As some people feel their way through the sometimes confusing world of marketing and SEO, it may make sense to think of SEO as GREEN marketing! I know people are probably already tired of hearing “green” this and “green” that, but let’s think about this: traditional marketing uses an awful lot of resources, both natural and man powered. Television commercials that aim to reach a tiny percentage of their viewing audience cost thousands, if not millions of dollars to produce. They use a lot of energy, from production to the actual broadcasting of the commercial. Much the same can be said about a radio spot, they cost money and natural resources to produce, and broadcast, with a very small ROI.
Do you get the Sunday paper? I enjoy looking at all the ads, but almost never rush right out and make a purchase based on what I saw in one of them. I may clip the occasional coupon, but many times loose track of it before I get a chance to redeem it. But I throw away stacks of ads. I know, I know, we should be recycling them, but even when they are recycled, they still take an environmental toll. All the paper, ink, expense, energy to create and print. Thrown out with the trash, or somehow recycled into another throw-away product. Same can be said for all the local ad magazines that arrive on your doorstep.
On and on it will go, flyers, pamphlets, those nifty marketing postcards that you spend lots of money designing and mailing.
I’m not trying to bash traditional marketing tools, because some of them work. They are costly, but they can bring some customers through the door. So why not market your company in a new, greener fashion? What I am getting at, in a roundabout way, is the fact that SEO and Search Marketing are more cost effective, targeted, and actually great for the environment! An email ad campaign produces no real paper to throw away. A special such as free shipping, with a code to punch into your keyboard is not a coupon you have to clip and loose, or end up in the trash heap. SEO and SEM focus on the customers that are trying to find you, rather than blanketing the population of the tri-state area with flyers, hoping 20 people will come in on tenterhooks hoping to win a car with a magic plastic key (are those keys even recyclable?), and talk 4 or 5 of them into purchasing a certified pre-owned vehicle.
Instead, how about optimizing your already existing site for the specials or products you would like to promote? Get some good advice, optimize your pages for the phrases most likely to draw prospective buyers to your site. Offer free or reduced shipping, or some other incentive. While good SEO does cost money, the ROI is much higher than traditional marketing, and the cost to our environment is much lower. Everyone wants to “go green” and many of today’s consumers are very aware of what companies have “green” policies and products. Make a point of mentioning your green policies on your site! The same people who use the web to shop for goods and services are many of the same people who are conscious of the choices they make and how they affect the world around us. Don’t have a site? Well, I am sure you have customers who have searched for you online, just in the expectation that you would have one.
Why not make 2009 the year you take your company, and your marketing GREEN!
