Is Your Company Discoverable?
It’s clear that marketing is never going to be the same. The internet has changed everything, and that change is here to stay. Rather than clinging to older ideas that may be outdated and may no longer work, companies need to accept this new reality and find out how they can leverage it for greater success. The relationship with each individual consumer is more important than it has ever been, for instance, and consumers have far more power to search out what they want. They do this on social media and through search engines, primarily. Think of it this way: Two decades ago, companies worked to get in front of consumers. Today, consumers come to them. The key is to make sure that your company, and not the competition, is the one they come to.
The Core of the Change
This change applies to all industries in varying ways. It was succinctly described by Linda Eatherton in Food Navigator, when she said that companies and brands “now need to be far more accessible and discoverable”. These two areas show how brands have to be able to adapt.
Though both areas can be addressed in multiple ways, accessibility is often linked to social media. People can connect with brands in new ways. For instance, imagine that you wanted to buy a Ford truck in the 1990s. The company felt like a big, unapproachable entity. You could go to the Ford dealership, but you still didn’t feel like you were talking to the company that made the truck — you were talking to someone who was trying to sell you a product made by that company. Today, though, you could look up Ford on social media, send them an instant message, and start talking to a representative right away.
Facebook advertising even reflects this, as you can comment directly on the ads you see. This is worlds away from watching a TV commercial or seeing a billboard. You can make comments, talk to other prospective buyers and even communicate with company reps on that very ad. You can ask for clarification or more details. You can talk about your own experiences. Your accessibility to this brand — whichever one you’re interested in — has never been so open before.
For discoverability, the focus is often on SEO. The first thing that almost every consumer does when they’re interested in a product is to look it up online. They may not even know the brand. They just know what type of product they want. In seconds, they can have hundreds of options in front of them.
In the past, location mattered far more. Someone could only “discover” a company in their town or a nearby city. They may have known what they wanted, but their actual choices were limited to what was near them at the time. Today, everything is available. If they have a few days to wait on shipping, consumers can shop almost anywhere in the world. They can discover businesses that don’t even exist in their country, much less their town. That doesn’t mean there’s no value in high-traffic areas, but it means that the discovery act often takes place online. Outranking your competition is more important than having the biggest or newest building, because your potential customers aren’t driving around to see what options they have. They’re just punching their search terms into Google to see what they find.
We Can Help in Both Areas
The value of working with us at Content Customs is that we can help you in both areas. We can work on your social media presence and connection so that your brand is accessible for the modern consumer. We can also leverage SEO to make it easier for people to discover your company, regardless of the competition you face, the size of your business or where you’re located. By doing this, you can focus on both of the areas Eatherton identified as critical points, and that can lead to long-term success.