In the two previous posts we looked what my dog Molly has taught me about marketing. She is a rescue and has constant need of reassurance and bellyrubs from her owners. Honestly, if it were up to her she would spend her entire life in my arms or on my lap and be fine with that. However having a dog all over me is incredibly annoying so she has to come up with sneaky ways to get the lovin’ she needs. Today’s lesson has to do with the fact that she predicts where I’m going to go next and beats me there. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gotten up to go to the bathroom and she is right outside the door before I get there and if I don’t pay attention she sneaks in with me. Once she’s gotten that far she knows she’s in! She knows I’ve got nothing better to do than scratch her ears for the next 3-5 minutes! She also knows that if she can already be on the couch before I sit down then the chances of being able to curl up next to me are better than if she were to get on the couch after I sit down. I’m telling you she’s sneaky!
Where is your customer going?
Molly has hit upon a tried and true marketing principle; instead of following your customer, if you can get to where they are going before they do then you will have a better chance of influencing them to do what you want. For instance, on my other site a company contacted us about a new product they were going to be launching soon and offered us the chance to use the product, promote it and offer coupons to our followers at the launch. Once the product actually launched and people started Googling it to find out more information, whose site was at the top of the search results? That’s right, lil o me. That turned into a big spike in traffic, many new followers, and who knows the long-term residual effects of that traffic surge.
What’s the next big thing in your niche?
Where is your market going? What will your customers and readers be interested in six months from now? Anyone can be reactive but if you can get out ahead every once in a while it will make a huge difference in your readership. Here’s a few ways to try to get the inside scoop on what’s coming
1) Industry newsletters or magazines. Especially if you can find one that has the equivalent of a “Gossip column” where info that is not common knowledge is leaked out.
2) Industry contacts. You will develop these more the bigger you get but there is no reason not to reach out to a few insiders and let them know you exist. I sent out some email a few years ago to companies in another niche I’m involved in and that led to a few informal relationships that I rely on for “inside information”.
3) Subscribe to everyone’s Twitter. I follow some blogs for a certain segment of the publishing industry and there is one column in particular that always does a good job of revealing upcoming projects for certain artists and many times it’s just by reading their (or sometimes their wife’s!) Twitter account. Listen to what’s being said and run with it.
4) New ads. Are you seeing new banner ads or pop ups for new products in your niche? Are you getting emails advertising the next big thing? Do a story on it! If it takes off then you’ve got an older, established post dealing with it already out there!
There are many other ways to do this but they basically boil down to one thing, know your niche. Be connected enough to it to be able to tell where it’s going and get out in front of it!
Need a FREE SEO Site Assessment? Visit us at www.SEOAssistant.org
Need PSD Design for your site? Try UniqueHorn.net
No comments:
Post a Comment