Is Cap’n Crunch Driving Your Marketing?
I grew up on the Cap’n.
Every morning, just the Cap’n and me, a tablespoon, and a gallon of milk.
Every morning.
After all, it was “Part of a complete and balanced diet.” The TV ads said so.
Nutritional guidance from Cap’n Crunch, what could go wrong?
Fast forward a few decades.
The new client’s marketing manager was adamant that their entire budget should go to pay-per-click.
Their website copy was artificially stuffed with keywords and city names, like it was written by ChatGPT for 3-year-olds. “That’s what Google wants, ” she said. Human readability was no concern; Pleasing Google was all that mattered.
Marketing guidance from Google, what could go wrong?
Déjà vu all over again!
This is why we were hired.
Digital hangover
The pay-per-click party is over, and cheap, high-converting leads are a distant memory.
A marketing diet heavy on PPC is no longer economically sustainable; worse, there’s no residual benefit. Once you stop the flow of sugar, everything collapses like a toddler coming off a Twinkie high.
Don’t get me wrong; we love digital marketing.
Adwords, LSA, and GMB… they’re all great tools, but like all tools, they have their limitations. Knowing how and when to use them is the key.
We have teams of digital Wizards who manage and massage SEO to maximize page ranking and visibility. They orchestrate PPC campaigns, actively utilizing branded, unbranded, and negative keywords to get the lowest cost per conversion and the highest ROAS (return on ad spend). They use bot blockers so clients don’t pay for clicks that aren’t human. And they adjust spending to manage lead flow so our clients don’t pay for leads they can’t get to.
Complete and Balanced Diet.
To grow your business big and strong, you need more than just the sugar rush of PPC; you need branding muscle.
Branding is the emotional connection people make with the name of your business. It’s the delight your customers share with their friends. And, it’s the stories you tell through your marketing.Branding is the cumulative effect of everything you do, everything you say, and what the outside world says about you.
Like a muscle, branding is stored energy. It lives in the hearts and minds of people you’ve never met, but will one day need what you provide. It’s all the people who think of your business first and the business they believe in best when they need what you provide.
The question of “who” can make the problem go away is answered before the problem arises.
Your brand is not you, your logo, color scheme, or design. These triggers remind us of your brand, like the golden arches trigger salivation for French fries.
Your brand flows from the stories you tell, and those told about you.
Want a strong, healthy, growing business? Tell your story such that it inspires people to believe in you. And treat your customers so they are inspired to tell others.
Need help with your brand story?
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- Is Cap’n Crunch Driving Your Marketing? - August 1, 2023