The term Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is a bit of a misnomer, since in most cases it involves both the Sales and Marketing function. If you don’t know the difference you are not alone. I had a Marketing Director for a major software company tell me that there were VP’s in her corporations that couldn’t make distinction. The broadest definition of Marketing is everything a company does to make the public aware of their product. To that extent, SEM doesn’t exist in a vacuum, it should (must) be part of an overall marketing plan. It is not the job of the Search Engine Marketer to define the marketing plan. This should (must) come from the client. The SEM campaign should carry the same message as the rest of the client’s advertising. This will vary widely depending on type of marketing campaign being implemented. Marketing campaigns can be thought of as a continuum — at one end of the scale are campaigns creating a new need or want; at the other, those selling a product that satisfy an existing need or want.
How are the campaigns different? Consider designing an SEM campaign for bottled water in the mid 1990’s. Relatively few people were searching for the term ‘bottled water’. The campaign would be built around creating an artificial need by focusing on healthy living. Contrast this with a site selling housing. Search terms are fairly standard and competition for SERP is fierce. The problem in this case is not to create a need, but rather to get a high SERP placement and to differentiate your client’s site from those of their competitors.
How are they the same? (Here is where gets Marketing tends to get a bad name.) Both water and shelter are considered basic needs in
