Indirect Marketing: How SEO Can Help

Intro

The whole online business and marketing revolution has made selling so easy that everyone is trying to sell you every living moment of the day. You open any app, social media, go to a website, listen to a podcast—you are being sold something or the other.

While there is nothing wrong with selling, people may still sometimes get averse or even numb to it. Which is why, having indirect marketing in the mix is important to balance things out.

Indirect marketing, unlike its direct counterpart, doesn't ask for the sale right away. Instead, it builds relationships, nurtures trust, and establishes a brand presence. This, over time, converts interest into action.

In this article, let’s talk about how indirect marketing is different from direct marketing and its advantages. We’ll also explore Search Engine Optimization or SEO which is one of the most effective forms of indirect marketing. So, let’s dive in.

What is Indirect Marketing?

Indirect marketing is a subtle yet powerful approach to reaching potential customers without direct sales pitches. Direct marketing aims for immediate sales. On the other hand, indirect marketing focuses on building relationships and nurturing potential customers over time.

This strategy involves various methods that provide value to the audience first, establishing trust and brand recognition. For example, a company might share informative blog posts, engage in community events, or offer helpful resources, all without explicitly promoting a product or service.

How is Indirect Marketing Different from Direct Marketing?

Indirect marketing and direct marketing are two sides of the marketing coin, each with its unique approach to reaching customers. The following is a list of some ways in which indirect marketing differs from direct marketing:

1. Time: Indirect marketing plays the long game. It focuses on building relationships and brand awareness over time, rather than pushing for immediate sales. Direct marketing, on the other hand, seeks quick responses with calls to action that prompt immediate purchases or inquiries.

2. Costs: Generally, indirect marketing can be more cost-effective in the long run and can help bring down your customer acquisition costs. Strategies like SEO and content marketing require upfront investment. But they offer sustained benefits without ongoing costs for each lead or sale. Direct marketing often involves continuous expenditure, such as buying mailing lists for creating email campaigns or paying for ads.

3. Measurability: Direct marketing offers clear measurability. It allows businesses to see the direct impact of specific campaigns on sales or leads. Indirect marketing's impact, while significant, can be harder to measure precisely. Because indirect marketing builds value over time and influences through multiple touchpoints.

4. Trust building: Indirect marketing excels in building trust and credibility. By providing value without an immediate expectation of a sale, businesses can establish themselves as authorities in their field. Direct marketing doesn't naturally foster the same level of trust. Direct marketing often relies on the immediate appeal of offers or promotions.

Understanding these differences is crucial for businesses to effectively balance their marketing strategies.

What are the Different Types of Indirect Marketing?

Now that you understand the differences between direct and indirect marketing, let's look at different types of Indirect marketing.

1. SEO (Search Engine Optimization): SEO is the art of optimizing your online content so that search engines like Google show it as a top result for searches of a certain keyword.

2. Content marketing: This strategy involves creating and sharing valuable content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience. This could include various platforms such as your website, social media, emails, etc.

3. PR (Public Relations): PR focuses on maintaining a positive image and building a strong relationship with the audience through media coverage and public communication.

4. Social media marketing: Utilizing platforms like Facebook, X, Instagram, and LinkedIn, social media marketing is a great way to engage with your audience in a more personal and interactive way.

5. Referral marketing: This strategy relies on word of mouth and personal recommendations to acquire new customers.

What is SEO? How Can it Help with Indirect Marketing?

Search Engine Optimization or SEO is the practice of increasing the quantity and quality of traffic to your website through organic search engine results. For instance, when people are searching for search terms related to your products/services on Google, with SEO your website will show up at the top.

SEO is a fundamental element of indirect marketing. It offers a suite of benefits that can elevate your brand's digital presence:

1. Building brand awareness: SEO helps your website appear higher up in search engine results, making it more visible to potential customers.

2. Enhancing credibility and trust: Websites that appear on the first page of search results are often perceived as more trustworthy.

3. Long-term relationship building: SEO is about more than just driving traffic. It's about attracting the right audience and providing value through your content.

4. Cost-effectiveness: Unlike paid or display advertising, the traffic generated from SEO is free. While SEO requires an initial investment in terms of time and resources, it can lead to sustained organic traffic without the need for ongoing spending.

5. Reaching a wider audience: By targeting specific keywords and phrases, SEO allows you to reach a broader audience that is actively searching for information related to your products or services.

6. Supporting other marketing efforts: SEO can complement other marketing strategies, such as social media or email marketing. It can help drive sales through product-led marketing and growth.

7. Improving UX: Part of SEO involves optimizing the user experience (UX) on your website. A site that is easy to navigate and provides valuable content is more likely to convert them into customers.

How to Get Started with SEO for Indirect Marketing?

Now that you understand how important and impactful SEO can be for indirect marketing, let’s talk about the basics of how you can get started with it:

1. Keyword Research

The first step in leveraging SEO for indirect marketing is conducting thorough keyword research. This process involves identifying the terms and phrases your target audience uses when searching for information, products, or services related to your business.

Start by brainstorming a list of potential keywords that reflect your brand, offerings, and the interests of your audience. You can use a keyword finder tool or tools like Google's Keyword Planner for this step.

Once you have a list, you can prioritize keywords based on relevance, search volume, and how competitive they are.

Aim for a mix of broad terms and more specific, long-tail keywords. The border terms attract more traffic but are difficult to rank for. While the more specific long-tail keywords are easier to rank for and are likely to convert better.

For example, if you're a law firm, keywords like “lawyer for tenants” or “lawyer near me” could be highly relevant to your business and help with SEO for your law firm.

2. Create Quality Content

Once you've identified your keywords, the next step is to create quality content. This content should not only incorporate your targeted keywords but also provide real value to your audience. You should be answering their questions, solving their problems, and offering insights that they can't find elsewhere.

For creating content, start by identifying the topics that are most relevant to your audience and align with your keywords. For example, if you're targeting the keyword "gluten-free bakery near me," you could write a blog post about the benefits of gluten-free baking, share gluten-free recipes, or highlight customer testimonials.

Search engines favor websites that offer valuable, well-written, and regularly updated content. If you need help crafting optimized content, consider hiring an online business coach who specializes in content strategy and SEO.

To understand what type of content you should create and what you should talk about, you can use a SERP analysis tool. Using this, you can get a detailed analysis of the results that appear in Google for any search term. You’ll know who is ranking for it, and how you can create content that is similar or better.

3. Optimize On-Page Elements

This step involves fine-tuning the components of the web pages on your site to make it more attractive to search engines and users alike. This includes tweaking elements like titles, headings, meta descriptions, URLs, etc., to help you rank higher up on Google for relevant keywords.

Begin with title tags and meta descriptions, ensuring they are compelling and include your targeted keywords. Similarly, meta descriptions should have the keyword you are targeting and provide a clear summary of the page content. The meta description should be such that it encourages clicks from search engine results pages.

Next, focus on header tags (H1, H2, H3) to structure your content effectively. Use them to highlight the hierarchy of information on a page and include relevant keywords where appropriate. For example, an H1 tag on a bakery's homepage might be "Gluten Free, For Everyone" is great because it is clear and also consists of the keyword “gluten free”.

4. Build Relevant Backlinks

Backlinks are nothing but links from other websites to your site. Backlinks are a vital component for SEO because they signal to Google that your website is credible and authoritative. Which is why websites decided to link to your site from their site.

Once you have started creating quality content based on keyword research and optimizing on-page elements, you can start building backlinks. The easiest way to do it is to find websites that are linking to your competitors and reach out to them asking them to give you a backlink.

To do this, you can use a backlink checker that will identify the backlinks your competitors have. You can then make a list of these websites and reach out to them via email. Offer them content that is much better than your competitors, this will urge them to link to you.

You can also earn backlinks by creating linkable assets like tools, calculators, reports, white papers, etc. For instance, you can build a chatbot automation tool that will help you automatically attract backlinks from authority sites.

5. Leverage Local SEO

Local SEO is a strategic approach to making your business more visible in local search results on Google. It's particularly beneficial for brick and mortar businesses that have a physical location or serve a specific geographic area.

While planning your indirect marketing campaign, you can start by claiming your Google My Business (GMB) listing, which is a critical step in local SEO. This is a free portal by Google, which when optimized allows you to show up for local search results. For instance, when people search for “gluten-free bakery near me”, your GMB listing will likely show up.

While optimizing your GMB listing, you must ensure your business information is accurate, complete, and optimized with relevant keywords. You should make sure your listing includes those keywords along with your address, business hours, and photos.

If you have an ecommerce store built on Shopify, local SEO can also help drive in-store traffic and sales. You can also market your Shopify store on your Google My Business listing by linking directly to your online store from your GMB profile. This helps connect your ecommerce shop with your local brick-and-mortar presence.

6. Analyze SEO Performance and Improve

The final step in utilizing SEO for indirect marketing is to analyze your SEO performance and make continuous improvements. This involves regularly checking your website's traffic, rankings, and engagement metrics to understand what's working and what needs adjustment.

A rank tracking tool can help you see exactly how your SEO campaigns are performing. You can monitor the progress of your rankings and get insights on what you can improve.

You can also set up free tools by Google—Google Analytics and Google Search Console. These tools provide insights into how users find and interact with your site, which keywords are driving traffic, and how your pages are performing in search results.

You can also leverage AI-powered customer service solutions to gain insights into your customers' needs and interests.

Conclusion

And that was an in-depth guide on how SEO can be an effective way for indirect marketing. Indirect marketing is particularly effective in today's world, where consumers are bombarded with advertisements. By offering genuine value and building a relationship first, businesses can stand out and create a loyal customer base.