Actually is hard to think a consumer will make a relatively planned purchase without looking for information in the web…and also during the very final stage of the purchase process to look for a better price of the selected product or the availability of a version hard to find with retailers.

On the other hand, SEO, SEM and ASO are not well understood tools, sometimes unknown….but all of them at the core of the consumer or customer browsing process…and therefore a fundamental marketing tool.

There are many agencies with technical skills to develop these tasks, many tools, tricks or tactics to improve results. However, I will talk about the fundamentals – frequently forgotten – that we must have in mind when planning the strategy for a SEARCH campaign/action without going in technical details.

SEO means Search Engine Organic; SEM means Search Engine Marketing; ASO means App Searching Optimization. At the end, all of them has the SEARCH word implied and all of them are a tool for consumers and for sellers….and because of this, the principles are the same, even when the tools can be different and the very complex algorithms of the big players in SEARCH are also different.

• The first principle is very easy and start with a question: How does the consumer verbalize the need our product cover?  It´s obvious, however look how many apps and products are described in terms of the product and not in terms of the need. As an example, consumer looks for a way to find the best deal for a hotel in a specific city, not for a portal concentrating hotel room offers available in internet. When you look at internet you think “I need …..” or “I want……” This is the first step to find the keywords we want to mention and repeat in our content/site. Once we have clear this idea, we can select supported in Google trends or some other tools the best options.

• The second is related to our product, our product must deliver the solution for that need…..and we must say it in the content of our site or description. If we don´t clearly say how we deliver the solution, we will not get the click or we will get the consumers by little time in our content/site. On the other hand, if what we say is not delivered, we will lose consumers very soon after purchase/download.

• Single minded message is a key element of success on SEARCH. We normally have one sentence to get the click, therefore the sentence must be clear & short. Single minded in the line that appears as a result of the search…….and also in our content or description. Important to have the necessary information…not less….and not more!!!

• To succeed in SEARCH, consistency is also another key principle of marketing that must be applied. We need to be consistent in the need we solve, the delivery of the solution, consistency on the messages to explain it and consistency across the time. SEARCH marketing requires time to become really successful.

• Digital – and of course SEARCH marketing – give the chance to optimize constantly by analysing results. Do it, incorporate insights as soon as you can.

• Marketing funnel. A very old way to evaluate a brand: how much people know about the brand? Are they familiar with the brand? Are they loyal to the brand? The logic is simple, we have to think about consumers that do not know our product/brand, other that maybe know something and other that are very familiar to our brand. This is used with other words for SEARCH specialist…going from GENERIC keywords to BRANDED keywords.

After these principles, let´s use all of the tools and tricks to optimize our SEARCH marketing efforts, we will have a better base to get good results.