It’s important that you take a look at your blogs so you know if they have a chance to rank in Search Engines. Or you may be curious to know if the company you hired is doing their job. Here’s the solution.
Keep marketing
Businesses get brand marketing and direct marketing mixed up. It is costly and causes a lot of mediocre results and headaches.
We’re going to fix this age-old debate right now!
You may find yourself running a brand campaign thinking you will get direct marketing results or you are running a direct marketing campaign and expect branding results.
If you mess these up, you will lose, become frustrated, and abandon ship for the next shiny marketing idea.
Let’s first define the two of them so we can know what to expect.
Seth Godin in his new book laid it out the best I have seen. We will use his definition.
If you’re buying direct marketing ads, measure everything. Compute how much it costs you to earn attention, to get a click, to turn that attention into an order.
Direct marketing is action marketing, and if you’re not able to measure it, it doesn’t count.
If you’re buying brand marketing ads, be patient. Refuse to measure. Engage with the culture. Focus, by all means, but mostly, be consistent and patient.
If you can’t afford to be consistent and patient, don’t pay for brand marketing ads.
What I just shared with you ought to have paid for the time and money you have spent reading my posts, emails, website and watching my videos.
When you know what kind of marketing you are engaged in, you will set the right expectations.
Types of direct marketing include:
They’re Ads you can track directly to a sale.
Types of brand marketing include:
The list above is not exact, but I think you get the point.
Different platforms can be used for both direct and brand, but the difference is your expectations, goals, and measurements.
Small startups get too caught up in their brand. They spend time, money, and energy dealing with brand experts and not enough time building out direct marketing campaigns.
Big brands try to make a shift into direct marketing and use branding techniques and wonder why nothing worked.
RED worked with a client this last year who hired a new VP of marketing. He came from a large corporation that ran branding campaigns.
The owner of the company wanted to track all results and make sure marketing was giving him an instant ROI.
So
The new VP of marketing made called his past Agency and did a large media buy. The agency took the $241,000 and ran a display campaign along with a few magazine ads.
How much traffic came to the site? None!
Six months into the campaign sales had not increased at all. Less than a year later the VP of marketing was looking for a new job.
The owner had one expectation and the VP of marketing another.
Let’s look at SEO.
It’s a problem and owners have the wrong expectations.
SEO (search engine optimization) is the attempt to rank for generic terms in a search engine. Businesses spend a fortune on SEO because marketers promise to rank them for highly searched keywords.
SEO can be considered brand marketing or direct depending who you ask but here’s the problem…
It’s a gamble, and the odds are stacked against you. There are limited spots available, and it takes months if not years to rank for generic keywords.
90% of owners do not have the time, patience, or money to wait for the results. So they quit too soon.
What makes business owners assume they can outrank companies like Wikipedia, Home Advisors, Yelp, and Google on generic searches?
It’s not happening.
I find it best to avoid the games you will lose. No matter what your SEO company says.
What can you win?
Build an SEO campaign where people search for keyword that you can rank for. This will come in a later post.
Which brings us back to the beginning…
What kind of marketing campaign are you running? Are you mixing them up?
Don’t.
Both brand and direct marketing are good, as long as we set the right expectations.
If you’re interested in growing your business with a direct marketing campaign, reach out to us.
We would be happy to show ways to drive traffic, leads, and sales.
If you’re looking for a brand campaign, that is not our thing. I have a hard time spending money on marketing that can’t be measured.
Does branding work? Yes, it does. Just takes time, patience, and a lot more money.
Keep marketing!
This is a real conversation between me and friend about her Unique Selling Proposition. When we finished I realized our conversation is exactly what businesses need to help discover their USP. You confuse your lose!
Instead of me preaching, you can just see how it comes together.
Jace: When creating a business you have to bring some type of value to the market place and you need to find people that will give up their hard earned cash for your product or service.
Value and customers go hand in hand. If you don’t have value you won’t have customers. If you don’t have customers your value really doesn’t matter.
What value are you going to bring and who are the customers?
Since you are starting a spa you need to ask what kind of services are you offering.
Spa? Cranial? Wellness? Massage? What is it?
What needs are you going to fill? What are the benefits?
You have to figure that out first and I don’t think you have.
Friend: Blualignment is about Body Alignment. Lol. bluAlignment “bringing you back to your body” is about organizing your body so that you don’t feel pain anymore. Tension, stiffness, etc. are not supposed to be an aspect of everyday life. Your body should be injury free. BluAlignment was created to bring you back.
Jace: Lol….ok so forget bring you back. That is confusing.
Friend: lol…My value is that I am getting people out of pain.
Jace: Closer
Friend: and teaching people how to get out of pain
Jace: Organize your body so that you don’t feel pain anymore. Now that makes a little more sense. Lol…bring you back to your body sounds like it should be on a soap commercial…haha
Friend: Lol….you never got it? My core mission is to help people out of pain, and that includes psychological pain, body pain and how its all woven together.
In the beginning, I’m starting with the physical, but it will expand to be all encompassing.
Jace: Nope never got it. You don’t say that anywhere on the site. Why not just say it?
Friend: Yeah…I should. It’s because I think a lot and say a little. Alos because I think I have to learn a 100 things everyday before I can help anyone, but its all just excuses like you said before.
Jace: Why not just say it?
Friend: Yeah. I haven’t really known how to say things on blualignment because I imagine myself 10 years in the future and I don’t think I know how to give what I want to give.
Again, it goes back to excuses. And school, and biding my time. and having a whole lot of faith in my future self. and not a lot in my current self. So, yeah I agree. I need to say it differently.
Jace: Yeah but I wouldn’t worry about that right now you can worry about that after you get customers you fake it till you make it.
Friend: OK. Whats directly wrong with how I am saying it now?I mean clarify when you said “you just need to say things a little different.”
Jace: Okay…so take a look at your website.
Friend: I did I am I didn’t say anything about helping get people out of pain.
Jace: Does it say anything about pain in the top two sections? Does it say anything at pain anywhere?
Friend: Nope. It does not. I just had this assumption thats why people see bodyworkers.
Jace: so that’s a perfect example…How is anyone supposed to know that you can solve their problem if you don’t tell him you can?
Friend: But yeah, stop assuming. start saying simple things. Simplify. Simplify. Simplify.
Jace: In marketing you cannot ever assume you have to treat everyone as if they’re 5 years old. The very first section needs to tell people the benefit. After that you can then have the section about you. So let’s adjust that whole top section of the website to address the fact that you get rid of people’s pain.
Friend: Can it be simple like: “BluAlignment’s mission is about helping you out of your pain. After a lifetime of chronic holding patterns and injury; come in to realign your body, relax, and rejuvenate. “
Jace: :|…Kind of….:(
Friend: BluAlignment is about reorganizing your body to live a pain-free life. After a lifetime of injuries and chronic holding patterns; come in to realign your body, relax, and rejuvenate.
Lol…I’m a sensitive person, but my feelings aren’t easy to hurt. So no stress about truth if ya feel me.
Jace: Think 5 year old
Friend: Lol…OMG…Bodywork is so second nature. I don’t even know anymore what normal people know about their body…SHIZ
Jace: No Swearing…:)
Friend: I didn’t. I changed the spelling
Jace: I promise you if you can figure out how to be simple people automatically gravitate towards your message. I should be writing all of this down and making a book out of it. haha
Friend: Ok what about this? “After a lifetime of injuries and chronic holding patterns; come in to realign your body, relax, and rejuvenate bringing you one step closer to a pain-free body.”
Jace: When somebody asks you what do you do…. What are you going to tell them? Imagine telling somebody that in an elevator. What would they think?
I can see it now… imagine leaning over putting your arm on their shoulder and saying…After a lifetime of injuries and chronic holding patterns; come in to realign your body, relax, and rejuvenate bringing you one step closer to a pain-free body.
Friend: Hi. Guy, I have 10 seconds with. I work with the connective tissue in your body that is responsible for organizing and compartmentalizing your body. The work I do frees your body from old injuries and stress. Ok BYEEEE…. Lol
Jace: Yep and they would say that girl’s crazy…
Friend: Ok let me try again
Jace: Yes think about it. You need to start there. If a customer doesn’t know what you do within 5 Seconds of hitting your website you lose. When you confuse you lose.
Friend: Getting you out of pain. done…:) Does your 5 yr old get that?
Jace: Closer… So when people ask you what you do? I get rid of people’s pain….
Friend: I get rid of peoples pain by touching them….lol
Jace: You don’t need to say how you do it yet. You let them ask that question. Or that happens in your next sentence. Think about it this way. If somebody is in pain and they meet you and you tell him/her you get rid of pain….what do you think happens next?
Friend: They say “hey, i was gonna ask for your number anyway, but now this is perfect. got a card?”
Jace: hahah…You’re thinking the wrong clientele. I picture an old lady in an elevator. Your picturing some dude at a dance
Friend: aw. Ok. You’re right. Too many guys in my life. Old lady. I like this.
Jace: Ok so now you need to adjust the message
Friend: Ok, but if i say I help people get out of pain. You said its closer, but not quite.
Jace: Well you have kind of the second section which also talks to the benefit to the consumer. What is the end result that the consumer wants?
Friend: what about something like this? Bringing you out of pain and towards optimal health through touch therapy.
Jace: Once again why did you go back. I can bring somebody to church…I can bring somebody on a date… I can bring something to work…but I would never say I can bring me out of pain. Do you get rid of people’s pain or not? Or are you bringing them out of pain? whatever that is. Why not “I get rid of people’s pain through touch thearpy.”
Friend: Ok. point made. Is this 5 yr old worthy?
Correcting imbalances in the body giving you guaranteed and lasting pain relief, while allowing you to unwind and relax. Call for a free consultation. Maybe I won’t say guaranteed. Just never mind for a second. I’m editing it again.
Jace: Haha…Guaranteed is a good thing. People want guarantees. They hate risk and a guarantee eliminates risk.
Friend: Life is a risk. But yeah I get it Im just kidding btw, sort of. How does this sound… is it too much?
BluAlignment corrects imbalances in the body that gives guaranteed and lasting pain relief, while simultaneously allowing you to unwind and relax enabling your body’s self-healing mechanism. Call for a free consultation.
What does guaranteed even mean? That no matter what, you won’t leave this office with pain… Or does it mean if I can’t deliver, I assume full responsibility including ownership of compensation?
Jace: Yeah they guarantee doesn’t work in this situation. Basically I guarantee is the stuff you do works. That sentence is kind of messed up. You’re referring back to in balances. What do you think of when I say Geico?
Friend: 15 minutes could save you 15%
Jace: Think of the size and what Geico actually really does behind the scenes. They’re humongo company that does billions of dollars and the only thing they want you to think of is 15 minutes could save you 15%.
You’re still overthinking. List to it.
“BluAlignment corrects imbalances in the body that gives guaranteed and lasting pain relief, while simultaneously allowing you to unwind and relax enabling your body’s self-healing mechanism. Call for a free consultation.”
Friend: BluAlignment uses touch therapy to correct imbalances in the body that gives guaranteed and lasting pain-relief. Call for a free consultation.
Even more simple is…. BluAlignment uses touch therapy giving guaranteed and lasting pain-relief.
Jace: 🙂 🙂 🙂 TEARS OF JOY!!!
The problem with blogging and creating blog posts is the fact that you can spend hours on writing and never get ranked. I have seen this with some of our clients. They have spent thousands on content creation and have hundreds of blog posts, but none of them are ranking.
Why is this?
Because they do not follow the formula. You’re being paid to know the formula.
From now on, I want to see 1500+ word articles that follow SEO best practices. Let’s jump in.
Carefully.
Ranking a blog post is something that every marketer needs to know how to do. You must learn how to write, rank, and optimize a blog post.
It’s hard, if not impossible, to hit that number one spot on Google without knowing the building blocks of a solid post.
You’re competing against people who study blogging all day long, so make sure you follow the steps that I am going to show you.
To get leads.
Writing is an inbound marketing strategy.
Getting a blog ranked on page one of Google can take several months to years.
We want to generate traffic which turns into leads.
It goes back to our marketing formula.
“Content creates conversations. Conversations create customers.”
Here is a simple infographic that will explain the structure.
You need to do keyword research before you create your blog. You want to think and act like the user and figure out the keywords they will be using in their search queries.
Do not just write an article. Answer the questions your audience is searching for.
Use Google Keyword Planner.
Find keywords that people are searching for and answer their question.
It’s that simple.
Here’s a screenshot to show you what it looks like.
Pick the keyword you want to go after and start with a headline.
“The headline is so critical that 73% of buying decisions are made at the point where readers come in contact with it. And 8 out of 10 people will read your headline if you make it powerful and relevant to them.”
After the headline, you jump into the opening paragraph or introduction.
Use the keyword in both places.
A combination of the keywords should be used throughout the article.
Your post has to be unique and contain useful content. Quality does matter.
The more you can help consumers the better.
Last week I was checking up on New Roads Addiction Center to see their progress. They’re showing up in Featured Snippets. Here’s a screenshot of what it looks like.
If you want to learn more about Featured snippets you can check out this new guide. It came out yesterday.
I would recommend reading it.
**IMPORTANT**
In school, we all learned how to write boring articles. You need to unlearn most of what you learned.
A blog post needs to be entertaining and hold the attention of the audience.
Beware of the following:
I hope this helps.
The goal of any blog post is to create a conversation between the business and the customers.
You do this by answering their questions, keeping them engaged, helping them, and solving their problems.
Good luck I will be checking up on your blog posts to make sure you’re following these simple guidelines.
—How To Rank A Successful Blog Post In 2018—
When did advertising become so complicated?
I am going to give you a formula that will change the way you write your ads, website copy, and video scripts.
Are you ready?
Keep it simple!
A perfect ad offers wanted information; it shows the advantages, gives a sample or proof of claim and calls the audience to action.
That is it.
Check out Duluth Trading Company.
They created TV commercials that were engaging, entertaining and effective. It doubled their sales over a one year period.
They showed the problem and how their product would fix the problem in an entertaining way.
So remember to simplify. You will get better results.
To prove my point and smile, watch this.
