"I want to be in the top 10 on Google!" The jaw was set and the eyes were steady as they tried to peer into mine as if to gage my ability to achieve his dream. Could I wave the necessary wands to acheive his goal of getting to the top of Google's mountain? So many business owners are a victim of just that sort of tunnel vision when it comes to Internet marketing.
The goal should never be to be at the top of Google's search engine. The goal should be to make money, increase your customer base, increase donations or drive traffic through your front door. Having a positive impact on the bottom line is the ultimate goal for most every website out there. Google is not a goal, it's a tool. It's one tool among hundreds.
In simple terms, business marketing has evolved into 3 basic phases in the last 50 years. When the mass media held everyone captive you had the Sledge Hammer phase where you interrupted people's programs to pitch your product. Then with the Internet you built a website and then depended on the search engines to Passively deliver people to your doorstep. Search was king of the hill. Now we can do more that wait for people to search for you. Now, using a huge variety of tools from Social Networking to Blogs, you can engage in Proactive Marketing to drive traffic to you and your business. This is huge for those who actually do it.
Assuming you have a solid website or blog that can gracefully take the visitor from your landing page to the closing page, keeping their interest along the way, you are left with an array of choices on getting traffic to your site for that initial visit. While this article seems to pit Passive against Proactive, it is really more a case of how to effectively use both to achieve your results. Let's define both:
Passive Marketing
Passive is a term I use to describe your typical actions of getting placed high on the search engines so people find you and arrive at your site. You can call it 'passive' because once it is done it involves little on your part except for waiting on traffic to arrive. It is somewhat of a lazy man's way to create traffic. You go about your day, people search for the terms you chose, they arrive at your site and your orders flow in.
So what's wrong with that, you say. Nothing really, if it actually happens. In this scenario you have a number of holes you may not even know exist. Do the words on your site you have targeted actually match the ones that potential visitors are typing into the search engine of choice? This is often a problem because the words the owner 'thinks' people are using don't turn out the be the actual words customers would choose.
The vision I have of it is like a man at the bottom of an escalator who wants to take it to the top where the rewards are. Instead if getting on the elevator (taking action) he assumes a lotus position to hum his way to the next floor. In his mind, his business is humming along because he's at the top of the Google game. Fools gold.
Marketing using Passive methods is a huge topic in itself and not the focus of this article. I'll simply say that you should be depending on passive search engine oriented traffic for no more than 20% of your site's visitors.
Proactive Marketing
This is were the action is. The beauty of it is that Social Networking has provided us with the tools and customers to put it all together. You can now have a 'take the bull by the horns" approach to effectively bring visitors to your website or business by actually doing something to make it happen.
The first problem here is you actually have to 'work' at it. It is work that does require time and effort with some real thought behind it. If you are willing to work and the next guy isn't, you are miles ahead. So decide upfront not to be 'the next guy'.
The second problem is that you really need to have some computer skills and Internet savvy to actively engage in this approach. This, however, actually creates a huge open door. So many business owners will refuse to learn these skills that it will open the wide door of opportunity for those who will do it.
Let me give you an example: The travel agent industry is having a hard time right now with their public image in the face of online services like Travelocity, Orbitz and the rest. A good travel agent actually provides much better service and often cost less money. It is an image nightmare for them right now.
In speaking on Social Networking at a conference for travel agents I learned of one agency that found the mother load for their marketing. Now this, folks, is pro-active marketing: They starting offering outstanding Disney Vacation Packages on eBay. They were packages that you couldn't match with the online services but ones that they offer all the time. EBay kicked them off a couple of times because they didn't have special travel permits from a couple of states that required them. They got those and last year sold over $1 million in packages using eBay alone.
Now if you want to ask him how important his Google listing is to him and he'll just laugh at you. He hardly cares and doesn't need to care at all. You see, it's because he now controls his traffic because he stepped on an escalator and rode it to success.
When you control your traffic by what you do then you get off the search engine crack. Your first step in getting effective results in Social Media is to find out which media your current clients are using. Then you have to be there with them. Suppose you are a car dealer and you want to connect with your customers and keep them interested in what you have to offer. How can you do that?
From experience, I'd start with Facebook. I'd make sure every one of my sales people and management had a Facebook page. I'd also make sure my dealership add a business Facebook page and that all the sales people and staff were "fans". On that page I'd make sure the latest updates on "Cash for Clunkers" were posted there and the details of how you can help people make the transition.
In addition, I'd have all the salespeople actively searching for and connecting with everyone of their customers that are on Facebook, creating relationships and inviting their customers to become "fans" as well.
During down times at the dealership I'd expect each salesman to be surfing their Facebook friends posts and commenting regularly on their photos and updates. Constantly be reinforcing top of mind touching. Maybe occasionally inviting a customer in for a free car wash, then taking a Blackberry or iPhone photo of their clean car and posting it on Facebook or Twitter with a congratulations note or a thank you note for buying their car through you.
None of my deliveries would drive away without a Facebook photo being taken and posted on the company Facebook page. When they got home an email posting to the page would be there for them to click on and show their friends or family.
If I were the service manager I'd open a dealership Twitter account, gather all of the customer's Twitter accounts or request all the service customers to follow them on Twitter. Then I'd have a computer and cell phone set up to watch all the direct message tweets coming in for setting up service appointments and inquiries. Tech savvy clients would love to just pop open uberTwitter in their Blackberry and message in to see if their car is ready for pick up, what the bill is or to set up an appointment.
Don't think something like this would matter? One coffee shop doubled it business using Twitter. Customers could tweet in their orders when they left their house in the morning from their phone and have it ready upon arrival. All the grinding and waiting was done while they drove in. People at their tables could tweet the front desk that their coffee needed a refill and in Wall-E fashion the hostess would appear with a refill.
You could use Twitter to replace mass email with all your salespeople, to eliminate the loudspeaker paging, to notify customers that their car order had arrived. If you are a Chrysler dealer in a rural area this might not seem to be a big deal. If you are a BMW or Honda dealer in the metro area, this is a big deal and if you take advantage of it you will be on that escalator riding it to the top. Google or no Google, you are on your way!
Get out there and get after it. There is gold in them thar hills of Social Networking. Use it to serve the needs and desires of your clients and they will love you with their money day in and day out.
