THE PROBLEM:
To be successful, marketers can no longer rely on strategies that center entirely around keywords on search engines.
New technology and changes in consumer behavior, requires marketers t look to new, alternative ways to reach and engage their customers.
The information searches that used to originate on search engines are happening elsewhere (hint, hint, its AI)
The popularity of AI has more people beginning their informational searches on AI sites like ChatGPT or Perplexity as a faster way to get information without havig to sift through websites and advertisements.
Ad Fatigue
People are going to great lengths to avoid ads
93% of US consumers say they either skip (55%) or mentally ignore (37%) the ads they see online whether it be on Social Media, Search Engines or websites in general.
32% of all online consumers use ad blockers
This means you are paying for ads that are getting impressions because someone may be on that page but more and more they are not being seen or clicked by the person. To be successful you’ll need to run way more ads to actually get noticed and generate clicks - whether it is Google or Social Media.
Or it means you are competing for less spots in the organic results that will be dominated by the bigger companies who have been at it longer or have been spending more on ads.
The Customer Journey is no longer predictable
What used to be a very predictable customer journey is now much more complex
in the sense that generating customers from search engines may be much futher down the customer journey than before.
In the past when someone conducted a keyword based information search, they would simply set out on google and would navigate links to find the website that did the best job of answering all of the questions related to their particular search. Whether this click was generated as a result of a paid link or an organic search result, it usually marked the beginning of a customer journey that became somewhat predictable and repeatable for advertisers as they used content over ads or email to retarget or nurture prospects into customers by earning their trust.
People Behavior has changed, has your Marketing Strategy?
Largely driven by changes in how people behave, it has become clear that some marketers are giving Google to much credit in their attribution. Yes the final click before the sale may have been on Google but they must factor in the places where the person may have learned about your brand or product, often well in avance of doing that Google search that resulted in a purchase.
Enter the term “zero click advertising” which tries to account for the places that your prospect may have learned about you in the beginning that never involved clicking a link. These places include AI sites, Podcasts, Private Peer or Social Groups, Newsletters, Niche Websites and Local News Sites..
So Marketers need to reconsider their approach, by finding out where their prospective audience goes for trusted information relevant to what you offer.
Audiences have more options and are placing higher trust in certain platforms to the degree that by the time that they do conduct a search, they are searching for you by your brand name because they are already at a point where they think you can help them.
This is why we need to be careful about giving Google too much credit for the hard work building up the brand that took place earlier, and elsewhere.
The strong case for reaching and engaging your audience via niche and local newsletters and news sites
The key word in all of this is trust.
As mentioed above niche websites, and local news sites play a critical role in this because of the relevancy of niche websites and or the proximity of local news sites carry with them an elevated level of trust in both content and advertisers featured on them.
For example with respect to Local News Sites , a recent Pew Reseach Study revealed:
80% of all US Adults trust content they find on local news sites
while
Only 41% of US Adults trust content on social media
With respect to advertisements people in the US place 3x more trust in the ads they see on local news sites.
If you can determine that a certain site is trusted, read and frequented by your audience than you may want to consider ways of partnering to get your content on that site or paying for creative ways to use your content to educate and engage the audience. These smaller publishers usually have a lot more flexibility to make your content part of the experience by providing helpful information that centers around solving specific problems. They trust the site, and the degree of helpfulness makes it not feel like advertising.
Also this approach is a way to optimie your content for both Google and AI sites
for the following reasons:
They prioritize the trustworthiness of local news sites.
They prioritize original content that is focused on solving a problem.
You are going to have a much harder time trying to generate the audience of a trusted publisher and in turn it would be an uphill battle to get the same prioritization that Google and LLM’s are placing in Local News Sites as a reputable source for their results.
WHY SPONSOR CONTENT WITH THE TOWSON TORCH!
We already have your audience and can help you reach our loyal readership that extends well out into Baltimore County and to the city
We are local. Our readers trust us for our proximity and for our transparency as true locally curated content that is out to help them
Our readers trust us not to be negative or divisive as we do not cover controversy such as crime and politics. (65% of US adults tune out of political news entirely).
Since our readers trust us, they place higher trust in our content and our advertisers, to the degree you could see a 50% brand lift over and above trying to advertise directly over search or social.
We are a vehicle for you to help your customers solve problems. By authoring a piece of content on our site that takes a problem solving approach your content is seen less as advertising and more helpful, so prospects will read, engage, and remember you. With this approach, your articles will also get priority on AI and Search engines.
Set up a call to discuss this with us email [email protected]
