The Importance of Being Earnest

Despite what you read about SEO, keywords, metadata, social searching (the list of buzz words goes on and on), I have a simple answer to your marketing woes right here: Be Genuine.

People can tell when someone is shooting ‘em straight, and they appreciate it. Here’s an example:

I recently managed a team of brand ambassadors for a company that was in town for the St Pete Grand Prix. The team — half women, half men; the product — automotive care (you know, stuff to keep your car pretty). Looking at their sales at the end of the project, I was not surprised to see a huge difference. Kayla, an energetic, friendly twenty-something who doesn’t know a thing about cars, presented the product and seemed “pitchy.” When she used the talking points given to her by the directors, they seemed like just that — talking points. On the other hand, Hank, a laid back, slow-talkin’ guy who takes great care of his own aging pickup truck, used the same talking points as Kayla with one key difference: people believed him. He immediately seemed more genuine than Kayla. Guess who sold more product.
I understand that there are a ton of variables that could have lead to the disparity in sales. But my theory? It all comes down to authenticity.

When Google first positioned itself as the search engine of choice, it created a formula that looked for this authenticity. If a website had lots of links leading back to it, Google thought, “this site must be important,” and ranked it higher in the search. Think of it as voting — each link back was like a vote pushing the site to the top. But people are smart. They discovered ways to trick Google by embedding links on important pages and buying links to increase their search standing. Google figured out that those weren’t real votes and had to adjust.
Over the years, people discovered ways to trick the Google algorithm, and then Google changes their formula to account for inauthentic links and posts. The algorithm keeps getting smarter and more complex, and then people find a way around it. But one thing doesn’t change — Google wants to give people the best search results possible, and so they will always be on the lookout for genuinely great content.
This is all just a really long-winded way to say something very simple. If you want your site and your pages to rank high on the various search engines, make them good. Create something that people will want to share, and the rest will follow.

I realize that I’m oversimplifying. There’s a process to creating content that gets noticed: using important keywords in key places, marketing through your social media channels and email list… getting noticed isn’t a formula, it’s an art, and there are a lot of working pieces that bring everything together into a successful strategy. And it won’t happen overnight. However, just as Google figured out the difference between authentic and inauthentic links, your customer base knows the difference between good, genuine content and canned crap.

The moral of the story is simple. Be true to yourself (and your brand). Create an experience — whether it’s in your physical store, on your website, or with the content you’re presenting — that is a genuine representation of your business. In a world where there’s no lack of quantity, make sure you’re providing quality. Because I guarantee you, your clients can tell the difference.

Signing out,

Erika Stanley

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