The more things change….

Virtually every aspect of communication has been impacted by the digital revolution of the past decade. The methods, means and speeds with which we communicate in many regards have been distilled, scrubbed, or emoticommed.

We are now reduced to texting, IMing, web conferencing, podcasting and making calls over the Internet, not to mention the passé method of emailing. Social networking was something you once did at a cocktail party, now it’s a chat room on steroids.

So one would think with all these new avenues for communication, our messages would be clearer and we in fact would better understand one another. Is it just me or is there more confusion than ever? Have we in fact created more misunderstandings, more re-work for ourselves and in fact less meaningful communication?

The message still is the medium. If you want to be understood, don’t hide behind your DSL, or your Outlook, or your Treo or even your phone…. Get in front of someone, look them in the eye, listen and be heard….you may be surprised at what can happen.

Riding (or creating!) the SEM Wave

With search now a mainstream marketing consideration, SEOs and SEMs are popping up all over the place. From the one-man-band to full agencies, many are working to capitalize on the potential business this new form of marketing has delivered. Yet to truly leverage the business that exists, one cannot ignore the meaning of ‘marketing’ in ‘search engine marketing’.

Sure there are plenty of talented coders who can attend to the basics of meta, title and description tags, sitemaps and site architecture – essential components of SEO. Yet building an SEM company requires a multifaceted and skilled team of marketing professionals. In fact, the talent pool required reaches beyond the technical implications for real success in the search engine marketing field.

For many advertisers, search is still either brand new to them (they don’t know what it is) or fairly new (they have an understanding of the basics), and for even those who have attempted some form of it on their own; it is vital that the SEM is not only technically oriented but is also expert at communicating the value it can bring to an advertiser.

For those of us marketers who have been in the communication business, we fully recognize the need to have team members devoted to client communication as well as interpretation of what search is and can do for them…in their terms. From skilled business development managers to client-obsessed project managers, advertisers large or small will have a considerable advantage when their campaign is in the hands of a team of search engine marketing professionals with whom to consult and discuss their needs.

Then there is the matter of the technical experts on the team – the developers, optimizers and software engineers - they are not created equally to be sure. When building a team, the best case scenario is one where your technology team is in tuned not only with what is going on inside the industry, but also with the market at large, its demands and needs: experts who stay close to the market so that the software solutions created and the strategies executed, remain meaningful and pertinent to the clients’ goals.

Orchestrating a team of this caliber requires a delicate balance between fostering relationships, developing meaningful SEM products and solutions and keeping an ear to the industry, all while moving and motivating a diverse team in the same direction.

At the end of the day, search and internet marketing as a whole, remains a service business. For those of us who are dedicated to delivering quality results and increased sales traffic to its clients, riding the wave means keeping an eye on the ‘M’ in search engine marketing.
To access an unparalleled resource of communication, technology and marketing experts, visit us at www.gdmi.net.