What is SEM?
Search engine marketing (SEM) – commonly referred to as PPC or Paid ads is a popular digital marketing tactic to promote a Brand through the use of targeted ads in the realms of search engines (Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc).
SEM uses bidding methods to win over valuable keywords that let search engine result pages (SERPs) display your pages at the top of the paid results section. There are a lot of learnings and strategising involved in SEM, hence many Brands are acquiring the help of digital marketing agencies such as ourselves here at Morph Digital to take on the mantle.
Not to be confused with search engine optimisation (SEO) which is another digital marketing tactic that uses organic methods of promoting your Brand in the search engine. You may see SEO and SEM getting lumped together like joint twins, but in essence, they are like siblings in a way. Both fields cross paths with one another to help each other achieve greater results.
You need the help of SEO to optimise the landing page that you want to promote in SEM, and you need SEM to help give awareness to your site as an additional boost to your SEO efforts. The best results will come when you incorporate the two in your campaign. Paid ads are one of the primary digital marketing tactics that Brands have credited to help build leads, monetary conversions and brand awareness.
As you will see in this article later, we highlight some case studies to be of inspiration to you when you want to run your search engine marketing campaigns:
Why SEM is important?
- Increased Visibility and Brand Awareness: SEM helps increase a website’s visibility in SERPs, making it easier for potential customers to find the business when they search for related products or services. This heightened visibility boosts brand awareness and recognition (Source: Search Engine Land – “What is SEM – Search Engine Marketing?“).
- Targeted Advertising: SEM allows businesses to target their ads to users based on various factors such as keywords, location, demographics, and more. This ensures that the ads are shown to a more relevant audience, increasing the chances of attracting genuinely interested customers. (Source: WordStream – “Pay-Per-Click Advertising: What Is PPC & How Does It Work?”)
- Measurable Results: One of the biggest advantages of SEM is its measurability. Businesses can track the performance of their SEM campaigns using tools like Google Analytics, which provides detailed information on metrics such as click-through rates (CTR), conversion rates, and ROIs. This data helps businesses optimize their campaigns for better performance (Source: Google Analytics – “Measure and Optimize with Google Analytics”).
- Immediate Traffic: SEM can generate immediate traffic to a website. By bidding on keywords, businesses can get their ads to appear in the top spots of SERPs almost instantly, driving immediate traffic to their site (Source: Journal of Advertising Research – “Search Engine Advertisements: The Impact Of Advertising Statements On Click-Through And Conversion Rates“).
- Cost-Effectiveness: SEM is cost-effective because it operates on a PPC model, meaning businesses only pay when someone clicks on their ad. This allows for better budget control and ensures that money is spent only on ads that are bringing in potential customers (Source: Zoe Marketing & Communications – “A Comparison of SEO vs. SEM Marketing Cost Efficiency“).
Flexibility and Control: SEM campaigns offer a high degree of flexibility and control. Businesses can start, pause, or stop their campaigns at any time. They can also adjust their bids, fine-tune their target audience, and change their ad copy to improve performance (Source: Freshworks – “The Power of Search Engine Marketing (SEM)“).
Search Engine Marketing Case Studies
Water Professionals
Background: WaterProfessionals® is a top global provider of tailored water treatment solutions for industrial and commercial sectors. Specializing in custom systems, they cover design, manufacturing, installation, and maintenance. With expertise in water purification and recycling, they ensure sustainable, efficient solutions, meeting diverse industry needs while minimizing environmental impact.
Challenge: WaterProfessionals® wanted to increase their awareness on search engines and increase the market share values through PPC campaigns, however, with high volume money being put in place, they were stagnant in the result department.
Source: Water Professionals
Solution: Net Site Marketing focuses on improving the client’s SEO and SEM operations to pave the way for better results in the PPC campaigns. From the SEO front, they focus on optimising their keyword analysis, website architecture and core on-page elements to improve the usability of the website. From the SEM front, they rebuilt their main PPC account with actionable reports and data.
Results: With clear keyword research and a strategic approach to SEM targeting, they were able to secure 63 keywords in the top ten results and 164 keywords in the top three results. They see big improvements in their traffic, visitors and pageviews.
Key Takeaways:
This case study showcases how SEO and SEM are valuable as a unit when both elements are being optimised properly. Other than that, it shows that for any SEM campaign, you need to have clarity on the data you gather so you can plan your next move without losing monetary resources along the way.
E-commerce Website
Background:
Win Makers works with an SME company to boost their sales rate. Not a lot is disclosed about the company but a lot can be learned from this campaign.
Challenge:
The main goal of the SME company is to grow its conversion rate under a limited budget. With the advertisement budget of MYR 5000 targeted for Google Ads, Win Makers was tasked with shaping the best way for the company to increase their ROAS within said budget.
Solution:
Win Makers took up the challenge and focused on two main metrics to win the game; keyword bidding and optimisation. To optimise the set budget, they focus on researching the best “money keywords” to target and start bidding. Through numerous A/B tests, they were able to identify the right “money keywords” to target that would get conversions from would-be customers.
Results:
From the campaign that took a month, the client saw double the increase in conversions from the site and they achieved 20 times the return on ad spend. From such a small budget, they were able to increase their sales to a new trajectory.
Key Takeaways:
This case study shows that the budget limit is subjective. With a small budget such as this SME campaign, they are still able to achieve positive returns because of the strategies they implement. Bidding the right keyword will give higher returns. Next, is testing. A/B testing is like the bread and butter of successful paid campaigns because, from these tests, you can iron out the best keywords that work for your business.
Source: Win Makers
Innovate UK
Source: SEO Works
Background:
Innovate UK, a division of UK Research and Innovation fuels innovation by funding and aiding UK businesses. It offers grants, loans, and investments to foster groundbreaking ideas across sectors like science and digital innovation. Facilitating collaborations between businesses and research institutions, drives economic growth, advancing the UK’s innovation ecosystem globally.
Challenge:
As an institution that strives to provide funding and aid to various UK businesses, Innovate UK wanted to increase their reach to small businesses to understand its target audience better.
Solution:
SEO Works customised a campaign that leverages the use of not only SEM but also display and social advertisements through three different personas to maximise the potential and gather solid data to improve the campaign over time.
Results:
At the end of the campaign run, Innovate UK saw an increase in ROIs by 18.6%, average cost per click reduced by 15.3% and conversion cost reduced by 26.5%. They received over 1,000 respondents from their campaigns which gave them a lot of insights that could help them cater to their future customers better.
Key Takeaways:
From this case study, the biggest learning is the importance of understanding what you want to achieve – the goal. From there, you can create a unique and targeted campaign to achieve that goal.
All Rounder Cricket
Source: All Rounder Cricket
Background:
All Rounder Cricket is a global online retailer providing a vast selection of cricket equipment, clothing, and accessories. With top brands and user-friendly browsing, it caters to players of all levels. Prioritizing customer satisfaction, it offers competitive pricing, reliable shipping, and exceptional service, meeting the needs of cricket enthusiasts worldwide.
Challenge
To remain competitive in the e-commerce industry, All Rounder Cricket wants to increase its online sales without exerting a high volume of ad spend. That is the proposition they bring to SEO Works to help them achieve; increased online conversions and lower return on ad spend (ROAS).
Solution
From this understanding, SEO Works began restructuring its existing ad groups and subdivisions to optimise it better. They also readjust their current bidding strategy to make it more efficient and this is implemented across all product categories. They prioritise higher value products to run on search campaigns and they do remarketing engagement audiences to increase reach.
Results
Through these methods, they were able to get positive outcomes from the campaigns they ran. All Rounder Crickets were able to achieve a 142% increase in online transactions and 278% in transaction revenue. They were able to decrease their monthly budget spend as well.
Key Takeaways
From this case study, it shows the value of recalibrating what we already have to create something better. It is always a good thing to rely on existing data to formulate theories or find opportunity gaps. It is also a good thing to connect with external parties to give consultation on your current ads and get their insights to adapt to new strategies. When running a paid campaign, it is crucial to monitor the performance regularly so that quick changes can be made to influence the outcome.
Nationwide Supplies
Source: Nationwide Supplies
Background:
Nationwide Supplies is a leading online retailer of plumbing and building supplies, serving professionals and DIY enthusiasts. With a vast inventory and user-friendly website, it offers convenience and options for delivery or pickup. Committed to quality and customer satisfaction, it’s a trusted source for all plumbing and building needs, residential or commercial.
Challenge:
Nationwide Supplies wanted to resolve the primary roadblock they have, which is complex shipping issues. With such issues in hand, it indirectly disrupts their customer journey and essentially their business in the long run.
Solution:
Click Consult began fixing the root concerns from Nationwide Supplies, which is to optimise their page structure to improve the customer journey when navigating through their pages. Then, they move to optimise each page to fit the focus on each of their paid campaigns.
Results:
Through base tweaking like optimising and restructuring the pages in the website, it creates a positive flow of engagement within the website that contributes to higher clicks and conversions. From clicks alone, they saw an uplift of 48% and recorded a growth of 302% from YoY transactions.
Key Takeaways:
This case study demonstrates the importance of optimisation before actively running SEM campaigns. The bigger portion of the work is to improve the user experience before you start promoting them to new users. Maintaining a good customer journey experience within your website can help nurture them towards conversion.
Source: Click Consult
Final Takeaways
Resonating to the earlier comment about the importance of search engine marketing, it will continue to be one of the important digital marketing tactics used by businesses to reach a greater audience and generate conversions.
The case studies we have covered give a lot of insights into the importance of understanding your needs, tailoring your strategies to your goals, and the importance of A/B testing and data analysis. It also states that you do not have to invest millions of monetary resources to achieve your goals, the main thing is strategising your spending so that it hits the right gear in your campaign.
Companies that assisted the companies from these success stories and ourselves, strive to assist other businesses in their PPC campaigns. If you require consultations about SEM campaigns and strategies or would like to know more about such services, you can reach out to us anytime.