MARKETING & SALES
Four Marketing Pillars Build a Business as Strong as the Parthenon By Scott Wilson
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ating back to Ancient Greece and Egypt, monumental structures have relied on the strength of stone pillars, working together to support an immense amount of weight and pressure. Over the past 2,500 years, the Parthenon has been rocked by earthquakes, blown up by exploding gunpowder and suffered severe fire damage, yet it and its pillars still stand today. The way we apply digital and online marketing to a business is no different. Every business should be built upon the same principle, using a plethora of marketing pillars to uphold the pressure of its success, and together produce significant results. Every day I encounter many businesses that have one pillar, and in simpler words, put all their eggs in one basket. When the one pillar they have relied so heavily on comes crashing down, they can find themselves in a hard freefall to the ground. There is a significant risk of having one or two pillars, which is why I recommend the Parthenon approach. Here are four of the many marketing pillars businesses should use to build a solid foundation: Search Engine Optimization: Earning top rankings in natural organic Google search is still one of the best ways to grow a business. But many business owners think content is king when it isn’t. Right now, Google has indexed over 60 trillion web pages, and we all know that when we do a search, we pick from the top few. When a consumer is searching for your product or service, it is crucial that your business cuts through the clutter of now 130 trillion web pages to end up among the first few results. One tactic is to write 2,500 words of unique and compelling text and check it with copyscape.com to make sure the content is truly unique. Your main keywords should be inserted 19 times, as inserting it more than that could be considered ‘keyword stuffing,’ and your website could be sent for human review and a potential penalty. Include different variations of your main keywords such as plurals and singulars into the mixture, as well as variant names for your product (i.e. laptop and notebook computer).
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The use of latent semantic language lets Google find relationships between those keywords and the ones in the search query. For example, if you are selling golf clubs then the words driver, iron, and putter are related. Also, include brands like Taylor Made and Callaway. Consumer testimonials are also a great method to include keywords and organically improve Google ranking. Search Engine Marketing: While it may take a while to earn Google’s trust through SEO, Search Engine Marketing can be turned on fairly quickly. With Build a solid foundation for your business SEM, businesses pay to play and are relewith four key marketing pillars. vant, while maintaining full control of speed and budget. SEM allows you to target your one-size-fits-all, so it is important to deterprospective customers through search engines mine which social media channels work best such as Google, Bing, and AOL. for your organization and the nature of your Say you are a contractor and can only han- business. dle three projects at a time. SEM can run until YouTube: the three projects are scheduled, be turned off Having a branded YouTube channel for a and then turned back on when one of the projects is complete — allowing you to turn the business can be a powerful marketing pillar volume up or down as preferred. as many consumers go to YouTube to search information about a company, and to gain a better understanding of the product or service they offer by seeing it in action. The most powerful YouTube videos explain the benefit of the product or service your business offers, and often-times include customer testimonials.
“SEM allows you to target your prospective customers through search engines such as Google, Bing, and AOL.”
SEM also allows you to run AB testing on coupons and special offers — this is cross-pillar optimization. Let’s say you test different offers and one of them did very well and resonated with your audience; you can now also use it with SEO, social media, print media, etc. knowing that the data you collected means something and will provide results. Paid Social Media Ads: Social media advertising allows you to target your customers based on location and demographic, minimizing the amount of marketing time spent where your consumer base is not present. Major social media players include Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube and LinkedIn. But social media is not
YouTube videos can be easily integrated with SEO, SEM, and can be embedded on your social media channels or websites for better results. It is highly recommended that your YouTube channel, as well as any other forms of marketing, match your organization’s brand. Business owners and marketers must ensure each of these digital and online marketing pillars are given equal focus, attention and importance, and that they are working well both independently as well as collaboratively. The moment trends change and consumer behaviours follow, businesses must re-evaluate and come up with a similar Parthenon approach to fit their present needs. Scott Wilson is the Founder and CEO of RankHigher.ca, a Burlington, Ont.-based digital marketing, and SEO firm. He is considered Canada’s leading speaker on SEO, web sales, internet marketing and social media ROI. For more information on RankHigher, please visit www.rankhigher.ca/.
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