Data vs. Emotion: How to Avoid Bad Marketing Decisions

 

In the past, when you published an update on your Facebook business page, it would reach a large percentage of all of your fans, but those days are long gone.  Now businesses are forced to pay for that same distribution that was once free.

 

In response to Facebook's changes, Eat24 is threatening to jump ship and close down their Facebook fan page at 11:59 PM tonight.  What do you think, is that a smart move?  When things change, do you think it's best to pack your bags and move elsewhere?

 

How you answer that question, reveals a lot about you and how you approach business and marketing.  In this article, I'll explain why change is actually a good thing for your business, and how to avoid making a big mistake like Eat24 is on schedule to make tonight.

 

Change Equals Opportunity

Here's the reality with digital marketing: things change fast!

 

Google constantly updates their search algorithm and the layout of their search results.  Ad networks, tactics, and formats are constantly evolving.  New devices like smartphones and wearables are now forcing change in nearly every digital marketing tactic.  And a hot new social media platform is bound to pop up any minute now.

 

Change is often scary, so most people avoid it at all costs.  But in business and marketing, change equals opportunity!  Every time Google shakes up the search results, you have an opportunity to overtake your competitors.  If you're one of the first businesses to try a new ad format like YouTube's TrueView ads, then you'll reap the benefits of low cost, targeted traffic before your competitors.  Or, in the case of Eat24, if you realize Facebook is now a highly targeted ad platform, and you change your tactics accordingly, then you'll think twice about deactivating your account.

 

It's all about perspective.  Sure, it was a heck of lot better to get free exposure via Facebook than it is to pay for it now.  But doesn't that also mean it's now harder for other businesses to reach your prospects and customers?  When Facebook changed their platform, they gave some businesses a real competitive advantage.

 

Use Data (Not Emotion) to Guide Your Marketing Decisions [Tweet this]

I'll admit, I have no idea if Eat24 is getting any return on their Facebook marketing.  I didn't even know who they were before I stumbled on their shared article.  So I guess their PR stunt worked to some extent.

 

But based on their article, they are making their decision to leave for all the wrong reasons.  I hear similar complaints all the time from business owners regarding Google algorithm updates, Yelp hiding reviews, and rising AdWords costs.  It's OK to get frustrated, but don't let emotion guide a big marketing decision.  Instead, let the data do the talking.

 

Google Analytics allows you to track all of your marketing channels so you can evaluate the return on investment from your campaigns.   Once you're tracking your campaigns, then you can make an informed decision.  For example, Eat24 should be able to see how much traffic is coming from Facebook, and more importantly how much is converting to sales.  Based on that data, it'll be clear if they can afford to invest in Facebook ads to continue that channel.

 

If it's profitable, then it doesn't make sense to shut it off.  As I'm sure you've heard, and as my wife repeatedly reminds me, "Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater." :)

 

3 Steps To Find The Best SEO Keywords

I received a lot of questions about keyword research, so in today’s article, I’m going to walk through some of the steps we take to identify the best SEO keywords for any type of business.

 

Step 1. Brainstorm the Obvious Keywords

SEO keyword research is sort of like using a thesaurus. You need to start with a list of keywords, which we call a “seed” list.

 

I recommend you start by brainstorming the most obvious phrases that your prospect would search to find your product or service.

 

For example, if you are a dentist in New York, most likely, people are going to search ‘New York City dentist’ or ‘NYC dentist’. Those are what I would call the obvious keywords.

 

Once you’ve brainstormed some obvious keywords, you’ll want to plug them into Google’s Keyword Planner. This tool will give you more keyword ideas, as well as search volume.

Step 2. Sort By Search Intent

Google’s keyword tool will spit back a bunch of keyword ideas, and these keyword ideas will generally fall into 2 categories…

 

1. Keywords with purchase intent – where it’s obvious that prospects are looking to buy a product or hire a service provider.

 

2. Keywords with research intent – where the prospect is most likely just doing research, and not ready to buy.

 

In our example above, “NYC Dentist” is a classic example of a purchase intent keyword. You’d search that if you were looking to make an appointment with a dentist.

 

However, “dentistry” would be an example of a research intent keyword. If somebody is searching “dentistry,” they’re probably not ready to go to a dentist quite yet. In fact, they may not be interested in going to a dentist at all. They could be researching the field of dentistry and considering becoming a dentist.

 

Your first priority when optimizing your website for SEO should be to optimize your homepage and product/service pages for “purchase intent” keywords.

 

Note: It’s important to optimize your website for “research intent” keywords too… typically that’s where you can find some really nice “low hanging fruit” opportunities to drive traffic in the short-term. But we recommend that as Phase 2 after optimizing your core pages for “purchase intent” keywords.

Step 3. Prioritize By Search Volume

As I mentioned, Google’s Keyword Planner Tool will also show you the search volume. By “search volume,” I mean how many times that particular keyword phrase is searched in Google every month.

 

You’ll see that some keywords are only searched ten times a month, some are searched thousands of times per month, and some are actually not searched at all. Of course, you want to avoid optimizing for keyword phrases that nobody’s searching for.

 

If you start with obvious keywords, and then sort by search intent, and prioritize by search volume, you’ll be well on your way to finding the best SEO keywords in your market.

Online Marketing: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

 

I love old Clint Eastwood western movies.  They were always on TV when I was growing up and I would instantly get sucked into a ~3 hour movie, along with all those commercials.  Hey, I figure there were worse ways to spend a Sunday afternoon.

I've probably watched The Good, The Bad and The Ugly about 10 times by now.  To be honest I can't always tell which one of Clint's movies I'm watching until they reintroduce it after a commercial.  They all include gunfights, signature one liners from Clint, and some timely, precision tobacco spitting.  My kind of movie. :)

Even if you haven't watched the movie, you can probably guess there's a good guy, a bad guy, and an ugly guy.  I'll spare you the details and jump right into how this relates to online marketing.  In my experience, online marketing plays all 3 of those roles: Good, Bad, and Ugly.

 

 

The Good

 

The good is usually what draws businesses to online marketing in the first place: It's affordable.  In some cases, it's downright free.  For example, any business looking for local customers can set up and optimize a Google+ Local page and within about a month get free exposure in Google's local business results.  No upfront fees.  No ongoing fees.  No fancy software to learn.  Just free exposure when local customers are searching for you.  Hard to beat free when it comes to driving new business!

Even advertising is usually more affordable online versus offline.  With Google AdWords you only pay per click so there is no big upfront investment like there is with TV, print or radio ads.

Of course, affordability isn't the only reason online marketing is good, but I think that gets the point across just fine.  Now let's look at the bad...

The Bad

The bad news is that online marketing is always changing!  Just when you think you've mastered search engine optimization (SEO), Google will go and change their algorithm.  Or just when you've built up a hefty Facebook audience, Zuckerberg decides to tweak their EdgeRank algorithm so you have to pay to get your posts in front of your prospects and customers.

Scroll through this list of Google algorithm changes to see just how frequently the search engine landscape changes.  Trust me, it's nearly impossible to keep up, and I do this for a living.  There's just no way a business owner can stay on top of all the trends and best practices without help.

And Google is just the tip of the iceberg... Have you looked at all the options available with online marketing?  Talk about overwhelming.  There's SEO, local SEO, search advertising, display advertising, Facebook advertising, email marketing, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, press release services, website conversion optimization, tracking and website analytics.  I could go on and on but you get the point.

Now, let's turn to the ugly side of online marketing...

The Ugly

First, there's the glut of information available.  There are books, blogs, articles, videos, and podcasts published online daily.  Some of it is sound advice.  Some of it is applicable for certain types of businesses.  And some of it outdated, or simply inaccurate.  Unfortunately, it's nearly impossible for a business owner to know who or what to pay attention to, which leads to poor marketing decisions.

Second, there are many low quality (and even unethical in my opinion) online marketing providers.  For example, I've talked to many business owners who paid and lost thousands to an SEO company that guaranteed #1 rankings.   My spam folder is full of these prospecting emails so I know how tempting it can be for businesses.  However, the reality is that no one can guarantee #1 rankings. As soon as you see or hear that phrase, run away, hang up, or click delete. That's a red flag that you're not dealing with a reputable company.