In the time of fedoras, steel-framed muscle cars and Elvis Presley marketing consisted of a writer, artist and someone to get the piece to the media. Like tinkering underneath the hood of a ’59 El Camino things seemed… simpler. Time marches on and today the right kind of marketing is more like trying to fix a hybrid electric engine than changing spark plugs on a classic; but before nostalgia overtakes us let’s consider the opportunity this complexity affords businesses of all sizes.
When could a corner burger joint compete equally with a McDonalds or Burger King when it came to local attention for example? How could a start-up fashion boutique draw customers from Macy’s or Bloomingdales? It couldn’t and didn’t back in those oh-so-simple times because the price of media simply and effectively priced the little guy out of the marketing business.
The price of competition
Introduce the admittedly complex world of online marketing and now even the smallest of budgets can compete on equal footing when it comes to customer attention. The tradeoff for this fairer field of competition is complexity, and marketing has a slew of very refined, specific and constantly changing skill sets that never existed before as a result.
Chief among these according to the marketing agencies adapting quickly to the changing times, is search engine optimization. Even if you have the perfect product in the perfect location, are less expensive and friendlier; if your neighbor does not find your store online chances are they are driving to the other side of town to get what they need because Google told them to.
SEO is where it all begins.
Where traditional marketing meets SEO
A cornerstone only holds a structure up though, it does not complete it. Today there is a lot more competition. Getting on the first page of a search requires a team of professionals, staying there requires constant attention, and meanwhile you still need to speak to the customer in a way that attracts their attention and immediately conveys the benefits of your product or service.
Experts are quickly learning a holistic marketing approach, starting with good SEO, is the key to success.