In a world ever more crammed with advertising messages, how do you position yourself as the right choice for your future customers? USPs? Value Propositions? These are all important marketing tools, but in an industry where there is often little to distinguish the promises made by company A or company B, there is another and sometimes overlooked way: be first.
The Second Man on the Moon
Who was the first man on the Moon? Easy right? But who was second? This is just as true in business, and when you think of cola you likely think of Coke. Some brands even become the name of the product, like sellotape in the case of sticky tape.
Coming from an SEO and PPC guy I don’t want you to get this twisted. Sure, it is important to be in that first two or three listings on a page of search results. Maybe that means being visible in the paid, organic and local listings for your desired terms. But this just as equally means being the first business a user discovers across social media. The first business that the prospect sees putting out consistent, useful content. It also means being the first business to stay in front of a customer using remarketing and email marketing so they actually get who you are and what you do.
Being first is more than just ranking first. To be first in the digital marketing landscape you must be the company to get in front and stay in front of your target customers. You must be the first company to really commit to your marketing program and be utterly consistent. You have to be the first company to get in front and stay in front of your customers across multiple channels – think SEO, social, paid search, display, content etc.
Your goal here is to fix your message in that prospect’s mind so that when they think of SEO or content marketing or plumbing or even where to buy a pair of socks – whatever it is you do, they instantly think of your business. If you can become imprinted in the prospect’s mind it will be doubly difficult for any competitor to take your place, no matter how good their marketing is.
