Search Marketing Is Not About You

David Meerman Scott likes to tell Internet marketers, "No one cares about your product." It's an exaggeration, but he makes a good point. As marketers, we tend to talk about ourselves--our company, our strategy, our products--when the customers want to know what we will do for them. But, after we've put our product catalog online (and beautifully optimized it for search), what do we talk about?

In the past, I've hammered home over and over again the need to connect with your customers with information that actually helps them. So, instead of just explaining why your product is better than your competitor's, why not help them solve the problem that they have in the first place? Give them the information they need to solve their problem and hope enough of them stick around to buy from you.

Image by agentbillo via Flickr

But there is more that you can do, too. Do you have a cause? Something bigger than just making a profit? Does your company stand for something?

Lots of big companies are allied with public causes that fit with their business goals, but small companies can do that, too. I am sure that you are constantly donating money to the Little League team or volunteering for the Lion's Club or hanging posters in your window for the theater group, but rather than putting random attention into many things, why not also pick something that you can be really passionate about and emphasize that.

Lawyers can concentrate their pro bono work on some specific cause. Restaurants can donate leftover food to the homeless shelter. Optometrists can send used glasses to third world countries. Financial advisors can teach saving and investing skills at the high school. Women's clothing stores can donate slow sellers to the abused woman's shelter. Whatever you do, you can figure out some easy way to share what you know or what you have with people who need it.

Think about what you do and figure out how to get your customers excited about it. Then start talking about that. People will actually care that you are doing some good in the world—and you'll feel good about it, too.