Search engine marketing has been a tough sell for many companies.  Part of the reason for this is that in many companies there are only a small percentage who "get" search engine marketing.  Many of the marketing managers with companies understand the need for search marketing.  More so for online marketing in general.  Those who do understand search marketing are faced with the arduous task of selling online marketing to their managers, their team and C-Suite Executives.  While selling search engine marketing to their team and their immediate managers may not always be that difficult, selling online marketing to C-Suite Executives is a whole other ball game.  So how exactly do you sell online search marketing to C-Suite executives?  Here are a couple of points to consider when trying to sell search engine marketing to C-Suite execs.  Is search engine marketing the new C-Suite marketing?

1. Speak the C-Suite Language - Understand what is important to the C-Suite.  Perform an analysis of what their needs are.  Create a persona for the C-Suite Executive.  Find out what language they use and learn to speak that language.  It's like when you go to a foreign country and need to learn the native language.  Being able to communicate like C-Suite Executives is the first step in selling them on search marketing. 
     
2. Present Value Justification - At the end of the day, C-Suite Execs are all about ROI and profit.  A little secret for you; people are in business to make money… to make a profit.  Learn what the benefits of search marketing are and how creating a dominant online presence can help improve ROI.  Knowing that search marketing, specifically organic search marketing, can provide a great return with limited investment is a key selling point when providing value justification to the C-Suite Executive.
     
3. Educate the C-Suite - In a lot of organizations, C-Suite Executives are often looking towards traditional media to improve ROI and to market their companies.  Search marketing and online marketing is relatively new.  While it has been around for the better part of a decade (even longer depending on what you refer to search marketing as) online marketing and marketing through search is new when compared to traditional marketing media.  For this reason educating C-Suite Executives is critical in getting their buy in.  If they do not understand what SEM or SEO is, how can they accept it as a necessary and effective lead generation tool?  Understand that many C-Suite Executives may not have any perception of search engine marketing simply because they do not know what it is.
      
4. Know who the C-Suite are - sounds simple doesn't it?  Well consider this, there are a number of different C-Suite Executives that can exist and they include:

• Audit Committee Chair
• Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
• Chief Compliance Officer (CCO)
• Ethics Officer (EO)
• General Counsel (GC)
• Chief Audit Executive (CAE)
• Investor Relations (IR)
• Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
• Chief Operating Officer (COO)
• Chief Information Officer (CIO)
• Chief Technology Officer (CTO)
• Chief Security Officer (CSO)
• Chief Risk Officer (CRO)
• Chief Labor Lawyer
• Chief HR Officer
• Chief Learning Officer

A recent report by the Economist Intelligence Unit and the search company Fast reveals the attitudes towards Web 2.0 in the "typical" corporation.  Of interest here is that the report states that "The C-suite is more enthusiastic than lower-level executives.A full 85% of C-suite executives see the sharing and collaboration aspects of Web 2.0 as an opportunity to increase revenue and/or margins, versus 75% of middle management. The C-suite is also more inclined to view Web 2.0 as transforming, affecting all parts of the business (35% versus 28%) and having a significant impact on the company’s business model (41% versus 22%)."  Proving that search engine marketing and online marketing can have a significant impact on a company's business model just might be the new C-Suite Marketing that is required to get buy-in from those that can have the greatest impact on search marketing efforts.   Search marketing may not be the new C-Suite Marketing, but search marketing definitely needs to be marketed to the C-Suite.