, crisis management, event coordination, and content creation, all aimed at shaping the narrative around a brand.

In the digital age, PR extends beyond traditional media outreach. It now integrates digital content, influencer partnerships, and social media strategies, making it a dynamic tool that completes a comprehensive marketing strategy. Effective PR not only informs and engages target audiences but also supports SEO efforts by generating content that earns backlinks, enhances online visibility, and drives website traffic. 

The Importance of SEO for Manufacturers

SEO is crucial for manufacturers aiming to reach the right audience at key decision-making moments. In an industry where procurement cycles are lengthy and highly informed, visibility in search results can significantly influence business outcomes. SEO not only helps manufacturers attract more qualified leads by targeting specific searches related to their products and services but also provides a cost-effective marketing channel with long-term benefits.

Optimizing a website for SEO enhances the user experience by improving site navigation and performance, which can lead to higher customer satisfaction and increased conversions. As a result, a robust SEO strategy not only positions manufacturers competitively in crowded markets but also bolsters their credibility as industry leaders.

The Synergy Between PR and SEO

PR and SEO naturally complement each other. A robust PR strategy can generate high-quality content and media coverage, which are invaluable for SEO. Conversely, SEO techniques can enhance the online visibility of PR content, ensuring it reaches a wider audience. Together, they create a virtuous cycle that enhances brand presence both in the media and on search engines.

Optimizing PR Content for SEO

To maximize the SEO benefits of PR activities, it’s crucial to optimize all PR content. This includes:

Keywords: Incorporate relevant keywords into press releases, articles, and other PR materials to boost their visibility in search queries related to your business.

Content Quality: Ensure that the content is informative, engaging, and provides value to your audience. High-quality content is more likely to be shared and linked to, which enhances its SEO value.

Sharing Across Platforms: Distribute PR content across various channels, including social media, blogs, and news outlets. This not only increases reach but also creates multiple backlink opportunities.

Leveraging PR for Link Building

One of the most significant SEO benefits of PR is link building. High-quality backlinks from reputable news outlets and industry publications can significantly boost a website’s authority and rankings in search results. To leverage PR for link building:

Target High-authority Publications: Focus your PR efforts on media outlets with high domain authority as their endorsements (links) are more valuable.

Press Releases: Use press releases wisely to gain backlinks. Ensure they are newsworthy and include direct links to relevant pages on your website.

Media Relationships: Build and maintain relationships with journalists, bloggers and podcasters who cover your industry. They are likely to provide quality coverage and backlinks.

Boosting Brand Visibility and Searches

Effective PR can lead to increased brand searches, which are a strong signal to search engines of a brand’s credibility and relevance. To capitalize on this:

Brand Mentions: Encourage the media to mention your brand name in their coverage, which can lead to increased organic searches for your brand.

Event Coverage: Participate in or sponsor events and trade shows that attract media attention, increasing the likelihood of mentions and searches.

Reputation Management Through SERPs

PR can significantly influence what appears about a company in search engine results pages. By promoting positive content and diluting negative mentions, companies can improve their online reputation. Techniques include:

Positive Content Promotion: Use SEO to promote positive news and press releases, ensuring they rank high in SERPs.

Crisis Management: Quickly address negative publicity by providing clear, optimized responses and engaging with the community.

Ready to take action? Let’s have a conversation

Measuring Success and ROI

The impact of integrating PR and SEO can be measured through several metrics:

Traffic and Engagement: Track increases in website traffic and engagement from PR sources.

Keyword Rankings: Monitor improvements in rankings for key terms associated with PR campaigns.

Backlink Quality: Evaluate the quality and quantity of backlinks generated from PR efforts.

The Power of Storytelling in Manufacturing

Storytelling is a fundamental human experience, and its role in marketing is transformative, especially for manufacturers. In a sector often dominated by specs and data, storytelling can breathe life into your brand, making complex products relatable and engaging to your target audience. 

This emotional engagement not only makes your brand more memorable but also strengthens customer loyalty by making your products feel more relevant and essential. In addition to enhancing brand relatability, storytelling simplifies complex manufacturing processes, making them understandable and interesting to a broader audience.

The strategic use of storytelling has been shown to significantly impact business outcomes. Effective narrative techniques in marketing can increase conversions by as much as 30%, demonstrating the direct benefits of integrating storytelling into your marketing efforts.

Integrating Storytelling, PR, and SEO into Your Manufacturing Marketing Strategy

For manufacturers looking to enhance their market presence and connect more deeply with their audience, integrating storytelling, public relations, and search engine optimization into a cohesive marketing strategy is essential. Here are some concrete steps to get started:

  1. Audit Your Current Content and Strategies

Begin by assessing your existing marketing materials and strategies. Identify areas where PR and SEO can be enhanced through storytelling. Look for content that could be better optimized for search engines or updated to include more engaging narratives.

  1. Define Clear Objectives

Set specific, measurable goals for what you want to achieve through your integrated marketing efforts. Whether it’s increasing brand awareness, boosting web traffic, or generating more leads, having clear objectives will help guide your strategies and measure your success.

  1. Develop a Story-Driven Content Plan

Create a content calendar that outlines what stories you will tell, through which formats, and on what platforms. This plan should include a variety of content types such as blog posts, press releases, customer stories, video testimonials, and behind-the-scenes features that highlight your manufacturing processes.

  1. Optimize Content for SEO

Ensure that all your content is optimized for search engines. This includes using relevant keywords naturally throughout your content, optimizing meta tags and descriptions, and structuring content for readability. Also, ensure your stories are easy to share across social media platforms, increasing their reach and backlink potential.

  1. Leverage PR to Amplify Your Stories

Use public relations to get your stories out into the wider world. This could involve pitching articles to industry magazines, arranging interviews with thought leaders in your company, or issuing press releases that highlight innovative aspects of your business or recent successes.

  1. Engage and Train Your Team

Make sure that your marketing and sales teams understand the importance of storytelling and SEO and are trained in how to implement these strategies effectively. This might include training sessions on SEO best practices or workshops on how to tell compelling stories. If you lack have the bandwidth to do this in-house, consider partnering with an experienced agency. 

  1. Monitor, Measure, and Adapt

Continuously monitor the performance of your marketing efforts and measure them against the objectives you have set. Use tools like Google Analytics to track website traffic, engagement metrics, and conversion rates. Be prepared to adapt your strategy based on what is or isn’t working.

  1. Solicit Feedback and Foster Collaboration

Encourage feedback from your audience and collaborate with other departments in your company to ensure that your marketing efforts are cohesive and aligned with overall business goals. This collaboration can lead to richer stories and more effective marketing strategies.

Your Next Steps

Integrating PR with SEO provides a strategic advantage, ensuring that a brand’s story reaches not only a broad audience but the right audience. By aligning PR initiatives with SEO best practices, businesses can enhance their digital footprint, build lasting relationships with their audience, and improve their overall online reputation. It’s a holistic approach that turns good coverage into lasting search engine visibility and brand recognition.

We hope the tips above are helpful in improving your digital campaigns. Have more questions about partnering with an agency? Reach out to us directly.

Liz-headshot

Meet the Author

Liz Hersh is the founder of Hersh PR and Marketing, a digital marketing agency. Together with a team of marketing professionals she helps clients generate leads and increase revenue. 

Read 
More Articles.

Read 
More Articles.

Maximize Brand Impact: Integrating Public Relations with SEO

Maximize Brand Impact: Integrating Public Relations with SEO

Marketing as a small business presents several challenges. Between budgetary constraints and a lack of clarity about the right ways to market a business, it’s no wonder that marketing is often a small businesses least favorite business function. But it’s probably the most important. It’s crucial to maintain an ongoing marketing and lead generation strategy to yield beneficial outcomes for your brand.

read more
Developing an Effective Manufacturing Search Marketing Plan

Developing an Effective Manufacturing Search Marketing Plan

Marketing as a small business presents several challenges. Between budgetary constraints and a lack of clarity about the right ways to market a business, it’s no wonder that marketing is often a small businesses least favorite business function. But it’s probably the most important. It’s crucial to maintain an ongoing marketing and lead generation strategy to yield beneficial outcomes for your brand.

read more
Search Marketing Essentials for Manufacturers

Search Marketing Essentials for Manufacturers

Marketing as a small business presents several challenges. Between budgetary constraints and a lack of clarity about the right ways to market a business, it’s no wonder that marketing is often a small businesses least favorite business function. But it’s probably the most important. It’s crucial to maintain an ongoing marketing and lead generation strategy to yield beneficial outcomes for your brand.

read more

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Developing an Effective Manufacturing Search Marketing Plan

Developing an Effective Manufacturing Search Marketing Plan

Developing an Effective Manufacturing Search Marketing Plan

5-easy-ways-to-generate-website-traffic

A Strategic Approach to Search Marketing 

In the competitive world of manufacturing, having a solid search marketing plan is not just about gaining visibility—it’s about establishing your brand as a key player in a crowded marketplace. A strategic approach to search marketing combines the power of Google Ads, Bing Ads, and SEO to create a comprehensive digital presence that targets the right buyers with precision. This strategy ensures manufacturers don’t just compete but lead in their market segments by engaging effectively with potential clients right from their first online search.

The Basics of Search Marketing

Search marketing is a comprehensive approach that involves various tactics to increase a website’s visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs). It can be broadly divided into two main categories:

Search Engine Optimization (SEO): This is the process of optimizing your website to rank higher in the organic search results. It involves optimizing site structure, improving content relevance, and building authority through quality backlinks. SEO is a long-term strategy that helps build sustainable online visibility.

Search Engine Marketing (SEM): Often synonymous with pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, SEM involves creating and placing ads in prominent positions on search results pages and other relevant sites. Google Ads and Bing Ads are the most popular platforms for this type of marketing. SEM provides immediate visibility and is highly effective at driving targeted traffic quickly, though it requires ongoing investment.

Why Search Marketing Matters for Manufacturers

For manufacturers, search marketing is not just about digital presence but about connecting with the right audience at the right time in their buying journey. Here’s why it is critical:

Reach Target Buyers: Most B2B buyers start their procurement process with an online search. Search marketing ensures that your products and solutions are visible when and where these buyers are looking.

Competitive Advantage: In a sector as vast as manufacturing, being at the forefront of search results can significantly impact your ability to compete and capture market share from competitors.

Measurable ROI: Both SEO and SEM offer analytics that provide insights into the effectiveness of your marketing efforts. This data-driven approach allows manufacturers to understand what strategies are working, where to make improvements, and how to allocate budgets for maximum return on investment.

Adapt to Buyer Behaviors: The digital landscape is constantly evolving with new technologies and changing buyer behaviors. Search marketing allows manufacturers to stay adaptable, responding quickly to market changes and optimizing strategies to meet the latest trends and buyer needs.

Developing Your Search Marketing Plan

Crafting a search marketing plan involves careful strategic planning, which sets the foundation for effective execution. By breaking down the planning process into manageable steps, manufacturers can ensure that each step is thoughtfully considered and tailored to meet both immediate and long-term goals. Here’s how to approach this work:

Step 1: Define Clear Objectives and KPIs

  • Objective Setting: Begin by identifying what you aim to achieve through your search marketing efforts. Objectives might include increasing brand awareness, boosting specific product sales, improving lead quality, or expanding into new markets. Ensure these objectives are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART).
  • KPI Identification: Establish key performance indicators that align with your objectives. These could include metrics like website traffic, lead conversion rates, cost per lead, search rankings, and overall ROI. Choosing the right KPIs will guide your strategy and provide clear benchmarks for success.

Step 2: Audience Analysis and Buyer Persona Development

  • Market Research: Conduct thorough research to understand your target market’s needs, preferences, and behavior patterns. This includes identifying the decision-makers you need to reach and understanding the factors that influence their purchasing decisions.
  • Buyer Personas: Create detailed buyer personas based on your research. These personas should include demographic information, job roles, pain points, and typical online behavior. These personas will guide your keyword selection, content creation, and campaign targeting.

Step 3: Comprehensive Keyword Research

  • Keyword Identification: Utilize tools like Google Keyword Planner, Ahrefs, or SEMrush to identify a broad list of potential keywords that align with your buyer personas’ search habits and your business objectives.
  • Keyword Prioritization: Analyze the keywords for search volume, competition, and relevance to prioritize them. Focus on keywords that are most likely to attract qualified traffic and lead to conversions.

Step 4: Budget Planning and Resource Allocation

  • Budget Allocation: Determine how much of your marketing budget will be allocated to search marketing. Consider the balance between SEO and SEM based on your short-term and long-term goals.
  • Resource Allocation: Decide how internal and external resources will be used. This may involve assigning tasks to team members or identifying external agencies or consultants. Consider the tools and technologies that will support your search marketing efforts, such as analytics and campaign management software.

By methodically planning each of these phases, manufacturers can create a solid foundation for their search marketing strategy. This structured approach ensures that every aspect of the campaign is aligned with the business goals and the needs of the target audience, setting the stage for successful execution.

Ready to take action? Let’s have a conversation

Executing Your Search Marketing Plan: Action Steps

After meticulously planning your search marketing strategy, the next critical step is execution. This phase transforms your strategic vision into tangible results. Here’s how to effectively put your search marketing plan into action:

Phase 1: Campaign Setup and Launch

  • Technical Setup: Ensure that all technical aspects of your SEO and SEM campaigns are properly configured. This includes setting up tracking codes for analytics, creating ad accounts on platforms like Google Ads and Bing Ads, and ensuring your website’s SEO foundations are solid (e.g., site speed optimization, mobile optimization).
  • Content and Ad Creation: Develop the content for your SEO efforts and create compelling ad copy for your SEM campaigns. Make sure all content is aligned with the buyer personas and keywords identified during the planning phase.
  • Initial Campaign Launch: Start by launching smaller, test campaigns to refine your approach based on initial results. This allows you to adjust your keywords, ad copy, and targeting strategies before fully scaling your efforts.

Phase 2: Monitoring and Managing Campaigns

  • Performance Tracking: Regularly monitor the performance of all campaigns using the KPIs established in the planning phase. Utilize tools like Google Analytics and SEM platform dashboards to track progress and identify any areas for improvement.
  • Adjustments and Optimization: Based on the data collected, continually optimize your campaigns. This could involve refining keywords, tweaking ad copy, adjusting bids in SEM campaigns, or updating content and meta tags for SEO.
  • Budget Management: Keep a close eye on budget spending to ensure you’re maximizing ROI. Adjust spending between SEO and SEM based on which strategies are delivering the best results.

Phase 3: Scaling and Refining

  • Scale Successful Tactics: Once you’ve identified the most effective strategies and seen consistent results, begin to scale these efforts. This might mean increasing the budget for successful ads or expanding the SEO strategies that are generating the best engagement and conversions.
  • Refinement: As the market and your business goals evolve, continuously refine your approach. Stay updated on the latest search marketing trends and best practices, and be prepared to pivot your strategies to maintain competitive advantage.
  • Feedback Loop: Establish a feedback loop where insights and learnings from current campaigns inform future planning and execution. This helps to ensure that your search marketing efforts remain relevant and effective over time.

Phase 4: Reporting and Analysis

  • Regular Reporting: Develop regular reporting routines to keep stakeholders informed about the performance of search marketing activities. These reports should highlight successes, challenges, and areas for improvement.
  • Comprehensive Analysis: Perform a comprehensive analysis periodically to evaluate the overall impact of the search marketing plan on your business goals. Use these insights to guide future strategic decisions and resource allocation.

By following these steps, manufacturers can effectively implement their search marketing plan, ensuring that each element works cohesively to drive measurable results. This active management and continuous optimization of the plan are key to maintaining relevance and maximizing the impact of your digital marketing efforts.

Your Next Steps

This article has explored the critical components of creating and executing a search marketing plan specifically tailored for manufacturers. By systematically implementing these steps, manufacturers can enhance their online presence, engage more effectively with potential clients, and achieve sustained business growth in a competitive digital landscape.

We hope the tips above are helpful in improving your digital campaigns. Have more questions about partnering with an agency? Reach out to us directly.

Liz-headshot

Meet the Author

Liz Hersh is the founder of Hersh PR and Marketing, a digital marketing agency. Together with a team of marketing professionals she helps clients generate leads and increase revenue. 

Read 
More Articles.

Read 
More Articles.

Maximize Brand Impact: Integrating Public Relations with SEO

Maximize Brand Impact: Integrating Public Relations with SEO

Marketing as a small business presents several challenges. Between budgetary constraints and a lack of clarity about the right ways to market a business, it’s no wonder that marketing is often a small businesses least favorite business function. But it’s probably the most important. It’s crucial to maintain an ongoing marketing and lead generation strategy to yield beneficial outcomes for your brand.

read more
Developing an Effective Manufacturing Search Marketing Plan

Developing an Effective Manufacturing Search Marketing Plan

Marketing as a small business presents several challenges. Between budgetary constraints and a lack of clarity about the right ways to market a business, it’s no wonder that marketing is often a small businesses least favorite business function. But it’s probably the most important. It’s crucial to maintain an ongoing marketing and lead generation strategy to yield beneficial outcomes for your brand.

read more
Search Marketing Essentials for Manufacturers

Search Marketing Essentials for Manufacturers

Marketing as a small business presents several challenges. Between budgetary constraints and a lack of clarity about the right ways to market a business, it’s no wonder that marketing is often a small businesses least favorite business function. But it’s probably the most important. It’s crucial to maintain an ongoing marketing and lead generation strategy to yield beneficial outcomes for your brand.

read more

Subscribe to Get The Latest Insights.

What makes marketing so challenging?

Trying to keep-up with the tools, technology and the limited attention span of your target market are all challenging. Get our tips on how to grow leads and revenue, delivered directly to your inbox.

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Search Marketing Essentials for Manufacturers

Search Marketing Essentials for Manufacturers

Search Marketing Essentials for Manufacturers

5-easy-ways-to-generate-website-traffic

Discover How to Improve Online Visibility 

In today’s digital age, B2B buyers frequently start their product sourcing with an online search. For manufacturers, securing online visibility is not just beneficial; it’s essential to stay competitive. This article explores key strategies in search marketing – specifically Google Ads, Bing Ads, and organic search engine optimization – detailing how these components can be integrated to create a robust digital presence.

When these strategies are used together, they not only increase your visibility but ensure that you are targeting precisely the audience you want with content that meets their specific needs and interests. Executed well, this targeted approach can significantly boost your results, transforming interest into sales.

Fundamentals of Search Marketing

Search marketing enhances your website’s visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs). It’s a vital component of digital marketing that boosts business visibility online. Broadly, search marketing encompasses Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM), which includes platforms like Google Ads and Bing Ads.

Google Ads and Bing Ads are platforms that allow manufacturers to place advertisements directly in search engine results, capturing the attention of potential customers at the moment they demonstrate interest by making a relevant search. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) complements this by enhancing the organic search rankings of your website, making it more likely to be found by the right audience without direct advertising costs.

Why Search Marketing Matters for Manufacturers

In the manufacturing sector, where decisions are often data-driven and strategic, the importance of search marketing cannot be understated. Here are key reasons why it’s crucial for manufacturers to invest in effective search marketing strategies:

Enhanced Visibility and Reach: Position your business prominently in search results when potential buyers are looking for your products, setting you apart from competitors.

Precision Targeting: Utilize paid search ads to reach specific demographics and regions, significantly increasing the likelihood of attracting customers ready to purchase.

Cost Efficiency: Control costs effectively by setting ad budgets and paying only for clicks, paired with the ability to track and measure ROI, making it possible to refine strategies for better outcomes.

Credibility and Authority: High search rankings and quality content elevate your brand’s credibility and establish your business as an industry leader, fostering trust with potential clients.

Sustainable Growth: SEO builds a long-term online presence that contributes to sustained business growth.

Investing in search marketing not only matches pace with industry competitors but strategically advances your manufacturing business, ensuring visibility, credibility, and targeted customer engagement.

Google Ads vs. Bing Ads

Google Ads and Bing Ads serve as the frontrunners in search advertising. While Google holds a larger market share, Bing Ads—now Microsoft Advertising—offers competitive advantages like lower cost-per-click and less competition, making it an attractive, cost-effective alternative.

When it comes to search advertising, Google Ads and Bing Ads are two of the most significant platforms. Each has unique benefits for manufacturers:

Google Ads:

  • Extensive Reach: Google is the most used search engine globally, offering unparalleled visibility and reach.
  • Advanced Targeting Options: Provides robust targeting options including location, language, device, and even time of day, allowing for highly specific campaigns.
  • Variety of Ad Formats: From text to image and video ads, Google provides diverse formats to engage potential customers.

Bing Ads (Microsoft Advertising):

  • Cost Efficiency: Generally lower cost-per-click due to less competition, providing a cost-effective alternative for the same keywords.
  • Extended Network: Bing Ads also appear on Yahoo and AOL, expanding the potential audience beyond just Bing users.
  • Unique Audience: Tends to attract an older demographic that can have a higher spending power, beneficial for certain B2B manufacturing niches.

Both platforms can be integral to a manufacturer’s digital marketing strategy, with Google offering a broader reach and Bing providing a cost-effective supplement with access to a different demographic.

Ready to take action? Let’s have a conversation

Google Ads for Manufacturers

Google Ads is particularly powerful for manufacturers due to its extensive reach and detailed targeting capabilities. Here’s how manufacturers can optimize their use of Google Ads:

Keyword Selection: Focus on selecting keywords that are not only relevant but are likely to be used by decision-makers in the manufacturing industry. Use terms that reflect commercial intent and specific product names or categories.

Ad Copy: Write concise, compelling ad copy that addresses the unique needs and pain points of your target audience. Highlight unique selling propositions and certifications that set your manufacturing capabilities apart.

Landing Pages: Design landing pages that are directly relevant to your ad groups. Ensure they provide the necessary information needed to move a prospect through the sales funnel, such as detailed product specifications, case studies, or a contact form for further inquiries.

Budget and Bidding: Allocate budgets based on the competitiveness of keywords and the typical sales cycle length in your sector. Consider using automated bidding strategies like CPA (cost-per-acquisition) or ROAS (return on ad spend) to optimize your bids based on conversion data.

Ad Extensions: Utilize ad extensions to provide additional information and increase your ad’s real estate on the search page. Extensions can include callouts, site links, structured snippets, and call extensions, all of which can improve the performance of your ads.

Measuring Success: Regularly track and analyze the performance of your campaigns. Focus on metrics like click-through rate (CTR), conversion rate, cost per lead, and ROI. Use this data to refine your campaigns and focus on what works best.

By leveraging Google Ads effectively, manufacturers can significantly enhance their visibility among potential clients who are actively searching for their specific products and services, driving both awareness and conversions.

Microsoft Ads: An Untapped Resource

While Google dominates, Microsoft Advertising (formerly Bing Ads) provides a unique platform with distinct advantages. With a smaller user base, it often offers less competition and lower costs.

Maximizing Microsoft Ads

  • Audience Targeting: Utilize Microsoft’s demographic targeting to reach specific groups.
  • Ad Extensions: Enhance your ads with extensions like callouts and site links to provide additional information.
  • Cross-Platform Opportunities: Take advantage of Microsoft’s integration with other products, including LinkedIn, for enhanced targeting and reach.

Organic SEO Strategies for Manufacturers

For manufacturers aiming to build a sustainable online presence, organic SEO is a crucial strategy. It not only enhances visibility without the continual expense of paid ads but also establishes your credibility in a crowded market. Here’s how you can effectively leverage SEO to drive more traffic, generate leads, and ultimately increase sales.

Website Optimization:

  • Speed and Accessibility: Ensure your website loads quickly and is accessible across all devices, especially mobiles, as search engines favor responsive and fast-loading sites.
  • User Experience: Focus on creating a seamless navigation experience that helps users find information easily. This includes well-organized content, a simple menu structure, and clear calls to action.
  • Technical SEO: Regularly check and update your site’s technical elements, such as structured data, sitemaps, and indexing, to help search engines better understand and rank your content.

Content Marketing:

  • Targeted Content Creation: Develop content that addresses the specific needs and questions of your target audience. This could include detailed product guides, industry insights, and application cases.
  • Keyword Optimization: Incorporate relevant keywords that potential customers are likely to use when searching for your products or services, ensuring these terms are naturally integrated into high-quality articles and posts.
  • Authority Building: Position your brand as a thought leader by providing valuable and educational content that goes beyond just selling a product—focus on solving industry-specific problems.

Local SEO:

  • Google My Business: Claim your Google My Business listing and regularly opitimize your profile with accurate information, photos, and offers to improve local search visibility.
  • Local Listings: Ensure your manufacturing business is listed in relevant local and industry-specific directories. Consistency in your business’s name, address, and phone number across these directories is crucial.
  • Community Engagement: Engage with local community events and sponsorships, which can boost local relevance and visibility.

Link Building:

  • Quality over Quantity: Focus on acquiring backlinks from reputable sites within the manufacturing industry. These links can significantly boost your site’s authority and search ranking.
  • Guest Posts and Collaborations: Contribute articles or participate in interviews on reputable industry blogs or news sites. This not only provides you with authoritative backlinks but also enhances your brand’s visibility and credibility.
  • Supplier and Distributor Relationships: Leverage relationships with suppliers and distributors to gain backlinks from their websites, if possible, especially those with high domain authority.

By implementing these detailed SEO strategies, manufacturers can significantly improve their organic search rankings. This not only drives more traffic but also enhances user engagement and conversion rates, providing a solid foundation for long-term digital marketing success.

Developing an Effective Search Marketing Plan

A successful search marketing strategy is not just about implementing SEO and paid ads—it requires a thorough plan that aligns with your business goals and understands your target audience. Here’s a streamlined approach to crafting a search marketing plan that maximizes your impact.

Set Clear Objectives:

  • Align with Business Goals: Clearly define your search marketing goals, ensuring they are specific, measurable, and tied directly to your business’s broader objectives.
  • Identify KPIs: Choose key performance indicators that will help you track the effectiveness of your campaigns, such as traffic volumes, conversion rates, and ROI.

Understand Your Audience:

  • Develop Buyer Personas: Create detailed profiles for your ideal customers, including their demographics, needs, and search behaviors.
  • Map Customer Journeys: Outline the typical steps your customers take from initial awareness to making a purchase, tailoring your marketing strategies to each phase.

Keyword Research:

  • Identify Relevant Keywords: Use tools to discover keywords your audience searches for, focusing on both competitive and niche terms.
  • Analyze Competitors: Study your competitors’ keyword strategies to identify gaps and opportunities for differentiation.

Allocate Budget Wisely:

  • Balance Spending: Distribute your budget between SEO and paid advertising based on expected outcomes and historical data.
  • Manage Costs: Monitor spending closely, adjusting based on the performance of different channels and using strategic bidding to maximize efficiency.

Integrate Strategies:

  • Coordinate Across Channels: Ensure that your SEO and SEM efforts are complementary, using insights from one to enhance the other.
  • Maintain Consistent Messaging: Keep your brand message unified across all platforms to strengthen your brand presence.

Continuous Optimization:

  • Review Regularly: Regularly evaluate your strategies against KPIs using analytics tools, making data-driven adjustments.
  • Test and Adapt: Continuously test different campaign elements and refine based on performance insights.

An effective search marketing plan is dynamic, adapting to new data and market conditions. By continuously optimizing your strategies, you can ensure they remain effective and aligned with your manufacturing business’s goals.

Your Next Steps

For manufacturers, establishing and maintaining online visibility is no longer just an option—it’s essential for staying competitive in a digital-first marketplace. 

This article has outlined a comprehensive approach to search marketing, covering the strategic use of Google Ads, Bing Ads, and robust SEO practices. By effectively integrating these tools, manufacturers can not only increase their visibility but also target their marketing efforts more precisely to reach the right audience at the right time. 

We hope the tips above are helpful in improving your digital campaigns. Have more questions about partnering with an agency? Reach out to us directly.

Liz-headshot

Meet the Author

Liz Hersh is the founder of Hersh PR and Marketing, a digital marketing agency. Together with a team of marketing professionals she helps clients generate leads and increase revenue. 

Read  More Articles.

Read  More Articles.

Maximize Brand Impact: Integrating Public Relations with SEO

Maximize Brand Impact: Integrating Public Relations with SEO

Marketing as a small business presents several challenges. Between budgetary constraints and a lack of clarity about the right ways to market a business, it’s no wonder that marketing is often a small businesses least favorite business function. But it’s probably the most important. It’s crucial to maintain an ongoing marketing and lead generation strategy to yield beneficial outcomes for your brand.

read more
Developing an Effective Manufacturing Search Marketing Plan

Developing an Effective Manufacturing Search Marketing Plan

Marketing as a small business presents several challenges. Between budgetary constraints and a lack of clarity about the right ways to market a business, it’s no wonder that marketing is often a small businesses least favorite business function. But it’s probably the most important. It’s crucial to maintain an ongoing marketing and lead generation strategy to yield beneficial outcomes for your brand.

read more
Search Marketing Essentials for Manufacturers

Search Marketing Essentials for Manufacturers

Marketing as a small business presents several challenges. Between budgetary constraints and a lack of clarity about the right ways to market a business, it’s no wonder that marketing is often a small businesses least favorite business function. But it’s probably the most important. It’s crucial to maintain an ongoing marketing and lead generation strategy to yield beneficial outcomes for your brand.

read more

Subscribe to Get The Latest Insights.

What makes marketing so challenging?

Trying to keep-up with the tools, technology and the limited attention span of your target market are all challenging. Get our tips on how to grow leads and revenue, delivered directly to your inbox.

Join The List

Request a Demo.

Are you ready to take action? Let's see how we can reach your
goals with a 20-minute introductory call.

Writing High-Impact B2B Case Studies

Writing High-Impact B2B Case Studies

Writing High-Impact B2B Case Studies

5-easy-ways-to-generate-website-traffic

Strong Case Studies Help B2B Clients With Decision Making 

Case studies are an engaging way to tell your potential customers how you can help them resolve their problems. It can be engaging end-of-funnel content if appropriately executed. They allow the readers to put themselves into the shoes of your successful customers and how they can achieve their goals.

It is a crucial element in the decision-making process for B2B companies. So, if your business caters to the needs of B2B companies, the case studies will allow them to learn how you can resolve the particular issues they are facing. Consequently, it will lead to a higher conversion rate as you can have more prospects for your business. 

The Importance of Case Studies in the Decision-Making Process

The primary objective of using case studies is to present social proof to prospects with the idea of whether they are taking the right decisions. It is an effective marketing tool that can persuade the B2B decision-maker that choosing your business can help resolve their issues.

As a result, it would give confidence to customers that you have delivered the same results in the past. You can add the quantitative and qualitative outcomes to depict your efforts.

Since B2B decision makers have shorter attention spans and little margin for mistakes, they want to ensure that the service they choose is right for them. Therefore, they want to look at the case studies to ensure that they are about to partner with the right vendor. 

What Makes a Good Case Study

You’ll only harness the potential of case studies and reap benefits through them if you write them correctly. Writing case studies requires you to follow a proper strategic plan. Here are the critical elements to keep in mind for writing a good case study.

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Follow the SOAR Approach

The ideal way to write a good and practical case study is by following the SOAR approach. It stands for the following:

Situation – The issue or circumstance that your client was facing

Opportunity – What were the chances available that you could leverage for your client

Action Taken – The plan, strategies, and actions you took to help your client with their situation

Results – The outcome of your overall efforts

 This will help you present a clear idea to your prospects of how you helped a client facing a peculiar issue. It will help them gain confidence in your services and persuade their decision-making process in your favor.

The Length

As mentioned earlier, B2B decision-makers have shorter periods. So, they might want to avoid reading through an extended case study. It is best to cover your point concisely, but you can go for long case studies depending on the audience.

Visuals

You can choose a stock photo to make the case study more engaging and compelling. Ideally, you should try to add visuals that give weight to your case study. For instance, you can add graphs or tables to show the client’s growth.

Customer Testimonials

Although adding a customer’s quote or testimonial isn’t necessary, it can give an excellent touch to your case study. They are a powerful tool to show first-hand how your product helped the users. Nevertheless, you can add or remove it according to your target audience’s preference.

Writing Case Studies for Your Business

Most business owners and entrepreneurs believe that writing case studies by themselves will help add more depth to them. However, not everyone has a flair for writing to deliver the message in the right tone and professional manner.

So, although you might have a better idea about the case, you wouldn’t be able to piece it correctly, which could lead to practical results. That is why hiring a professional writer with experience crafting such documents is vital for your business.

A professional can help tell your story in the proper context to persuade B2B decision-makers to choose your services. You can partner with a reliable agency for your case study to tell about how the company has helped customers previously and can do the same for the reader.

Most importantly, experienced writers know how imperative case studies are for your marketing strategy. Therefore, they would carefully choose their words to persuade the B2B decision-makers with a compelling CTA (Call-to-action).

Your Next Steps

Writing case studies requires you to follow an extensive plan for your business. You must use the SOAR approach to tell B2B decision markets about your client’s success. Also, ensure you vary the length according to your target audience and use visuals effectively.

While it might sound like an easy task, you must pay special attention to all the aspects of the case study. So, it is best to choose a professional writer that can help you persuade your target audience.

We hope the tips above are helpful in improving your campaigns. Have more questions about partnering with an agency? Reach out to us directly.

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Meet the Author

Liz Hersh is the founder of Hersh PR and Marketing, a digital marketing agency. Together with a team of marketing professionals she helps clients generate leads and increase revenue. 

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Marketing as a small business presents several challenges. Between budgetary constraints and a lack of clarity about the right ways to market a business, it’s no wonder that marketing is often a small businesses least favorite business function. But it’s probably the most important. It’s crucial to maintain an ongoing marketing and lead generation strategy to yield beneficial outcomes for your brand.

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7 Common Marketing Challenges + How to Solve Them

7 Common Marketing Challenges + How to Solve Them

7 Common Marketing Challenges + How to Solve Them

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Don’t Let These Challenges Interfere with Growing Your Company

Marketing as a small business presents several challenges. Between budgetary constraints and a lack of clarity about the right ways to market a business, it’s no wonder that marketing is often a small businesses least favorite business function.

But it’s probably the most important. It’s crucial to maintain an ongoing marketing and lead generation strategy to yield beneficial outcomes for your brand. One of the keys to successfully marketing a company is consistency along with a clearly defined strategy.

Marketing is often bumped in priority when client or personnel issues arise. Over the years, we’ve witnessed a handful of challenges again and again. These challenges are common in organizations of all sizes and in different stages of the business lifecycle. By building and an awareness and understanding of these issues, you’ll be better equipped to solve these challenges when they arise.

Biggest Marketing Challenges

The challenges listed below are the most frequently encountered by small businesses, no matter the industry or offering.

Budget

Many small businesses feel the size of their budgets will restrict their marketing efforts. So why try? Big brands usually have larger budgets with more online marketing resources, making smaller companies feel like their efforts will get lost in the shuffle. Despite being a common misconception, budget size doesn’t equate to the outcome of marketing efforts. Larger budgets bring more marketing opportunities to explore, however, the execution is far more important than the budget.

Small businesses may lack the budget, but a solid marketing strategy and execution will still yield excellent results. There is plenty of room on the internet for small businesses and large corporations to co-exist and succeed no matter their budgets.   

Lack of Systems and Processes

No matter the size of the business, finding new ways to organize and streamline operations is key to successful marketing. Marketing in the digital world requires managing multiple channels where you can interact with audiences. It’s easy to get overwhelmed. Developing specific systems and processes will save precious time and ensure brand continuity along the way.

Do you have an onboarding process for new clients or new employees? Utilizing a similar approach to your marketing will ensure you have clear documentation and the foundation for scaling your marketing over time.

Ready to take action? Let’s have a conversation

Content for Sales Teams

Is your sales team fully leveraging the content you produce? Many organizations create valuable content for their audiences but fail to use it in the best manner possible. Sales teams can use content as part of the lead nurturing process to help inform prospects about the business. Not many small businesses think about repurposing their content for this purpose, but it is a great way to boost ROI on content creation.

Every great organization requires effective communication to be successful. For sales reps to start utilizing the appropriate content during their pitches, the marketing department should educate them to ensure they are aware of what’s available. Organizing content according to type, audience, and objectives will help sales teams find what they need to bolster their sales

Technology

We are surrounded by endless options for software and hardware to support our companies. There is quite literally an application or technological solution for every aspect of digital marketing. The sheer number of options can lead to paralysis by analysis. And after choosing a specific solution, integrating the technology takes time and expertise to ensure it is implemented properly.

This challenge (and the next three) requires you to either commit to building in-house expertise, or to finding a trustworthy partner who can supplement your team. If these tasks aren’t in your wheelhouse, you should strongly consider partnering with an agency who can build and execute a successful strategy. Having experts in your corner will support online visibility and will naturally assist with lead acquisition.

Ongoing Education

Trying to keep up with the latest trends in marketing is a full-time job. The internet moves quickly, and marketing is constantly evolving. Just as small businesses catch up, the industry evolves again. Remaining on top of the best marketing techniques requires ongoing education that many small businesses simply can’t handle.

Lack of Time

Is there ever enough time in the day? Most organizations are stretched thin on time and resources, which leaves little time to invest in marketing and to further grow the business. If you consistently push-off your marketing, then you should consider an agency partner that can do the time-intensive work on your behalf.  

Lack of Consistency

Every marketer will tell you consistency is the key to success. Unfortunately, consistency is also one of the problematic elements of marketing for small businesses. Small businesses often are forced to sideline marketing for other priorities.

Your Next Steps

Small businesses are constantly facing new challenges when trying to market their products and services. The lack of expertise can result in many missed opportunities for growth. To keep up with the ongoing marketing trends, small businesses can significantly benefit by partnering with an agency with the right resources and expertise. 

For additional insight, check out our articles about what to look for in an outsourced marketing team and what to look for in an SEO agency.

We hope the tips above are helpful in improving your campaigns. Have more questions about partnering with an agency? Reach out to us directly.

Liz-headshot

Meet the Author

Liz Hersh is the founder of Hersh PR and Marketing, a digital marketing agency. Together with a team of marketing professionals she helps clients generate leads and increase revenue. 

Read 
More Articles.

Read 
More Articles.

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Search Marketing Essentials for Manufacturers

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Marketing as a small business presents several challenges. Between budgetary constraints and a lack of clarity about the right ways to market a business, it’s no wonder that marketing is often a small businesses least favorite business function. But it’s probably the most important. It’s crucial to maintain an ongoing marketing and lead generation strategy to yield beneficial outcomes for your brand.

read more

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7 Things to Look for in an Outsourced Marketing Team

7 Things to Look for in an Outsourced Marketing Team

7 Things to Look for in an Outsourced Marketing Team

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An Outsourced Marketing Team can be a Smart Investment

Outsourcing your marketing is one of the best decisions you can make for your small business. Traditional in-house marketing teams are a great solution for larger organizations that have the resources available to employ experts in the 10+ roles that it takes to run an effective department. Unfortunately, small businesses face a shortage of time and staffing that often places marketing on the back burner.

An outsourced marketing team delivers many benefits.

Save Time: The most restrictive resource every business has is time. There’s never enough time in a day to handle all your business’s needs and still effectively market your services. With an outsourced team, you can focus on the best and highest use of your time as the business owner.

Reduce Costs: To make money, you have to spend, but how much you should spend is the real question. Marketing can become a costly endeavor depending on your industry and strategy, and the cost of hiring employees only adds to the monthly and annual expenditures. Outsourced teams typically cost half the amount of an in-house marketing team and can often produce better results.

Growth Management: Your marketing team needs to be able to drive and manage sustainable growth for your business. Outsourced marketing teams have more resources to dedicate to your marketing growth since in-house teams are limited to the resources provided.

Outside Perspective: It’s easy for business owners and in-house marketing teams to get stuck in a certain way of thinking and doing things. Working with an external team gives you a fresh perspective on your company, product offerings and branding. This will help create more robust marketing initiatives along with an ability to see aspects of your marketing that can be improved.

Ready to take action? Let’s have a conversation

What to Look for When Hiring a Marketing Agency

Anyone who begins looking for an outsourced marketing team will quickly become overwhelmed with the thousands of agencies available. Finding the right team for your business is challenging, but knowing what to look for will help you quickly narrow down the top choices. Here are some helpful indicators to look for when you’re ready to find the right outsourced marketing agency.

No. 1 – Reviews, Testimonials, and Case Studies

One of the quickest ways to determine how well an agency will fulfill expectations is through reviews, testimonials, and case studies. These types of feedback and proof will give you a good idea of what a prospective agency can do for your business.

There’s no better way to know if an agency will follow through on its word than by reading and hearing about the experiences of current and former clients. Understanding what an agency has done for businesses similar to yours will help narrow your search. 

No. 2 – Staff Expertise

When looking for the right agency for your business, it’s important to understand who will be directly involved with working on your account. You want to know that the staff members who will be in charge of your company’s marketing campaigns have the experience, professionalism and skills to ensure that your business is taken care of effectively.

Many agencies make big promises but don’t actually have staff with the right expertise to follow through on those promises. Vetting an agency’s team will give you additional insight to determine if they are going to be the right fit for your business or not.

No. 3 – Specialties and Focus

Just as there are different types of marketing campaigns, there are also different types of marketing agencies that specialize in working with certain types of businesses or marketing campaigns. Do you need a pay-per-click campaign or a perhaps a content-heavy thought leadership campaign? An honest agency will be upfront about what’s in their wheelhouse and when they’ll make an introduction or bring in a strategic partner to ensure that the right minds are at the table.

No. 4 – Systems and Processes

There will always be more than one way to approach marketing for any business. Your prospective agency needs to have clearly defined systems and processes to execute a strategy that will get results. A scattershot approach is never effective. Agencies are responsible for attracting and helping retain customers through streamlined processes that allow the customer to move seamlessly through the buyer’s journey.

Thousands of different marketing-related cloud software solutions are currently available to help businesses streamline their processes. Researching the technologies an agency uses for managing their projects will help you better determine whether an agency’s processes will blend well with your own.

No. 5 – Communication and Availability

Marketing and business are non-stop, around-the-clock operations that can drastically shift directions at any given moment. How available will a prospective agency be for you when you need them most? Will they require you to schedule a meeting or will they provide a direct line of communication for you? Understanding the agency’s communication protocols and the accessibility of your marketing team is key to ensuring that you won’t be caught surprised in a critical moment.

No. 6 – Reports and Analyses

With the oversaturation of the marketplace with content and advertising of all kinds, basic or routine participation is not enough anymore. To see the fruits of your marketing labor pay off, you must consistently analyze your campaign performance to see what’s working, what’s not and make continuous improvements. Will your prospective agency show you monthly reports and analysis on their progress, or will you remain in the dark?

It’s imperative to know how well your marketing team’s efforts are performing, so you can see the direct return on your investment. A good agency is transparent about results and will show you that they’re serious about holding themselves accountable.

No. 7 – Access to Assets

When you start working with a digital marketing agency, it’s important to clarify which assets are already in place and which ones need to be built. Every activity generates data, graphics, content and more, and it’s important for you to maintain access to all your assets and channels. Access to historical data and insights can also help improve your business over time, no matter who you choose to work with. Be sure that provisions are made to give you access to all your social channels, website, graphics, content, data, analytics and so on.

No. 8 – Compatibility (Bonus!)

Do you enjoy conversations with a prospective agency team? Do you feel confident they’ll produce the results your business needs to grow? An important factor in choosing an agency is having a good rapport and to feel like you can effectively communicate with your marketing team. Outsourcing marketing will undoubtedly take an enormous responsibility off your shoulders, but it still requires collaboration and commitment from both parties to work.

Your Next Steps

Delegating your business’s marketing to an outsourced team will take a significant burden off your shoulders. You’ll enjoy the benefits of being able to save time and energy while experiencing growth from the results your marketing team will produce. Starting the search for an outsourced marketing team can be intimidating, but empowering yourself with relevant background information will make your choice easier.

We hope the tips above are helpful in improving your campaigns. Have more questions about partnering with an agency? Reach out to us directly.

Liz-headshot

Meet the Author

Liz Hersh is the founder of Hersh PR and Marketing, a digital marketing agency. Together with a team of marketing professionals she helps clients generate leads and increase revenue. 

Read 
More Articles.

Read 
More Articles.

Maximize Brand Impact: Integrating Public Relations with SEO

Maximize Brand Impact: Integrating Public Relations with SEO

Marketing as a small business presents several challenges. Between budgetary constraints and a lack of clarity about the right ways to market a business, it’s no wonder that marketing is often a small businesses least favorite business function. But it’s probably the most important. It’s crucial to maintain an ongoing marketing and lead generation strategy to yield beneficial outcomes for your brand.

read more
Developing an Effective Manufacturing Search Marketing Plan

Developing an Effective Manufacturing Search Marketing Plan

Marketing as a small business presents several challenges. Between budgetary constraints and a lack of clarity about the right ways to market a business, it’s no wonder that marketing is often a small businesses least favorite business function. But it’s probably the most important. It’s crucial to maintain an ongoing marketing and lead generation strategy to yield beneficial outcomes for your brand.

read more
Search Marketing Essentials for Manufacturers

Search Marketing Essentials for Manufacturers

Marketing as a small business presents several challenges. Between budgetary constraints and a lack of clarity about the right ways to market a business, it’s no wonder that marketing is often a small businesses least favorite business function. But it’s probably the most important. It’s crucial to maintain an ongoing marketing and lead generation strategy to yield beneficial outcomes for your brand.

read more

Subscribe to Get The Latest Insights.

What makes marketing so challenging?

Trying to keep-up with the tools, technology and the limited attention span of your target market are all challenging. Get our tips on how to grow leads and revenue, delivered directly to your inbox.

Join The List

Request a Demo.

Are you ready to take action? Let's see how we can reach your
goals with a 20-minute introductory call.

Local vs. National SEO: A Beginner’s Guide

Local vs. National SEO: A Beginner’s Guide

Local vs. National SEO: A Beginner’s Guide

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Discover the Right Approach for Your SEO Strategy

Local businesses and nationwide companies have a few things in common regarding SEO. They both want to rank on the top of Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) for specific keywords.

No matter who you target, SEO principles are relatively the same across the board—keyword research, relevant content creation with organic keyword integration and consistent execution of your strategy.

However, when it comes to targeting locally or nationally, the execution tends to differ slightly. It can become tiresome for a small business in Cleveland to target keywords that have no relevance to audiences in Nashville. A large corporation with a national footprint will likely want to target such keywords, which is where audience and keyword relevancy come into play.

Understanding where your business should focus its effort will yield results that place your website high on search rankings and achieve a better ROI.

Similarities Between Local and National SEO

When comparing a local and national SEO approach, the goal remains the same: Rank First!

Whether you’re a locally owned small business or a national brand serving customers across the country, the steps you take are still the same.

You still need to conduct keyword research and create relevant, optimized content that integrates the keywords organically. It would be best if you obtained credible backlinks from authoritative sources and continually updated on-page elements and image alt tags.

Ready to take action? Let’s have a conversation

When Does Local SEO Come Into Play?

Knowing when to focus on local or national SEO tactics depends solely on your business and who you serve. There’s no advantage to targeting potential customers in a state next to you if your business cannot serve those people.

If your target audience is in the same city or metropolitan area as your business, that’s an excellent indication to shift your efforts to local SEO. Typically these businesses include local service providers like contractors and tradesmen, restaurants and brick-and-mortar retail stores.

Local SEO best serves small to medium-size companies that only reach a specific physical area. While there are many similarities between the two approaches, your audience and their search intent will determine how you implement your strategy. Make sure you have a solid understanding of your audience with detailed client personas that can help guide your strategy. 

How Does a Google Business Profile fit Into This?

Did you know that 46% of searches on Google are seeking local information? This is why Google Business listings are prominently featured in SERPs, giving users quick access to the most relevant information.

No one wants a bad dining experience, so what do we do? Turn to Google and search for restaurants in our area. Google Business Profiles help identify local businesses in your area that provide whatever you may be searching for — information such as location, operating hours, Google reviews, a website and services offer almost everything users need to know to decide.

When the Hersh PR team implements a local SEO campaign, we place an emphasis on Google Business Profiles. Giving Google and its properties consistent attention is critical to a successful Local SEO campaign. When your local business is up to date with the freshest information, you empower potential customers with the information they need to make the right decisions to visit your business over everyone else.

How Does Keyword Research fit Into This?

Aside from knowing your target audience, how you approach your keyword research is the deciding variable between taking a Local or National SEO approach.

The keywords you target are determined by where your audience is located and what keywords will help target those areas. It doesn’t serve your local business well if you constantly target keywords that national brands target.

National brands will have the means to reach a larger audience based on various geographic locations. Local SEO keyword research will include more geographic-based keywords, and those keywords will be incorporated through the website. 

Here are some best practices when it comes to keyword research:

Understand User Intent:  Consider your customer’s intent when shopping for a service or product you offer. Evaluate different high-level topics that could shape your strategy. Put yourself in the customer’s shoes and understand their journey from start to finish. These understandings will build a more solid SEO foundation.

Use Professional Keyword Tools: Use the right tools to help you research your keywords. There’s no need to bootstrap your keyword research when there are tools designed specifically for this task. Having an agency who knows how to use these tools properly for keyword research is going to yield the best possible results.

Implement and Test Your Strategy: Mapping keywords to specific pages and creating a detailed content calendar will help ensure success. Remember that SEO is not a one-shot effort; you must continuously try different keywords to get the most out of your campaigns.

Bringing It Together

Climbing to the top of a SERP won’t occur overnight given the intense competition online. But with the right strategy and an SEO expert in your corner, you’ll be well positioned for boosting website traffic and ranking.

The best place to start is by determining whether or not you should take a local or national SEO approach. The steps you take to execute local and national SEO campaigns remain relatively the same.

The most significant difference between the two depends on the type of business you have and your customers’ location. Small to medium-size businesses don’t get as much out of their SEO campaigns if they target nationwide keywords.

Constantly updating your Google Business Profile, re-optimizing old content, testing keywords and content, conducting new keyword research, and creating unique content requires significant bandwidth that you may not have in-house. Partnering with an agency gives your business the advantage it deserves while allowing you to focus on running and managing the growth of your business.

Hopefully the tips above will help improve your local or national SEO campaigns. Have more questions about partnering with an agency? Reach out to us directly.

Liz-headshot

Meet the Author

Liz Hersh is the founder of Hersh PR and Marketing, a digital marketing agency. Together with a team of marketing professionals she helps clients generate leads and increase revenue. 

Read 
More Articles.

Read 
More Articles.

Maximize Brand Impact: Integrating Public Relations with SEO

Maximize Brand Impact: Integrating Public Relations with SEO

Marketing as a small business presents several challenges. Between budgetary constraints and a lack of clarity about the right ways to market a business, it’s no wonder that marketing is often a small businesses least favorite business function. But it’s probably the most important. It’s crucial to maintain an ongoing marketing and lead generation strategy to yield beneficial outcomes for your brand.

read more
Developing an Effective Manufacturing Search Marketing Plan

Developing an Effective Manufacturing Search Marketing Plan

Marketing as a small business presents several challenges. Between budgetary constraints and a lack of clarity about the right ways to market a business, it’s no wonder that marketing is often a small businesses least favorite business function. But it’s probably the most important. It’s crucial to maintain an ongoing marketing and lead generation strategy to yield beneficial outcomes for your brand.

read more
Search Marketing Essentials for Manufacturers

Search Marketing Essentials for Manufacturers

Marketing as a small business presents several challenges. Between budgetary constraints and a lack of clarity about the right ways to market a business, it’s no wonder that marketing is often a small businesses least favorite business function. But it’s probably the most important. It’s crucial to maintain an ongoing marketing and lead generation strategy to yield beneficial outcomes for your brand.

read more

Subscribe to Get The Latest Insights.

What makes marketing so challenging?

Trying to keep-up with the tools, technology and the limited attention span of your target market are all challenging. Get our tips on how to grow leads and revenue, delivered directly to your inbox.

Join The List

Request a Demo.

Are you ready to take action? Let's see how we can reach your
goals with a 20-minute introductory call.

Best Practices to Maximize Your Content’s Impact

Best Practices to Maximize Your Content’s Impact

Best Practices to Maximize Your Content’s Impact

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Content is a Fundamental Part of Your Digital Strategy

How much are you prioritizing content creation and promotion for your organization? Creating strong content is a staple in digital marketing and savvy brands continue to make it a priority. Today’s modern buyers quickly turn to websites or social media channels to gain better insight into a business’s purpose, ethics, and social approval — so it’s imperative that brands showcase fresh and relevant content.

Gone are the days of creating generic content merely to show participation. Content creation is an opportunity for businesses to show off industry expertise, improve search engine ranking and even increase their overall online presence. But, how can you create content that pushes the bounds of regular vanity key performance indicators? This article will break down the best practices to get the most out of your content.

Creating Content

When it comes to creating high-quality content, you must take into account two factors: intent and planning. As the old saying goes, “failing to plan is planning to fail,” and it’s never been more true than when it comes to content creation.

Disregarding a content strategy will strip you from a better understanding of your purpose for creating each piece of content and how you will share it with the world. Take the time to understand why each part of the content you want to create is important and how you plan on distributing it to your audience.

When developing a content strategy, consider the following factors to get the best results possible for your business:

 

  • Consider your target market and the issues they face. Your organization solves a problem. This is your opportunity to provide a solution that your target market needs help overcoming.
  • Next, you’ll want to consider your customer’s journey and how each piece of content will fit accordingly.
  • Finally, the numbers don’t lie! Analyze current content’s performance data to determine the message and create a well-rounded strategy.

Pro Tip: Consider the Pareto Principle for your content strategy. Spend 20 percent of your effort creating content and 80 percent promoting it.

Ready to take action? Let’s have a conversation

Publishing Content

When it comes to publishing content, you don’t want to take the shoot-in-the-dark approach for many reasons. Always strive to put as much thought behind your content distribution as you do into your content creation.

Here are a few quick reminders when trying to publish content optimally:

 

  • Save the stress, and don’t publish your content on every possible platform. This is overwhelming and will undoubtedly lead to burnout. Instead, focus on a few of the most relevant platforms for your content and let yourself grow.
  • Another frequently overlooked consideration is leveraging third-party channels like guest posting and user-generated content. These are great ways to gain social credibility and get your name and content out in front of other relevant audiences.
  • When you’re first starting, your content will take time to gain traction, but don’t let this get you down. Find a frequent publishing schedule that you can keep because consistency is the overall key, especially at the beginning of your content creation journey.
  • Be strategic about which platforms you publish content on, and don’t be afraid to move on if needed. Understanding which platforms are best for your business starts with knowing where your target audience hangs out online. If you find your content isn’t performing well no matter how many changes you make, then it might be time to try publishing elsewhere.

Promoting Your Content

If no one knows you’re posting, then does it count? Of course, it does! However, promoting your content is equally important as creating content. Promotion doesn’t stop after one post; there should be a thoughtful strategy for optimally promoting content after publishing.

To get the best promotion for your content, consider the following:

 

  • Re-purposing content will help you gain the most mileage from one source of content. This method will save you time and stress when looking at a barren content calendar. You can re-optimize or reformat content for different platforms and mediums. For example, if you publish a video, turning the same messaging into a blog post will provide you additional content without too much extra effort.
  • Re-marketing is often a dreaded yet highly effective method of promoting content. Be open to spending a little money to stretch the potential of your content.
  • Finally, getting your content out to the most people is nowhere near as effective as getting the most relevant people. This is where leveraging influencers who speak and already have credibility with your target audience will give you the results you need!

Bringing It Together

Bringing together a solid content strategy will help your business get the notoriety and publicity it deserves. A catered plan will carefully detail the intention of each piece of content that speaks to your target audience versus just anyone who happens to scroll by. Only focusing on these few platforms will help you get the best results instead of spreading yourself thin across multiple platforms. Finally, focusing on strategic promotion will be the ultimate deciding factor on how far your content goes in the digital ecosystem.

Repurposing old content for other platforms where you find your target audience will help you get the most out of your content. Maintaining a consistent flow of high-quality content will be the best step to take when starting or reconsidering your strategy. Maximizing your content’s impact will help grow your company’s brand and leave you feeling happy as you see a positive return on your content investment.

Hopefully the tips above will help improve your content marketing campaigns. Have more questions about partnering with an agency? Reach out to us directly.

Liz-headshot

Meet the Author

Liz Hersh is the founder of Hersh PR and Marketing, a digital marketing agency. Together with a team of marketing professionals she helps clients generate leads and increase revenue. 

Read  More Articles.

Read  More Articles.

Maximize Brand Impact: Integrating Public Relations with SEO

Maximize Brand Impact: Integrating Public Relations with SEO

Marketing as a small business presents several challenges. Between budgetary constraints and a lack of clarity about the right ways to market a business, it’s no wonder that marketing is often a small businesses least favorite business function. But it’s probably the most important. It’s crucial to maintain an ongoing marketing and lead generation strategy to yield beneficial outcomes for your brand.

read more
Developing an Effective Manufacturing Search Marketing Plan

Developing an Effective Manufacturing Search Marketing Plan

Marketing as a small business presents several challenges. Between budgetary constraints and a lack of clarity about the right ways to market a business, it’s no wonder that marketing is often a small businesses least favorite business function. But it’s probably the most important. It’s crucial to maintain an ongoing marketing and lead generation strategy to yield beneficial outcomes for your brand.

read more
Search Marketing Essentials for Manufacturers

Search Marketing Essentials for Manufacturers

Marketing as a small business presents several challenges. Between budgetary constraints and a lack of clarity about the right ways to market a business, it’s no wonder that marketing is often a small businesses least favorite business function. But it’s probably the most important. It’s crucial to maintain an ongoing marketing and lead generation strategy to yield beneficial outcomes for your brand.

read more

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Trying to keep-up with the tools, technology and the limited attention span of your target market are all challenging. Get our tips on how to grow leads and revenue, delivered directly to your inbox.

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Creating High-Value Content for Your Sales Team

Creating High-Value Content for Your Sales Team

Creating High-Value Content for Your Sales Team

5-easy-ways-to-generate-website-traffic

Content Marketing Can Fill Gaps in Your Sales Cycle

The digital marketing landscape is ever-changing, constantly challenging marketers to learn new ways to reach their audiences. Most businesses that are determined to succeed incorporate some form of content marketing. An often overlooked benefit to creating compelling content is equipping your sales team with the right resources to fill gaps in the sales cycle and increase their close rate.

Your Content Must Be Worthwhile

Getting the most out of your content means not only is your target audience able to find value, but so is your sales team. The relationship between sales and content is so closely interlinked that 95 percent of buyers choose a service provider who delivers the content to help them navigate through each stage of the buying process. Unfortunately, this doesn’t mean that just any piece of content will work; the content needs to provide genuine value to the audience otherwise, it may have damaging effects.

Most of your content marketing strategy should focus on client-facing content such as blogs, videos, podcasts and webinars. Internal content such as pre-call sales checklists and sales manuals have their place in a content strategy, but this article focuses on client-facing content.

Why Don’t Sales Reps Use Content?

In a perfect world, sales reps can use provided content during outreach, lead qualification and to help support proposals. Perspective clients can walk away well-informed and ready to make the right decision. However, this isn’t necessarily the reality because sales teams repeatedly miss the opportunity to provide prospects with the valuable content your marketing team has created.

Some reasons that sales reps don’t use content are:

  • They don’t know if the content is up to date
  • Finding the right content among the waves of existing content is time-consuming and daunting
  • They’re unsure what content is best for the specific stage of the sales process (in some cases, the content could be too “high-level” for initial discovery meetings.)

Pro Tip: As of 2020, 70 percent of marketers are actively investing in content marketing, which means it might be time you did the same to stay competitive.

Ready to take action? Let’s have a conversation

How Can Sales Teams Start to Incorporate Content?

Every great organization requires effective communication to be successful. For sales reps to start utilizing the appropriate content during their pitches, the marketing department should educate them to ensure they are aware of what’s available. Organizing content according to type, audience, and objectives will help sales teams find what they need to bolster their sales. In addition to better organization, consider the steps below to help facilitate good communication and collaboration among internal teams.  

Meet with Your Sales Team

They are on the front lines, fielding common concerns and questions which means they have a slew of pain points your clients are constantly facing. Frequently connecting with your sales team will enable your marketing department to better understand what content can help increase overall sales. 

You’ll also better understand:

  • Prospect feedback on your products/services
  • Common objections sales reps face
  • Find gaps in sales strategies that you can fill with helpful content

Audit Existing Content

After meeting with your sales team, you should have a better idea of what is working well, and where your content can be improved. As marketers, we also have access to massive amounts of data. Have you tracked the metrics on the content your team has already created? The internet is constantly moving, which means the shelf life for pre-existing content doesn’t last long and may need to be re-optimized. Additionally, sales teams can’t use out-of-date content during their sales calls, so it’s equally important to create content and revitalize old content.

Set Clear Goals

Working with your sales team, you can establish clear goals that promote a harmonious relationship between the marketing and sales departments. While you might have an overall sales goal that’s driving your plan, also consider smaller KPIs related to engagement that can indicate if a piece of content is in fact helping prospects through the buyer’s journey.

Creating High-Value Content

When it comes time to create content, pulling a topic out of a hat or an online topic generator is no longer enough. Marketing departments have many different areas of their organization they need to evaluate before deciding on content topics. Remember that creating content takes time, and unless you’re bootstrapping, it will require an investment of time and money. It can take upwards of 50 hours per month to create high-quality content, which is why many organizations opt to partner with a content agency.

Bringing It All Together

If your sales team isn’t using the content you’ve created, then both the company and the sales reps are losing out on substantial growth. Content marketing is not only meant to attract and inform prospects but also to arm sales teams with more tools to have a well-rounded sales process.

 Keeping content current and filled with value will enable sales reps to increase close rates by providing prospects with a clear picture of the products/services your organization offers. Over time as the sales and marketing departments continue to work together, they’ll learn how to maximize each other’s gains and promote overall company growth.

Hopefully the tips above will help improve your content marketing campaigns. Have more questions about partnering with an agency? Reach out to us directly.

Liz-headshot

Meet the Author

Liz Hersh is the founder of Hersh PR and Marketing, a digital marketing agency. Together with a team of marketing professionals she helps clients generate leads and increase revenue. 

Read 
More Articles.

Read 
More Articles.

Maximize Brand Impact: Integrating Public Relations with SEO

Maximize Brand Impact: Integrating Public Relations with SEO

Marketing as a small business presents several challenges. Between budgetary constraints and a lack of clarity about the right ways to market a business, it’s no wonder that marketing is often a small businesses least favorite business function. But it’s probably the most important. It’s crucial to maintain an ongoing marketing and lead generation strategy to yield beneficial outcomes for your brand.

read more
Developing an Effective Manufacturing Search Marketing Plan

Developing an Effective Manufacturing Search Marketing Plan

Marketing as a small business presents several challenges. Between budgetary constraints and a lack of clarity about the right ways to market a business, it’s no wonder that marketing is often a small businesses least favorite business function. But it’s probably the most important. It’s crucial to maintain an ongoing marketing and lead generation strategy to yield beneficial outcomes for your brand.

read more
Search Marketing Essentials for Manufacturers

Search Marketing Essentials for Manufacturers

Marketing as a small business presents several challenges. Between budgetary constraints and a lack of clarity about the right ways to market a business, it’s no wonder that marketing is often a small businesses least favorite business function. But it’s probably the most important. It’s crucial to maintain an ongoing marketing and lead generation strategy to yield beneficial outcomes for your brand.

read more

Subscribe to Get The Latest Insights.

What makes marketing so challenging?

Trying to keep-up with the tools, technology and the limited attention span of your target market are all challenging. Get our tips on how to grow leads and revenue, delivered directly to your inbox.

Join The List

Request a Demo.

Are you ready to take action? Let's see how we can reach your
goals with a 20-minute introductory call.

How to Hire an SEO Agency

How to Hire an SEO Agency

How to Hire an SEO Agency

5-easy-ways-to-generate-website-traffic

Find the Right Partner for Your SEO Strategy 

Building a strong online presence is now standard practice for any organization. Internet visibility drives website traffic and can help you reach your business goals. There are many components to internet visibility including organic reach, paid placements and earned media.

Organic reach or organic SEO involves strategies to increase your website traffic and improve your site’s presence in non-paid search engine results. The world of search engine optimization is incredibly complex. Improving a website’s rank on search engine results pages (SERPs) involves technical and creative expertise, and they work in tandem to create a positive site experience and encourage repeat visits.

If SEO isn’t in your wheelhouse, you’ll likely want to partner with an SEO agency who can help you effectively navigate the search engine playing field. It could take years to acquire the internal bandwidth to build and implement successful SEO campaigns yourself. Having experts in your corner will support online visibility and will naturally assist with lead acquisition.

What Are the Goals and Outcomes of Your Organization?

To get the most out of any SEO agency, you need to determine the goals and outcomes you wish to achieve. Do you need more website traffic to help fill your sales funnel? Do you want to create more traffic-generating pages? Do you want to improve your brand’s reputation and credibility during the sales cycle?

Search engine optimization is not just about search results; it also entails how your company is detected as a whole. These campaigns are most effective when integrated into a larger marketing strategy, so you’ll need to get clear on your goals and how you are measuring success.

Think through how an SEO campaign will support content marketing, public relations and other social media marketing activities. Make sure you have the right internal team members at the table during these discussions.

Ready to take action? Let’s have a conversation

What to Look for in an SEO Agency

Although hiring an SEO agency might seem like a daunting task, you certainly don’t need to be an expert yourself to find the right partner – but you do need to ask the right questions. Here are six questions to consider when interviewing potential partners.

What is your SEO philosophy?

SEO isn’t just about keywords and content, and the best agencies know this. There are many ways to utilize search engines, algorithms, and other processes to improve visibility. There are three types of SEO you need for a well-rounded organic strategy: on-page, technical and off-page.

Ideally, you want a partner that’s well versed in all three areas. There are many consultants that only specialize in one or two, but modern SEO requires a holistic approach and experienced execution.

What SEO tools do you use?

Legitimate professionals invest in the tools required to do their work. The exact tool isn’t as important as listening for how and why various tools are used. A good partner will be able to explain why they use specific tools and the impact they can have when used properly.

What is being measured and reported?

SEO agencies who value the relationship they have with their clients know that they need to measure and report metrics that both parties find useful. They find specific details in their reports and use the data to make informed decisions. Avoid companies that cannot get specific about the metrics they used to measure success.

Who is doing the work?

When it comes to the above fundamentals, is the company you are interested in doing the work in-house, or are they outsourcing? Will you have English-speaking writers creating content? Search engine optimization is both an art and a science. You need the right minds working collaboratively if you want to move the needle.

How do you remain up to date on trends?

SEO is a constantly evolving discipline that requires education and first-hand testing. Keeping up to date on Google’s Webmaster blog is just one step to understanding the latest trends. The best SEO agencies also do their own research and testing and have a set of best practices that build on common knowledge.

Do you have sample case studies?

Case studies often tell a very clear story of how effective your potential partner will be. SEO companies who know what they are doing and want their clients to succeed use case studies to clearly demonstrate what they can deliver.

Partnering With an SEO Agency is a Smart Move

Hiring a reputable and results-driven SEO partner begins with determining the goals and outcomes of your organization. Organizing these goals and outcomes will determine what kinds of SEO services you might need. By asking the right questions, you’ll be well positioned to partner with an agency that can deliver long-term success.

Hopefully the tips above will help improve your organic SEO campaigns. Have more questions about partnering with an agency? Reach out to us directly.

Liz-headshot

Meet the Author

Liz Hersh is the founder of Hersh PR and Marketing, a digital marketing agency. Together with a team of marketing professionals she helps clients generate leads and increase revenue. 

Read 
More Articles.

Read 
More Articles.

Maximize Brand Impact: Integrating Public Relations with SEO

Maximize Brand Impact: Integrating Public Relations with SEO

Marketing as a small business presents several challenges. Between budgetary constraints and a lack of clarity about the right ways to market a business, it’s no wonder that marketing is often a small businesses least favorite business function. But it’s probably the most important. It’s crucial to maintain an ongoing marketing and lead generation strategy to yield beneficial outcomes for your brand.

read more
Developing an Effective Manufacturing Search Marketing Plan

Developing an Effective Manufacturing Search Marketing Plan

Marketing as a small business presents several challenges. Between budgetary constraints and a lack of clarity about the right ways to market a business, it’s no wonder that marketing is often a small businesses least favorite business function. But it’s probably the most important. It’s crucial to maintain an ongoing marketing and lead generation strategy to yield beneficial outcomes for your brand.

read more
Search Marketing Essentials for Manufacturers

Search Marketing Essentials for Manufacturers

Marketing as a small business presents several challenges. Between budgetary constraints and a lack of clarity about the right ways to market a business, it’s no wonder that marketing is often a small businesses least favorite business function. But it’s probably the most important. It’s crucial to maintain an ongoing marketing and lead generation strategy to yield beneficial outcomes for your brand.

read more

Subscribe to Get The Latest Insights.

What makes marketing so challenging?

Trying to keep-up with the tools, technology and the limited attention span of your target market are all challenging. Get our tips on how to grow leads and revenue, delivered directly to your inbox.

Join The List

Request a Demo.

Are you ready to take action? Let's see how we can reach your
goals with a 20-minute introductory call.

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