Why paid search doesn’t work for small businesses.

Small business liberation in the time of social distancing

My name is Marc Pickren, I am CEO of a Social Media Software Company in Austin. At 49 years old, I am not a native to the Internet, I am an immigrant but the Internet has for my 25 year career been the source of my professional experience. Being from Texas, this narrative starts there. However, this isn’t a story rooted in Texas history but rather a story of the same principles that guide all of us. Liberty, fairness and opportunity for all.

Unlike the Northeastern United States, Texas doesn’t have many railroads even though it’s the second most populous state and has three of the largest cities in the United States. Sure, you can take the AMTRAK from Austin to Dallas, but you’ll arrive hours earlier if you drive yourself. How is it that a state so large, so flat and so open, whose people joined the United States during the heyday of railroad construction do not have rail lines crisscrossing the prairies?

Until Cullen, Hunt, Murchison and Richardson, the richest families in the United states had familiar names like Vanderbilt, Carnegie and Rockefeller. Those famous names had been associated with steel and trains, the components of the massive railroad corporations that launched the United States from agrarian country to industrial nation in the blink of an eye. After oil was found outside of Houston at the turn of the 20th century, everything changed. A small handful of Texans quickly became four of the wealthiest men on the planet, and they had designs beyond oil wells and big hotels.

The discovery of then the largest oil reserve on the planet, drove oil prices down to pennies per barrel. America’s elite were to be ruined by this new discovery because, in their opinion, less sophisticated cowboys could get rich on cheap oil while the Pennsylvania ruling class lost their shirts. Plentiful oil coincided with a famous invention, Henry Ford’s Model-T, a car for the ordinary American. It doesn’t take a genius to see that cheap gas + affordable automobiles meant a leap forward. Texans purchased cars faster than railroads could build lines, and the four families of oil pumped money into state politics to ensure the creation of a robust highway system. Before anyone knew it, Texas was an automobile state.

Though comparatively unschooled, the new-money Texans were not lacking in common sense and business savvy. Murchison and Richardson saw the opportunity to control national transportation, and in 1954 made an offer of $2.7 Billion to purchase control of the nation’s largest railway corporation. Though the deal was struck down, the lesson was simple — When a new technology emerges, the biggest companies can lose to a small few if they are not quick enough to act.

In 1995, the manager of Jefferson Starship was furious that his group was not the first result to show when a person browsing the Internet searched for his band. In a fury, he dialed Bob Heymen, then the Sr, Vice President of Audience Development at Cybernautics, at 3:00 AM on a Monday morning. “Why the #$%$ don’t we come up before page 4 on this damned thing? Page #$%$ 4, you #$%$ morons,” the man screamed at Bob. And like that, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) was born.

It wasn’t until 2000, when Google launched Google Toolbar, that SEO mavens could see their PageRank score. That same year, a company named Adwords joined the search party, and by 2002 paid advertising jumped onto “Page 1” of search results. For pennies on the dollar, anyone could ensure that their company, their service, or their site could end up at the top of a Google search. Companies would “pay per click.” The SEO boom was on.

Between 2004 and 2012, SEO had transformed the world of search into a spammy nightmare. SEO and PPC wonks charged increasingly higher fees to ensure that companies stayed relevant on the Internet even if the companies were not. To stay on top, websites required metatags, keywords, linking patterns, photos, speed, and they needed to recognize that Google re-indexed their algorithm every month. With prices going up, mainstreet smaller businesses began getting priced out. Not because they weren’t running their business and serving the community but because they couldn’t effectively compete.

In 2017, more than 7 million advertisers invested more than $10 billion in PPC ads. That same year, Google CEO Sundar Pinchai boldly pronounced that the world’s most popular search engine was officially beyond listing links and now aiming to inform and assist. Google became an AI-first company. The cost of online poker had just gone up.

Where does this leave small businesses? The problem of relevance remains, but unlike Cullen, Hunt, Murchison and Richardson, big business took control of the market first. When SEO and PPC first appeared, a newborn Dentist, Lawyer, Accountant or Real Estate Agent could afford the marquis atop the local digital town square. As the years went on, corporations drove up the price of the ads. They didn’t do this because they needed the space or cared about the community, they did it to prevent losing their position..

What chances does a small business have jumping into a pool of more than 7 million other advertisers? How big of a dent can their modest budgets make against a multi-billion dollar market? Coca-Cola, Mercedes and Hilton don’t need to worry about being discovered. They are already omnipresent brands. They need to make sure that no small start-ups can claim undiscovered digital real estate. Simply put, if you need SEO and PPC, you can no longer afford it. If you can afford SEO and PPC, you don’t need it.

Marketing blogs all over the internet council everyone to invest in SEO and PPC. Small businesses must ask themselves, “If I jump into this 25 years after it’s invention, is it still the best fit for me?” Even Forbes admitted in 2018 that, if your SEO budget is just $1,000 a month, then your chances of ranking at the top of a search are zero.” If your marketing budget is less than 7 digits in length, it would be wise to look to other online resources.

The good news for small business owners is that a similar revolution took place concurrently with SEO and PPC, social media. While social ads and boosted posts are now options in that space, a consistent social media presence can provide significant value while costing nothing but time and skill. When you provide value, connect personally through the new digital version of the “lions club” you become relevant. Not by dollars invested but by value and presence.

Studies show that brands, both large and small, take on personification and tap into new levels of emotion hitherto unavailable to traditional marketing. Through social media, brands can drive greater customer engagement and stay top of mind without breaking the bank. In a world where SEO and PPC have a rapidly diminishing ROI for small businesses, a disciplined approach to free social media sites can be the lifeboat a company needs during lean times.

A smart small business owner will take stock of their book of business, and then launch a series of consistent social media campaigns across the sites their customers already visit everyday. If a company can post beautiful and engaging content with regularity, they will gain a foothold in an environment designed for community. Rather than placing your ads in the town square, where they will be swallowed by the larger neon signs of corporations, do what you have always done, and drop into the digital equivalent of your kid’s soccer game. That is where your customers are, and that’s where their repeat and referral business will be found.

The world has changed profoundly in the last four weeks. Yes, the entire world. In fact, Facebook has seen traffic increase 50% week over week since Covid became omnipresent on the news. And, social has once again become the number one destination for communicating.

At my company, we are dedicated to promoting and supporting small businesses with tried and true marketing that leverages content that we produce for our customers. We distribute on the best channels and our mobile app helps you to follow up one-to-one. In a world where uncertainty is the status quo, and inboxes are stuffed with salespeople pitching quick fixes to stalled sales cycles, OutboundEngine crafted an essential five point program for navigating these uncharted waters.

1. Stay connected with social content done for you.

2. Engage and share your expertise to generate quality conversations

3. Share content on social, email and online where attention has soared 50% week over week.

4. Stop buying leads and spending money on paid search. Prices have been soaring for years and it’s no longer effective

5. Consolidate all marketing in one place. One login, One password, one mobile app.

If you can’t afford any marketing right now, or have just got started before it feels like the carpet got pulled out. OutboundEngine is delighted to share some ways to do it for free. If your business has been spending money in excess of $500 per month on marketing, we can do it for you at half that amount. Either using the plan on your own or asking for assistance.

In conclusion, please don’t elect to conclude your entrepreneurial journey. America needs small business more than ever and the vast populace is here ready to support you when things return to some level of normalcy. It’s your job to be there when they emerge from their homes to benefit from it.