A lot of people are talking about recent research numbers from Forrester and [x+1] showing the recent and projected rises in digital advertising, led by search engine marketing (SEM) spending. These correspond to a continued drop in traditional spending but also an overall lack of confidence is marketers’ expectations of search ad performance.

Companies are moving more and more to digital and to search in particular because that is a critical component of today’s marketing environment. Moreover, investing in SEM is safer, especially in today’s troubled economy, because it is easier to justify a spending avenue with a superior ROI. But does SEM spending truly give a superior ROI? In the short run, its effective impact is easily measurable; however, that does not take into account the more subjective value of long-term advertising and PR campaigns whose goals are not necessarily immediate conversions, but increased brand awareness.

Today’s superior ROI from SEM comes partly from the months and years of work building brand positions using traditional marketing principles. Companies that forget those principles and rely solely on short-term measurable SEM conversion statistics might well find that over time they are getting a diminishing return on their search dollars because they’ve slowly let their brand positions decline.

Domus is a dynamic marketing communications agency based in Philadelphia. We have been leading the charge with our clients to effectively embrace all of the exciting opportunities available to marketers today. But we haven’t lost sight of the fundamental principles that must underly every strategy. Please visit our web site to find out more about us.