This is a 60,000 mile view of what an SEM optimization or service agency or technology provider should offer in order to properly address the needs of the SEM market. Keep in mind, SEM is an ever-evolving field with companies like Google leading [owning] the market. In order to serve your clients I believe you should have the following top 5 characteristics as a company.

1. Professional and speedy customer service.

2. Knowledge of the client’s target market.

3. Being pro-active and flexible in your strategy.

4. Google API connectivity. There is just no way around it. I believe there is not business case that can support not having Google API connectivity, is there?

5. Thought leadership in SEM trends and a proper execution reflected in the technology.

An increasingly important point is to have true global knowledge and presence. Large companies are going to demand that you have a presence wherever they are present. If your company is not lean and flexible enough to adapt to these demands quickly, you might see your target pool shrinking.

If you want your company to be a great company, allow your people to be creative, to think out of the box and to stay ahead of the market so that you can beat competitors.

In some cases, your client might be years behind the market leaders in terms of SOV* and experience. But if you apply resources, hard work and a well thought out strategy, your clients should be able to catch up pretty quickly to the market leaders.

That’s the beauty of SEM. Not only it levels the playing field, but if you apply a disciplined approach to innovation to reaching your target market, a boost in performance will follow.

* I’m not suggesting you should measure SEM performance by SOV. SOV should be used as a proxy to real performance metrics, even when your goals are number of eyeballs [super bowl style, right?].