The need for a diversified online marketing strategy

In our seven years of existence as a digital marketing agency, we have helped hundreds of small and medium sized businesses get online visibility, primarily through organic search marketing aka SEO. We strongly believe that SEO will continue to be an important channel for generating visibility and acquiring traffic to one’s website; however, it is time for companies to adopt a multi-channel online marketing strategy that is less reliant on natural search traffic from Google.

Let’s be clear: we are not saying that SEO is dead or that businesses should not invest in that. Far from it. What we are saying is that companies should let go off the obsession- bordering on obstinacy- with that one avenue for traffic generation.  This recommendation might seem strange coming from a company that does a lot of SEO work; however, it is a pragmatic one based on various trends that are influencing organic search traffic (which have been listed in a bit more detail in this article).

What those specific channels should be must vary according to the marketer’s specific short and long-term objectives.  Yet,  the most obvious choice is to carry out a Google Adwords paid search marketing. The reasons are pretty straightforward– and may have been reinforced several times on our website:  it is quick to plan and implement; it is flexible; measurable and highly targeted. The challenge though that it can a quick drain on cash if not planned and executed properly. Beyond search marketing , there are numerous other avenues that should be looked at- be it affiliate marketing, mobile marketing or e-mail marketing; the return on investment or cost per customer acquisition may vary from channel to channel but investing in these multiple channels mitigates the risk of putting all eggs in one marketing basket.

Undoubtedly, this makes allocation of scarce marketing budgets and resources a big challenge; but it is a challenge that businesses will need to cope with.