Search engine optimisation – which convention dictates we must abbreviate to SEO – can be a bit of a minefield really. There are lots of different agencies out there, and a lot of different selling points which a provider can use to try and ‘hook’ a potential client.
However, ultimately, SEO is all about understanding your target audience – and how to reach them at their most receptive. That’s certainly how we approach campaigns at Madhouse, and it’s a strategy that our clients seem to like. But if we’re talking about REALLY effective use of SEO then, for my money, there can only be one winner.
Step forward Alec Brownstein. In the summer of 2009, the New York based copywriter formulated a ‘wish list’ of his favourite NYC agencies – the ones he really wanted to work for. While Googling his favourite creative directors’ names, he noticed the lack of sponsored links attached to their names. Brownstein confesses he Googles himself “embarrassingly frequently”, and decided to purchase the names on Google AdWords, on the assumption that they would Google their names as readily as he did his own.
“Everybody Googles themselves,” Brownstein explained, “even if they don’t admit it. I wanted to invade that secret, egotistical moment when [the creative directors I admired] were most vulnerable.”
Since Brownstein was the only person bidding on the names of the five creative directors he most admired, he was able to get the top search spots for a mere 15 cents per click. Whenever someone ran a search for one of the creative directors’ names, the following message appeared at the top of the page: “Hey, [creative director's name]: Goooogling [sic] yourself is a lot of fun. Hiring me is fun too” with a link to Brownstein’s website, alecbrownstein.com.
Over the next couple of months, Brownstein received calls from all but one of the creative directors whose names he had purchased. And finally, at the end of the year, he received a job offer from two: Scott Virtrone and Ian Reichenthal of Y&R New York.
The whole campaign cost him $6.
We can’t promise you a price point as low as Alec achieved, but we can help you target your customers in the right way, and at the right time.
Leave a comment
