CMO Challenges and How They Can Use SEM in a Strategic Role

SEM can be a valuable tool for CMOs to overcome challenges and achieve their marketing goals. By incorporating SEM into their overall marketing strategy, CMOs can manage initiatives such as search visibility, targeting specific keywords, measuring and optimizing campaigns, and setting up cost control, all of which can help drive business growth and success.

Modern CMO Challenges

CMOs face many demands and issues in today’s times. They need to stay ahead of the increasing competition and improve their understanding of brands and ever-changing customers. And they need to do this consistently with budget constraints and an overflow of data.

Staying up-to-date on marketing trends wasn't just a challenge in 2022. 14% of marketers believe keeping up with the latest marketing trends will continue to be their biggest hurdle in 2023.

CMO Strategy to Stay Ahead of the Competition

We can all agree that CMOs must always be looking for new and innovative ways to attract customers and gain a competitive edge. Of course, executing strategies to do this is a lot of work. A demanding part of this strategy is making fresh, engaging content that speaks to your audience. Content is a key ingredient of any marketing strategy, permeating nearly every part of the brand-building process. So, CMOs need to have a robust understanding of SEM and how to implement it properly in their operations.

Competition isn't a new concept for businesses, but it's a major concern for many marketers when they look ahead. As social media and the SERPs become increasingly saturated with branded content, many marketers need help to create content that stands out. 

Understanding Customers

CMOs also need to have a deep understanding of their target audience and their needs in order to create an effective CMO marketing strategy. 

Now comes the bad news. Customers are consuming content in more ways and through more fragmented channels than ever before – from the moment they are exposed to an ad to deciding to purchase, use, or review your product. That makes it more challenging to keep their attention. But sound SEM strategy and execution help your content to break through the mass of media out there and get to your audience when they want it. 

Data Abundance

With the abundance of data available, CMOs must be able to collect, analyze and apply data insights to drive business results. 

However, a lesser-known secret to success, one that helped former President Barack Obama win the presidential election in 2008, is A/B testing. According to Obama’s director of digital analytics, Amelia Showalter, A/B testing had probably resulted in $200m in additional revenue. It doesn’t get much more competitive than a presidential race, so rest assured, investing in sound SEM and related initiatives can be a big difference-maker.

How to Use SEM as a Valuable Tool to Diminish CMO Challenges

CMOs can use SEM to effectively address business issues such as low website traffic, low conversion rates, and poor brand awareness, among others. SEM can help CMOs increase brand visibility, generate leads, and drive traffic to their website. By utilizing targeted keywords, CMOs can optimize their SEM campaigns to reach their desired audience and generate high-quality traffic to their website.

These optimized campaigns improve the chances of conversions and increase the website's search engine ranking. Moreover, SEM can provide CMOs with valuable insights into their customer's search behavior and preferences, allowing them to make data-driven decisions on their marketing strategies.

Improve Search Visibility

Search visibility is the estimated percentage of clicks a website gets from its organic rankings for one or more keywords. For example, if a keyword you rank for gets searched one hundred times, and you get five clicks, then your search visibility for that keyword is 5%.

CMOs can use SEM to increase their visibility in search results, leading to more website traffic and conversions. By improving your search visibility, you break through the tidal wave of other competitors.

Google Ads offers many options CMOs can use to analyze their brand's performance and competitors. Auction Insights Report will contribute to CMOs’ strategy by giving you keyword impression shares or overlap rates. Tracking changes over time will help you better understand upcoming trends dictated by customers and competitors.

Test to Understand Customers

A knowledgeable CMO would consider SEM and PPC after deciding their marketing strategy. Understanding your customers is essential to your strategy. However, not many companies use SEM to gather information about customers and their preferences. For example, using SEM and display advertising, you can test customer product preferences upfront. You can discover user and customer expectations, likes, and motivations driving customer purchasing decisions.

Consumer preferences are subjective individual tastes, likes and dislikes, and predispositions. When building or marketing a product to your target consumers, you need to consider their preferences to get the best possible results. What are their motivations? Which distribution channels do they tend to buy from most?

Let SEM Help You Overcome Your Challenges

As a key decision-maker and leader within your company, you have the power to drive meaningful change and growth in your organization. In today's competitive market, staying ahead of the curve and proactively pursuing new opportunities are more important than ever.

Investing in your marketing efforts and strategy today will pay dividends for years to come, positioning your company as a leader in your industry and driving sustained growth and profitability. 

Request a free audit or Contact Us today to start benefiting from SEM.