This is an overview of what I spent many years busy with, building an organisation of four businesses supporting multinational clients and hundreds of start ups. Engaging millions and refreshing brands through the psychology of the consumer environment.
You may have seen some of the commercials on TV, web, or shoots in magazines, social or even supermarkets, but may not know how we do it.
The Show.
Your customers have micro-particles of time to understand your message, and for them to decide if they need it. It’s obvious, however, multi-targeting your message and key times will help convert leads.
A similar message can be broadcast several times (depending upon your offer), to engage with the customers at a time they need it.
The Tell.
I am an experienced story teller working with some incredible brands with great stories. It’s not all about marketing these, most of the time highlighting the benefits through PR are far more powerful.
The Game.
Self-proclaimed experts vs. Industry professionals. Customer psychologists vs. Customers.
As an industry professional working with customers to build brands and content worth watching, delivering engagement and brand loyalty. The magic may come from the edit suite, when all the hard work is professionally mastered to offer a compelling visual experience, however, to achieve this, there must be time invested in pre-production. This is where the story is written the shots are decided, the script is born and the message to be communicated is crafted.
New SEO.
It took me several few years to really master SEO, and to fully understand the best methods. My approach is unlike others – I educate our customers as to what it is and how it will help here’s my advice. Videos for your business will help dramatically when customers are reviewing which company to work with, purchase from or buy in to.
Label your content thoroughly, whether it be blogs, video, images you want to be found, creating content without the correct labelling voids it of purpose, if you are having your website designed by a third party supplier, ensure they are correctly labelling your content or even better, invest your time to ensure this is done how you need it. You never want to see ‘image.png’ as a label.
Can I help?
If you’re looking for advice on how to create a great content and brand strategy, get in touch and we can work through it together.
Do it correctly, then it will substantially increase your business across many touch points, especially ROI. However, doing it incorrectly or ‘quick fix’ won’t help at all and has fatally damaged many businesses. I understand SEO and do it well. I build brands and I do that well. This blog isn’t the sole salvation to a business, and I’ll explain a few things that drive businesses. In this article, I aim to quash the uncertainties of what Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is, the different forms of SEO, techniques and help you clearly identify what online services you need to generate revenue.
Over the years, my previous company built over 170 brands, produced in excess of 8,000 videos and we design very much for an online world (65% of our business), yet 100% of brands need to have an online presence. So by having a great brand, effective and efficient product or service you need your customers to know about it. This is where our SEO services come in. We were creative psychologists (coined by us circa 2009) and some of the team – proudly including myself – are geeks for ways to improve our customer’s presence, both on and offline. This article will explain clearly what SEO is, how we can help and will not baffle you with tech-terminology.
SEO will help, it takes time and needs commitment
The better optimised your site is for search engines like Google, the more likely your website will be to stand out and rank on the first in SERP (Search Engine Result Page) for keywords and phrases relevant to your business or product/service offering.
If you set up SEO for your site many years ago, saddle up, as this should be an affordable ongoing exercise to keep you pushing forward. Why ongoing? In the past XX years (since your website was built) you’ve had hundreds more competitors reach the market, thousands more ‘up-to-date’ websites, millions more content being added, and billions more search terms. Are yours optimised right now?
What is SEO?
In Search Engine Optimisation, SEO is the process of improving your business’ reach and visibility to increase quality traffic to your website organically (un-paid). A strategy and action of making changes to your website design, content and searchable terms to make your site more attractive to the search engines.
Yet, very few see SEO is their cheapest sales person. The ‘guy’ who will work 24 hours a day, without food or water, no claiming expenses, company car, health benefits – a website is your friend who wants to work for you and deliver ROI day after day. You just need to provide the information to let ‘him’ get on with it.
Plus, like any member of staff you pay them monthly (costing thousands less than the minimum wage).
Types of SEO:
On-page SEO It is referred to activities performed on a page of a website that is to be published to optimise it so it ranks higher on the SERP.
The On-page SEO activities include; placing the relevant keywords in the right quantity, inserting internal links, meta tags and descriptions, building a customised URL structure, inserting the alt attributes and most importantly providing the visitors with high-quality engaging and most importantly relevant content.
Off-page SEO
Refers to activities performed on a page of a website after it goes live.
Off-page SEO activities includes; sharing posts, commenting on posts to build engagement, liking the post throughout social media, giving star ratings to a post and answering questions of your consumers are all a part of the tasks listed under off-page SEO. Hopefully, these two descriptions help define the difference between on and off page SEO.
Label everything! Be thorough.
White Hat SEO
One of the most popular SEO techniques and is one which uses efficient and effective techniques to improve your rankings of a website which do not go against of search engine guidelines (FYI, incorrect techniques applied by amateur – but clever – companies will damage your rankings as the search engines will penalise you. Once this happens there’s no quick fix, we’ll explain this next). If a company tells you they can get you to the first page of Google in “a month” please don’t believe them. It simply isn’t possible.
A few of the methods which White-Hat SEO incorporates high-quality content (videos are 53x more preferred than images or text), link acquisition campaigns supported by high quality content, website HTML optimisation and restructuring and manual labour or outreach – although this service is very much automated, you do need a team of geeks like AdBrand to ensure you are engaging and using the correct strategies continually. When one prefers this method of SEO then one can expect a moderate, fast and longevity growth in your rankings.
TIP OF THE DAY:
BLOGS. One of the best forms of organic SEO (content marketing). Blogs delivering customers the exact answer in detail to what they are looking for. A great example of this “Will SEO help my business” (it’s how you found us right?!). Google loves ‘being a know it all’ and we love Google for that too. You will want to load your articles/blogs with correct keywords, meta tags and advice pieces, which not only show Google you have the answer, but you’ve got an article supporting it.
Black Hat SEO
WARNING!!! Black hat SEO techniques is a type of SEO techniques which misuses the various weaknesses in the algorithms or search engines in order to get high rankings for websites instantly.
This type of a method is not accepted and isn’t legal with the SEO policies set by search engines and especially by Google. The overall quality is incredibly low due to some of the black hat SEO techniques include; link spam, keyword stuffing, hidden text, hidden link, cloaking. If you decide to choose this method then expect instant but short-lasting growth in ranking, with severe consequences. You might want a million customers, but why not get a few thousand now, build loyalty, trust and allow the business to grow organically – solid foundations – and all that jazz.
How does SEO work?
When a user enters their query or search term of engines like Google, the results shown is a series of websites most relevant to the query and have a solid domain authority.
For example when you type and search for ‘best pancake recipe, the top results are the ones that are practicing the best SEO practices in Google’s perception.
How do they do this? Search engines use advanced crawlers gathering information on every website, gathering all available content it can find. Crawler indexes for every website are computed by one of the Google algorithms adapted for best practice.
Benefits of SEO:
1. Generates inbound leads Most people still rely on an ‘antiquated definition of SEO’, assuming ‘Optimising a website’ for search engines. Which is partly correct, however, modern SEO is ensuring an amazing user experience otherwise known as UX.
An organised, clean and structured website encourages longer visitor time, which decreases your bounce rate and increases traffic due to popularity (another Google algorithm). This in turn will generate leads – as long as you accompany your message with a ‘call-to-action’ (CTA) of course.
2. Increases brand awareness If you correctly introduce accurate and relevant keyword optimisation, your potential customers are going to find you. If you answer questions accurately with variable content examples, they will be offered your website and therefore brand by the search engine.
Build brand awareness, customer engagement, audience profiles – then – offer, market, promote, advertise and sell to them.
Many new/start-up companies we speak to dedicate thousands of dollars to a launch campaign without knowing their audiences, which in turn delivers results, but not optimised sales.
3. Builds Brand Credibility With correct ‘SEO practice’ you are able to rank your website/business on top/high-ranking results on search engines equates to ‘an unaware customer’ you are a reputable company. One imagines you don’t have the budgets for a celebrity endorsement? SEO is way cheaper and more effective for longevity for your business.
Simply put: Invest wisely and don’t look for the short cuts.
4. Low Cost, High ROI SEO is one of the most cost-effective forms of marketing. You’ve invested in having your website built, because “everyone needs a website”. Once you have your results, clicks, likes, engagement coming through – you (and your SEO team) need to ensure you’re analysing this information and asking questions like “Why are we getting more website traffic, higher rankings?”, “Where are these conversions coming from?”
This should be worked through with your marketing team as their exercises/initiatives will lead you to answers and highlight their successes and what might need to be amended/tweaked next month.
5. Track Results I need to reiterate this point (but not labour it) You must track who is viewing, clicking, sharing what as you’ve invested in SEO, you’ve found your customers (they’ve found you to be more accurate) having greater insights will allow you the greatest benefit from SEO.
Use Alexa, Google Analytics and other social software like Later, Hootsuite, Sprout Social you can resolve both positive & negative data about your online visitors and use this to your advantage.
Consistently evolve and be where your customers are or need you to be.
In summary: SEO helps businesses compete online. It a necessary ‘hand-in-hand’ investment with your website. Don’t be baffled by ‘tech-terminology’ or geeky lingo designed to confuse the most educated of professionals. Having a dedicated team saves cost, resources and as they look after several clients and act upon this daily, the latest trends will be automatically implemented.
Over the past few years influencer marketing has gathered more air time, and now more than ever – while brands catch onto the fact that it’s no longer companies who tell consumers what to buy, but peers who influence each other – or influencers who set the tone for the masses. We need to address not all influencers are created equal, yet they can certainly support your marketing, as long as they are managed and treated as a service provider.
What is Influencer Marketing? There are two kinds of influencer marketing: 1. The classic example, which is essentially earning the praise of a VIP providing you an endorsement and being seen to like your product.
2. Then there’s influencer marketing by volume: getting a number of lower-level influencers to post about your product around the same time, which puts you out in the atmosphere in a way that says, “This product is popular among the kind of people who are similar to me.”
Classic influencer marketing is harder to obtain without ‘big dollar spend’ or friends in high places, so a lot of brands have been opting for the latter type, and using social media and video to achieve strong results. It helps that video has a place on not just video-sharing platforms but of course Travall, Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter, and on and on.
At my previous agency we completed a campaign for Jamie’s Italian in Jumeirah Beach Hotel – Dubai. Taking three influencers, having them take part in a cook off, with the public voting and seeding the content. Simple, cost-effective with high social impact.
“Companies no longer tell consumers what to buy, but peers who influence each other. But it has to be done effectively”.
Content is in many forms, but everything in life starts with a drawing.
Think about your own database of business contacts how many year’s has it taken to obtain these? I have around 2.1 million in my databases – yet the Influencers we use have a combined total of 54 million. Not all are the ‘heavy-hitters’, engaging micro-influencers with specialties are valuable. I’m happy to help with your creative ideas.
Why it Works Indeed,why does influencer marketing work so well? A fascinating study by McKinsey found “marketing-induced consumer-to-consumer word of mouth generates more than twice the sales of paid advertising,” meaning we trust each other or our role models quite a bit more than we trust companies. Maybe it also has something to do with the “global-village” sense you get when you and your network are sharing a video or meme – it’s just a nice way to connect, and gives us a nice communal association with a particular brand or product.
Influencer marketing is also “native advertising,” meaning it happens seamlessly within the customer’s experience rather than interrupting their experience to push a product at them. (As written about in one of my previous blogs regarding my NOW philosophy).
Having a personality advocate a product either directly or by being seen to be using it puts your brand into the story, and we assimilate that kind of information much more readily than when it’s a free-floating advertisement. As a result, this kind of digitally-enabled word-of-mouth marketing can produce 37% greater customer retention and twice the sales of paid advertising.
This is what your customers need to think once they’ve found you.
Who to Target Okay so it works; but who are the influencers you should be targeting? This depends entirely on who your target audience follows, cares about, and listens to. Who are the trendsetters and thought leaders among your target segments? Pay attention to who your target audience is and sharing the most, then hand-pick the right ones to present to you. Also consider which platforms your target audience is most active on, and who the leaders are on those particular platforms, because social sharing is the engine of influencer marketing.
“marketing-induced consumer-to-consumer word of mouth generates more than twice the sales of paid advertising”
How to Get Started Once you decide whom to target, how do you actually get those VIPs on board and sharing your video, and, how do you reach a volume of shares that’s going to convince your target audience that you’re part of the zeitgeist?
“Don’t just look for the ‘celebs”, budgets don’t allow for that right. Consider your business marketing budgets and see if a series of micro-influencers have a network, offer a barter of your product/service.
Don’t get sold on audience, but have them prove their engagement metrics and have them tied to success KPIs. I’ll help you on the right path. Get in touch.
If you’ve read through the blog posts and feel I could add more value, introduce new subjects that are a priority to you, then please let me know. I’ll be introducing structured content onto this site, and always welcome the opportunity to answer any questions you have.
Spoiler alert! There are a million different ways (educated guess) I’ve researched this in some depth and discovered a route back to branding. This article offers suggestions to consider, the results are tested too.
LOVE YOUR CUSTOMERS
It’s the ‘Age of the Customer’, the era of the ‘Internet of Me’. Brand names and physical footprints are no longer the decision-drivers they once were. Consumers have turned their trust to whatever they can pull up on their smartphones, from peer reviews to best-selling item rankings.
Trends like these have triggered seismic shifts in the brand-customer relationship. For example, a brand must now demonstrate its care and commitment to the consumer before the consumer will commit to the brand. And what criteria do consumers use to determine that “this brand cares about me”? The benchmark is being set by brands like Amazon, Uber and Starbucks that excel at using technology to recognise individual customers and apply their knowledge of each person to deliver experiences that are personalised, connected, and easy.
1. 72% of customers say they only consider brands that show they understand and care about “me.”
Old thinking: Brand marketing aims to change consumer perceptions and behaviours in order to make people care about the brand.
New thinking: A brand must now demonstrate commitment to the consumer and make the consumer feel wanted before the consumer will commit to the brand. When returning customers interact with a brand, they expect to be instantly recognised and receive a customised experience based on their prior brand interactions. The payoff for the brand: over half of consumers feel more loyal to brands that show a deep understanding of the consumer’s priorities and preferences (54% UK).
2. 85% of customers (aged 24-45) all brands against the yardstick of mobile experience leaders like Amazon and Starbucks.
Old thinking: A brand’s competitive set is other brands in the same category.
New thinking: Consumers now evaluate every brand experience against their best experience across all product and service categories. “Best” is defined by customer experience innovators like Amazon, Airbnb, Uber and Starbucks, Specifically, consumers say the best brands make their lives easier, exceed their (already high) expectations and push the boundaries with product and service innovation.
3. 89% of UK based customers believe mobile enables them to make better purchasing decisions.
Old thinking: A great customer experience doesn’t have to involve any mobile tools.
New thinking: It’s virtually impossible to measure up to the “best” brands without a fast, intuitive mobile website and app. A great mobile tool needs to integrate seamlessly into an omni-channel brand experience that includes other devices and physical venues. The brand thereby proves its commitment to the customer at every human, physical and digital touchpoint.
“Your brand holds much more value than the price you pay.“ To demonstrate this, “How does [the phone you use/the car you drive, the supermarket you shop at/walking into a fine dining restaurant/a dive bar] make you feel?” How does your brand make your customers feel? Let’s find out together.
If you are ready to answer your own question, “how to win more customers?” then contact me and I we will work together to present your business and love, to your customers.
