Good evening fellow Propeller-heads! This article is a follow-up to the "Think Differently - Fosbury Flop" article, based on questions and user feedback.
As a professional "Googologist", I focus on effective online marketing strategies, ideally driven by my clients overall marketing plan. Hopefully that plan is well-conceived and appropiate to my clients business model and clients, but that is often NOT the case.
Online marketing is really no different than traditional marketing, except that it provides the ability to interact with our clients better than any other medium. A poor or inappropriate marketing strategy will fail online just as surely as it will offline.
You see, a website is not the "thing" just as money is not the "thing". Its really about what you can acquire with those things. Just as you need cash to purchase that shiny new laptop, you need an effective online prescence to get what you REALLY want which is more and better leads.
"Nobody really needs a drill, what they really want is a hole!"
Heres a scenario;
Suppose i offered you 2 proposals, both for $25k.
Option 1: I will build you a GORGEOUS website that nobody can find.
Option 2: I will build you a butt-ugly website that generates 50 to 100 targeted leads a month.
Which option would you choose?
Dont worry, I do both, just trying to make a point here).
Of course the goal for most for-profit comanies is to convert those leads to paying customers, which then converts to dollars, which converts into new equipment, a larger facility, more employees, a bigger marketing budget, etc.
A beautiful website is useless if it cant be found on Google. If it cant be found, you'll get no traffic, no leads, no clients and no revenue. Its just like those business cards in your desk drawer, they're useless until you give them to someone.
Particularly when so many people are clamouring for attention.
How do we get noticed amongst all the noise?
Today, every communication channel is being overrun because people, businesses and organizations respond to the “noise” by simply increasing the volume, sending out more messages, yelling louder. Of course all that does is increase the noise level. You see the problem.
So really today what we need is to stand out from the crowd to get noticed. I’m now going to tell you a great story of someone who did exactly that in a very competitive market.
Story: "Whats the problem with Pink Salmon?"
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This story is coming from memory so it’s probably not entirely accurate but you’ll get the point. For those of you don’t know about canned salmon, it is approximately 95% pink because most salmon are pink. That is your average salmon. Far and away the most common. Perfectly normal, nothing wrong with it. It is the accepted standard.
Back in the early 50s there was a fellow who somehow or other got hold of WHITE salmon which is quite rare. Exactly the same as pink salmon except for the color. No pluses or minuses, simply a different color.
But “white” salmon was also not known as a normal staple by most citizens. It wasn’t what they were used to buying. Do you know what his sales pitch was?
“Buy our white salmon, guaranteed not to turn pink in the can!”
By this simple statement this marketing genius was able to re-position his competition to make it sound like if you bought their (pink) product you were buying something substandard.
Get the point?
Perception and reality have nothing to do with one another. If you were a professional marketer you would understand this concept immediately.
If you are “perceived” as being better than the alternative - that is all that is required. Doesn’t matter if it’s true. Of course you should be able to back this up, just as this guy did. He didn't lie, his salmon really didn't turn pink as promised. Of course that was completely irrelevant, nevertheless quite effective.
For example;
GreyGoose Vodka is selling for $50.00 a bottle, yet it's not as good as a number of other lesser known brands.
Notice the new pitch from liberty mutual? " You only pay for what you need".
(Hmm, Does that mean I am paying for insurance that I don't need now? Perhaps I should check look into that.)
Somebody at Liberty Mutual knows what they're doing!
Hopefully I’ve given you something to think about.