Search Marketing

A robot hand points to the text, "Google's Adwords AI might seem like the answer to a search marketer's dream... but is it really a nightmare?" against a techno background

Can You Trust Google’s AI to Optimize Your Search Ads?

Google has rolled out new AI-powered suggestions to help advertisers optimize their Google Ads search campaigns. Using machine learning, Google now analyzes your account data and makes recommendations on things like new keyword ideas, bid strategies, ad creative, and more. The promise is enticing: let Google’s advanced AI do the heavy lifting of campaign optimizations so you can spend less time tinkering and testing. After all, Google has access to a wealth of data that the average advertiser couldn’t possibly...

Two small business owners look concerned, with the caption, "Marketing is a really, really important business tool. But sometimes, you have some work to do first."

Seven signs your business will benefit from more marketing… and six times it won’t

Marketing: is it for you? As marketers, we are firm believers that businesses can’t thrive without good marketing, because marketing is a powerful tool to get customers in the door. But we’re going to be the first to tell you: more marketing is not always a smart first move for every business. Most, yes… but not all. But how do you know? Seven signs that marketing will really help your business You have a lot of really happy customers, but...

A man looking at an idea board, with the caption, "Not all marketing channels are built for small business. Choose carefully for your audience and your budget."

The top marketing strategies for small business, examined.

You’ve decided to take the plunge and up-level the marketing of your business. Congratulations, that’s awesome! Deciding to take control of your destiny by efficiently driving new customers to your company is a huge, (if sometimes daunting), decision. Of course, the first question most business owners ask is “OK, so what do I need to do?” And this is a great question; there are a lot of different marketing vehicles (also known as marketing channels) out there, and they all...

A wall of vintage advertisements, with the caption, "Think marketing doesn't work? You may be doing it wrong."

Marketing doesn’t work! Or so we’ve heard.

One of the more common things we hear when talking to business owners is, “I’ve tried marketing before and it just doesn’t work.” Other variations are, “I’ve done Facebook marketing before and it didn’t work”, “I’ve tried search marketing and it didn’t work”, “I’ve tried email marketing and it didn’t work”… you get the idea. And indeed, marketing ISN’T a magic cure-all that will instantly turn your business around, and so some of these comments definitely have a kernel of...

A person typing on a keyboard, with the caption, "SEO and SEM sound like identical twins, but in reality they serve different-but equally important-marketing functions."

What is the difference between SEO and SEM: the small business owner’s guide

Just about everyone has heard about SEO and SEM. SEO, particularly, gets talked about a lot; even small business owners with very little marketing experience trot it out when we meet with them. And, indeed, both SEO and SEM are important tools for any business owner. The problem is that there is a lot of confusion between the two terms, despite the fact that they are entirely different things. And even worse, people rarely ask for clarification—either because they don’t...