Pulse June 2015 | Page 41

hoe phones, cones of silence, British sports cars and intelligence gathering are not just for James Bond and Inspector Gadget. Let’s put on our trench coats, grab our briefcases and start to “spy.” As business owners, we are pulled in a thousand different directions to market ourselves and build a brand. However, when potential clients search for us, they ISPA CONFERE NC & EXPO E SPREAKE R may not necessarily know us by name but instead only know their desired outcome. With a sea of businesses and so many variables for error, prospects turn to Google for answers. Our greatest marketing challenge is to know intimately what the client needs and what keyword phrases are important to them when they are searching online. We often create websites, blogs and social content on how we see ourselves and not what problem the client needs resolved. They are turning to a robot for help. We need to appeal to the robot and the human to be truly findable. I call this “findability” or industry experts call it SEO (Search Engine Optimization). I want to challenge you to think differently. Let us take a proactive approach to marketing and see if we can figure out what is inside the mind of your ideal online searcher. We often guess at what might work for online exposure, but guessing is expensive! The only way to stop guessing and to know for sure what your customers are doing is to “spy” on them. Let’s get to work, shall we? Fill out the form so you can implement the recommendations as you read this article. TO LISTEN TO LUTZE’S SESSION at the 2014 ISPA Conference & Expo, click here to purchase the Professional Development Session (PDS) Audio Recordings. June 2015 n PULSE 39