About a month ago I gave my (then) boss an investment pitch. He's always looking for new venues to diversify.
What did I want? Well, what I still want today: a quality digital marketing company in Tulsa. Let me step back a bit, there ARE quality companies here. There's also room for more and different.
You see, the boss owns a group of successful, medically minded companies. I wanted to start my focus and efforts with that community, specifically physicians, offices , etc.
A few days later I got an email supporting me, in spirit, but not in pocketbook! But what concerned me the most was his explaination as to why. He's a quick money type of guy, and he wrote "SEO can take 6 months or more to get up and going."
When did I ever mention SEO? At first I thought that it was my fault. My pitch sucked. Clearly I hadn't gotten my point across.
In the last few weeks I've come to the realization that this may be a common misconception. If you're not savvy and have little interest, it's of no concern to you which is which; that is unless you're trying to drive leads, increase sales, or exist in today's growing marketplace.
It's not just the fault of undereducated buyers. Marketng companies can often blur the lines by offering all inclusive packages, or presenting joint pitches.
And I have a problem with this. It's not just that search engine work bores me (it does, on occasion). SEO is a tool as old as the Internet. While methods have changed, the goal hasn't. You want to be tops on Google, Bing, Yahoo etc. Your name in lights, for a price. But this is such a small part of what digital marketing is these days. There's so much more to offer.
SEO is great, when needed. But if you're looking to search engine marketing to make or break the business, you might be broke.
Social media is the current world marketplace. I don't care how many dot Com sales sights pop up, a large percentage of the 12-45 year old population (those who hold the theoretical influence) are finding what they want on social media, and at a growing rate. If it's 1 network or 6, people are watching their feeds for the words of the wise, the trends, the "it" topics. And you don't get that with simple SEO. I'm sure in the future we'll get a better integration platform to bring the two together (Google + Maybe?). But for now, let them be two versions of online marketing tools. They can hold hands snd skip down the road together. They can work as a team, but clients need to be aware that each is different. SEO is tried and true but only part of the pie. Social media marketing is the now, the tomorrow, and the foreseeable future. It's the meat of that matter (I'm hungry and blogging!).
Now if only I could give this explaination to the investor I'm standing next to every week. Maybe I'll just make him read.
A little side note. I had no plans on publishing today. This wasn't even one of my draft topics in queue. But, today, I helped a friend get his wife's business "out there". He's a smart guy but when it came to marketing online he bumbled and stumbled. Everyone needs help sometimes, not everyone asks.
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