Check out Reading Seth!
If you have never checked out my YouTube channel (SwamiDaveSays), this is the initial video in what was my first series. In the videos, we go through Seth Godin’s blog posts from 2003 (viewed in hindsight from over 15 years later).
It’s an interesting perspective to look back when WiFi was only marginally available & mobile devices were just evolving beyond Blackberrys.
For those checking out the book reviews, I finished The Ultimate Sales Machine by Chet Holmes. I’ll be posting my review to my website this week and have a preview in next week’s newsletter.
If you would like to read along, I will be starting Content Inc. by Joe Pulizzi soon.
Note: Book links are Amazon affiliate links.
While starting my Digital Agency (SirusDigital.com) and producing content that has been getting shared, I have had a number of conversations about our current marketing and advertising environment.
Even though this topic has not come up on air or in my other content, it has arisen on multiple occasions. There is simply reduced attention for “legacy” media and this is going to have a profound effect on our businesses.
When discussing “legacy” media, I am largely talking about television, radio, and print where most advertisers focused their marketing budgets until recently.
Advertising in this era was interrupt-based and predicated on volume to overcome steadily decreasing response rates.
Disruption of this construct manifested in two areas:
- TiVo and DVRs diminished the interrupt
- Search Engine algorithms improved to increase the effectiveness of intent-based marketing
The twin cultural events of Covid-19 and the 2020 Election are laying the groundwork for a completely new landscape in marketing. They will likely mark the beginnings of a new & improved arena where relationships (not automation or lowest-common-denominator practices) govern.
Make no mistake.
- You will not compete with Amazon on “ease”
- You will not compete with Walmart on “price”
- You will not compete with Zillow (or Zillow Homes agents) on “capture”
- You will not compete with any of the “accumulators” on general analytics and automation
If you are not directly adding value to the lives of your audience and building relationships with them, you have already lost!
However, this is not a “sky-is-falling” situation! It is actually one of the greatest opportunities that average Americans have had to create a brand or business in many years. While we highlight where we “can’t compete”, the most effective place we can compete is our human interactions with other humans.
Most people perceive the impersonal feel and dislike it. Businesses and agencies that are heightening their personal touches and embedding humanity into their process/procedures are winning (and will continue to do so).
If there is one thing I can recommend, identify to whom you are talking and “go deep” with them. Survival (and ultimately success) is at depth (not in the shallows)!
Here are a few other things that I have caught my eye this week! I included a quick synopsis, but I would love to hear your thoughts on them as well!
Build Brand on YouTube
I have been highlighting YouTube as a content and branding platform for a while. As a blended platform exposing dual capabilities for both social and search, it is a place where your business needs to build a presence. You need to develop a strategy for the platform (or shoot me a message so we can create one with you). Offering opportunities to expose an audience to your content based on both intent and interruption, this should be one of your cornerstones (along with your website)!
CDC sued in Federal Court
In an update to last week’s reference to the CDC’s Eviction-prevention Action, there has been a lawsuit filed in federal court alleging that the agencies actions are unconstitutional. This was bound to become an issue ultimately decided in the courts and should be properly identified as a bureaucratic overreach by the CDC.
Foreclosures & Evictions
I’m not a gloom-and-doomer, but some things are unsustainable. The CDC’s restrictions on evictions and the widespread allowances for mortgage forbearance are setting the stage for an avalanche of financial and fiscal problems.
Amazon Affiliate Program changes
If you participate in the Amazon Affiliate Program, they announced changes this week. If you are a content producer who relies heavily on affiliate revenue (especially from Amazon), you would be wise to check out the changes. If you are like most participants who use it passively as a secondary or tertiary stream, there is no great cause for alarm. Like most things, there are more impactful areas to focus on than terms & conditions or algorithms!
SEO: Link building
If you are working to build organic reach to your content, solid link building practices need to be a part of your strategic plan. Check out this YouTube video where they explain the importance and share good practices to build solid links. Remember, one of the criteria for building authority for your content is for it to be “recommended” (linked) by other material deemed to hold authority.
Note: Avoid the “hacks” and “tricks” of buying links or trying to artificially inflate your SERPs. As the algorithms improve, the punishments (in the way of low rankings) for these practices get more severe!
I enjoy hearing about the links that you’ve found! Shoot me an email or add a comment below to share them.
