SEO, paid search, social media, content, email, video: each channel does a different job. The question is not which one is best, but which ones fit your goal, your time frame and your budget. This guide helps you decide where to start.
Start from the goal and the time frame
Two questions settle most of the choice:
- Are people already searching for what you sell? If yes, search (organic and paid) captures existing demand. If not, you first need to create interest, which is the job of social media, content and video.
- How soon do you need results? Paid channels start quickly and stop when the budget stops. SEO, content and email take longer to build and keep working afterwards.
What each channel is good at
SEO
Makes your pages visible when people search. It takes months to build and suits businesses that plan to stay on their market. It depends on the quality of your site and content. See SEO services.
Paid search and shopping ads
Reach people at the moment they search. Useful for a launch, a seasonal peak, or while SEO builds up. It requires tracking to be set up properly, otherwise you cannot tell what the spend brings. See digital advertising.
Social media
Builds awareness with a defined audience and brings previous visitors back through retargeting. It needs regular content and a consistent tone. See social media management.
Content
Articles, guides and FAQs answer the questions your customers ask before they buy. Content supports SEO, gives you something to share on social media and helps sales conversations.
Keeps you in touch with people who already know you: customers, subscribers, prospects who asked for information. It is the channel you own, independent of any platform.
Video
Shows what is hard to describe: a product in use, a place, a person. One good video can serve the website, social media and ads. See videography.
Three common situations
- A new business that needs enquiries soon. Start with a clear website and paid search on a few precise terms. Add SEO and content from the beginning so they are in place when you reduce the ad budget.
- An online store with traffic but few sales. Before buying more traffic, look at the product pages and the checkout. Then use retargeting and email to bring visitors back.
- An established business with little visibility. SEO and content first, then social media to extend your reach.
How to split the budget
There is no universal split. A workable approach is to fund one channel that brings results now and one that builds for later, and to keep a small share for testing. Review the split when you have a few months of data rather than changing it every week.
What to measure
Choose the indicators closest to your goal: enquiries, quote requests, orders, revenue. Visits and impressions help to understand why those numbers move, but they are not the goal. Make sure forms, calls and purchases are tracked before any campaign starts.
Next step
If you are unsure where to start, book a 15-minute call and we will look at your situation together.
