You think you are selling serviced office space to the branch manager but in fact it is the secretary doing the bargain hunting online. You are sure that it is the man of the house viewing the ad for the four door hatch back you’re trying to offload but in reality it’s the real influencer of the household – the 12 year old who has become adept at convincing his mother of why they desperately need or shouldn’t be seen within 20 miles of well, whatever his friends do or don’t currently think is cool. You assume you’re promoting the latest mens’ fashion fragrance to you guessed it, men – think again. It’s the girlfriends. And not their own girlfriends but their girlfriends’ girlfriends.
So how do you deal with the fact that you are in reality not marketing to the decision maker you thought you were targeting but instead a host of unseen and oft-times unconventional gatekeepers.
What does a 12 year old know about buying the family car? He knows how to search online. He knows what’s cool, how to do online bargain hunting, how to find reviews, what the footballers drive and what the wanna be footballers wanna drive. In short, he is the techno wizard of the home and therefore he is the designated “researcher”. His parents will obviously do their own research but it will be influenced by the information he has already obtained effortlessly and possibly in un-exhaustible measures via the treasure trove (for a 12 year old wanting to be seen driven to school in a fantastically sweet ride) that is the world wide web.
So how do you deal with this? Do you redevelop your TV ad? Spend millions on a new campaign aimed at spotty pre-teens. No, your gatekeeper problem is online. Online is easy. It’s all about keywords – content is king. Speak to your audience, however many audiences that may be. Talk their language, write content just for them, use terminology they understand, find appealing and most importantly of all are SEARCHING FOR.
Because if they don’t find you in a search you don’t exist. Simple as that. There is no magic wand, no special marketing formula, no mumbo jumbo. There’s just keywords and copy aimed at the right audience, several right audiences. And it all comes down to being found. By the right people, at the right time.
The 12 year old kid doesn’t buy the car, he just tells his parents what he’s found out online about such and such a car. The secretary doesn’t sign the lease, she just reports on the available options. But you have to be there, in their face, at the top of the results, for whatever search the gatekeeper, not the end buyer, does.
So your task – think like your audience. Not your purchasing audience - your research audience. And remember, there might be a few. Don’t be stingy with the content.
For more on this subject see Kevin Lee’s post - Designated Searchers May Thwart Personalization. It’s a thought provoking read.