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Do you get a lot of people trying to rank SEO Malaysia?
We get regular emails – and lots of spam emails which have the misfortune of event gets people calling us to sell their SEO services.
The sales idea is to make you feel a woeful no-hoper because you’re not at the top of the Google rankings.
It reminds me of yesterday’s rip-off chain of events:
Great Google Adsence Rip-Off…
Gigantic Lure of Making Money Online Rip-Off…
Not to mention the Massive We’ll Turn Your Tiny Business Into A Giant-Killing Enterprise Seminar Rip-Off.
They all work on the glaring assumption many marketers feel they should have one of these shiny things.
However, they were blinded from the truth. Let alone knowing how it works.
We take great joy in probing these SEO poachers what they actually deliver. It soon becomes apparent they can’t practice what they preach.
Make Them Pay
As the name implies, digital marketing is still marketing.
The thing is, whichever tactics you employ, SEO or social media ads have become the mystical dark art of turning prospects into customers.
Yet digital agencies don’t like to reveal their secret recipes to get clients.
We have noticed huge numbers of businesses signing up to ridiculous deals where they commit to sums of money for measly search engine optimization works.
We are a bit jealous as they are making money for doing nothing – something we’ve always struggled to do.
What’s happening is truly shocking…
Businesses who are hiring these “SEO agency” who does little more than a few tweaks to their site in the first month and then sits around until they get rumbled about 12 months later.
Don’t fall for it.
Before chasing the latest magic bullet, make sure you’re getting the best out of the old ammunition.
Somewhere 7 years ago, my copywriting mentor gave a piece of brutal advice about marketing.
It was painful to my ear but it just hilarious. It reveals the latest money-gobbling blind alley being followed by people who don’t have to risk their own money:
He said:
“I was asked to speak at a conference recently and arrived early to listen to a session on apps. The podium was occupied by two blokes dressed suitably ‘NYSE executive’ style, one very ‘creative’, the other quite serious and therefore presumably the ‘propeller-head’ of the duo.
“They were delivering a case study of how their ‘cutting edge’ app development had helped their client.
How much extra profit did it generate?
“At the end of their session a member of the audience asked how much extra profit was generated in this case study. With a barely concealed smirk to his colleague the creative one answered ‘I’m afraid you don’t understand… (pause for dramatic effect)… this is about more than sales’. In other words he had no idea!
“Possibly because no one wanted to appear ‘old skool’ in a session about the latest ‘magic bullet’, no-one took issue with this assertion and the session ended to applause.
“Later on in the same venue, but with a largely different audience – although similar in profile to the earlier one – I decided to repeat the earlier audience exchange as part of the intro to my session, where I suggested (well insisted really!) that there are only three jobs for the marketer:
1) Find and attract the right customers
2) Keep the right customers
3) Help those customers spend more
“When I performed what (which if I say so myself) was a passable impersonation of ‘Mad Men’ the audience reacted with a welcome mixture of laughter and incredulity at his pronouncement.
“Now I’m not saying that apps aren’t potentially important and can’t generate closer links and more accessible interaction with customers (notice I didn’t mention the dreaded and currently ubiquitous ‘E’ word… ‘engagement’).
“BUT it should be part of a planned strategy to achieve goals critical to any business. Profit is quite a good one, as that’s how a business continues to have the cash to pay our salaries, or in my case consultancy fees.
Jumping On The Bandwagon.
“Jumping on the latest bandwagon is not a new tendency that marketers have succumbed to. They have been doing so ever since the 1940s of USP (Unique Selling Proposition), through the dawn of TV endorsement advertising, to direct mail turning into direct marketing, then into digital marketing.
“Mind you ‘digital’ all sounded a bit ‘technical’, so rather helpfully the technology firms ‘invented’ the next mega marketing tactic (or ‘online marketing’ if you wanted to wrestle it away from the IT crowd) to flog their jargon magic bullet.
“Then, of course, we had the dotcom bubble and now digital marketing serves up an almost constant conveyor belt of the latest ‘magic bullets’: SEO marketing, display, PPC, cuddly toy, e-mail, re-marketing, social media, sandwich-maker, brandmaker, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and now bang up to date with app, chatbots and now virtual reality (what happened to forgotten QR codes?).
“The temptation for marketers, face pressed up against the window of the sweetie shop and slavering over the latest tasty offering, continues to be almost irresistible, egged on by their boards who want to know “why we’re not doing what everyone else is doing now?” It was ever thus.
Ok, now getting back to marketing principles, shall we?
“Understand your customers by segmenting them so that we can understand who drives value and profit for the business and future potential value and profit.
“Then we can plan and implement a successful customer strategy, designed from the customer’s perspective through understanding of the customer journey, to ensure we invest in what’s most likely to win, keep and grow the right customers and therefore generate ROI (return on investment).
“If we can see that an app not only enhances the customer experience but makes it easier to buy, then make sure it’s part of your strategy. If it’s not that important to the customer, why are you prioritising it? Prioritise the stuff that works, even if it is ‘old hat’.
“Last year, a new travel client asked me to ‘explore’ whether direct mail might work to retain existing customers.
“Direct mail, with its tarnished reputation and ‘so last year darling’ perception, doesn’t get invited much to the annual marketing budget party anymore and your letterbox has become a relatively junk free zone – apart from the pizza leaflets. And with the onset of email you certainly don’t receive as many personal letters or cards anymore.
ROI of 10:1
“When something drops through your letterbox, personally addressed, from a brand you know and perhaps like, with some product or service that is relevant and with a thank you or offer that seems to treat you differently from non-customers, then you are likely to respond… and buy stuff!
“And the travel company’s customers bought more stuff, delivering an ROI of nearly 10:1 – ie, spend $1 and make $10 PROFIT.
“But of course it’s not just about retaining and growing your best customers, it’s about recruiting the best customers in the first place. Too often the silo mentality of the ‘old’ and ‘new’ stuff means that marketing folk can become ‘busy fools’ blazing away with the new magic bullets.
“Customer value analysis and segmentation provide the map of where to direct acquisition’s aim for longer-term profit. Anything else and acquisition is just a numbers game, knowing who will find your brand appealing but not necessarily who will generate the most profit.
“So if you’re disappointed by the latest ‘magic bullet’ served up by your agency or perhaps the various online interest groups or conferences, then don’t ignore what’s gone before.
“Even direct mail doesn’t need to be junk (it never did!) if it’s planned, targeted, communicates effectively and is analysed for constant improvement.
There are no magic bullets.
“And of course there are no ‘magic bullets’, just well planned and executed and INTEGRATED marketing that brings together a consistent compelling proposition across a relevant combination of new (and old!) communication channels.
“And just to leave you with something to liven up your next planning meeting, when someone uses the term ‘engagement strategy’ combined with prominent reference to the latest magic bullets, ask them ‘What exactly do you mean by that?’
“Nine times out of ten you’ll be able to watch as they flounder ….’Well, you know, engagement … make customers more … er … more engaged’.”
So What’s In It For You?
The point is crystal clear – know what you aim for.
Ranking #1 in Google is one of the metrics you might have in your list. This, however, must come with understanding your business goal.
Aiming for a highly competitive keyword like SEO Malaysia is incredibly tough.
When we registered as a digital marketing agency, Bomstart Media Sdn. Bhd. in August 2018, we changed the website layout for rebranding.
Because now we are not just looking for small fishes in a small pond. We aim for whales in the Pacific Ocean!
We tied up the goal to our business objective, which was to land ‘big fish,’ high paying clients from Google.
That’s a lesson for us; SEO is directly proportional to your business success if you do it right.
Get clear on your SEO objective.
Do you need SEO?
Why do you want to rank your site on the first page of Google?
Is it worth to spend time to do SEO for your business?
Start with the goal first; then you will know whether you are on the right track to your success.
For immediate help improving your website and SEO strategy, please contact us for a free consultation. We will be more than happy to speak with you about how to improve your online marketing strategy today.
A reluctant chemist-turn-copywriter who transmutes big ideas into compelling copy. Since 2011, he had crafted copy for several SMEs and business owners, ranged from health and beauty industry, professional services and startups.
