I was having a conversation this week with a successful operator about marketing. We were discussing how complicated the discipline has become over the years. There’s brand, content, events, campaigns, SEO, design, copy, operations, and so much more. In most instances, each marketing function bleeds into the next. There’s a dependency from discipline to discipline. For instance, a content marketer's work is only as good as its distribution which is primarily a demand gen function. We know that marketing has gotten more sophisticated than ever before, however, most of us don’t work on robust teams where every discipline is appropriately represented. The reality is that we’ve got to wear many hats to do marketing and oftentimes we’re guilty of spreading ourselves too thin.  We end up dipping our toes in every discipline instead of going all in on the functions that can cause the biggest impact to our business right now. I share all of this with you based on my personal experience without even mentioning the website, easily your most important digital asset. 

Websites are a requirement to get found by your next customer. I’ve never worked for a company that was 100% satisfied with their website either. I don’t believe in website projects. I believe that your website is a product for your company. It’s how your next customer finds you. It’s where your next customer goes to learn about your POV on the market. Most importantly, it’s where your next customer converts into a conversation with your team. Your website should be treated as a living and breathing product. It needs care. It needs maintenance. It needs to make sure it follows the right trends for Google to like it. This takes a lot of work and consider trying to stack that work up with everything else that was mentioned above. It’s not easy. 

I had just put my two daughters down to sleep last night when I saw David, Pneuma’s CEO drop this post on LinkedIn. It was a reminder to me how challenging, complicated, and risky launching a new website can be for your business. David’s example highlights a dramatic decline in website visitors because of a terrible website relaunch. Typically, bad website relaunches are the byproduct of bad advice or a marketer who is biting off more than she can chew. A bad relaunch can end up costing your brand a lot of money. Also, a bad relaunch can result in a marketer losing her job. 

Great marketing is a requirement in 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐄𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐦𝐲. Great marketing doesn’t take place in silos. There’s too much overlap and subject matter expertise needed to make the type of moves you want to make to unlock growth. Great marketing takes time, conversations, and most importantly collaboration. 

The best way to get found by your next customer isn’t to spend hours trying to be an expert in every discipline. The most important steps you can take is to become an expert facilitator and know when to bring in the right people to help do your brand’s most important work. 

It always starts with your website. 

The Content We Dropped This Week

In the thirteenth episode of 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐄𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐦𝐲 podcast we discuss how to avoid wasting time with vanity metrics. 

David and I share examples, issues, and hurdles that you have to overcome with vanity metrics. We share what revenue related metrics should be tracked in order to learn more about finding your next customer.

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• Apple Podcasts

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Quick Tip for The Search Economy

I’ve been recording a series on SCORE with David on the podcast the last couple of weeks. SCORE is the methodology that we used to help our client’s grow in 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐄𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐦𝐲. Each week we’re covering each letter that represents SCORE (Strategy, Conversion, Outreach, Recode, and Editorial). This week we got done recording the episode on outreach and it got me thinking about the fact that everything is sales. The more that we embrace that mindset the better our marketing efforts will always be. 

We were discussing outreach from the perspective of creating a backlink strategy that doesn’t suck. In order to execute a proficient backlink strategy it takes excellent outreach. It can’t be batch and blast email that you spam a bunch of people. The outreach takes thought, great copy, and a compelling reason for why the person on the other end should respond. 

Outreach gets a bad name. Great outreach is hard to come by. The best way to differentiate yourself as a marketer and to elevate your brand is to master outreach. 

If you’ve been debating new technology or services for your SEO program we’re always here to be a sounding board.  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

There’s a first for everything. When your CEO inspires the opening of the newsletter you have to drop the post in this section. We won’t make it a regular routine to gas ourselves up, but this post was too relevant not to share. 

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 came across this episode during my research of link building and it was too good not to share. In the episode Irina Maltseva, who leads growth at Aura.com shares her experience on philosophy on all things link building. I gained a ton of inspiration and motivation front his episode. Hope you find value, too. 

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.