Word-of-mouth (WOM) marketing can be a beautiful thing… if the word that’s passed on is actually remembered correctly. Unfortunately, memories fail and human communication often ends up like the kids’ game of “telephone” - with the message at the end not much like the one that started:
Let’s say Susan phones Kevin about a custom orthotics website she heard about on the radio; she passes on the domain name to him.
Kevin forgets the domain name, but he remembers the company and passes that information along to his cousin Rob.
Rob sort of remembers the orthotic retailer’s name, and tells his neighbor Zoe about it.
Zoe recommends custom insoles to her mechanic, Colin, for his foot pain standing under cars all day. She says there’s some retailer in their city who sells great orthotic products online…
SEO saves the day… but not in this case
OK, there’s been a breakdown in the WOM chain, but no problem, right? Colin, Zoe, Rob, Kevin can all go and ‘Google’ to find the website of this exciting retailer, typing in search terms like foot pain, custom orthotics, insoles, arch support, etc.
But wait a sec - the company that Susan raved about isn’t turning up in the first page of Google search result pages, nor the second page… !
Turns out this talented shoemaker (and lousy web marketer) has not had his website search engine-optimized. He failed the number-one rule of reaching prospects today: Get Found Online.
Psst, I just heard from Susan that he’s having a going-out-of-business sale; let me get a pen and write down the URL…
4 comments ↓
Maybe they just searched the wrong data centers?
Hi, DiamondDave, can you elaborate, please?
[...] they know your name already, they’ve already been reached by your other forms of marketing: Word-of-Mouth, print, radio, [...]
[...] definitely cannot afford to sit back and hope that prospects find you online; word-of-mouth is only going to get you so far in these tough economic [...]
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