Recent tumultuous challenges and strategic planning sessions brought something to mind. Business is just business, and digital media, however much it’s changing and how quickly, is just media, just business. Complex, fast moving, and difficult to keep a hold of the pulse of things? Sure.  More challenging than ever. But it still generally follows general business principles. The challenges are principally the same.

A decade ago I was facing challenges of leveraging technology for business efficiency and improved customer (reader) satisfaction. I was designing and implementing programs that made processes easier, helped employees press buttons to do things faster and easier, and reduce operating costs. Subsequently, margins were being squeezed, there were intense downward pressures and increasing competition meant having to get the very best from every resource to deliver value. Trying to upskill, cross train, integrate, and motivate a team was difficult as expectations increased and there was a need to do more, with less. Attracting great people both from within the industry and from outside it was a constant challenge. The “production process” of the work we did back then was a stubborn logjam mess of issues, frustrations, and complexities, so trying to organize and streamline this became a core focus. That’s just as true in search marketing now as it was a decade ago in print media. Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.

In the late 90’s a tidal wave of competition from free Metro publications and every local printing house producing an in-house real estate, auto or general classified free inky mag meant possible death by a thousand cuts.  It was clear then as it is now that only the very best would survive. In many sectors businesses coast on, deluded by this fact or sleepily oblivious to it, but it’s there all the same. The demise of the print version of Seattle’s Intelligencer newspaper shows that to be true. Business, or should we say the market, has little favor for misty memorabilia, historical sentimentality, and the quaint romanticism of the US’s oldest newspaper. 146 years old and done with like yesterdays hamburger wrapper. The brutal onrush of progress continues unabashed, crushing everything in its way whether we like it or not. So I guess we’d better like it. So adopt, or die.

The search marketing industry is seeing commoditized offerings from every basement-run two-bit SEO company with a fancy website, cool brand imagery and a stainless steel and glass office table and a couple of shiny MacBooks to impress clients. The key players in search need to aim for the continued demonstration of real value and ROI. And let’s be very clear about that. Let’s make it even more transparent than it is. Show our depth of knowledge and connectivity, our insight, and embrace all the new platforms that throw themselves in front of us disguised as challenges, by which I mean social media, web 3.0, the semantic web, and the ramp up of mobile search. Key players need to show their strengths and do whatever they choose to do well, with passion, genuine interest, and with an approach that’s based on solid information, backed by research, and by leveraging the use of external resources. When we hear from clients and prospects about their stories of broken promises from agencies, and the failed delivery of guaranteed ROI, or a shoddy end deliverable we know we need to stay true to our goal of delighting the client.

So all of the challenges that we see now in the search marketing biz is actually old news repackaged. By staying true to proven approaches and trusted methods, the best players win through the challenges we face. Key players need to use their core values, strong guiding principles, beacons of inspiration, and by referencing proven best practice upon which to make good business decisions.  The cream always rises to the surface, so be sure your client offering is thick, creamy and well produced – something of substance and proven value, with great packaging. A good client feedback loop helps too.

Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.


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