Companies Will Spend $65 Billion on SEO in 2016, Much of it Will Be Wasted

Do you know what snake oil is? It’s a term used to describe any product with questionable or unverifiable quality or benefit. If you read this Wikipedia article on the topic, you’ll see that real oil from snakes used to be prescribed as a cure for everything from small cuts on up to arthritis and skin diseases.

And a recent study came out touting that companies will be spending $65 Billion on SEO this year.

Now, as the title to this article would imply, I believe that the SEO industry, and the digital marketing industry in general is full of snake oil salespeople. Individuals who knowingly are selling a product that either will not work for the buyer or that they know is of inferior quality.

Let me explain. I run a marketing agency. I have to hear dozens of horror stories every week about wasted budgets, sites damaged beyond repair, digital campaigns that produce zero results and everything else business owners and marketers are terrified of. These stories are the grownup versions of the campfire stories we told each other as children. Except now, they end in the loss of millions of dollars. Terrifying, I know.

Now, I mentioned that I run an agency, as such you’d think that we’d have a pretty good grasp on marketing. But you wouldn’t guess that if you looked at my spam folder. I receive hundreds, yes hundreds of unsolicited emails every day from marketers promising to take my brand to the #1 spot in Google (total lie). Or to bring me thousands of visitors in a matter of weeks (liar liar pants on fire). They tell me that my site is breaking numerous rules set forth by the search engines and if I don’t fix them my company will die a fiery death (oh really?).

These are the Exhibit A’s in the snake oil industry of digital marketing and SEO.

To see the Exhibit B’s you’ll need to reach out to an agency of your choice and ask to speak with their sales team. Odds are you’ll end up talking with someone that will guarantee that your wildest dreams will be fulfilled by focusing on SEO. Or maybe they’re a social media agency. If that’s the case, their silver bullet will undoubtedly be social media. Either way, they’ve got the tonic that will cure your website’s disease. And if you act now, you’ll be guaranteed results!

Look, as someone who has worked in SEO and every other digital medium for the last decade or so, I can tell you that there are no silver bullets and that nothing is guaranteed. I also know that SEO doesn’t work for some companies. Just like PPC isn’t for everyone, nor is social media. After all, billboards and commercials don’t work for every industry, so why would digital marketing be any different?

But let’s examine what makes a lot of SEO services snake oil and give you the information you’ll need to protect yourself.

Why is it snake oil?

Snake oil originated in the medical industry. It was used as a cure for ailments. It was easy for salespeople to pull the wool over they’re buyers’ eyes because back in the day, no one really knew what the heck was going on with their bodies. Medical information wasn’t as readily available. And since medical conditions are by nature quite scary, the sufferers were ready to believe anything that was thrown their way.

Well, guess what? The Internet is the new medical industry when it comes to snake oil. You see, the Internet is still not that old. It’s really only become prolific over the last 20 years or so. With that being the case, most people don’t understand the ins and outs of it. Yes, like a medical condition, they can tell when something is wrong. But they’re not really quite sure what the cause of the issue is. Enter the snake oil salespeople.

Whenever there are uninformed customers, there will always be predatory groups looking to take advantage of that situation. And with a 65 Billion dollar industry up for grabs, the streets are running wet with snake oil right now.

What I’ve seen.

While some snake oils can be rather harmless, when it comes to your digital marketing snake oil is anything but. For instance, I wrote an article a few years back about a large company that was removed from the Google search results due to their digital marketing activities. They had some sloppy marketing being done and it ended up making them disappear from the search results. Harmless, right? Wrong. You see, this company relied heavily on their search results for new leads to their call center. This call center was staffed by dozens of people. These people had families, mortgages, and relied on that income.

Well, when the phones just stop ringing one morning, it’s going to be very hard for a company to keep employing an entire sales floor. And while the company did their best to avoid the inevitable, they eventually had to face the facts and they ended up laying off the entire department.

So this one company that unfortunately trusted a snake oil salesperson, ended up having to lay off almost 50 people at a time when the economy wasn’t doing so well. I’m sure there was a lot of financial pain felt by these families.

So, yes, snake oil SEO can be extremely dangerous in today’s digital economy.

How do business owners avoid getting burned?

This is probably the most important part of this article. As I mentioned earlier, the reason these groups are able to prey on consumers is because of the lack of information. To this end, you need to gird yourself with knowledge. Do research on the topic you’ll be discussing with your potential agency partners. Have talking points and specific questions that you’d like answered. By doing this, you’ll be able to avoid the bottom-of-the-barrel snake oil salespeople that can’t even face mild scrutiny.

Once you’ve weeded those ones out, you’ll want to really do your research on the agencies that have made the first cut. Check the background of the founders, look for third party reviews. Ask them for case studies, testimonials, and references. Do not look at a slick sales deck and assume that because they can put together a decent PowerPoint that they can provide you with proper marketing services. I’ve seen hundreds of dreams crushed on the expectations set by a nice sales presentation. Any group you don’t feel 100 percent comfortable with should be cut after this.

Now that you’ve made it to your third round of choices, you’ll want to watch what they produce for you very closely. Don’t accept an agency that does not give you full visibility into what they’re doing. I can’t tell you how often I see shoddy work being done, and the business owner would have been able to identify that work as being shoddy, but because they weren’t aware it was being done, they had no way of stopping it.

Because of this you’ll want to make sure that the group you’re working with is willing to show you everything they’re doing and will actually take the time to explain and train you on what they’re doing. After all, an informed client is the best kind of client.

And if you follow these steps, you’ll be assured that you’ve probably weeded out all of the snake oil salespeople and you’ll be working with a reputable agency. Now, this doesn’t guarantee that you will get great results. As I mentioned above, sometimes SEO isn’t a solution for all industries and sometimes marketing campaigns don’t result in massive successes. But those are the chances you should be willing to take. If you know you’re working with the right group that does things the right way, then you’re in it together. And the engagement should feel like a partnership, rather then a vendor relationship.

So, as you’re out there trying to spend your marketing dollars wisely, watch for those shady characters that are touting the magical properties of their services. Odds are, there’s a lot of snake oil in their pitch.

by Mike Templeman

Top Marketing Trends for Small Businesses

Today’s competitive landscape continues to put more demand on small businesses than ever before. As trends inevitably come and go, how do small businesses identify the relevant trends at the right time to not only complement the brand, but also resonate with target audiences? Think about the challenges your brand faces this year and take a look at the top trends we’ve gathered to help inspire your small business marketing strategies in 2016.

1. Goodbye, B2B & B2C. Hello, H2H!

Brave brands have parted with segmenting audiences by B2B and B2C, and instead adopted a human-to-human approach. To creatively build meaningful relationships with audiences, brands must provide experiences that cultivate a deep emotional connection and harness brand love. Ultimately strive for communication that is personal, conversational, empathetic, inspirational, humorous and story-driven.

2. Brand community collaboration

Don’t be afraid to open up a dialogue and make audiences feel heard by encouraging them to actively spread your brand message on your behalf. Smart brands leverage the collaborative power of their communities through user-generated content and crowdsourcing campaigns. These efforts authentically engage the audience and allow them to develop a meaningful stake in the brand’s evolution and success. It can even lead to the emergence of transformational ideas that steer the brand in a new direction.

3. Technology with purpose

Technology continues to evolve, and it seems like every week, a new innovation is introduced. The best marketing strategies don’t just check boxes; they inspire attendees, leaving them energized and connected. Adding purposeful technologies and interactive elements can greatly support this idea. In the coming year, brands should take a more sophisticated and thoughtful approach when integrating digital technologies to best support their brand stories. Don’t just use technology for the sake of it; strategically select tactics that make the most sense for your message and audience.

4. The new ROI: return on innovation

It’s time for small businesses to think beyond ROI’s traditional definition and start measuring the return on innovation, which focuses on assessing the long-term impact of innovative marketing strategies. In addition to traditional ROI metrics, brands seeking a more effective way to build meaningful connections should measure memorability, engagement and brand perception.

5. Next level hashtags

Hashtags are undoubtedly a popular and powerful part of our communication culture. They are a resilient, effective way to classify information, streamline conversations and create memorable shared experiences across social platforms. In the coming year, brands will infuse new creativity to take their hashtag usage to the next level, enabling participation from both live and online audiences in highly interactive ways. Not only will such experiences help brands stay relevant in an increasingly competitive landscape, but it will also activate meaningful connections with an audience that will share messages on the brand’s behalf.

By Claire Holland, agencyEA     

Why 'Digital' Marketing Is the New Traditional Marketing

Has the word ‘digital’ become overdramatized and sensationalized by marketers? Yes, and that’s a bold statement to make coming from a CEO and founder of a digital marketing agency.

The sole purpose of marketing is to garner attention for a business selling a product or service. Several subsets of marketing (like content, social media, and digital) have emerged, changing the way organizations market their businesses. That said, they all have the same primary function: to garner attention.

Technology changes the way that marketers market, and even changes the look of a business’s marketing department. This technology shifts so rapidly that we see more of our time dedicated to 'digital' resources, so we've naturally adopted 'digital' marketing as our own.

Departmental changes

CMO’s and directors everywhere now have employees with titles like ‘social media manager,’ ‘content strategist,’ and ‘community manager.’ It’s very rare you’ll find a department with a ‘print manager,’ or even a media buyer dedicated only to purchases in magazines and newspapers.

Employers have made the shift within their organizations to reflect the wants and needs of their consumers. While traditional marketing (e.g. direct mail, print, and newspaper) has its place, most customers want access to information when they want it and how they want it.

In essence, what we used to think of as 'traditional marketing' has now become 'old school marketing.' And what we've coined 'digital marketing' has become the new 'traditional marketing.'

Ultimately it all comes down to experience marketing. It leaves the channel behind and focuses solely on the user and their unique experience.

Cohesive omnichannel experience

As more people adopt new technology, marketers need to implement an omnichannel strategy to orchestrate seamless interactions from device to device, from experience to experience. This ensures a cohesive marketing plan that follows users between the ‘real’ and the digital worlds.

Omnichannel marketing has started to blur the lines between print and digital marketing mediums. Print campaigns are still part of the overall omnichannel strategy, but they leverage QR codes, hashtags, websites, and social media icons to drive people back to an online experience.

Connected worlds

The holy grail of all marketers is to drive profitable growth and expand customer relationships. Digital marketing, by proxy, is the key to that success.

With access to more tools and platforms than ever before, marketers aid in attribution and engagement across all digital mediums. It's the context and basis for all marketing; we’re simply marketers living in a digital world.

Digital has become so tightly intertwined with everything we do that our online and offline worlds often interact and combine.

Dining out with friends has never been the same since the introduction of Instagram. Dating has become a matter of swiping right or swiping left. And if you thought you’d leave work behind at the end of the day, think again. You'll be retargeted by advertisements for items you searched during the day, or simply profiled based on your geographic location, job title, and more.

Marketers understand that to connect with experiences happening online or off, they need to be where customers are most. There’s nothing ‘digital’ about it. It’s simply finding the right people at the right time. The medium might be digital, but they share the common goal of connecting with the customers’ experiences.

Why 'Digital' Is the new 'Traditional'

Not too long ago, we lacked digital higher education. But that’s changing.

Programs like those found at the University of Connecticut School of Business are offering certificates in programs for Digital Advertising and Analytics. Employers are demanding students with a greater understanding of how digital drives results for businesses, not just likes for their lunchtime hamburger.

Do universities need to put this emphasis on digital marketing? Sure, it’s still new to them. For the rest of us marketing day in and day out, cut the fluff. ‘Digital’ is the new 'traditional.' Let's stop trying to pigeonhole ‘marketing’ from ‘digital marketing.’ Every effort amongst marketers has a digital impact. It’s redundant and quite unnecessary to stress ‘digital’ when quite frankly, we’re already there.

by PR Newswire’s Small Business PR Toolkit

How to Build Your Brand Name Through Social Media: A Primer

Your brand’s reputation online is more important than ever. The 2014Edelman Trust Barometer revealed that 65 percent of online users rely on web search to find information on people and companies. One of the tools that helps businesses with this purpose is social media. Scratch that; it’s currently THE tool for businesses.

Around 92 percent of the marketers surveyed for the 2015 Social Media Marketing Industry Report called this tool vital for their businesses. Moreover, 90 percent revealed that social media increases their exposure, whereas 69 percent praised it for its ability to develop loyal fans.

So, clearly, if you haven't already done so, you should begin branding yourself through social media. Here are four tips to get you started.

1. Carefully select the social media platform you’ll use.

There are many social media platforms for you to pick from to begin your branding journey. However, you need to carefully choose the right one to prevent yourself from being spread too thin. Opting for multiple platforms at one time will negatively impact your brand since you won’t be able to reach your potential audience. To help you decide on a platform, here’s a quick look at three big ones:

Facebook. Facebook is the biggest social network in terms of name recognition and number of users. Through this platform, you have access to more than 1.55 billion users as well as a range of tools that could boost your business. If you’re new to branding via social media, this is where to start. Not only can you share photos, videos and updates without worrying about limitations, but Facebook also allows you to advertise your business with a well-made platform.

Twitter. Despite the 140-character limitation, Twitter is a great platform for posting updates, videos, images, polls and much more. Though trickier, it’s one of the best social networks for interacting with other users, and has more than 320 million active users worldwide. As a result, it’s the best choice for marketing brands as well as for handling their customer service.

Pinterest. You may have expected to see LinkedIn in third place, but the truth is, Pinterest has risen to the top of social networking tools for branding. The platform offers digital bulletin boards that you can use to organize collections of pictures featuring your offerings, your work space and the people behind the company. However, Pinterest is more of a niche network, as a majority of its users are women and the most popular categories there are related to fashion, food, beauty and exercise.

2. Keep imagery consistent throughout your social media accounts

Branding is all about imagery. From your logo to your brand name, and all the way to your profile picture, everything should be instantly recognizable. You should also create a unique identity through your design. For instance, you can use the color palette and style of your logo to design your pages and establish your brand. For inspiration, check what the leaders of your industry are doing, and take a page from their books.

3. Create valuable and shareable content.

Most businesses make the mistake of producing content only they’d want to read, or else they simply meet the deadlines marked on their publishing calendars. What you should be focusing on is how to create useful content that your readers won’t think twice about sharing. You can find out what engages your audience by asking its members directly or by checking out what your competitors are doing. However, don’t share blindly or plagiarize, as these moves will affect your branding efforts. Instead, consider the following expert tips:

• Make sure that the content you share supports your brand image. One factor you should definitely try adding to your posts is humor. However, make sure that it goes down well with your audience.

• Take care that the tone and content you post is relevant to the brand. You cannot post a blog just because the topic is trending or you have personal interest in it. Everything you post should be relevant to your website. Consider: How would your visitors feel if you wrote about ghosts on a website dedicated to finance? Any post discussing an irrelevant topic will be met with criticism, no matter how well it is written. Even if your visitors have interest in knowing about ghosts, they would still consider the post irrelevant and spammy and might also decide your website to be unreliable.

• Find out which content will gain the most visibility on your social networks. Use analytics to figure out whether your audience prefers blogs to images for instance.

• Don’t shy from using visual content. Images guarantee up to 94 percent more views. Even Twitter content with images receives twice as many views as text-only posts.

4. Take part in the discussion.

One of the important ways of generating a fan base and building your audience is to socialize your content. So, first, you’ll need to get in touch with the social influencers in your field as they’ve already established their brand. Then you can mention their names in your posts, inspiring them to connect with you and, ultimately, share your content with their followers. You should also take part in the discussions to show off your expertise even as you create a bridge between you and your audience.

So, take heed and follow these tips. Because if you ignore social media marketing, your brand may well begin vanishing in no time. Get busy. Get your brand name out there.   

by Metei Gavril, President & CEO, PRMEDIAONLINE.com