The rules of the marketing game have changed
July 19th, 2010
The new reality:
- Over 80% of all web traffic is coming via search engines.
- 88% of economically active Americans go online everyday
- A recent study showed that 85% of users research products and services on the Internet before they purchase.
- 77% get their news online through Google or Yahoo news.
- 80% of all business on the Internet goes to the first three listings on the first page of a search result.
- Research shows that searchers (your customers) regard good placing in the natural search results (as opposed to pay per click or sponsored links) as an indicator of a company who is tops in their field.
- 99% of reporters start their research for a story on the Internet.
The bottom line is that your potential customers are researching their purchases online before spending their money. This also includes big-ticket items like cars and houses.
This brings up the subject of your website.
- Has it been thought out strategically for optimal, organic search results?
- Has each page been written with your targeted audience in mind?
- Has keyword research been performed?
- Does your site have proper SEO in place for each page?
- Is your site, keywords and trends being monitored and analyzed continually?
- Does your site have a unique selling proposition?
These are just a few of the questions you should ask about your site. Anyone can design a pretty or handsome site. So what. Big deal. The internet is a fantastic addition to our world, but it has made the competition like our national deficit, denser by the day. Are you wondering why all the money you spent on your site isn’t providing results? Do you have the time, experience and knowledge to do the work yourself? Can you keep up? If you are serious about using the internet to boost your business or as a stand-a-lone for your business, you have to invest in professional SEO and internet marketing.
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Social Media Hype
March 13th, 2010
A thought provoking statement
from Alex Kniess
“I’ve never been great at sharing a constant stream of fresh content online. I have a personal blog that’s been updated a handful of times in the last year (maybe longer, I don’t even remember). I don’t have a Del.icio.us page nor do I Digg things. I probably have dozens of online accounts that haven’t been updated in years. And if you look at my Twitter page you’ll see tweets from the beginning of December.
Ask any “social-media expert” and they would probably tell you I’m doing it all wrong. And maybe I am. But I can’t help but check my Twitter feed every few days and see the majority of those I’m following doing nothing but retweeting each other or posting links to other people’s opinion. Sharing is caring and I love to learn new things, but I’ve come to a breaking point. It seems like the majority of the content I subscribe to is repurposed and watered down. There is so much noise out there that it’s hard for me to find the source. Where are the original ideas coming from?
This is why I’ve had a slowly decaying online presence. I started to catch myself becoming one of the many who were sharing the ideas of the few. In my opinion, quality should trump quantity and a stale online presence may be exactly what some of us need to cultivate.
When writing this post, I deleted and re-wrote my thoughts several times. Because I couldn’t think of the perfect way to get my words out, I now have to temper my thinking. Here’s the catch: I still believe in the mass broadcasting of ideas and sharing of information. In fact, I still learn a lot of new information in the very manner I’m advocating against. So, like I said at the beginning, maybe I’m doing it all wrong.
But I stand by my words when I say that we’ve had enough “Top 5″ lists. Our sharing of ideas and information should be purposeful and well thought out. Our opinionated blog posts should show how we really feel.”
I agree with Alex on a lot of points he makes. Social networking is not for everyone, every business, every business person. It is a tool and one that most have fallen to the feet of the hype of those good marketers have set out to the world. Most social networks are used by the old high school cheerleaders and football players. You know, those social wannabes who have little quality content. So how does a brand standout in the noise of the cheerleaders. I say, forget Twitter and the likes. Use your money, time and energy elsewhere. A brand could make it or break it before the social networks came along and still do without them. Think big, no matter how small you are and take the time you would use to play the social game, to learn about marketing for your brand or company.
A case in point on bad Twitter use, is from a well-known, world athlete. I was following this guy on Twitter for a while, but when I saw his numerous tweets everyday on irrelevant and mostly hard to comprehend crap, I had enough. I have no time or interest. I also think he is hurting himself greatly by opening his mouth too much with irrelevant matter, becoming insincere and therefore causing people to turn him off. I myself had to look away from the discomfort it caused me.
An example on a better use of Twitter. A client of ours uses it to promote a new product and for posting sales and other promotions. But guess what, this is only one tool used and a very small tool. We track analytics for them and can see how little actually comes from Twitter and Facebook and so on.
- Creative Collective
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