There are a couple of ways that SEM can be incorporated into mortgage lenders’ marketing strategies to help source more leads. Each method can be customized to fit your search engine advertising needs, and has its own particular benefits depending on the intended goal, budget and timeframe of your SEM campaign.

Under the pay-per-click model of SEM, your organization only pays for an ad when someone clicks on it. This means that if 1,000 people saw your paid search ad, but only 100 people clicked on it, you would only pay for those 100 clicks. This model is excellent for lenders who only want to pay for search ads that result in successful sales or sign-up conversions.
The number-one thing to keep in mind is that pay-per-click advertising requires lenders to consider the cost-per-click when building an SEM budget. Once your organization has determined the budget, timeframe and placement of an ad, you must then submit bids to search engine publishers for a specific search term or phrase you want to target. More popular keywords generally indicate a higher cost-per-click, so marketing teams must carefully select the keywords they want to invest in to get the most out of their budget. When establishing a pay-per-click SEM campaign, you should also choose a maximum cost-per-click, which is the highest price you think a click is worth and the highest you are willing to pay. Specify this before entering an advertising deal with a search engine network.
Alternatively, cost-per-thousand-impressions, also known as cost per mille or CPM, is a digital marketing model through which a business designates the price of 1,000 impressions, or views, on a search engine results page. Similar to traditional print advertisements, this method increases your organization’s visibility by having your ad displayed until it has been seen by 1,000 search engine users. The cost-per-thousand-impressions SEM model is a great choice for startups and newer organizations with a limited budget and a smaller customer base. Since you only pay when you hit a benchmark number of views, businesses can have their ad run and be viewed by consumers for a longer period of time and only pay once they achieve 1,000 views.
While it is often cheaper than paying a cost-per-click, the main downside of the cost-per-thousand-impressions model is that it is not as effective at generating a specific action as a pay-per-click SEM model. Rather, the primary goal of a cost-per-thousand-impressions approach to paid search advertising is to generate as many views as possible. Although it can be helpful in growing your brand’s visibility and awareness over time and delaying payment for advertising, cost-per-thousand impressions is not the most effective method to increase sales conversions.
Ultimately, the best way to determine which method of SEM is right for you is by revisiting your organization’s marketing goals. If your goal is to increase loan inquiries or newsletter sign-ups, pay-per-click is likely the best choice for you. However, if your aim is to boost brand awareness or publicize a sale, a cost-per-thousand-impressions approach is generally less expensive to simply garner views.