How is digital marketing similar to fighting an opponent with Kung Fu?
Dr. Schaefer Founded Motiliti, an Austin SEO Company
From teaching Kung Fu for 30+ years, I can tell you the most significant enemy a person has in a fighting situation is their own mind. Our brain is the perfect learning and reflex machine and can deliver peak performance on a regular basis unless we allow our conscious mind to interfere and try to run things. We have thoughts of what we want (to win of course) and what we don’t want (to get hit), whether someone is watching, “what they are thinking,” “what moves should I be using,” and “I wonder what my opponent is going to do.” All of these thoughts are disruptive to our peak performance state, and this fact is known by every world-class athlete in every sport in existence.
When it comes to marketing, the same holds true. Our thoughts and attachments to our brand, messaging, our story and the website we worked so hard on makes us the absolute worst judge of that same material.
Surprisingly, you already possess the most potent marketing computer in existence to help with your internet marketing and messaging for your website and other campaigns. Here is the evidence for this assumption:
1. Humans will be coming to your website…and you are also a human
2. People are looking for services and products on the internet…and you have searched for products and services on the internet.
3. People are busy and self-serving when they come to your site…you are busy and serving when you visit websites
4. People don’t want to commit or share their information on the internet…you don’t want to share your information on the internet either.
Your brain is the perfect model for every visitor that comes to your site. Hundreds of times a month you visit websites and act and think just like your visitors to your very own website. The secret to accessing this valuable information is to become a skeptic about your product and message in every way. To fall out of love with your name, your product, and your story.
This is one of the hardest things to do, but if you can accomplish this, then you can be the most powerful consultant your website has. You have the ability to make changes in your site weekly or even daily. As an owner-operator of a small business and website, you should be going to your site every day. You simultaneously have the most to gain from these incremental improvements in your message and the most prominent blind spots when it comes to seeing your site with the eyes of your visitors.
Get Out Some Paper
There are few ways to get past these blind spots and get closer to your visitor mindset.
1. Write a list of the top 3 fears your visitor has when searchers for your product
2. Write a list of the top 3 needs they are trying to fill
3. Write a list of the top 3 stumbling blocks preventing them from taking action
Now make sure you have addressed all of these points in your marketing and within seconds of them arriving at your site. You can speak to all of their needs, but if you don’t address their fears as well, they will go back to page one of Google to find a safer bet.
Who Cares?
Now look at every marketing statement on your site and imagine some cynic saying “who cares” when you make that statement. If you message is not powerful or clear enough to explain why somebody should care, then you message is meaningless. Example, “We have been open for 20 years” … your visitor says “who cares.” Instead, you need to tell them what 20 years of experience means to them regarding how it exactly benefits your clients.
The challenge of looking at your website in an unbiased way is both depressing and liberating. You might realize that NOTHING differentiates you from your competitors, but this same realization is the beginning of your new brand awakening.