Imagine If Hot EcoQuest Prospects Wore Loudly Colored Green Jerseys?
For years, I sometimes have the pleasure of consulting directly or indirectly with EcoQuest dealers. No matter how many tips I blog, articles I write, or trainings I teach, I still sometimes get individuals that say, "internet search marketing might be the best thing since sliced bread, but paying a buck a click scares the pajeebers out of me and I'm thinking it is not for my air filtration systems, nutritional supplements, water treatment systems & personal care."
Even though this type thinking always surprises me, I'm certain that one of the reasons I hear this is because the "strategy" of internet search marketing is still not understood. Perhaps an analogy will clarify.
Maybe it's a marketer's dream, but think for a second how advantagious it would be if you could secretively place yourself at the front door of a Sears or JC Penney store and immediately spot customers who were looking for your product? Lets say they wore loudly colored Green shirts announcing what they were there for and what they had plans on buying.. Imagine if these shoppers knew to go straight to you rather than go round and round the store searching out the items on their shopping list? With Yahoo's Sponsored Search, Google AdWords, or any of the top 10 pay per click search engines, you connect with your prospects immediately, the second they want to hear from you.
The power of this idea gets even more enticing if we augment it a bit more... What if you could have a thousand college students at the door of every supermarket in the country. What's more, you'd have to pay them only if they generated interest in your things and began promoting to them your air filtration systems, nutritional supplements, water treatment systems & personal care.
Now, even if your competition has posted huge ad banners, hovering over everyone, it doesn't matter. Few customers are going to pay that any attention. All the while, your "agents" are continually reaching out to every single prospect that seems targeted for what you have.
Using search engine ads is like deploying a team of workaholic "agents", except that these search agents won't require breaks and they'll work for free until they deliver a ready-to-buy potential customer. Your "agents" will be waiting 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for customers looking for your products or services. As soon as prospects start search, you'll be the first to know.
Search engine marketing will grow by 33% this year, with growth slowing to 10% annually by 2010, when spending will hit $11.6 billion. (Source: Forrester Research 02/2005)
Like what you're reading? Subscribe to my RSS feed.
Technorati:
EcoQuest | PPC | pay per click | Google AdWords | Yahoo Sponsored Search | Dan Hollings | air filtration | water treatment | nutritional supplements | nutrition
Other recommended blogs:
Stanley Home Products | Sunrider | Tahitian Noni
| posted by Dan Hollings @ 5:12 PM 3 comments |
|
Yes, you're reading it right. According to authors Patricia Cobe and Ellen Parlapiano, who trademarked the term "mompreneurs" and were recently featured in Time magazine and various other programs like Lifetime Television; their mompreneurs online website draws millions of visitors each month. 
That's the challenge in any search engine marketing campaign; you should factor in from the start (as you are preparing your keywords, your ads, and your landing page) what the majority of visitors already 'have perceived' about you and the air filtration systems, nutritional supplements, water treatment systems & personal care you offer. Not sure? Then If at best you're guessing, then assume they've never heard of you. That's always the safe bet. 
