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Gone are the days of salespeople calling your home phone trying to sell their latest product. Though this still happens (thanks, telemarketers), it’s not nearly as effective as it was before the days of the internet. With inbound marketing and Search Engine Optimization, cold calling is dead.
With the evolving customer, what was once widely accepted sales tactics 20 years ago are now seen as spammy, annoying, and often don’t provide valuable leads. Today, more buyers are actively searching online for solutions to their problems, finding their own perfect solution with a product or service, without outbound marketing.
How SEO Killed Cold Calling
SEO Strategically Moves Users Through the Buyers Journey
Part of SEO’s hand in killing the cold call was its ability to move users through the buyer’s journey. By first starting with top-of-funnel content, such as broad solution-based blogs and providing informational content that targets question-based queries, you can build awareness of your brand.
Doing this not only establishes your name as a subject matter expert, but also leads the user through different solutions to their original queries. In this phase, queries change from “how to___”, to “the best product for __”. This step moves them to the lower funnel in the buyer’s journey, allowing them to weigh decisions and compare with competitors. SEO is extremely important at each of these consideration steps, as you need to be visible in the search engines to be considered.
SEO Content Isn’t Interruptive
Cold calling, as a whole, is the process of trying to sell a product or service to a wide range of people, simply hoping someone would make a purchase, making for an extremely interruptive experience for the buyer. In SEO, users are actively seeking out the information, whether top or bottom of the purchasing funnel.
SEO is Less Costly Than Blind Cold Calls
Unlike cold calling where salespeople target a large demographic group hoping to make a sale, which can become very expensive very fast, SEO efforts can be tailored to target specific customer personas or audiences. With content curated for these niche groups and employing proper CRO tactics, good content can generate new business and increase customer engagement with your brand.
SEO Provides More Valuable Leads
SEO provides more valuable leads than cold calling because as your target users are lower in the purchase funnel. When a customer does an online search, they are often searching for exact solutions to their needs, whether it be a product or service, often using branded terms. With users searching for your exact solution and having a high intent of purchasing being in the “closing stages” of the funnel, it becomes a very likely scenario that they’ll become a valuable lead.
Say Goodbye to Cold Calling with SEO
SEO has effectively killed the traditional cold call approach in sales. With the rise of inbound marketing, customers are actively searching for solutions to their problems and are no longer receptive to interruptive cold calls.
SEO offers a more strategic, less interruptive, cost-effective, and valuable way of moving customers through the buyer’s journey, leading to a higher likelihood of conversions. By providing targeted and informative content, SEO ultimately allows for a more personalized and engaging experience for the customer.
Ready to get some valuable leads with SEO?
