“Facebook on Friday said an attack on its computer network led to the exposure of information from nearly 50 million of its users. The company discovered the breach earlier this week, finding that attackers had exploited a feature in Facebook’s code that allowed them to take over user accounts. Facebook fixed the vulnerability and notified law enforcement officials.”
Source
These breaches aren’t a surprise anymore. Literally almost every week we learn of some major company, some million (billion!) dollar firm which, despite its amazing assets, has had its security breached, and the information of trusted clients/users compromised.
Stop thinking it can’t happen to you, stop thinking your company is too small to attract attention. The simple fact is that if a billion dollar company, with literal MOUNDS of money devoted to security can be hacked, you stand little chance against the actors involved.
Unless you employ a team of certified and experienced defense professionals, who are backed by a billion dollar company, but free to implement the newest safeguards without the fear of responding to stockholders. You need a team committed to not only detection and defense, but also backup and renewal.
Since most breaches influence companies for months before detection, and once your information is compromised it becomes truly life-changing to reset your information and recover (if you can) your identity and that of the clients who trusted you, the key lies in early detection, segregation, and elimination.
That is what we offer.
If you are into content marketing business, you must have heard the words SEM and SEO around you. You might have been into conversations with your colleagues, whereby, these words may have casually sprinkled and freaked out at the thought that someone might be asking you talk about it too! Well, SEM and SEO are two very commonly used marketing terms, but do you really know what the words actually mean?
SEO and SEM do not have the same meaning!
The purpose of SEO and SEM is to increase the visibility of a website, but you cannot use these two words interchangeably. Speaking of the main differences between them, SEM is all about paid search tactics, whereas, SEO makes use of organic techniques to shape credibility for the search engines. Does that make sense? No? Let’s dive into the topic to clarify you regarding SEM and SEO.
So, what is SEO? 
The full form of SEO is Search Engine Optimization. It’s a process that makes use of different types of techniques to make a webpage appear in a higher rank in search results. The good thing about rising your search ranking will also raise the traffic to your website.
Basically, we can conclude that good SEO is equaled to more visitors equals to more customers and thus, more sales!
Bear that in mind that Google is always changing their algorithm. As a business, it is your duty to keep up with the top search engines trends. SEO is all about patience. It is a constant process that progresses with time.
And what’s SEM?
SEM refers to Search Engine Marketing. The purpose of this is to bring in appropriate traffic from the search engines through sponsored ad listings. More often than not, SEM is about pay-per-click (PPC) advertising slash marketing. There are a lot of PPC platforms in search engines and social media, however, Google Adwords beats them all by becoming the most popular and successful platform. The purpose of SEM is to help online advertisers to gain more popularity in the search engines and push the right traffic without having to delay. Remember, if you want to be successful with SEM, it is important to have a strong and dynamic SEM strategy that would get the optimal return on your investment.
The Big Question; Where to Start?
Your expert marketer friend might have told you that SEO is the best and that’s the way to go because of the higher quality leads that it offers at a cheaper rate compared to SEM. It is not so simple! Your friend may have been talking about a business that is different and has its own unique needs. Your friend might have been talking about his startup, which is still a small business and may not have much of a big advertising budget. Plus, the business might also be lacking the proper resources needed for doing successful SEO.
It’s best for you to gain clarity as per your business requirements. Get a clarification as to what you should choose for your business and why. Build a strong online marketing strategy that is suitable for your business. Once you have the right marketing strategy, you can proceed with gathering the right information. You’ll know what your target audience is looking for and which is the best way you can reach them. Don’t worry if your business is still small and new. What matters is the type of audience you are about to reach and how you actually reach them.
Read ahead to know about the advantages and disadvantages of both SEM and SEO that will give you a better idea of what to expect from these two and channel that is meant for your business.
Why Use SEO?
You may have come across a lot of online marketers who swore that SEO is the most effective. Since Google has upped their game, things are no longer so easy. Nowadays, it’s more about the kind of quality and the quantity of value that you’re capable of delivering.
Improve your website for search engines and get organic traffic instead. Here’s how:
- More Branding: While your competitor brands are up to making commercial search terms, you can look for topics related to your niche. Making the topics more relatable to the potential customers. When they will find out that your content is much stronger, it will have an indirect positive effect on your branding. Google itself is used by numerous internet users as a tool for research that helps them make better purchasing decisions. No matter which market you are in, creating useful content will help you build a better brand.
- More Trust and Credibility: Google will never let you down. They always work hard to bring you only the best websites on the first page. Google is undeniably highly reliable in terms of service. When you click on the first page, you are automatically transmitting credibility and trust points from search users. Admit it that most of the time you would be ignoring sponsored ads and be looking for organic search listings. If your business also includes more organic search listings, it makes it easier for you to stand against the paid and sponsored ads. Just another additional tip; if you are running a business that is very much dependent on reviews, try to be visible in Search Engine Results Page (SERPs). The bunch of positive reviews will enormously help your business gain credibility.
- Lower Costs: As a business, these are the best words you can always want to come across. Plus, another thing you would willingly want to come across is having to invest very less but getting greater results. Yes, that’s what SEO is all about! Of course, there are costs involved when running a successful SEO campaign, but comparatively, they are much lower. If you’re already wondering how is that possible, it’s because the height of brand awareness that you are to create with SEO and the traffic that you can pull off will cost you with other marketing methods. Although SEO is not at all cheap, it’s reliable and most importantly justifies the costs. With SEO, it’s always a win-win!
What happens if you prefer to use SEM?
Most content marketers literally believe in SEM (or PPC). But before you rush into implementing SEM, look at these reasons and verify whether your business is suitable for SEM.
- Better Control: With the use of SEM, there is no way you are limited in any way because SEM is more result driven and you have total control over your sponsored listings or PPC. Test and tweak every detail of your ad and you can improve the performance of the campaign in general if you feel it’s necessary to. Unlike SEO, SEM content can be more promotional and persuasive. To get the highest click-through rate, you are free to customize each and every element of your ad.
- Get More Views: When you are doing SEO, chances are that the right people might not be visiting your website. SEM confirms that your ads are laser targeted towards the audience who are really looking for your product or service. And that makes you get more views, boosting your brand’s visibility. Don’t expect people to immediately click on your ads, but eventually, they will search for your product when they are in need. Therefore, in every way, paid ads are what taking your business places by filtering out people who are not a part of your campaign and getting potential target audience.
- Keep your Budget Under Control: While SEO might be needing the least costs associated with online marketing, SEM or PPC is a bit different than that. Since you are investing money in SEM, you are able to control each and every cent at every step. This helps you save money in the long run. Using SEM, you are able to control your daily budget, whereby, you can start off with a very small amount. When you figure out which tactic is giving you the best return on your investment, ramp up your budget and make the most out it without having to worry about incurring losses.
Additional Tips for SEO and SEM;
The Dos of SEO:
- Emphasize on creating high-quality and well-written content that is engaging
- Study the right keywords and incorporate them appropriately
- Include photos, videos and GIFs, which are thought to make content interactive. Ensure that the photos are resized to enhance the page’s loading time
- Insert third-party links that are credible sources
The Don’ts of SEO
- Don’t stuff your content with keywords
- Don’t pay for links as they do not add any value to your content
- Avoid repeating the same title and meta descriptions for different articles. Always come up with something new!
The Dos of SEM:
- Make use of the SEM tools at its best
- See what your top competitors are up to
- Continuously keep researching your audience
- Share your own content
- Keep an eye on the details to find out what ad copy is the most effective
The Don’ts of SEM
- Don’t overlook the power of ad extensions because it makes it easier for customers to interact with your website
- Don’t just focus on one group of people. As an alternative, write different content for diversified demographics
- Try not to use too much punctuation marks. If you think to add extra exclamation marks or capitalizing every other word would emphasize your point, it’s not right. In fact, it comes off as irritating.
What Do I Exactly Need to Know?
We’re absolutely sure that you now know the complete difference between SEO and SEM. Make use of these terms correctly and wisely. You may initiate a conversation about this topic at your dinner table. Okay, maybe not that far, but at least don’t be confused. Figure out how you can implement SEO and SEM strategies to improve your site.
If you already have a website and are puzzled about what to do next, we would suggest, start adding new content that combines keywords well, links and calls to action. And if you’re yet to start, you already have the guidelines to start constructing the most successful one so far.
Sources:
SEO vs. SEM: What You Need to Know, Express Writers
Search Engine Marketing (SEM): What It Is & How to Do It Right, Word Stream
The Flint Tech Solutions digital marketing team is expanding, and ready to help you move to the next level of success, Marketing, branding, social media management, content creation, and copywriting are the things we’re known for, and if you ask us about Intelligent SEO, you’re going to hear something that might surprise you. Hit us up at info@flinttech.com, or use the chat over there on the right!
The past few years have been stellar. The rapid growth of technology has helped several industries to grow into major businesses, and it is believed to be all for the better. About a decade ago, going on a road trip would mean flipping through pages after pages to find which direction to head towards. Today, we can take the fastest, shortest and even toll-free routes with utmost ease. Even getting a taxi has become so much easier. Gone are the days standing on the side of the road, either burning under a scorching sun or getting wet in the rain. Thanks to the transportation industry that has revolutionized so much for their digital disruptors like Uber.
What is Digital Disruption?
Digital Disruption is making use of digital technologies like social media, mobile phones and analytics to challenge the status quo. Typically, it’s about improvements on ideas that haven’t been thought about. Digital disruption is almost everywhere. But unlike traditional systems, they do not intend to be disrupted themselves.
The pace at which technology is rapidly growing and evolving, digital disruptors are almost everywhere and moving quickly to every corner of the world. What do you think is the next big disruption? Other than the automobile industry, here are 7 other industries that will experience an upheaval soon in the clasp of digital disruptors:
7 Industries That Are Headed to be The Next Digital Disruptors
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Virtual Reality
Virtual Reality, seriously? You must be thinking we are talking about the most commonly used applications of video games and TV. However, did you know there is plenty of R&D being done on this technology with millions of dollars of investments behind them? Virtual Reality is paving its way for innovation.
It may seem like a far-fetched idea right now seeing as we are not there yet. But with the heavy investments, it will usher in another revolution that leaves us wondering how we managed to live so long without such a technology by our side. From virtual tours to tourism to video conferencing or even distance learning, virtual reality simulations are on their way to making a HUGE breakthrough!
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Healthcare
The healthcare industry at present is deprived of “pleasant experiences.” This is where the role of digital disruptors come in. They are on their way to a massive development in making the consumer experience more comfortable, fast and useful. There is more to come.
Although there is heavy regulation, it is predicted that the healthcare industry is going to be one of the next big disruptors in the digital space. Right now, you may be experiencing a lot of pain in the healthcare side, but the days are not far when digital solutions will enable you to have better experiences in fulfilling your health needs.
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Professional Services
With technology exposed to more innovation, you will soon find that the tasks that were originally done by people in the professional services industry will be done by computers and robots. You might already know that this is what will happen in the future, but here’s the deal: think about booking your flight tickets through an artificial intelligence-driven app/website.
This is how digital will disrupt the traditional professional services industry by making use of computers to do the work. In the future, the professional services industry will extend towards advisory and consultancy services as well.
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Experiential Marketing
Imagine it’s 2040 and the customer loyalty, hyper-targeted, and brand loyalty marketing strategies are all exhausted. In fact, you do not need to go that far. After a few years, these tactics will lose their effectiveness. And businesses are fully aware that the engaging tactic that works well today will not work tomorrow.
While everyone is talking about hyper-targeted marketing strategies and segmented data, did anyone notice the huge growth in the online presence of experiential marketing? It’s the online engagement, online presence and online splashes that everyone can share and talk about, which makes experiential marketing a digital prodigy.
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Manufacturing
What’s a world without manufacturing? This industry has been powerful for a very long time now. The manufacturing industry is controlling what you are holding in your hand, what you are using to communicate with, and how you are keeping yourself entertained. The manufacturing industry is pretty much all about how you will go about your lives.
Think of smart home appliances facilitated by the use of the internet, which is where manufacturers decide to play their role in the digital world. With the technological advancements that are currently pacing through, it will be exciting to see what the manufacturing industry has in store for us.
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Insurance
When you see a guy selling insurance, you are almost always in a hurry trying to get away from him! A few years from now, you won’t have to do that. In fact, the change has already started. Startups like Insurify use the Facebook Messenger chatbot to provide automated insurances.
Furthermore, Lemonade’s smartphone app gets their user’s rental insurance done in minutes. If you are worried about falling victim to fraudulent activities then fret not! These companies spend more than $40 billion a year to fix these loopholes. Artificial Intelligence is changing the way insurance companies run their business.
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Artificial Intelligence
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the real game changer. To tell you the truth, this is the next big digital disruptor. Have you seen the impact it has already created in the society? While you may be frustrated by the way a customer care executive has behaved, AI can change all of that.
It aims at helping to deliver a more conversational experience with the company’s consumer, creating conventional dialogues by building connections. AI is already helping you with your digital marketing by delivering more personalized ads to the right consumers at the right place and at the right time to drive in more customized experiences.
How can you Succeed at Digital Disruption?
Don’t get terrified if your business is on the verge of facing digital disruption. Here are some solutions that will help you thrive during digital disruption:
- Don’t Be Afraid to Bring in Changes: Was your business structured during the pre-digital economy? In that case for you to survive, you need to adapt to new processes and habits. For example, Uber has changed the entire taxi industry by remaking a more personalized mobile experience. If the taxi industry wants to survive, they need a complete surgery in providing their service.
- Focus more on Solutions, Not Products: It really doesn’t matter what products you are selling. What matters is how you are selling it. If you are selling something highly profitable, it will bring in more competitors in the industry. To battle such competition, you may consider changing your production style or improving your quality.
- Step Ahead with a Digitized Platform: Move a step ahead with a digitized platform. The best companies are learning on grasping their market with a great digitized platform that enables a high-quality transaction, efficiency, innovation and consumer intimacy. A good example of this would be Amazon. They are constantly raising the bar for their competitors by still remaining the top choice for their customers.
- Hiring a Digital Officer Won’t Solve Your Problems: If you think that hiring a marketing head, HR head, and a chief digital office would bring you success, then you may be wrong! That’s because the problem of digital disruption is bigger than that. It requires all the part of the business to work closely together, something they might never have done before. Instead of hiring a chief digital officer, learn the capabilities of your business. You might need to initiate changes and bring in new roles in a department itself and restructure the goals of your business to make success happen.
In Conclusion…
…there are exciting times ahead! Digital disruptors are affecting each and every industry. While you might not be acting on it right now, your competitor might have already believed in the changes and started working on them. You see, it is important to have enough technological skills for individuals to tackle the new technology in order to succeed.
Whatever happens, you can count on these 7 industries to become the next digital disruptors. Do you agree with us? Let us know what your thoughts are on this in the comment section below!
Sources:
The Coming Wave of Digital Disruption, Strategy-business
7 Industries That Are Headed to Be The Next Digital Disruptors, Business 2 Community
11 Industries Poised To Be The Next Digital Disruptors, Forbes
The Flint Tech Solutions digital marketing team is expanding, and ready to help you move to the next level of success, Marketing, branding, social media management, content creation, and copywriting are the things we’re known for, and if you ask us about Intelligent SEO, you’re going to hear something that might surprise you. Hit us up at info@flinttech.com, or use the chat over there on the right!
