Is It Time to Say Goodbye to SEO?

I caught up with Thomas Coppen of Keel-Over Marketing PPC Agency to discuss the new trends in the eSeller world. One that has rocked the boat significantly is the Penguin update from Google. Twelve months ago keyword stuffed copy could catapult a brand to the top of the search engines, no matter how poor the content. Now though we’re moving away from traditional SEO methods, heavens, even the acronym SEO is almost spat out between marketers now, as we are all focused on the quality content, on engaging the reader and bringing them into the brand.

It’s no longer sell, sell, sell it’s engage, engage, engage. I chose to speak to Tom as he is one marketing manager that shares my belief for quality content, his company manage many big to medium brands and Keel-Over are known for ensuring they keep their clients on the top of their game the most organic way, along with PPC Advertising.

Inbound marketing vs Outbound marketing

The slow decline of SEO has slipped alongside outbound marketing, these two archaic methods are leaving the modern shopper cold. Your visitors need to feel wanted, they need to feel valued and they want to be entertained, even if they’re shopping for a tin of beans. You can’t bring the atmosphere of the store to them, you can offer the pearls of wisdom about the weather as the sales assistant can but you can alk on their level and take your talk to them rather than the other way around.

Outbound Marketing

There’s still a place for outbound marketing although it can now seem desperate, it’s often a quick fix. Outbound marketing involves advertising, cold calling and dragging people to your website to buy.The communication is very much one way. It may work if the customer has already decided to buy a product but it does nothing to build a brand, widen target markets or raise a reputation.

Inbound Marketing

Inbound marketing makes it about the customer. They don’t just see their wallet, they see their lifestyles, they loves, their hates, their annoyances. They find out where they like to socialise on-line and they offer help, engaging, entertaining and conversing so it’s a two way thing. It brings in customers from all over, from search engines, social media and great articles (like this one) on the web building your brand as well as selling your products.

Why is the emotion of the customer important?

Some may argue that if the products good enough, if it’s selling and if the customer has converted that’s enough. There’s no need to entertain and engage, yet these people are missing out on an increase of 54% in profit (That’s a FACT). Why?

A customer gleaned from inbound marketing (and so feels positive about the relationship with your brand):

• Feels no buyers guilt when purchasing Buyers guilt is big on the internet. Almost all people feel it once they’ve parted with the cash. If you as an ecommerce store can eliminate it, you can gain a customer for life. Inbound marketing does this by reassuring the customer they’ve made the right decision. By giving them somewhere to stay connected (twitter etc) should they have any problems and showing them that you will listen if they are not happy with a purchase.

• Shares your content If your content is valuable, if it’s quirky and current, your visitors will share it. They’ll boast about shopping with you as you make them seem cool/ sophisticated/ knowledgeable/ rich/ posh/ with-it – innit? Inbound marketing relies on giving your brand a definitive voice for your audience (or new friends) whatever that may be.

• Increases average basket value A happy shopper is more likely to add more to their basket – simples

• Increases customer lifetime value This again speaks for itself

• Increases loyalty We all know by now that’s there’s much more profit to be made in retaining a customer than generating new ones (although new ones are awesome too). Inbound marketing creates loyal customers that want to stick around.

As Keel-Over will tell you with their own clients, inbound marketing is not only a great way to bring in new customers, it’s all timeless as it will never go out of fashion. When you look a bit closer you realise that all it really is is excellent customer care, putting the consumer first.