If you missed it yesterday, Google made a big announcement with their newest search improvements, branded as Google Instant. Essentially, the search engine is now using its algorithms to guess what you're searching for as you type it, and will automatically load results in realtime. Say for example, you start typing in "weather forecast for…" – when you first type the letter w, Google will guess you're looking for weather and load the weather forecast for you automatically. If instead you're looking for walmart, you just keep typing your search term, and in this case when you get to "wa", it will retrieve the right results for you.
What's the point, you ask? As marketers, this is exactly how we should be operating our sales and marketing campaigns. You know your verticals, your target customer, their buying cycles, and what they're looking for. Really, our job is a lot easier than Google's. We have a short list of prospects searching our content, and it's our job to give them what they want, quickly and accurately.
So how do we do that? We've got to explore all the possibilities within the sales funnel. Create a detour plan for prospects to stray from the path. Anticipate your prospects movements before they make them, and if they surprise you – well, be ready for that too. You want to tailor your sales and marketing collateral (ie – everything except your sales team) to appeal to prospects at all stages of their buying cycle. And not only that, but you want your marketing collateral to take them to the next level – whether it's a better understanding of your company and how it fits with them or a even nudge towards the decision – the point is movement. Always keep your prospects moving through the funnel, and be ready for whatever they need, whenever they need it.
Piece of cake, right?
