I need to set a goal for 2025 to read more marketing classics. My time is consumed by my professional career, family, and side projects that I’m working on. I never feel like I’ve got enough time in the day for the priorities that I already have in front of me let alone finding time to read. I was reflecting on what topic that I wanted to dig into in this week’s edition of the newsletter and got inspired by one of the last great marketing books that I actually took time to consume. 

The book is “Ogilvy on Advertising” from legendary marketer David Ogilvy. The book was originally published in 1983 which is 2 years before I was even born and still holds up today. The book was written prior to the digital boom, however, there’s so many lessons Ogilvy shares that translates to how we can show up in a bigger and better way for our next customer in 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐄𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐦𝐲. There’s a quote in particular that hasn't escaped my brain ever since I read it. I’ve used it to help set up a lot of content that I’ve created over the past few years and figured it’s as good a time as any to share the inspiration. 

Ogilvy writes, “Do not address your readers as though they were gathered together in a stadium. When people read your copy, they are alone. Pretend you are writing to each of them a letter on behalf of our client.”

His quote resonated instantly with me the moment that I read it. Most brands default to casting a wide net with their copywriting. The desire is for brands to try to appeal to as many prospective buyers as possible hoping that a few will slip through and become customers. The problem with this style of generic copy writing strategy is that when you try to appeal and write for as many people as possible you begin to write for no one. 

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐄𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐦𝐲 is all about resonating with the right people at the right time. We’re all writers. Our job is to use words that our customers use to search for answers when they have a problem. It’s good to take a step back and to consider exactly who you’re trying to communicate to with your message. Your next customer is likely searching for your service on their iPhone or laptop. When they land on your website they want to make sure that the products and services that you offer are designed specifically for them. We’re living in an era where there’s more options than ever before. Our job is to use words that resonate and build trust. The more we resonate the more we’ll earn trust. The result of great trust building is more customers.

Isn’t that we’re all looking for?

At Pneuma, we service a lot of different types of businesses. We’ve got a ton of great clients across a myriad of industries. One of the biggest opportunities that I identified in my first month at Pneuma is to be more intentional and specific with the audiences that we’re trying to reach. I’m really excited about the progress that we’re making. This quarter we’re focusing on ramping up campaigns around the home services category. An owner and operator at a roofing company thinks a lot differently than a VP of Marketing at a software company. It’s my job to not only recognize that, but find ways to effectively communicate to different audiences. 

It’s not enough to just drive a bunch of new people to your website in 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐄𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐦𝐲.

It’s about getting them to stay. 

The Content We Dropped This Week

In the tenth episode of 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐄𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐦𝐲 podcast we discuss how to gain executive buy in for SEO with Crystal Carter who is the Head of SEO Communications at Wix. 

Crystal shares advice on communication, content, and how to position SEO as an investment opportunity for future growth. 

Please follow and subscribe to 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐄𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐦𝐲 wherever you consume fine audio and video content.

• Apple Podcasts

• Spotify

• YouTube

Quick Tip for The Search Economy

It’s always good to ditch the vanity metrics and lead with key business drivers when positioning your brand’s opportunity with SEO. The more that you can tie the SEO work back to real revenue numbers the better chance you’ll have earning investment from your leadership team. In my experience it’s avoiding spending too much time talking about things like page views and bounce rates. It’s more about talking about conversion numbers and tying the SEO back to real revenue. 

If you’re unable to breakthrough with numbers you can present a competitive analysis. Your leadership team should care about what the competition is doing online. It can be as simple as searching for your brand’s keywords and showing where your competitors stack ahead of you. FOMO can be just as powerful as revenue data. 

Pneuma considers Google’s ranking factors to develop the SCORE methodology we use with our customers. If you’re looking for a team that will help give you a jump start into 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐄𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐦𝐲 give Pneuma a shout for a free traffic audit!

What They’re Saying About Search

The words that we use for our SEO strategies and campaigns matter. We’ve spent the majority of this week’s newsletter sharing our thoughts on copy. More importantly, the words that we use should never put down the competition. I loved this post by Ross about positioning for SEO against the competition. 

If you’re looking for a team that will help give you a jump start into 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐄𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐦𝐲 give Pneuma a shout for a free traffic audit!

Content That Supports The Search Economy

I love being able to find great content that speaks to my belief system. I stumbled across the Talk Copy to Me podcast and this episode hit. If you want some motivation on how you should think about launching your SEO strategy or up level your current strategy this episode is for you. 

You can listen to the conversation here. 

I appreciate you being here for 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐄𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐦𝐲 newsletter. If you’re looking to learn more about how your company can get found by your next customer then give the Pneuma team a shout.