Issue 1: Every Search is Local
Marketers are failing to balance brand consistency with localisation.
Smart Devices Think Local, Not Global
As we say at Big Pond, Every Search is Local.
The only thing that changes is the degree to which your location influences what you see.
GPS and location data powers so much of what we experience today.
Ten years ago tech experts were telling us about the need for a mobile-first mentality. Yet here we are in Q4 2021 and companies still judge themselves primarily on how their website looks on a desktop computer. It’s getting a bit silly.
Do you look at your mobile site first? Your potential customers do. What core message do they remember after seeing it?
Being forgettable is bad for business. Decide on the ONE thing you would like people to remember about their site visit. Then work on that.
Kim Kardashian Meme Would Like A Word
Copywriters are underpaid, undervalued, and could become your secret weapon.
We tend to think of localisation in terms of simple language translation. So much effort gets put into visuals that marketers often fail to consider regional differences.
Whether you’re an independent business or a global franchise, the effectiveness of reaching new customers using digital tactics will depend on your attention to localisation. Brand consistency won’t matter if nobody cares in the first place.
What your marketing and advertising says to someone in London, might not be as impactful to your target audience living in Glasgow. One group could be more concerned with professional accreditations. Another group could place more importance on customer reviews. Consumer priorities can vary just as much as their accents.
Generic, blank statements from marketers about how all of your potential customers think and behave can be dangerous.
For example, the most effective paid media campaigns I’ve been involved in created optimal results when separating the biggest city out from the rest of the target area. Finding the optimal balance is what makes for a great campaign.
As big tech continues to identify people’s interests and intent at postcode and device level, words matter and how we use them can trigger emotions and behaviour.
Ethical advertising is a debate for another newsletter. For now, let’s just say that if you want to buy a car and a local dealership advertises, or a nearby restaurant lets you know about new promotions, in my mind that’s a positive thing for the local economy. In both cases, localisation is the key to growth.
I’m certainly not adverse to a local advertising nudge, especially if it’s food related!
What we love this week
Life hacking with audio books. Hey, don’t close this yet! Give me a chance to explain.
Failure is the fastest way to learn. Even better if you personally don’t have to fail in order to learn the lesson first-hand.
Learning from the mistakes and experiences of others is why I have an Audible subscription for audio books. Yes, for fiction I prefer to hold a book in my hands but when it comes to non-fiction and business & digital skills, audio can be a gamechanger.
Here’s 3 of the books that have influenced my thinking the most:
The Pumpkin Plan, by Mike Michalowicz. - will challenge your current belief system about your career and show you a better way to work IF you’re brave enough!
Killing Giants, by Stephen Denny. - will change how you think about your market opportunity and how to think about growth.
Willpower Doesn’t Work, by Benjamin Hardy. - will increase your level of self-awareness, revealing insights about how much we underestimate the influences of others as well as our immediate environment.
The Pumpkin Plan explains why 99.9% of founders and senior stakeholders are the bottleneck for growth, and why believing you are the exception is why processes do not scale, and growth cannot happen until you address your fears & ego. And Mike swears a lot and shares jokes which creates this entertaining balance of insight and light hearted comedy. Every ambitious entrepreneur, digital marketer and empire builder should have a copy, and re-read it often.
Killing Giants is a series of mission impossible style business stories revealing how much smaller brands and startups outmaneuvered the giant in their field and won. If you’ve ever become frustrated at thought leaders talking about mindset without actually sharing great examples, then this is your salvation. Absolute gem of a book. If this doesn’t inspire you, nothing will.
Willpower Doesn’t Work is my own re-listening pick this week because it’s like having your own mental health coach. Nothing destroys your inner critic quite like having Benjamin Hardy explain in detail, armed with overwhelming evidence, that how we think about our own willpower is fundamentally bollocks. You know how it goes - you have the best of intentions, you don’t follow through, your inner critic starts kicking your ass. When you realise how rubbish willpower is for getting things done, and that there is a better way to approach things, the lightbulb will stay with you for a looooong time.
What we learned this week
Web 3.0, the metaverse, and ahem… Facebook becomes Meta.
Did you watch Tomorrow’s World on the BBC in the 80s? I did. I loved that show. I love all things about tech and the future. Which is why I’m fascinated to see how the discussion around web 3.0 and the metaverse plays out.
Two of my favourite futurists Jeremiah Owyang and Gerd Leonhard are experts you can trust for insights in an ocean of is-this-real-or-satire. Facebook believes in the metaverse so wholeheartedly that this week it unveiled it’s changing the parent company name to Meta, much like how Google created Alphabet as its own umbrella corp.
Is it a good idea? Much like Alphabet I doubt it will make much difference. What is real is how much more time we are spending online, eyeballs glued to our smart devices. Cutting through all the noise has never been more challenging. At Big Pond we do that every day. And we’re pretty awesome at it (if we do say so ourselves, and I totally do).
News
Apple’s Privacy Change Is Hitting Tech and E-Commerce Companies - LINK
Google says image structured data helps if you lazy-load images - LINK
Facebook is testing Facebook Pay at webstore checkouts - LINK
Amazon joins race for quantum computer with new Caltech center - LINK
How dangerous is the UK’s Online Safety Bill? - LINK
FSB’s small business sustainability hub - LINK
And finally…
Speaking of image SEO, faster websites make more money. Google introduced the concept of Core Web Vitals (CWV) to help people measure how a site performs.
Is Core Web Vitals worth the SEO effort if there’s little real measurable impact? My response:
Until next time - good luck!
Andrew @ Big Pond
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