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SEO Is Like Free Candy

Or Is It?

At go2CMO we often hear our clients prioritize “free clicks” or “free traffic”, typically associated with SEO, when initially discussing marketing channel strategy options. No surprise here, who doesn’t like free?

While one might infer that the best things in marketing are free, we often find them to be counterintuitively expensive.

Let’s use a Halloween analogy. To our kids, the spoils of Halloween trick-o-treating are ‘free”. There is no explicit door-to-door transaction as they collect those mini-Snickers, colorful Skittles and mouth puckering Sour Patch Kids.

But what did it really take to score all that sugary, free stuff (note we did not say sugar-free stuff)? Well, there is the costume cost. There is the preparation time. There is probably gas money spent.

We’re not trying to be the Halloween Grinch here, we’re simply making a point. If the end goal was to procure the best candy for the cheapest price, a simple purchase at Costco would probably make more economic sense.

While Halloween is really about the fun and not about the expense, marketing is about making smart economic decisions and getting the best return on your efforts. And while SEO may seem like free candy, as an executive decision maker, you have to take into account the costume cost. Perhaps an effective paid search strategy is your trip to Costco?

Need help with your Halloween, uh, SEO and PPC strategy decisions? Knock on our door and we'll help you pick the right treats for your business.