Some time ago, Chris Anderson from wired magazines wrote the now famous “long story” articles. He argues that the music industry needs to have a broad-based “hit” and cater to a narrow “niche”. So now that you’re thinking, here it is again, how does this apply to my business and internet marketing? This goes the same way for an attorney in Fresno, California or an Aston-Martin dealer in Scottsdale (or Scotsdale as I know it spells) Arizona.
The long tail theory applies to small business and Internet marketing in a very direct way. Successful Internet marketing only happens when you know appropriate how people search for you. Search engines are smart, but if they were perfect, they would match the right websites with the right people every time and Internet advertising would die along with their main source of revenue (and mine).
Until that day comes, business owners need to understand their customers clearly. The Aston-Martin dealership is a pretty clear case. They pretty much sell and service one British brand, Aston-Martin. If you have a Ferrari, you go next door, a Porsche around the block. They understand their customers. Lawyers present a more general challenge.
Lawyers may be like family doctors, a kind of general practitioner. The attorney may charge an hourly fee or he or she may charge a case-by-case basis on a percentage or fee basis. Some even work as retainers like insurance companies. Most of these GPs have small, quiet offices.
The problem with this internet advert for GP lawyers is, it costs money every time someone clicks. If a self-employed attorney in Fresno California tries to advertise to individuals seeking, bankruptcy, personal injury, divorce, tax matters, business law, contract disputes, real estate law, workers compensation and trial law, the attorney will go bankrupt before anyone. can even write checks for them. Keyword bids for “personal injury lawyer” were as high as $15.00 per click in some cities. I’ve seen single keywords like attorney go for $20.00 per click.
The great thing about the Internet is that people find out what they want. They enter search terms that are broken down or “parsed” by search engines to try and figure out what websites are most helpful to them. If someone is looking for a lawyer with RSD experience and they land on a website highlighting the attorney’s success as a divorce attorney, guess what happens. Lawyers only spend $8.00 for someone to click their back button.
In 1998 when I first started building websites, I didn’t realize how important it was focus will be my success or my customers. I’ve expanded my work to help people and businesses find focus. What I learned over the years with the Internet was applied to people, so I wrote the book So, Now What? because most people don’t have to spend $200 an hour for me to train them. Success through focus also applies to business and that’s why we combine business focus consulting with our SEO program.
Simply put, we can’t focus your Internet advertising if your business isn’t focused. Let us consider the example of a lawyer. There are some big companies with deep pockets that advertise to a wide spectrum of people browsing the Internet. For smaller single practice firms and other small businesses, focus is key to keeping your advertising program within budget. By selecting two (or at most three) key areas, we can create very specific websites and advertising programs. Keep in mind, there are over 2,000,000 searches every day just in the Fresno California Area, the attorney only wants one person he can help that day. In Houston Texas there are 400,000,000 or more searches every weekday. The search is huge.
Using Chris Anderson’s Long Tail approach, when lawyers select multiple niches to focus on, we can then create four or more keyword ads that cost only $1 or $2 per click. We also create websites that highlight those keywords. Instead of 400-500 clicks a day at $8 or more per click where only one person calls the office, we now get 4-5 clicks a day at an average of $1.47 per click and get the same one person calling the office. A secondary benefit of this is that lawyers become much better at certain legal niches. When we choose two or three niches to advertise, if we find one that is underperforming, it can leave and another one is put into place.
We recently added a client in Costa Mesa California, TruSpeed Motorcars. TruSpeed is an independent Porsche service center, and has certified technicians for BMW, Mercedes and Ferrari. They also have technicians who are Bentley and Land Rover certified. When the service manager told me we should add Bentley and Land Rover to our marketing campaign, I saw my revenue increase. The GM quickly said the right thing and killed my raise. He said “We’re not going to be a jack of all trades, we only service sports cars, and European ones at the time, we didn’t advertise Bentley or Land Rover”.
While this may sound strange to some, this is where the 80/20 rule applies. The service manager tries to understand all business and GM is trying to get right business. Every time I coach small business owners, their financial problems are fixed simply by changing their focus on earning right business. If you could do 80% of the work you do now, and get a raise, would you do it? Of course the answer is yes, so why shouldn’t you?
What happens in business is simple. Business people serve customers, sometimes too many. By doing so, they start doing work they shouldn’t be doing. Accounting systems don’t necessarily indicate that a business is losing money on a particular type of customer. An accounting system has to be set up for that, and it can take six months or more to set up and get enough data to prove its point. The faster (and I’d argue because it’s better) method is to find core competencies and cut out non-conforming customers (and ads) and see if profits and business attitude improve. So far in all but one case for 15 years it has been successful. Which is not, the owner refuses to even try. He said, “I need all the work I can get, I don’t care what brand or service.”
When a politician runs for office, the winners usually pick a topic or issue and have it tattooed on their forehead. Does “Change” sound familiar even two years later? Life and business are no different. When you pick one area to focus on, and actually do it, you will win and so will your business. If a lawyer in Fresno decides to pursue a farm worker with a pesticide-related illness, he or she may need to expand Fresno’s territory a bit, and over time will become known as the “go to” attorney for pesticide exposure cases. When this happens, he can also earn much more for much less work.
Before you open a business today, what is one thing you will focus on for your entire business? Write down four to six very specific goals for the week, make them realistic and work them out. When your business is focused and your advertising is focused, you will hit your targets more often and better than your competitors. That sounds like a success to me. Focus, stay focused, and succeed. If you need a little help, contact me.
