It’s not unusual for us to see a firm with a marketing strategy OR an SEO strategy. However, it’s less common to see a firm that has a clear marketing AND SEO strategy. We are here to say that marketing and SEO are a winning duo and should be considered complementary, like peanut butter & jelly, salt & pepper, and macaroni & cheese.
Let’s look at how marketing and SEO truly complement each other and contribute to a winning overall strategy, particularly for B2B firms.
Visibility
You’ve got an awesome website. As far as B2B websites go, it’s the bee’s knees. It has compelling copy, current blogs, useful white papers and case studies, great videos, etc. It essentially has everything that your clients want in a website. The only downside is that the traffic to your website is low and it isn’t garnering any new leads.
What happens when prospects can’t find your website? That’s where SEO steps in to support your awesome marketing efforts. Search engine optimization is an excellent supportive tool to get your website seen by the right folks. Optimizing your B2B website with the keywords your prospects are searching ensures that your website will pop up just when they need it.
Give Directions
Did you know that the page title appears in search engine results? Do you think that a page title* that says, “About Us” tells a prospect who you are and what you offer? The answer is no, it does not. Having “About Us” as the title of a page offers zero value to your prospects and to search engines. You may have a well-written and beautifully designed About Us page on your website, but if a potential visitor skims past it in the search engine results, it’s a failure.
*It’s important to note that the Page Title is not what appears in the navigation menu for users on your website. It’s common to label a page as “About Us” or “Our Company” in the navigation of a website as users are familiar with these page names. Page names in the navigation are not the same as the Page Title.
Once again, it’s SEO to the rescue. By optimizing your website’s page titles, meta descriptions, pictures and videos and headings, you are telling both search engines and potential visitors what your website (and company) are all about. Now, don’t get us wrong here, we want all the optimized titles and descriptions to make sense AND include key terms. It can be a fine balance, but it is achievable.
Connect
Let’s look at the opposite approach. With all SEO and no marketing, your B2B website will get in front of the right people, but they won’t want to click on it. An over-optimized website with little to no marketing input often comes off as uninteresting, forced, or unattractive. For example, a page title shouldn’t be a string of keywords. Rather, it should be a natural integration of keywords and connecting terms.
Below are two examples of page titles, one with just SEO and one with a marriage of SEO and marketing:
SEO only: Marketing Firm | Marketing Services | San Diego Marketing
SEO and marketing: The B2B Marketing Agency | San Diego Marketing Experts
See the difference? By incorporating the basic tenants of storytelling that should be present in all B2B marketing efforts, the page titles come to life, engage the audience, and entice visitors to click through to the website.
Marketing + SEO: Working Together
A lot of marketers and business owners are skeptical about SEO – and for VERY good reason. There are a lot of SEO hacks out there who forget that marketing is an essential component of SEO. Both should be working together to promote and entice prospects to become a client of your firm. SEO cannot stand alone. Great SEO incorporates compelling copy to get users to click, focuses on engaging topics, and draws on well-written content and descriptions. Similarly, digital marketing cannot do without SEO to get noticed, get in front of prospects when they are looking for your services, and help categorize your website and digital assets appropriately.
Questions about creating an SEO + Marketing strategy for your B2B firm? Schedule a consultation with our B2B marketing experts today.
