One thing that I learned during my stay in business school was the concept of synergy. Don’t get me wrong. I was familiar with the concept, but I just didn’t know using it could get you the big bucks. But synergy is a beautiful concept and applies to the search industry as well. In essence, we are not really dealing with math in the online advertising industry. If A+B was always “A” + “B,” then there would be no synergy, and it’d be sad day for us all.

In reality, [A+B] can often topple [A]+[B}, and that is what most of us marketers live for. Combining channels to get more out of them than we would ever get from each channel individually. That is exactly why you shouldn’t put all your eggs in one basket. SEO is a wonderful channel, but you may be able to get more out of your online marketing effort by combining your efforts in SEO and PPC channels. The same can be said about online media. In fact, research has shown that you can increase your SEO/PPC click-through by using display advertising.

The same can be said about other types of advertising. I don’t know about you, but when I see a commercial on TV that I like, it stays with me for some time. When I search for something and see that ad online, there is a good chance that I will click on it. That doesn’t mean I am going to buy it. But the TV ad puts a seed in my mind and makes me more receptive to what the manufacturer has to offer. Without that commercial, I would probably not pay attention to any of the paid ads.

These days, you can’t expect to survive by being a one trick pony. That just doesn’t work anymore. You can put everything you have in SEO, and you could fall from your horse overnight. Being involved in multiple channels not only ads to your layers of core competence, but also allows you to stay relevant even if you are not doing too great in a few of your channels. And the synergies are the great unknowns here. But I am sure as heck glad that we are not dealing with pure math here, aren’t you?