Welcome to The Search Economy Newsletter from Pneuma

A weekly space to share how modern businesses are getting found

Welcome to Pneuma’s new newsletter (try saying that 10x fast πŸ₯΅) called π“π‘πž π’πžπšπ«πœπ‘ π„πœπ¨π§π¨π¦π²!

πŸ‘‹πŸ» Hi, I’m Brett McGrath. I just started doing marketing for Pneuma a little over a month ago. I’ve spent my entire career putting myself in my audience’s shoes and doing whatever I can to deliver consistent value through excellent messaging, great content, and compelling stories. My first big task since joining Pneuma has been to build the narrative that our team could bring to market. People don’t remember product features, service packages, and every last detail on a SLA, but people remember stories. Our story is π“π‘πž π’πžπšπ«πœπ‘ π„πœπ¨π§π¨π¦π². It’s not just the name of our newsletter, podcast, or content series. Most importantly, π“π‘πž π’πžπšπ«πœπ‘ π„πœπ¨π§π¨π¦π² is the current era that our customers are growing in.

I spent my first 2 days at Pnuema in Denver in a conference room listening. I heard stories of customers adapting, evolving, and most importantly growing because they continued to show up when their next customer had a problem.

The proliferation of search on almost every platform we use to find information has taken over our everyday lives. Until I started my new role, search was something that I had taken for granted. That changed quickly when I was on the airplane headed back to Indianapolis after 2 straight days of drinking from a firehose.

My biggest takeaway was that we are all living in π“π‘πž π’πžπšπ«πœπ‘ π„πœπ¨π§π¨π¦π². 

So, how does that impact you in your role?

It means that your next customer is on offense and has the power of search at their finger tips.

It’s normal for your next customer to:

  • Research you and your brand before talking to you

  • Anonymously consume the content you’re producing

  • Put your company on a shortlist of vendors to evaluate before you even have a conversation with them

π“π‘πž π’πžπšπ«πœπ‘ π„πœπ¨π§π¨π¦π² newsletter will be dedicated to sharing content, ideas, and tips for how to best show up to answer questions for your next customer when that opportunity presents itself and you might not actively know about it.

It’s about being helpful.

It’s about being prepared.

It’s about modernizing the way we think about not only creating awareness, but also capturing demand.

Take care,

Brett

P.S. If you stumbled across π“π‘πž π’πžπšπ«πœπ‘ π„πœπ¨π§π¨π¦π² and dig what we’re putting out make sure you subscribe to get a copy of the latest edition every Friday!

The Content We Dropped This Week

It was a big week for Pneuma content. We’re not only launching the newsletter, but also our new podcast. Every week we’ll be bringing you stories from the Pneuma team, customers, and friends about the steps that we’re taking to prepare for π“π‘πž π’πžπšπ«πœπ‘ π„πœπ¨π§π¨π¦π².

In the first episode I’m joined by David Riggs, Pneuma Founder and CEO to define π“π‘πž π’πžπšπ«πœπ‘ π„πœπ¨π§π¨π¦π² and provide thoughts on what’s possible when businesses start showing up in ways that are consistent with how their next customer is searching.

Please follow and subscribe to π“π‘πž π’πžπšπ«πœπ‘ π„πœπ¨π§π¨π¦π² wherever you consume fine audio and video content.

Quick Tip for The Search Economy

One of the biggest mistakes that businesses make when trying to find their next customer is to confuse the concept of creating demand vs. capturing demand. It’s ok, you’re not alone. I’m a career marketer and it took me nearly a decade of career to draw the line in between these two important motions.

Creating Demand: involves generating interest and desire for a product or service where little or none existed before. Marketing efforts to create demand typically are aimed at educating consumers about the benefits of a product or service and how it can help solve a specific problem. The goal of creating demand is to drive interest and desire among customers who might not have been aware of the product or service previously.

Capturing Demand: involves satisfying existing demand for a product or service that already exists in a specific target market. It’s all about making it as easy as possible for customers who already want a specific product or service to find it, buy it, and have an excellent experience.

Most businesses are focused on creating demand and less are focused on a strategy to capture demand. At Pneuma, we’re big believers that with an excellent website and first-in-class SEO you put your brand in the driver’s seat for capturing more demand than you’ve ever had before.

If you’re interested in learning more about Creating Demand vs. Capturing Demand you can check out the article that I wrote about it here.

What They’re Saying About Search

Brendan helps technology companies grow. I starting following him and then we starting having conversations. He’s got an incredible mind for all things about π“π‘πž π’πžπšπ«πœπ‘ π„πœπ¨π§π¨π¦π² and thought his post was super timely.

If you’re looking for a team that will help give you a jump start into π“π‘πž π’πžπšπ«πœπ‘ π„πœπ¨π§π¨π¦π² give Pneuma a shout for a free traffic audit!

Content That Supports The Search Economy

I remember when this episode of the Growth podcast with Matt Bilotti dropped 4 years ago. I was in the midst of trying to figure out my SEO strategy at the time and tuned into this episode. I was about half way through and had an entire sheet of notes written out. I decided to go back to this episode this week to see if it holds up. It not only holds up, but gave me some new ideas how I can approach π“π‘πž π’πžπšπ«πœπ‘ π„πœπ¨π§π¨π¦π² in my new role.

You can listen to the episode here.

I appreciate you being here for the first drop of π“π‘πž π’πžπšπ«πœπ‘ π„πœπ¨π§π¨π¦π² 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.