Stop the BS! Tell the Truth!!

I think the answer is going to be both.. I only have 1 offline client which we have tracking numbers specifically for print ads and specifically for web marketing, and our web stuff (seo+ppc) is beating her offline print ads 5-1.

If a client could ONLY do 1 (seo or ppc), then I would say ppc is the only way to go, because it's immediate.

Oh.... what do they "choose" first? is that what you mean? I've got mine going on both. The idea is that you use ppc to narrow down what search terms you want to go after on seo... plus you can get a google voucher for $75-$100 so they don't risk any money at first on ad spend.

Thank you! tigerbait...this is what I was looking for, both of your post will suffice. Hopefully I will get more feed back so that I can corner what is working for a majority of marketers.

Tara

My experience is that with video campaigns when the video is ranked on 1st page (above the fold especially) people are more likely to click the video thumbnail than a text link of any kind whether organic or PPC.

Also if you have optimized the video correctly (category + location) with a phone number in the title there are many times clients get a call without the video having even been watched. The video thumbnail acts much like a billboard among all the text ads and links so naturally the eyeballs will gravitate toward that.

I hope this helps and I wish you much success.

Randy

I second tiger but its a hard sell. An email/phone campaign was working well for one client and a strong SEO and better website worked for another.

My best service I can offer a client is PPC testing and throw a bunch of services and offers at it and see where the response is then direct EVERYTHING to it. It's hard to find a client to understand this but they are out there. They're just as desperate for clients as you are and ANYTHING (even sign design) that gets the phone to ring is going to look amazing to them.

Oh and on one restaurant I designed a coupon and told the guy to send a few of his kids out with samples of the food to local businesses. Told them to say, "We are just down the street, if you like it, here is a coupon for 50% off your order."

I use both, you can be running a PPC ads while waiting for your SEO to kick in, works everytime!

When ALL is said and done it is important to let the client know that it all boils down to testing. I give case studies in my presentation and let them know what has worked well in the past. At the same time what works well for one in one area will perhaps not work as well for someone else in another area.

I will sometimes help them understand it in the way of the medical practice. Somebody comes in with symptoms that a particular prescription works for. Someone else comes in with the exact same symptoms but the same prescription has no effect with them. Why do you think they call it a medical practice or the physicians medical practitioners?

I have been in advertising for 24+ years and it has always been that you stay with the basics of good advertising but you try tweaking when you have the opportunity. Some will work and some will not. Those that work you see running on a constant basis and will be added to a swipe file. Those that didn't work are short lived.

I hope this helps.

Randy

Great feedback guys! Love the analogy about the video thumbnail and the creative marketing, John implemented for his client. I actually have a knack for creating videos and have ranked a few on the first page for a few keywords. Although I think animoto could offer more editing options, it kind of puts a cap on my creativity but that's another topic. I will be definitely adding PPC to campaigns.

Implementing any marketing solution for a small business is a learning curve. Getting them to start to track calls coming into the business is a starting point.
Short term wins can usually be found in the existing customer base ( with the right offer). I tend to advocate PPC as a kick start and a way to test specific offers. SEO should provide the long term solution but is still a difficult concept for many small businesses to grasp.

I would do ppc first since it's fast. While the client is getting results from the ppc, jumpstart their SEO campaign and rank them as soon as possible. Eventually they'll start getting traffic with their main keyword, but you could also run ppc for obscure keywords also... giving you supplemental traffic this way.

Tara,

Time for someone to be honest.

What these WSO sellers do is this

Trip over a nut and land a client and than take a screenshot of the check they got and make a product or even use some rehashed PLR content and re work it saying they are rolling in the dough and landing clients left and right. It's actually quite comical.

An irresistible offer will open a firehose of leads for most businesses. The media in which it's delivered is irrelevant, whether it's a damn postcard or PPC campaign, if the offer isn't absolutely 'sexy' then forget seducing customers cash

Save 50% sure works, ask Groupon. Just like the $9.95 WSOs

The secret is the "LIST".

I own a carpet cleaning business and I have the first spot on google places for my town. I would say it makes my company anywhere from 1500.00 to 3000.00 a week that I wouldnt have with out google places. The key is to have a website that can convert!

PPC works but costs alot of money. And as everyone knows with PPC you need to test, test and test some more to make sure you have the right formula! This can get very expensive... If your starting out you my not have the necessary capital to fund a ppc campaign.

The best way i have found to hook clients is face to face. This means door knocking and networking.

Moreover, the more clients you have the further your name will spread as the "internet expert guy". 60% of my business is from recommendation and referrals, This is where the real money is made but does take time to build up.

Matthew thanks for that cut throat truth! When you actually get in the trenches you find that just getting them on the first page isnt the end all!

Carpet doctor, that's great results from Google places! I think we have to bundle all these things together in order to get the clients phone ringing and ppl dropping them emails... At the end of the day thats all I care about and I know that's all the clients want!

I really appreciate everyone contributing to this thread!

Hmmm sounds great, I like the idea of offering PPC and then an upsell to SEO