By Nicole Fletcher
As posted on nicfletch.com
People are obsessed with Google. You and your brand want to be number one, on page one and your life and the future of your children, and your children’s children depend on it. You’re willing to pay by the month but you don’t really know if it’s working and you’re not number one, nor are you near number one, but you’re too afraid to stop. I get it. No, but really, I do. Search engine optimization is something that took the tech world by storm a few years back and then, when the interweb we all know and love was young, it made sense…and it worked. SEOs put on their black hats and scammed the system. They got you to high ranking spots by clogging the web with keyword packed, cruddy content that now makes up the internet sludge that populates your search results. Thanks for that by the way.
People use search multiple times daily and they use Google (I know, I know – some use Bing). They use it to find what they’re looking for, they buy and that’s that. Well unfortunately times have changed and that algorithm is a mere flicker in the simplicity of yesteryear. To take a walk on the wild side though, while being number one may equate to sales for many companies (JC Penny for Example), for many others (I’d venture to say most) there are other, more effective and less expensive ways to spend your time.
What does that mean? Ditch your SEO tunnel vision and send some love to your other marketing channels.
Do you know that being number one will increase your sales? ( hint: the answer is no). In today’s day and age people are much more likely to seek advice & recommendations from friends than from simple search. People are looking for solid, quality experiences and if you’ve skated by over the years on top ranking search alone…your days are..to be blunt… numbered.
Creativity, quality and you guessed it, SOCIAL are the new names of the game (though it really should have always been this way) and as they say, complacency killed the cat, don’t let it kill you.
Think about your business model. At the core of your business is your brand identity so be sure to create cohesion across all marketing channels. That means from your brick & mortar and your website, to your messaging, print and social networks, every outlet should compliment one another. Make sure your collateral not only looks cohesive, but your “voice” and personality flows throughout all of them.
Take advantage of modern tools. From your website & email marketing, to your social networks (facebook, twitter, youtube, blog etc), print collateral and everything in between, the core of your brand should be social. What does that mean? Think about YOUR CUSTOMER. Make it easy for them to navigate your site, find you on facebook, ask a question, make a purchase and share your quality content because why??? Because you’re an expert. Share that knowledge and push that content out to everyone you can. Give the people what they want. It’s as simple as that. Once you create this “social storm”, as we like to call it, leads, sales and brand advocates will naturally follow. Remember, the more fresh, quality, shareable content you create, the more likely people will be to share your brand and the information you provide. Then, your wolf-pack will naturally grow to more than 3 and all will be well with the world.
Hope you enjoyed this blog post, tweet at me with your questions.