The hit AMC drama, Mad Men, has painted a romanticized portrait of the golden age of advertising. Brand messaging was created and signed off over drinks and cigarettes; a creative tag line was all you needed for success; and TV, print, and radio were your only options as a marketer. Cut to 2014 and the Mad Men mystique seems like nothing more than a fairytale. Print is dying, you can't smoke indoors, and online ads are limited by character counts and how large of a bid you can afford.The golden age of advertising may seem like a fantasy, but is it really gone? Not entirely. The spirit Mad Men portrays has not died; in fact, it is more alive than ever, specifically in Social Media and SEO campaigns.

Social Media and SEO strategies may illicit some of the Mad Men mystique, but social media and SEO strategies still need to be based on actual tactics that you can plan/measure success around before you even let the Don Draper in you start brainstorming creative concepts. You still need to know your audience, your brand, your target market and where your target market hangs out online before you do anything.

Appeal to Human Desires

"Happiness is the smell of a new car. It's freedom from fear"

- Don Draper

"Freedom from fear" is, essentially, what search engines are all about. People are searching multiple times every single day for answers to their questions. Finding answers makes people happy-- if a searcher doesn't find what they're looking for, it can make them feel stupid, leading them to assume that they have not typed the right query. Making our answers easier to find makes both marketers and consumers happier.

Change is Inevitable- Embrace It

The narrative of Mad Men depicts a marketing landscape that is constantly becoming out of date; however, compared with the modern pace of change for SEO marketing, 1960's marketing changes moved at a snail's pace. To be successful with SEO, you must be prepared for monumental changes to happen at any point in time. Modern SEO strategies have advanced from the practices of ten years ago. Professional SEO companies who are able to keep up with the pace of change generally have a broad online marketing skill set, including extensive copywriting and technical knowledge, an in-depth understanding of web design, social media, web analytics and conversion optimization.

Clients: Love ‘em or Leave ‘em

When venturing into Social Media and SEO, do not forget your end goal-- to make money. On the other hand, it is also beneficial to keep in mind that money isn’t everything. A healthy work relationship needs synergy, positivity, a kind of flow. In one episode, Roger Sterling quoted his wise father, “Being with a client is like being in a marriage. Sometimes you get into it for the wrong reasons, and eventually they hit you in the face.” Clients you can’t see eye to eye with will seem impossible to please, and subjecting yourself to this type of relationship will just make your job miserable. At the end of the day, it’s not worth getting hit in the face.

Increasing Overall Customers/Sales 

You may have smaller goals along the way like increasing followers, traffic to your website and even brand mentions online; regardless of your planned goals, you need to make certain your Social Media and SEO efforts are helping to achieve them. It is very easy to be too focused on the creative aspect of your Social Media and SEO campaign (i.e. being too much like Don Draper). But on the other hand, it is also easy to be overly sales oriented (i.e. following the Lane Pryce route). If you are about to create your first Social Media and SEO campaign, or just want to know how to keep everything in mind, here are a few points to consider.

Plan Out Your Campaign.

• Do your research.

• What is your target market into?

• Are you trying to get return customers or new customers?

• What seasonal influence should you consider?

Integrate opportunities with your social content to bring people back to product/service pages.

• If it’s popular but there’s no way to get them into a conversion funnel, it won’t contribute to your bottom line.

Offer Online Specials/Promotions

• Incentivize people to follow you/sign up for email newsletters/tweet about you.

Advertising may have been more glamorous in the 1960’s (at least AMC makes us believe so), but the creative forces and monetization goals of agencies like Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce remain largely the same today. Are you curious about your companies marketing performance? For those curious individuals, here is a FREE Marketing Self Assessment Tool.