SEMPO - 2008 Search Engine Marketing (SEM) Survey Results

SEMPO SURVEY SHOWS SEM OUTPERFORMING TRADITIONAL MARKETING PROGRAMS

Advertising Execs Fortifying SEM Budgets with New or Reallocated Funding

Social Media Marketing

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) will grow from a $13.5 billion industry in North America to $26.1 billion in 2013 according to a 2008 survey conducted by SEMPO - Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization. Sixty-three percent of the executives from SEM agencies and advertisers cite paid placement as their most effective form of advertising with 50 percent saying organic search engine optimization (SEO) brought their best returns. If this reported enthusiasm for SEM is any indicator, aggressive companies will soon be following the lead of these executives now allocating totally new SEM budgets or actively shifting funds from less effective online and off-line marketing programs to search engine marketing.

Download the highlights of the survey.

ROI Ranks High Among SEM Drivers

Accountability and return on investment were the top forces driving SEM's rapid growth says senior management among the firms surveyed. Additional factors include the increase in small-to-midsize businesses using SEM, greater consumer usage of search utilities, better targeting and niche offerings, and long-term inventory growth. These agencies forecast an increased spending of 60 percent on organic SEO and 58 percent on paid placement in 2009 alone.

Benefits of Using Paid Placement Providers

The bottom line benefits of working with outside paid placement providers became ever more apparent with data from this industry survey. Agencies concluded that it's more economical to employ providers that have the knowledge and experience to best handle their paid placement programs. They indicated they lack the in-house capabilities and necessary tools to stay abreast of the initiative's best practices as well as its being too time consuming and complicated to be cost effective for the non-professional.

Proceed Innovative continues to provide you with valuable and reliable information to help you make sound SEM business decisions. For access to the full SEMPO survey revealing the data on SEM's $12.6 billion jump over the next few years, how companies are proactively building their SEM budgets while reducing others, the favorable rankings of paid placement and organic SEO over - until now - traditional marketing programs, or the reasons why companies value the experience and knowledge of outside paid placement providers:

Download the highlights of the survey.