In brief: SEM refers to search-engine marketing, which in current practice often means primarily paid advertising in search results. It is useful to explicitly define its precise meaning within the team.
How I use SEM in practice
In practice, I use SEM as one element of acquisition. Before launch, I determine whom I do not want to reach, what evidence the offer needs and how I will recognise a relevant response. I continuously monitor search queries, placements or comments by channel, and feed the findings back into both content and offer.
What to watch out for
A cheap click or wide reach is not success in itself. With SEM, it is easy to optimise an activity that does not bring the right customers. Beware of automatic platform recommendations without knowledge of margin, capacity and brand constraints.
Questions for decision-making
- Whom do we want to reach, and whom do we instead want to exclude?
- Which hypothesis about the offer or message are we testing?
- What happens after the first response, and who owns that step?
- Are we measuring customer quality, or just activity in the channel?