{"id":202,"date":"2023-12-15T23:56:41","date_gmt":"2023-12-15T23:56:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.getempowered.services\/digitalagency\/uncategorized\/email-marketing-vs-seo-what-you-need-to-know-for-2024-new-research\/"},"modified":"2023-12-15T23:59:35","modified_gmt":"2023-12-15T23:59:35","slug":"email-marketing-vs-seo-what-you-need-to-know-for-2024-new-research","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.getempowered.services\/digitalagency\/uncategorized\/email-marketing-vs-seo-what-you-need-to-know-for-2024-new-research\/","title":{"rendered":"Email Marketing vs. SEO: What You Need To Know for 2024 (New Research)"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"hs-featured-image-wrapper\"><a class=\"hs-featured-image-link\" title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.hubspot.com\/marketing\/email-marketing-vs-seo\"> <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"hs-featured-image\" style=\"width: auto !important; max-width: 50%; float: left; margin: 0 15px 15px 0;\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.hubspot.com\/hubfs\/email%20marketing%20vs%20seo.png\" alt=\"email marketing vs seo\" \/> <\/a><\/div>\n<p>I\u2019m willing to bet that you, as a marketer, you have experience with email marketing and SEO. If you\u2019re a beginner, you\u2019ve at least heard of both strategies and maybe done a bit of research into them.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m willing to bet that you, as a marketer, you have experience with email marketing and SEO. If you\u2019re a beginner, you\u2019ve at least heard of both strategies and maybe done a bit of research into them.<\/p>\n<p>Regardless of your level of experience, you might still be wondering which is a more worthwhile investment for your business. In this post, I\u2019ll discuss all things email marketing vs. SEO, from how marketers currently use both strategies to making them face off in the ring against key marketing goals.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"cta_button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hubspot.com\/cs\/ci\/?pg=b0f73a5e-16e4-41fd-9511-8564efc560a7&amp;pid=53&amp;ecid=&amp;hseid=&amp;hsic=\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"hs-cta-img \" style=\"height: auto !important; width: auto !important; max-width: 100% !important; border-width: 0px; \/*hs-extra-styles*\/; margin: 0 auto; display: block; margin-top: 20px; margin-bottom: 20px;\" src=\"https:\/\/no-cache.hubspot.com\/cta\/default\/53\/b0f73a5e-16e4-41fd-9511-8564efc560a7.png\" alt=\"Download Now: Free State of Marketing Report [Updated for 2023]\" width=\"418\" height=\"81\" align=\"middle\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Table of Contents<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"#a-quick-refresher-on-email-marketing-and-seo\">A Quick Refresher on Email Marketing and SEO<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#email-marketing-vs-seo-what-are-marketers-saying\">Email Marketing vs. SEO &#8211; What are marketers saying?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#email-marketing-vs-seo-a-comparison-against-marketing-goals\">Email Marketing vs. SEO &#8211; A Comparison Against Marketing Goals<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#email-marketing-vs-seo-the-verdict\">Email Marketing vs. SEO &#8211; The Verdict<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>A Quick Refresher on Email Marketing and SEO<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.hubspot.com\/marketing\/email-marketing-guide\">Email marketing<\/a> is sending content to a list of subscribers via email, like weekly update newsletters, promotional emails, or even a Happy Birthday message. It\u2019s a flexible and cost-effective way to share messages with your audience.<\/p>\n<p>The most important email marketing metrics are clickthrough rate (CTR), open rate, and leads\/conversions from email.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"height: auto; max-width: 100%; width: 1500px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; display: block;\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.hubspot.com\/hs-fs\/hubfs\/metricks%20tracked%20copy.jpg?width=1500&amp;height=844&amp;name=metricks%20tracked%20copy.jpg\" alt=\"metricks tracked copy\" width=\"1500\" height=\"844\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center; font-size: 13px;\"><a style=\"font-style: italic;\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.hubspot.com\/marketing\/email-marketing-stats\">Image Source<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.hubspot.com\/marketing\/seo\">Search Engine Optimization<\/a> (SEO) is how you make your website visible in organic search results. To simplify it, it\u2019s how I quickly find a step-by-step guide to replacing the batteries in my smoke detector when it starts its annoying pinging.<\/p>\n<p>Key building blocks to a successful SEO strategy are keyword research, creating high-quality, helpful content, and ensuring your website is crawlable. The most important metrics web analysts track are sales, leads, and conversions.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"height: auto; max-width: 100%; width: 1600px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; display: block;\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.hubspot.com\/hs-fs\/hubfs\/website%20metrics%20tracked.png?width=1600&amp;height=973&amp;name=website%20metrics%20tracked.png\" alt=\"website metrics tracked\" width=\"1600\" height=\"973\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 13px; text-align: center;\"><a style=\"font-style: italic;\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.hubspot.com\/website\/web-traffic-analytics-report\">Image Source<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Before pitting them against each other, let&#8217;s go over how marketers are using both practices.<\/p>\n<h2>Email Marketing Vs. SEO &#8211; What are marketers saying?<\/h2>\n<p>Our <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.hubspot.com\/marketing\/hubspot-blog-marketing-industry-trends-report\">2024 Marketing Strategy &amp; Trends Report<\/a> found that email marketing is the most leveraged channel among marketers (33%), followed closely by website\/blog\/SEO (32%).<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"height: auto; max-width: 100%; width: 1500px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; display: block;\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.hubspot.com\/hs-fs\/hubfs\/channels%20marketers%20use.png?width=1500&amp;height=844&amp;name=channels%20marketers%20use.png\" alt=\"channels marketers use\" width=\"1500\" height=\"844\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Despite email marketing being more popular, SEO offers the highest ROI, and email marketing rounds up second place.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"height: auto; max-width: 100%; width: 1500px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; display: block;\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.hubspot.com\/hs-fs\/hubfs\/channel%20roi.png?width=1500&amp;height=844&amp;name=channel%20roi.png\" alt=\"channel roi\" width=\"1500\" height=\"844\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Marketers also show no signs of letting either channel go. When we asked marketers which channels they\u2019ll invest the most in in 2024, website\/blog\/SEO came in second place, and email marketing followed right behind.<\/p>\n<p>To go a bit deeper, 48% of marketers say they\u2019ll increase their investments in SEO in the upcoming year, and a majority will continue investing the same amount in email marketing come 2024 (49%).<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"height: auto; max-width: 100%; width: 1500px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; display: block;\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.hubspot.com\/hs-fs\/hubfs\/3034%20investments.png?width=1500&amp;height=844&amp;name=3034%20investments.png\" alt=\"3034 investments\" width=\"1500\" height=\"844\" \/><\/p>\n<p>I attribute the increasing investments in SEO to Google\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.hubspot.com\/marketing\/google-eeat-update\">addition of \u201cexperience\u201d to the existing E-A-T framework<\/a> (expertise, authoritativeness, and trust) and the upcoming <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.hubspot.com\/marketing\/best-content-for-sge\">Search Generative Experience<\/a> (SGE). SEOs are likely pivoting and investing in new strategies in the face of these changes to ensure they\u2019re putting their most experienced foot forward to rank in SERPs.<\/p>\n<h2>Email Marketing vs. SEO &#8211; A Comparison Against Marketing Goals<\/h2>\n<p>In the report I mentioned above, we also asked marketers about their goals in 2024.<\/p>\n<p>The top goal is increasing revenue\/sales, followed by improving the customer experience and increasing brand awareness\/reaching new audiences. Marketers also want to increase engagement and drive traffic to their websites.<\/p>\n<p>What better way to compare email marketing and SEO than to assess how each will help marketers meet their goals? Below, I\u2019ll pit the two against each other and declare a winner for each of the top goals marketers have.<\/p>\n<h3>1. SEO wins in increasing revenue\/sales.<\/h3>\n<p>Return on investment (ROI) directly relates to marketers&#8217; top goal for 2024: increasing revenue\/sales. Since marketers say SEO has the highest ROI of any channel they leverage, I\u2019m handing this win to SEO.<\/p>\n<h3>2. Email marketing wins for improving the customer experience.<\/h3>\n<p>Improving the customer experience is the top-two goal for marketers in 2024. A pillar of any excellent customer experience is personalization, and email offers excellent personalization opportunities, so I\u2019m declaring it the winner for this goal.<\/p>\n<p>Yes, you\u2019ll optimize your website to align with your audience\u2019s needs and interests, but you can\u2019t get as personalized as you can with email marketing. You can create specific segments for personalized targeting or even send individually customized emails on a customer-to-customer basis.<\/p>\n<p>Just think about it \u2014 you\u2019ve probably never visited a website on your birthday and seen a \u201cHappy Birthday, [your name here]!\u201d banner just for you, right? If you have, I\u2019m impressed, but you probably get those personalized messages from your favorite brands over email.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Pro Tip<\/strong>: Use <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hubspot.com\/products\/marketing\/email\">HubSpot\u2019s Email Marketing Tool<\/a> to tailor your emails to individual subscribers based on key characteristics, like lifestyle stage, and capture their attention with the most relevant subject lines, attachments, and CTAs.<\/p>\n<h3>3. SEO wins for increasing brand awareness and reaching new audiences.<\/h3>\n<p>SEO takes the cake in increasing brand awareness and reaching new audiences. <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.hubspot.com\/website\/web-traffic-analytics-report\">Nearly 1 in 4 websites<\/a> have an average SEO click-through rate between 10-19%, and direct traffic and organic search are the top traffic drivers to their website.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"height: auto; max-width: 100%; width: 1320px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; display: block;\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.hubspot.com\/hs-fs\/hubfs\/website%20traffic%20source.webp?width=1320&amp;height=742&amp;name=website%20traffic%20source.webp\" alt=\"website traffic source\" width=\"1320\" height=\"742\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Your reach with the channel is significantly higher because anyone searching the internet using keywords related to your business or offers has the potential to discover you, which equals reaching new audiences.<\/p>\n<p>Your emails are only sent to people who already know about your business and have chosen to receive your emails. While you certainly can reach new people if you purchase email lists, I can never recommend this practice over prioritizing SEO to reach new audiences.<\/p>\n<h3>4. Email marketing wins for increasing engagement.<\/h3>\n<p>I have to hand increasing engagement to email marketing. While you will undoubtedly drive traffic with SEO, there is no guarantee that all your visitors are qualified and ready to take their engagement with your business a step further.<\/p>\n<p>Your email recipients are qualified leads who have opted in to receive your emails because they\u2019re genuinely interested in what you offer. This genuine interest leads them to be more interested in your offers, which can inspire them to click through to your website to learn more about what you shared.<\/p>\n<h2>Email Marketing vs. SEO &#8211; The Verdict<\/h2>\n<p>I know you want me to give a final answer of one over the other, and I\u2019m sorry to say that I can\u2019t.<\/p>\n<p>Focusing on one over the other should depend on your marketing objectives. If you want to increase brand awareness, dedicate more effort to SEO. To build personal customer relationships, spend more time on email marketing.<\/p>\n<p>What I can definitively say is that the best marketing strategies have an omnichannel approach.<\/p>\n<p>For example, I would recommend that a local business prioritizes email marketing when it comes to letting locals know about upcoming events, sales, or any business changes. I\u2019d also tell that same business that they can\u2019t forget about <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.hubspot.com\/marketing\/local-seo\">local SEO<\/a> because an optimized <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.hubspot.com\/marketing\/google-my-business\">Google My Business<\/a> profile is the best way to get out in front of local searchers who haven\u2019t discovered you yet.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re struggling to decide, consider this: If you don\u2019t want to take a combined approach, weigh your specific goals against the areas where email marketing and SEO shine and choose the one best suited to help you meet your objectives.<\/p>\n<p>If you want to take a combined approach, weigh your specific goals against the areas where email marketing and SEO shine, and choose which one is your primary area of focus and which one will be there to support the other.<\/p>\n<p>Whatever you decide, both channels are tried, tested, and true channels that will help you drive the growth you\u2019re looking for.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"cta_button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hubspot.com\/cs\/ci\/?pg=d976e6fb-0071-4c77-9973-772d11ef72d3&amp;pid=53&amp;ecid=&amp;hseid=&amp;hsic=\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"hs-cta-img \" style=\"height: auto !important; width: auto !important; max-width: 100% !important; border-width: 0px;\" src=\"https:\/\/no-cache.hubspot.com\/cta\/default\/53\/d976e6fb-0071-4c77-9973-772d11ef72d3.png\" alt=\"state-of-marketing-2023\" width=\"1920\" height=\"613\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"min-height: 1px!important; width: 1px!important; border-width: 0!important; padding: 0!important; margin: 0!important;\" src=\"https:\/\/track.hubspot.com\/__ptq.gif?a=53&amp;k=14&amp;r=https%3A%2F%2Fblog.hubspot.com%2Fmarketing%2Femail-marketing-vs-seo&amp;bu=https%253A%252F%252Fblog.hubspot.com%252Fmarketing&amp;bvt=rss\" alt=\"\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I\u2019m willing to bet that you, as a marketer, you have experience with email marketing and SEO. If you\u2019re a beginner, you\u2019ve at least heard of both strategies and maybe done a bit of research into them. I\u2019m willing to bet that you, as a marketer, you have experience with email marketing and SEO. If [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":201,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.getempowered.services\/digitalagency\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.getempowered.services\/digitalagency\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.getempowered.services\/digitalagency\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.getempowered.services\/digitalagency\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.getempowered.services\/digitalagency\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=202"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.getempowered.services\/digitalagency\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":204,"href":"https:\/\/www.getempowered.services\/digitalagency\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202\/revisions\/204"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.getempowered.services\/digitalagency\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/201"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.getempowered.services\/digitalagency\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.getempowered.services\/digitalagency\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.getempowered.services\/digitalagency\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}