Something we emphasize at enCOMPASS is taking an integrative approach to marketing. There is an abundance of marketing tools and resources to choose from today, ranging from pay-per-click ads to social media channels to YouTube—but wielding these tools in isolation from one another won’t help you reach your branding and outreach goals. To be effective, these different tactics must all be employed harmoniously, all pointed toward the same goal and working in a complementary fashion.

There are many examples of how this can work, including some that you may not have thought of. For example, did you know that pay-per-click advertising (PPC), in addition to being a powerful tool in its own right, can also enhance your search engine optimization (SEO) efforts? To make this happen, you need to understand how they play into one another and build toward a common mission. Consider some of the following examples of PPC optimizing SEO.

Start with Keyword Research

In terms of keyword research, the Google Adwords planner is a pretty unbeatable tool. This keyword research can be useful for paid search and for SEO, yet many marketers don’t leverage it for its full value. For example, you may come across some keywords that are high-cost and high-competition—and while you may decide to skip over them for your PPC activities, there’s no reason not to shuffle them into your organic search campaign, where you may be able to make a better play for them.

Indeed, testing out new or underperforming keywords, not just in PPC but in your organic search efforts as well, is a great way to boost your efficiency and expand the spread of your results.

Look for Low-Cost, Low-Competition Terms

With that said, there’s also something to be said for going after the easier, safer bets—keyword terms that are both low-cost and low-competition. While marketers sometimes have to take on the high cost of some really core search terms, they can balance it out by spending on the less-contested keywords. Here the secret is to look for qualified, intent-driven terms with low CPC—something you can find both in the keyword planner (try the “low competition” filter) but also by seeking breakout search inquiries via Google Trends.

Test New Terms

A final note: PPC can be something of a test site for new organic search terms. While it’s tough sometimes to track the true performance of a given search term, PPC is one great place to test out the value and qualification rate of some of those low-CPC, long-tail search terms.

You can do this with a brief and low-budget campaign, carefully controlling the demographics and location just to see if the search terms in question have any traction with your target demographic—knowledge that can then shape your organic search endeavors, and in some cases may prevent you from wasting too much time on a keyword that’s less impactful than you might have imagined.

What’s most important, really, is keeping an open mind to the different ways in which one marketing channel can strengthen or inform the others. That’s what integrative marketing is all about. We’d love to chat with you more about that; to start a conversation with us, contact the enCOMPASS team at your leisure.