What is SEM and What Does an SEM Specialist Do?

If you are fascinated by the workings of the search engine that decide which pages show up first in the search results and which pages get pushed down, the job of a Search Engine Marketing (SEM) specialist is the right one for you.

                           

In fact, as more and more businesses are moving online and competing for the larger share of user attention and website traffic, they are on the hunt for SEM specialists that can be a value addition to their digital marketing team.

Before diving into an overview of the roles and responsibilities for this job title, let us first understand the meaning and purpose of SEM.

What is Search Engine Marketing?

SEM is nothing but the practice of increasing the visbility of your website or brands on search engines such as Google, Bing, Yahoo and so on. SEM encompasses different methods including organic ones such as Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and paid ones such as Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising. 

Who is an SEM specialist?

An SEM specialist is a person who puts their knowledge of how search engines pull up results to work on behalf of their organization. Their aim is to ensure that when the organization's target audience searches for specific keywords or queries, their website or relevant web page/blog will rank as high as possible. The higher the page ranks, the more probable it is for the user to click on it, get engaged and progress towards conversion.

The overall daily responsibilities of an SEM specialist include -

• Research and keep up-to-date on the latest trends and search engine algorithm updates to make sure your strategy is on the right track

•Target and test new keywords that are relevant to your niche and target audience

• Work on the website's overall SEO strategy including keywords, analyzing content, technical SEO and making changes whenever required

• Set up and manage PPC campaigns

•  Analyze website performance through online analysis tools for different statistics such as website traffic, traffic source, etc., and modifying strategy based on the metrics

Education and skills required to become an SEM specialist

While the requirements will depend upon the organization you are applying to, here is an overview of the common skills and educational requirements for the job -

• A bachelor's degree

• One or more years of relevant experience

•  Good communication skills

• Basic understanding of SEO and PPC

•  Basic knowledge of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript

•  Strong analytical and problem-solving skills

TSL Consulting Pvt Ltd is an integrated marketing company based in India. We offer customized outbound marketing, inbound marketing, digital marketing and data profiling services to a wide spectrum of small and mid-sized organizations.

How to prevent your emails from landing in the SPAM folder

You have worked diligently on your email marketing campaign, and have spent precious time and efforts on crafting personalized emails that you are confident will generate the expected response. But, after all this, what if your emails do not even reach the recipient's inbox?

Let us see some tips using which you can achieve maximum inbox deliver-ability -

•Ask your subscribers to whitelist your email address

• Get permission to send emails through option forms

• Avoid using purchases mailing lists

• Send relevant emails with clear subject lines, so that you do not get marked as spam from the recipient's side

•Avoid the use of risky words such as 'free' or 'promo' that might get you caught in the spam filters

• Use clear and recognizable From field names

• Clean up your mailing list periodically for unsubscribers and invalid email addresses

•  Get S/MIME certificates for your personal or company email address to increase your trustworthiness

•Give an option for the recipients to unsubscribe from an email itself

Use a trustworthy email automation platform that can take care of email validation and unsubscribers in real time

How Can You Effectively Track and Improve Your Email Marketing Campaigns

The importance of a sound email marketing campaign cannot be stressed enough. Reports have shown that emails can generate an ROI as high as 3800%. However, to get this promsing ROI, you need to keep an eagle eye on the performance of your campaigns and adjust your strategy wherever it might be found lacking. You can do this by tracking the right metrics.

                             

Let us have a look at what these metrics are, what they indicate, and how you can turn them into useful insights -

Open rate

This metric indicates the percentage of subscribers who have opened your email, out of your total subscribers.

If your open rate is low, this is a strong indication that the subject lines of your emails need your attention. A relevant, attention-catching subject line will ensure that your emails get opened. Of course, the problem might be that you are sending emails at a time when your prospects are too occupied or busy to look through them.

To improve your open rate, test out different subject lines and research the best times to send out emails based on the behavior of your target audience.

Click-through rate

This metric indicates the percentage of subscribers who have clicked on a link you have placed inside your email. This is a vital metric as it represents how inclined your subscribers are to take further action (such as subscription or direct purchase) through your emails.

If it is low, you will want to examine whether the anchor text you have used for the link is compelling enough for them to click, and whether it is placed in a position where it is easily visible to the reader.

Bounce rate

This is the percentage of the total emails sent which were unable to successfully reach the intended recipient.

In some cases, the email can bounce to due a server or other technical problem at the receiver end; however, it could also bounce due to an invalid or non-existent email. Thus, you need to carefully validate your subscriber list before sending out emails to prevent a high bounce rate.

Unsubscribe rate

This is the percentage of your subscribers who have opted out of receiving any further email communication for you.

A high unsubscription rate is definitely undesirable. There can be many factors responsible for unsubscription such as irrelevant/low-quality content, too high frequency of sending emails, and so on. You can simply send out a short survey to the unsubcribers to find and remedy the root cause, in order to reduce this occurence.

Of course, it can be quite difficult to execute a campaign and manually track these metrics. Using an email automation software will help you improve your campaign efficacy and get detailed, periodic analysis so that you can have more time to focus on your business strategy. You can also engage the services of a digital marketing company to strategize and execute creative email marketing campaigns on your behalf.

TSL Consulting Pvt Ltd is an integrated marketing company based in India. We offer customized outbound marketing, inbound marketing, digital marketing and data profiling services to a wide spectrum of small and mid-sized organizations.

4 Major Predictions for the Digital Marketing Business Post Covid-19

There can be no two opinions about the fact that the current pandemic will leave a lasting impact on the way we conduct business. While countless businesses felt the effects of the situation, majority of them adapted quickly and moved operations and customer communications online to improve business continuity. This shift has propelled the already progressing digital transformation, and has led the way for new trends and practices in the world of digital marketing.

Personalized experience and user data will be even more crucial

As businesses struggle to deal with financial crisis, it is imperative that you offer them a solution that they absolutely need to overcome their challenges, as well as save them money. For this, consumer data will prove to be even more critical. It is absolutely essential that your content reaches the right audience at the right time.

SEO-optimized content will include considerations of safety

As more and more people will turn to search engines for the product or services they need, there will be also an increase in search terms that include safety considerations such as social distancing, health and remote contact. Keywords that include these aspects will increase in search volume and become more competitive.

The frequency of sending emails will be re-evaluated

Earlier, you were most probably sending out an email to your mailing list based on a schedule. However, during and post pandemic, you need to remember that your prospects and customers are probably receiving tons of emails from different brands. Thus, you need to make sure that not only your emails, but also every communication you send is absolutely critical and relevant to them.

There will be an increase in demand for digital marketing professionals

Naturally, as an increasing number of businesses and enterprises adapt to digital marketing, there will be a huge demand for skilled digital marketers to plan and execute optimized campaigns.

A digital marketing company can also help you position your value among your target audience, and conceptualize strategic campaigns to maintain a steady stream of leads and enquiries in a post-Covid world.

TSL Consulting Pvt Ltd is an integrated marketing company based in India. We offer customized outbound marketing, inbound marketing, digital marketing and data profiling services to a wide spectrum of small and mid-sized organizations.

Developing an effective blog content strategy

Blogs are an essential tool for B2B marketing companies to attract organic traffic, establish their footing as industry thought leaders and even generate leads. However, all this is only possible if you have an effective content strategy in place.

Let us see how you can develop one -

Choose content that caters to your audience
Do not only choose topics that you want to write on. Understand the pain points of your target audience and strive to provide a solution through your content.

Do not neglect keyword research
You might have written great content, but it will be visible to the right audience if it does not include the right keywords.

Create a content calendar
Doing so will help you manage content creation and publication in an ogranized manner, for increased effectiveness.

Plan for content distribution
Do not only rely on on-page SEO for bringing traffic. Actively promote your blog on relevant digital channels to make sure it reaches the right audience.

Tips for a successful B2B mobile marketing strategy

With the increasing use of smartphones and other mobile devices, it is high time for B2B marketing companies to pay attention to their mobile marketing strategy.

Make sure that your website is mobile-friendly

A mobile-friendly is not only essential for higher Google ranking, but providing a great mobile experience will also encourage your target audience to engage more with your website.

Leverage conversational selling

Use data like purchase history to initiate relevant personal interactions with your customers through SMS, WhatsApp or emails.

Optimize for local SEO

As most mobile users conduct "near me" searches through smartphones, optimizing your website for local, as well as mobile, SEO will help you attract a large quantity of relevant traffic.

Invest in mobile apps

If it fits within your budget and marketing goals, developing a mobile app for your brand will greatly help increase brand awareness and engagement.