Atlanta's Marketing Center

Search Engine Optimization, Part Deux

As a quick primer, the "Big 4" of search engines (Google, Yahoo, MSN, and Ask) display the websites that are most commonly associated with related keywords.  They use a ranking system so that those websites that are most appropriate for a keyword are ranked and listed at or near the top, whereas those that aren't commonly associated with a keyword are ranked much lower or not at all.  What some business owners don't realize is that most of the ranking is based upon techniques utilized within the website to rank higher.  That is, ranking higher is largely within management's control.

An important part of these search engine ranking systems (also called "algorithms") that determine website positions is the element of age and history.  That is, within their formulas are important criteria involving how long a website has been around.  (Sorry, they don't consider how long you've been in business or how old you are...wouldn't that be nice?)  Some of these criteria specifically include how long you've owned your domain (www.sample.com) and the age of the links pointing to your site.  These algorithms can further identify and reward companies that have been doing the right optimization activities over time...rather than all at once.  The bottom line is that the search engines try to limit the visibility of domains that are new and are using the latest "quick-hit" linking techniques and reward those sites that are established, informative and have been doing the right things all along.

But further, irrespective of the age and history elements, I find most companies are just not doing the basic things necessary to position themselves highly.  As a search engine optimization professional, my estimation is that in any given industry, a handful of companies actively jockey for the top positions (and lead streams), some make modest improvement attempts and most ignore the opportunity altogether.  While true that the search engines of tomorrow (5 years hence) will probably look and act differently than they do today, I can't help but think that no matter how they evolve, there's only enough room at/near the top for a limited number, and that there's no way of getting around this "haves vs have nots" dynamic.

If you find yourself in any group not active jockeying for the top position, then my advice to you is to start learning and applying those things necessary to develop an informative and visible web presence now, because that's the direction the world is going in. 

The Door Slowly Closing for Search Engine Optimization

It's difficult not to be bombarded these days with the continued glowing online trends and statistics...the bottom line is that people (read: potential customers) have and continue to flock to the internet in droves in search of products, services and information.  A recent study estimates that 72% of all buying decisions now involve the internet at some point during the buying cycle (researching, considering options, buying, confirming buying decision, or post-sale information gathering).  Business pundits routinely shout the critical importance of this medium and the need for an informative/visible web presence through books, magazines, media appearances, conferences, etc.

And yet, the majority of small businesses continue to avoid, seemingly waiting for something to happen that will help them better understand and harness this technology.  And that's a problem for a couple reasons. First, the internet is a wonderful place to exhibit products and services and do business.  It's a virtual storefront open 24/7 and can show products/services when the owner/management is working on other things...a dynamic that has been very profitable for some companies.  And second, without sounding too ominous, the door on visibility through search engines is slowly closing.  How?  More on this on the next post..

Deluged!

I'm always intrigued about the number of ad messages an average American is exposed to per day--even in a slowdown like this. This includes everything from Twitter messages to radio and tv ads to billboards. Since everyone is different in terms of what they consciously think about, I'll define it as what they're exposed to whether they're consciously aware or not. These are the claims that I discovered:

Per day:
Business Journal (Phoenix) - 500 messages
Consumer Reports - 202
Texas A&M Study - 750
Newspaper Asso of America - 2500
Book DataSmog - 3000
UCS (Union of Concerned Scientists) Study - 3000
University of Washington study - 1000
Nielsen report - 1500

What this is telling me is that we still have a LOT of advertising to digest...particularly when the average consumer has little to spend on discretionary items. But a lot of that advertising continues to be below average. My message to you is that you still need to market and advertise...but just make sure it's targeted. That way, you'll get through when others don't.

License to Promote!

When speaking with business owners about promoting their business, I tend to run into the same obstacle. It's not the budget. It's not the time that needs to be spent on marketing activities. It's not even a disagreement with how a marketing plan is written. No, the biggest issue is a false sense of humility.

Some owners by nature tend to go with the flow.  They tend to do what the next guy is doing (also known as copycat marketing). Or they tend to avoid the topic altogether.  Deep down, they consider promotions and marketing to be a bit vain.  Why stick out when business has been coming in from years based almost totally on a job well done?  But what happens when a large part of the market dries up?  What happens when the old stream of referrals isn't there anymore?

What happens is that because a large portion of contractors are humble, they don't proactively promote their business.  And when business is harder to come by, owners suddenly find themselves in a tough place. 

But it's never too late to promote one's business...even on a shoestring budget.  I find that when owners make the conscious decision to promote rather than sit back...it's truly a watershed moment.  So what I want to do is officially give you a license to promote.  The truth of the matter is that the public wants you to promote yourself.  They want an easy way to find you.  They want to see all the good work you've done.  So allow yourself the ability to promote your business.  You'll make some mistakes along the way...but to the degree that you promote, business will come in again.

Marketing like Exercise

I've tried and tried.  My attempts at the best metaphor in explaining effective marketing always seem to lead me back to one thing...exercise.  There are so many similarities that I believe it really helps to get a business owner into the right mindset through association.

The truth is that marketing the business is a discipline, much like exercise.  Do you really have to market?  Probably not to survive...but in order to grow and flourish...yes, you do.  The same goes for working out.  You don't have to work out...you'll probably live another day.  But in order to thrive and feel good on a daily basis, yes...you need to work out.

And like exercise, it needs to be done on a routine basis.  It takes some time for the muscles to build and tone.  Similarly, it takes some time for your prospects to know, like and trust you.  They need to be contacted a few different ways and over time to understand and be attracted to your offer.

Do you have a problem with exercise and working out?  Hey, no one says it's easy.  My suggestion is to hire a coach or find a workout partner who can hold you accountable until it becomes a habit.  The same goes for business.  If you're not at the level yet where a full-time marketing person is affordable, then find someone who can do it part-time for you OR hire a marketing coach.  Whatever you do, make sure those things get done...marketing and exercise...and you'll run the kind of business (and life) that you want!

Marketing Chaos

I went to a recent conference where fellow marketing professionals gathered.  You'd think that with like-minded people, the subject of marketing and the how-to's would be pretty similar for all of us.  Interestingly, it wasn't.  This is because marketing is an ocean of information and processes.  It's vast enough to get lost or at a minimum, confused.

Toward the end of the meeting, we all had a chance to help a gentleman's small business (a songwriter/producer) through advice and counsel.  After he described the business and the marketing challenges he's experienced, about 15 of us went around and gave him marketing advice and suggested techniques to drive business.  There wasn't a single similar idea between and of us.  All were good ideas and could be applied with success.

The missing ingredient in all of them was the laying of the foundation.  Without taking the steps of targeting a market and developing a USP, your business is going to be the slave of marketing tactics in the long run. 

Through all the marketing chaos, take the time to do it right...lay the foundation, build a marketing plan, then market all day long.

Numbers Game

As a marketing advocate, we're consistently offering advice on better ways of reaching prospects and customers.  Fortunately, there are a plethora of options...from email marketing to television ads.  There is a marketing mix out there for your business that is ideal.

However, that said, any marketing tactic is predicated on the idea that just a (small) portion will be interested and buy.  A marketing tactic that yields a 5% response is, frankly, incredible.  That means that generally speaking, 95% of the time you won't be successful in closing business.  The truth of the matter is that even with even the fanciest, most effective marketing tactics in the world, business development is still a numbers game.  And that never changes.

I have yet to find a business where prospects just naturally approach them in droves (save a monopoly).  Nearly all businesses have to take on a proactive approach and persist through lots of prospects saying 'no thanks'.  So the bottom line is that in order to be successful, give yourself a break and realize that successful marketing and sales means weeding through all the 'no's' to get to the 'yesses'. 

Remember that Babe Ruth only hit safely (base hit) 1/3rd of his career...which means he was making outs a lot of the time.  You'll experience the same kind of dynamic when prospecting.  Realizing it's going to happen generally takes the sting out.  Get out there and swing...a lot.

Telling stories

There is perhaps no more powerful way of influencing others than to tell stories.  What I mean is that no matter how you're attempting to influence, use the example of others around you to make a point.

For example, a software client was having trouble with someone on their sales force who was producing but was a disruptive influence and was, in my opinion, hurting the efforts of the sales group.  And so I introduced a story of my experience with a similar person I worked with in a sales organization at AT&T.  I described the short term gains but long-term pain associated with the person.  This helped fuel the dialogue around the rep's future with the company.

In selling situations, I have typically used another person as an example of how they came to decide on the product after working through some doubts and the example has translated to the person I was selling to.  Through the introduction of a similar example, people are less likely to be defensive and actually welcome communication that will help them to better understand.

Wise people use stories to relate because they know people are comfortable with them.  I suggest that you use this in marketing, sales, and other communications situations.  A good example of this in the marketing sense is the use of case studies.

Do you use case studies?  How have they worked?

All about Buying Strategies

You may not have realized it yet, but you have a strategy for everything you do.  You have a strategy for how you read a book, travel and perform your job... and you have a buying strategy.  Everyone has a buying strategy and they are not the same.

Think about when you bought an expensive item, say an automobile (your buying strategy is similar across the board).  How did you go about looking for it?  Did you get on the internet and do research on a number of cars?  Or did you ask your friends or base your decision on what they had?  Or perhaps you just went to the dealership to look at different options.  Maybe it was a combination of a couple of these or others.

Did the decision on what you wanted have to do with what you wanted (American made, blue, SUV) or perhaps what you didn't want (ie. Japanese made, green, convertible)...or again a combination? 

Did the auto you settle on have more to do with how it looked, how the sales rep presented it, or the feeling you got when you were test-driving it... or again a combination of one of these?  If you look back over a few different car buys over you're life, you'll find that the buying strategy was very similar.

The bottom line is that people have different buying strategies.  In order to effectively appeal to your target market, your marketing material needs to appeal to a number of different buying strategies.  This means your copywriting needs to be directed toward those who make decisions on the own as well as those who need external sources (testimonials); folks who base their decisions on visual, kinesthetic, and audio leads; those who like options and those who prefer procedures as well as other criteria.

A good resource for compelling advertising for the different buying strategies that make up your target market is Shelle Rose Charvet's book Words that Change Minds.  I encourage you to pick up a copy.

Marketing 2.0

For a while now, I've been wondering how all these new online sites would help the public past the surface use of catching up with old friends or exchanging pictures.  By now, I'm sure that a family member or friend has pressured you into joining Facebook or LinkedIn. No doubt they're all interesting at the personal level, but as weeks of use turn into months, it's becoming clearer that there's more to these online sites than meets the eye. What's coming into focus is really a business revolution of sorts, particularly for marketing and promotion. And statistics are supporting this revolution. Internet usage continues to grow as more devices and uses are added.  Online social media sites have exploded and there's no end of interest in them in sight. Business grows via internet sales for goods and services even in the midst of the "Great Recession". And experts say that public interest in things 'online' will become an even more integral part of our lives going forward.

For businesses large and small, what we're really seeing is a new way of communicating.  Whereas in the past, a business could market via billboards, radio/tv, print ads, or yellow page directories, there's been a significant shift to a new model...a model that explains why the marketing experts have been bugging us for years to create nice websites and informative blogs.  This new model is an information-driven one with the website and blog at its core. What's emerging is that these friendly tools will be the communication center for all businesses...ready 24 hours a day to share information, take orders, and handle customer issues.  It will be able to sell and help visitors no matter what stage they're in along the process.  And it will be able to help not only prospects and clients but employees and investors.

The social media sites have become and will continue to be "feeder" services to the core website/blog. The idea is that new content will be developed at the "center" (website/blog), and that messages and elements from social media and related sites will point back to them, and vice versa.  This makes sense as I've often wondered what use Facebook would be after the initial phase of "reconnecting" people.  After all, you can only send friends so many mundane observations before they disconnect.

What I've been asked is that if a new model is truly emerging, what then will happen to the older, traditional marketing tactics such as print advertising, direct mail, tv, and billboards? They've all taken tremendous hits over the last year as people have flocked online. My guess is that they will continue to drop off significantly but will level off at some point...and work within the new website/blog centered model.  Or perhaps they'll continue to point prospects directly back to the company in addition to working within the information-centric model as kind of a hybrid.  The good news for everyone is that the new model will be more efficient and allow more people to connect and promote their services. It's an interesting time and I believe we'll look back at this time as a great one to start and grow a business...even during an economic slowdown.