Who pays your bills, Google or your customers?

It’s a silly question, but a very important one when it comes to creating a marketing plan, which should be designed to out-advertise and ultimately “beat” your competition.

Another important question you need to answer is…Which of these is more important?

1.) Ranking first on Google (Top of the Page), or

2.) Ranking first with Customers (Top of Mind)

You’ve probably been told that in order to succeed and compete in today’s business environment, you must be at the top of the page in your business category. While it’s nice to be at or close to the top of the page, it’s far more important to have Top of Mind awareness with your prospects and customers.

Billions and potentially trillions of dollars have been and continue to be spent by businesses trying to stay at the top of the page, all while Google changes the rules (algorithms) up to 600 times per year. It’s the internet search world’s version of a cat-and-mouse game.

While we would never suggest that you don’t try to be at the top of the page, when it comes to long term marketing, owning Top of Mind real estate is much more profitable.

The purpose of advertising and marketing is to move customers from unawareness of you to awareness of you, then to building a positive emotional connection with your business before they need your product or service.

The key to winning the search game is to be known by your company name.

ENS Media’s TOMA (Top Of Mind Awareness) Research of more than 28,000 people in more than 160 markets across North America reveals that consumers will click on a business they have heard of or are familiar with 72% of the time, compared to only 4% of the people saying they will click on the business name at the top of the page. 24% claim they will click on both.  This is confirmed by a 2018 study done by Search Engine Journal that says, “70% of U.S. consumers said they look for a ‘known retailer’ when deciding what search result to click on.”

Being known wins 96% to being unknown at 28%!  Internet guru, Seth Godin was and continues to be right when he says, “It’s better to be sought than to be found”.

The only sure way you’ll be chosen online is when you’ve created a story in the minds of your customers that causes them to prefer your business and to search for you by NAME.

Einstein said, “Genius is making the complicated look simple.” Effective marketing need not be complicated.

A simple strategy of using broadcast to tell your story and create a pre-search preference for your business, then using online to close the sale will create the revenue results you need to make your marketing more profitable.

Top of the Page or Top of Mind?
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