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In today's competitive marketplace, it's a given that search marketing (SEO and PPC) is crucial.
Christian Thomson is the founder and CEO of Marwick Marketing, one of Canada’s fastest-growing search marketing agencies
In today’s competitive marketplace, it’s a given that search marketing (SEO and PPC) is crucial. The edge one business has over another when it comes to attracting new customers or selling products often comes down to where it lands on Google and a few computer clicks.
To stay ahead of the curve, however, businesses now need to turn their attention to voice searches.
When Apple’s Siri was launched in 2011, it didn’t take long for people to start sending emails, checking the weather, getting sports stats and more by having a conversation with the virtual assistant. Following in her digital footsteps, Google Home and Amazon’s Alexa are the latest services that let people handle their daily tasks simply by speaking.
The takeaway? Savvy businesses can’t underestimate the power and potential of the human voice.
Research backs up the presence of this growing trend. A full 50 percent of all Internet searches are expected to be voice searches by 2020, according to analytics company comScore. By that same year, technology-consulting firm Activate estimates that there will be 21.4 million smart speakers in the United States. For businesses, incorporating voice-integrated searches into their digital strategy is crucial to future success.
“The evolution of SEO and PPC—pay-per-click—is voice search,” says Christian Thomson, CEO and founder of Marwick Marketing, a B.C.-based data-driven digital-marketing agency. “A lot of the first businesses to adopt it will get the market lead, just like when workplaces were the first to get a website, and then later, a mobile website.”
Headquartered in Squamish, Marwick specializes in search marketing for medium-sized to enterprise businesses. Founded in 2011, the company has gone on to gain accreditation as a Premier Google Partner Agency, being among the top five percent of the fastest-growing such agencies in Canada. Its team of 11 is fluent in everything from Google Shopping to Google Display, with its expertise in SEO, PPC and voice searches being increasingly in demand.
“Everyone these days is walking around with computers in their pocket,” Thomson says. “If they’re looking for a restaurant or a lawyer or a new car, in that moment, they’re using voice search on their cellphone to find what they want.
“A couple of years ago, we would talk about how nobody picks up the Yellow Pages anymore,” he adds. “Now, fewer people actually sit at their desktop to go online; we now live online. Consumers are talking to their cellphone or to Google to give them the answers. We keep businesses ahead of that curve.”
Marwick’s clients are seeing a return on their investment. Take Perfectlens.ca. Prior to working with Marwick, the leading Canadian online contact-lens store found that its cost-per-conversion in Google AdWords was increasing while its organic placements were stagnant. Within a few months of hiring Marwick things turned around, and Perfectlens.ca went on to experience a year-on-year increase in revenue of 85 percent.
Perfectlens.ca marketing manager Mariam Demian describes Marwick’s approach as thorough and well strategized. “Being clients of Marwick has been a most seamless and productive effort,” Demian says. “We’re very glad to have trusted them to help us increase our digital reach and garner higher-quality web traffic and conversion rates.”
Thomson—a father of three and former professional surfer who lives close to the waves in Sooke—is proud to be leading a company that’s based in B.C. and that prioritizes customer service. “Everything is fully customized and tailored to each business,” he says. “We don’t do cookie-cutter packages; we partner with businesses to be competitive.
“We’ve also made an internal promise that all of our work is done in B.C.,” he adds. “Everything is done in-house, not out-sourced.”
For more information on SEO, PPC, voice search, and other effective digital-marketing strategies, visit marwickmarketing.com.