How to Sell SEO to the C-suite
The reality is it’s not the C-suite’s job to understand the technical aspects of SEO, but it is an SEO’s responsibility to find a way to efficiently communicate with and sell them on the benefits of organic search.
An effective holistic marketing strategy relies heavily on SEO, but convincing company executives of its importance can be difficult. It can sometimes feel like there’s a language barrier between the two teams based on the level of disconnect. Adrien Menard, CEO and co-founder of Botify, shares how the SEO team and the C-suite can get on the same page.
A recent HubSpot report found that 61% of B2B marketers feel SEO generates more leads than any other marketing initiative, making it mission-critical to relay how SEO aligns with the businesses’ overall goals and outcomes.
The reality is it’s not the C-suite’s job to understand the technical aspects of SEO, but it is an SEO’s responsibility to find a way to efficiently communicate with and sell them on the benefits of organic search. This includes its impact on the company’s bottom line, why it’s a powerful performance channel, and how it’s an efficient lever for sustainable business growth.
Here are a few tips to follow to get the resources and budget needed to make a massive impact when it comes to getting executive buy-in.
Talk the Talk of the C-suite
Since the C-suite works at the highest level of their departments and is focused on shaping the company’s overall strategic vision, they’re not as engrained in the day-to-day tasks and activities. Therefore, it’s key to understand what is important to them and brainstorm strategies that show SEO’s impact on all areas of the company.
The more you can connect the dots on how search can support their personal objectives and offset their pain points, the more they’ll be willing to buy into SEO. For example, the CTO will likely have very different goals than the COO or CHRO. Find out what each of them needs to complete their piece of the puzzle for the company and link how search can help get them there.
First, determine how investing in SEO can positively affect the outcome of other high-priority initiatives already supported by leadership. For example, if the company is in the middle of a major rebranding exercise, consider how SEO can play a role in helping drive more organic traffic to your website. Demonstrate what customers are searching for in real-time based on first-party keyword analysis, as this can be highly influential in determining product, supply chain, inventory, and sourcing strategy decisions and crafting a more relevant overall marketing strategy. Helping the C-suite easily connect your request to their priorities and goals dramatically increase the likelihood that they will also support your project.
Next, think about larger overall business objectives currently top of mind amongst the C-suite. For instance, are JavaScript issues creating a sub-par customer experience during checkout? Consider allying with the CCO or CDO to demonstrate how SEO can help alleviate these problems and ease the burden on already overtaxed customer service teams.
Once you understand these value-add connections and how they relate best to who’s being pitched, it will be easier to create a tailored presentation and proposal that resonates across the board.
Understand that Knowledge is Power
Before beginning to present ideas, be sure to give a crash course on SEO because there’s a good chance that none of the C-suite are super familiar with what it is and how it works in the overall marketing strategy. Keep the information basic and ensure it doesn’t contain too many technical terms or ideas.
If the presentation includes references to “SERP,” “render-blocking scripts,” or “domain authority,” scrap it and start again. Resist the temptation to dazzle them with SEO terminology as a technician and pivot to language that connects SEO’s story to topics that matter deeply to them.
Instead, focus on how SEO is the most efficient, cost-effective, and direct way to connect potential customers (and, therefore, sales and revenue) to the business. For example, demonstrate live how people search for the business based on already well-known keywords vs. those the company may want to be aligned with in the future. Where does the business rank? What is its ranking compared to competitors? How does this translate to customers and dollars?
Starting with a foundation of SEO basics, and showcasing how it affects the business directly, will help executives better wrap their minds around more complex processes or goals later.
Tie SEO to the KPIs That Matter
If the meat of the presentation’s focus is on vanity metrics like SERP position, website traffic or content published, then SEO isn’t being placed in context with the metrics that matter the most to the audience, and the C-suite has been lost already.
Thousands of sessions can be driven to blog or content pages, but that traffic may not be beneficial if it’s not driving brand awareness, increasing customer loyalty, or converting nascent interest into tangible revenue. To show the power and impact of SEO, think about the KPIs that matter most to the company, such as share of voice, lead quality, customer lifetime value, funnel conversion rates, average contract value, and so on.
The goal is to demonstrate that SEO has a measurable impact throughout the entire marketing chain and, in tandem, the overall profitable growth of the business. Therefore, it’s critical to show how search can help achieve goals outside of the SEO team’s goals. A great example is demonstrating how much a website visitor that came in through a marketing email is worth based on how likely that user is to convert.
See More: 7 Tips to Kick Off Your SEO Strategy
Show the Value of SEO
Google processes over 3.5 billion searches per day and 1.2 trillion searches per year worldwide, according to Internet Live Stats. This means businesses must prioritize SEO in a digital world to gain higher visibility and attract and convert searchers into customers. Pitching SEO as a whole or as a specific project to C-suite executives can be daunting, but it does not have to be challenging. If you can speak their language, tie your SEO initiatives to the company priorities, and demonstrate through real-life examples the true value of SEO to the company, it could result in strong buy-in and less struggle to get resources for future projects.
How do you ensure C-suite buy-in into your SEO plans? Share with us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
MORE ON SEO:
