“Words need to be used and stories need to be told or else they will be lost forever…. And that has everything to do with your business growth and your marketing.”
~ Debra Hilton
Your Diminishing Chances of Showing Up In Searches
Common (but outdated) wisdom would have you strive to show up on the first page of Google. The current reality suggests that unless you have been in the business for many years and are a massive content site, this is simply not a viable approach.
Have you noticed what happens when you search for a solution recently?
It used to be that on the first page you would receive a number of useful answers or resources so you didn’t need to click past that page. Now, most of the first few pages of any search will be ads or irrelevant information.
The implications of that are two-fold:
- Making appearing on page 1 in search your goal for anything other than your name (which doesn’t always work anyway) is prohibitively expensive and often impossible;
- Finding other ways of standing out and attracting attention is worthy of your greatest effort;
BONUS TIP: When you are searching for a solution online, keep scrolling well beyond the first 3 pages. Genuine information is often buried on page 10 or later.
Try This Instead…
Dan Kennedy, one of my mentors and one of the most effective marketers of our time has long encouraged business owners to develop their own unique vocabulary as part of creating a ‘fence’ around his customers.
This is the antithesis of search engine optimisation (SEO) practices which encourage you to use the most common search terms so you get found by prospects and it is similar to W. Chan Kim’s argument in Blue Ocean Strategy but approaches the issue from a different angle.
When it comes to marketing, especially to the affluent, and standing out in a crowd, I’ll take Dan’s advice on most subjects – or at least I’ll test it.
So, that is what I did…
A Profitable Experiment
My client wanted to test a Dan Kennedy-style unique positioning business and marketing strategy.
We developed a unique vocabulary, a back-story, and more – The Disappearing Dictionary by David Crystal which provided and endless stream inspiration and vocabulary ideas.
It was not only a fun exercise… But, it was also highly profitable for the client.
The end result of this innovation, which we ran alongside his existing website and ads for a while to test the two approaches was…
- Substantially fewer visits to his landing page;
- An incredibly high conversion rate on the front end;
- Almost 100% of visitors bought from him either immediately or eventually;
- In the first 3 months his average lifetime customer value has doubled, making every customer far, far more profitable.
The end result was that he now has fewer tyre-kickers and annoying customers and his cost per sale went down dramatically because he is no longer paying for unqualified prospects. He’s also having more fun because he can be his uniquely funny self inside every aspect of his business because the customers who come on board, love that!
The downside was that he invested much thought, energy, and money, into communicating his new persona and message.
What About You?
What would happen if you stopped trying to make little tweaks and get a marginal edge on your competitors, and instead:
- Defined how you could best serve your ideal customers;
- Designed a strategy for delivering that incredible solution;
- Developed a language and storyline that reflected yourself and your value for the right person?
Knowing that…
What is stopping you from implementing such a strategy?
I have already talked to several of you about this, so I know what’s holding some of you back, but I’d love to hear from everyone on the list.
Just reply to this email, and let me know what your biggest obstacle to this would be.