Timeless Tips for Top-Shelf Marketing
There it is. You got your website on page number one of the search engines. You’ve arrived…or have you? Not even close. To turn an old cliché on its head, you may have someplace to go, but unless you’re all dressed up, no one will take notice!
My Top-Shelf Tip for May is: Dress for success. Being seen won’t do you any good if your overall presentation isn’t much to look at.
There’s a peculiar proclivity to focus extensive efforts into climbing the Search Engine rankings, while neglecting to carefully groom the Brand visitors will encounter once you get to the top. It’s a classic mistake—like showing up for a swanky party in a pizza-stained tee shirt, or consistently skipping leg day at the gym—and you will fail to command the kind of attention you want. To be effective, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) must be just a part of your overall Brand Development Strategy. In the immortal words of ZZ Top, Every girl’s crazy about a sharp dressed man.
Here are a few tangible things you can do, in tandem with a solid SEO plan, to dress your online presence for success:
Make your content crisp. I cannot stress enough the importance of professionally-written content—from your meta-descriptions (the blurb people will read under your organic search listing), to your page headlines, to all the verbiage on your site (including regular blogs and landing pages).
Accessorize. If your marketing doesn’t weave a consistent and engaging story throughout your communications, then you will appear as tacky as an old guy in a 70’s polyester golf shirt and shorts with black socks and sandals. If you’ve seen this fashion train wreck, you get the point. To pull off engaging style, you need a certain flow and cadence to your message across all your touchpoints.
Tie it all together. Not only should your message be consistent, all of your media channels need to be properly knit together. No part of your marketing portfolio should be working in isolation, or carrying a message disconnected from the Brand. It all needs to play off a central Voice—or theme, if you will.
Page one is a great goal, but only if showing up at the party gets you a date. If you dress for success, it will all click, and so will visitors who see you on that coveted page one.
Coming soon, I’ll be discussing the importance of the right SEO plan. Not all SEO plans are equal, and you get what you pay for. You won’t want to miss this crucially important SWIG. For more Timeless Tips, follow Intrepid’s hot new blog, www.SWIGofBranding.com…and make sure to request our free eBook teeming with tangible marketing treasures.
Kelly Walker is a veteran Bend, marketing mastermind, senior copywriter and creative director for Intrepid Marketing. Talk to Kelly at Kelly@intrepidforward.com
