Today I want to be sure you understand the distinction between keyword intelligence and market intelligence, because it’s an essential part of developing your hyper-responsive marketing message. (Listen to the free MP3 – Keyword vs. Market Intelligence)
NOTE: If you’ve heard the audio “4 Ways to Corner Your Market” before, you’ll find it included in this one, but with an important perspective changing introduction (just in the interest of full disclosure)
You see, my opinion is that the proliferation of keyword tools on the internet today is actually making it more difficult for most marketers to connect with their prospects and customers. Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s great that you can find out search volume, bid pricing, competition levels, and which keywords relate to which other keywords, etc. But these are only things COMPUTERS can tell you.
But what’s missing from them is the single most important thing in marketing … an understanding of the HUMAN NEEDS behind those keywords. Because you see, people hate to search. What they really want to do is solve. And what they REALLY want is for a loving person (like you) to solve it for them.
For example, suppose I’ve got a splitting migraine today after having had a fight with uncle. I haven’t seen my puppies all day long, and I wish I could just run around with them, but all I want to do is go hide in a dark closet, put pillows over my head and shut out the world until it goes away.
What I really want is someone to empathize with me, to tell me something I don’t know already about how to get rid of my migraine quickly, so I can enjoy my puppies for some refreshing renewal before I’ve got to start the whole work routine over again tomorrow.
Now, if you KNEW this about me as a migraine supplement marketer, (and you really DID have something which could help me), you’d know exactly how to design your landing page, what images to use, what stories to tell, what kind of language might be most appealing to me. In fact, if you knew this, you’d be able to write a killer AdWords ad, … I’d venture to say a better one than anyone else in the market. (And I’d be right!)
This is MARKET INTELLIGENCE, and it’s something you’ll NEVER get from a keyword tool, no matter how much you pay per month or how many hours you spend mining it. Write this on your forehead so you’ll see it in the mirror every day “Search engines don’t know what people are feeling”, and keyword intelligence tells you nothing about the “conversation in people’s heads”.
It’s MARKET INTELLIGENCE which drives hyper-responsive marketing, and it’s market intelligence which will help you cut through the clutter and eliminate the overwhelm you’re feeling about your online marketing efforts.
Because UNDERSTANDING what your market wants on just a very few keywords BETTER THAN ALL YOUR COMPETITORS is infinitely more valuable than knowing thousands of keywords and seo traffic tricks. It’s also infinitely more stable.
And it leads you to a deeper, more heartfelt connection with your customer, and a feeling that what you’re doing in the world is actually making a difference while you’re making a (rather nice) living.
Isn’t that what you want?
Now … back to my puppies! :-)
PS – I don’t get migraines anymore, that was just for illustration, but I DO have two absolutely wonderful puppies who make my day, every day, by doing something fabulously silly, giving me a special look, or just cuddling up to me when I need it most.
Zachary
Stewie
