In today’s strategy breakdown, I’m showing you a sneak peek from Kevin Indig’s course on Semrush Academy. You can watch the full video course on how to craft a winning SEO strategy for in-house marketers here.
On to the lesson!
SEO tip: How to get executive buy-in (and more budget) for your SEO strategy.
Even though SEO has a very low marginal cost, it still takes resources.
Somebody still needs to fund that headcount, the tools, and content or data necessary for projects.
Most SEO activities also need support from teams like design, data, engineering, and others to have impact. And leaders need to allocate capacity where they think it has the biggest impact.
And lastly, SEO activities can take time to show results. Without leadership buy-in, it’s really hard to get a long term commitment from supporting teams.
The problem is that executives are short on time and attention. They have a thousand things going on at all times. That’s why they filter information and pay attention to specific red and green flags that I’m introducing to you now.
Red flags are things like:
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Unimportant details
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Tactical topics
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Metrics not related to revenue, market share, or growth
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Fluff, uncertainty, doubts, or skepticism
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Big claims without data to support them
Green flags, on the other hand, get you attention from decision makers. And those are things like:
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Revenue
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Market share and growth
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Significant wins, or clearly articulated problems with proposed solutions that need an executive decision
Talking to executives takes a specific skill set to cut through the noise and get their attention. Any argument you bring needs to answer the following questions:
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Is the impact significant?
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What resources do you need?
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Can you deliver results?
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And how fast can it deliver results?
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What are the returns of your actions?
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Do you have a plan to move forward, and
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What are the assumptions that we operate under?
A good strategy itself isn’t enough to succeed. Even the most rational leaders make judgments based on likability, credibility, and first impressions.
That’s why you need to work behind the scenes to drive leadership towards buy-in and decisions.
Here’s how:
#1. Build rapport in one-on-ones
You want to build a relationship with executives who make decisions. See their points of view and where they’re coming from and what they care about.
#2. Show early drafts of the strategy in personal meetings
Get direct feedback so that leadership feels like they have a say in the strategy.
#3. Send pre reads
This avoids being steamrolled in the meetings and surprise leadership.
#4. Pound the drum
The rest of the team, including the leadership team, needs to know the strategy, but by just saying things once, they will often be forgotten. So you need to be loud about the strategy. You need to repeat the core messages for people to really understand them.
Thanks to Kevin Indig and the Semrush Academy team for sharing this lesson! You can watch the full course on how to craft a winning SEO strategy for in-house marketers here.
-Jeremy
