I love that phrase. Data Has No Agenda. I utter it almost daily to assist clients past the sugar high the seem to carry with them for prolonged periods after getting a referral from a friend or associate on what to do with their marketing. Before the advice, here’s what a survey of 1500 marketers says you should do with your marketing dollars:
You see, that’s data. Data Has No Agenda. It’s data that illuminates and is not meant to lean against…just knock the ‘buzz’ out of whoever told you the latest ‘trick’ in getting your site higher in search engine results/noticed/shared/like’d/etc.
Paid search, website management and design, and search engine optimization are the top three tactics to which organizations designate online marketing dollars.
Organizations devote one-quarter of their online marketing budgets to their websites. Even the best marketing efforts are for naught if the website is not optimized (in terms of performance and design) to communicate the “offer” and trigger a “response.”
Paid search also comprises 25% of the budget. Because SEO tactics often take time before having an impact on search rankings, many organizations use paid search to supplement SEO efforts.
Paid and organic search can work well together as a means for establishing authority on a search engine results page. Further segmenting the data, we found B2C organizations allocate more than half of online marketing dollars to PPC and SEO, which is more than their counterparts with primary business channels.
Focus on the following and you’ve got a great foundational start:
* Being there when they search for what you do…
* Having a place for them find out and do what they searched for…
* Reaching out to them personally…
Why do I over simplify? To take names out of the equation because certain names like “SEO”, “Pay Per Click” and “The newest widget…” are the auditory cocaine of interactive marketing. You know they’re good, or at least that’s what whozit told you over cocktails last night…and I’ll be damned if you’re now hell bent on dragging your company through your fantasy.
The only real way to lose weight is to eat right and exercise. That’s a guarantee 99% of the time.
The only real way to be there when they’re looking for you is ‘to be there’…and that takes a combination of a SEO Strategy:
1) What words are they looking for
2) Where are they looking
3) When are they looking
4) Which items are they looking for the most
5) Which items have the highest return
6) What’s my budget over what period of time
7) And Lucky #7, What are your expectations/goals/measurements
And a website that not only has a role in your business far beyond ‘being there’, but expectations on performance however you define that.
If you need help on defining these things, call us. We can help.
