Tag: marketing

How to rank higher on google? Be yourself.

Posted on by AnnJoest in Language, Mental Health

I started writing this post with fear, because it was about sharing my business model and who wants to share their business model? Somebody who is secure with their business model and what they are doing. If you do your thing, it is less likely that somebody can take it away from you, because it means taking away you. You cannot be taken away, because it is you and even if somebody tried to copy you, they couldn’t, because they can’t be you.

What does that mean for writing? Somebody writes something great, which often is an expert in a specific field. To me I am very interested in Psychology so I often find posts from a Dr. x in Psychology or Mayor Clinic. I think “Gosh I have to be like them, to write like them, to get my Google Rankings up like them.” What happens here is that I compare myself. I compare myself to a person I don’t know, but their title “Dr.” and then Mayor Clinc. I set both as an ideal as to how writing should be done to get Google Rankings up. This does not help other then thinking that my writing is not good enough!

By setting somebody else(s writing) as an ideal, we tend to forget that we are ideal in our ideal. You and what you have to say and write about is unique, which makes it good enough to be ideal for yourself and therefore somebody else too. No? Look at the New York Times offering strangers to submit opinion pieces, because these opinion are worth being published – they matter. In other words; somebody can have a Dr. and something great to say about mental health and somebody else cannot be a Dr. and have something great to say about mental health too. It means that both perspectives are valuable and therefore rankable.

That day I thought a lot about self-rejection on a personal level but since we are individuals at companies, we self-reject as companies as a total too. Just go for it. There are no ideals, other then the ideals you set to yourself on writing.

So how do I get my rankings up? Generally I don’t look up any competition and what anyone else has writtten about the topic of my interest. I do that to avoid comparison and to focus on my own writing style. It allows me to write about what comes to my mind, without feeling the pressure of having to live up to an ideal or writing like another to gain rankings. In my writing I also do not write for rankings, but because I enjoy it. For example, I have a natural curiosity for topics and I find it joyful to bring difficult topics more easy across and at times to mix different disciplines. And at times, I write about what comes to mind.

How to rank high then? Often we try to “create something” by having an ideal in mind. The ideal post should be like that, which ends up losing a sense author authenticity. It means that you may end up adjusting a specific writing style or change your writing voice to align with an imagined ideal. This leads you likely to lower your rankings, because it lacks authenticity. You are not like “Dr. x”, Mayor Clinic or Tesla Marketing, but you are who we are and your strenght is your knowledge, writers voice and perspective. So if you want your rankings up; be yourself and express that. Of course, good grammar, structure etc. helps with that too.

It seems helpful to ensure that your titel matches the content of your article. If your title sounds like “The elephant eats the apple” and the content is about buying houses, it may sound nice, but it is unclear.

Think of what you stand for and how to communicate that. Of course, different blogs on how to get your SEO rankings up will tell you differently and that is okay! For example, it seems helpful to use specific keywords to be found. On the other hand, you end up implementing all these things and realize that it was so stressfull that in many cases your rankings don’t go up. What is it that you stand for and whats your unique selling point? Communicate that and it is likely that your rankings go up higher. Does your view contradict whats been written about? Great, communicate that and if not whats your view on it? Let your voice be heard.

Lastly, I don’t know how to get Google Rankings up with certainty. Many blogs will tell you so, even experts in rankings, but the reality is that there is no absolute cerainty. However, Google of course is smart and what it does much – my secret now for you- is to have a look at individual writing styles. So what is yours and what is it that you want to bring across if it is only for you? What niche can you fill? And if you found that niche -a last analysis – fill it with #hashtags but don’t think to much about them.

Of course there is much more to it and validity in how to rank higher by actively applying scoring and writing techniques. With this post, however, I wanted to offer a different perspective that has been working for me well without even wanting it.

References

For this blog I used desperate observations on how I got my google ratings up and theory from psychoanalysis.

Contact

Do you find yourself in difficulties to bring your message accross easily , are you looking for someone to write for you, or somebody to find out whats niche for you ? Contact me for writing inquiries.

What’s my unique selling point? I bring difficult topics easy across and I tend to mix disciplines. Sometimes I use a bit of scienctific background and sometimes not.

Should we remove sustainability from business logic thinking?

Posted on by AnnJoest in Business-Sustainability

It’s been a week since I stopped working as research associate in the field of System Sciences and Sustainable Business Models at Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences. Looking back on reading many scientific papers on sustainability sciences, system sciences, sustainable ecologics, ecologogical and basic needs paradigms, it got me thinking whether we should remove notions towards sustainability from primary (business logic) thinking. It’s harsh of me to write so, but it also comes with different realities that are harsh too.

I want to write about it, not because I am against sustainability, but because I believe that what it “envisions” little holds true to the different realities we face today. Let me start with “selling sustainability”. Sustainability cannot be sold; carbon friendliness cannot be sold. It is something that can happen, because of how something primary has been produced and is then sold; A bamboo straw, as example, regrows rapidly. This makes it renewable and suitable as an ecological product; if it is consumed in regards to its regrowth time. However, for such bamboo straw business to be invested into it needs a use-case; for example “drinking something with a straw” because of reason(s) X and Y. It will not be invested into because its’ sustainable by design.

Another example is “selling human right compliance”. It is not something that is sold either, it is a result of something that is sold because it is wanted. For example, the chocolate brand Toney Chocolonely is commonly known as a chocolate producing brand with the intend to produce slave-free chocolate. That is what it is known and likely also bought for. What it is really bought for is the taste of its chocolate offering. The Chocolate Market size was valued at USD 124.03 Billion in 2019 and is projected to reach USD 165.17 Billion by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 3.6% from 2020 to 2027. So while Toney Chocolonely certainly brought into varience in product offering, the demand exist(ed) and continues to do. No demand for chocolate = no demand for Toney Chocoloney = no demand for “human right compliance”.

Now this can go on; selling “deforestation free”. You cannot sell deforestation free, but you sell a product as a company. It means you have to look at where you source what type of material how often, how you sell it to what type of customer and how investments return into reliable revenue streams. These aren’t bad. They are important. Being deforestation free can be a part of it, but when you talk to customers, you see the discussions will be more about styles, material features etc. Similiar notions can be found in selling “circularity”. It tends to be nothing that is sold as primary business logic, but it’s part of a service offering. For example the ability of certain Games in the Gaming Industry to be repaired, but you don’t buy games because they are circular but because of their fun, excitment and other factors.

It intruiques me to write more about it, but I decide to stop here. Why do I write about it? I care about sustainability and I am enthusiastic about business and the role of investement; what makes you invest into something. And certainly it can be sustainable, but you also want returns, and often that is the return of the consumer; I don’t want to live in a sustainable house because, but if solar pannels help me reduce the cost of my living than it is something I, as consumer am interested in. And if I can repair my coffee mashine in the next years without feeling annoyed about having to buy a new one again and again, then that’s something I am interested in. But what I really buy is the coffee mashine, the joy of it, the smell, the 5 minute peace in the morning.

Hope you enjoyed this post! I would love to hear from you, your thoughts on sustainability, business models and investements. Drop a message in the comments, also if you want me to closer look at (your) business logic or service offering.

Ann

Marketing for sustainability?

Posted on by AnnJoest in Uncategorized

Sustainability should aim at enabling but also providing invdividuals and groups of individuals a lifestyle of their choosing, without causing damage to the environment such as the ecological ecosystem, people with who the environment is shared with and individuals themselves. To enable that, marketing for sustainabiltiy should educate consumers about products and lifestyles so that consumers are enabled to make concious purchasing and lifestyle choices. A good example is the sales of cigaret packages that often include marketing for the negative aspects of smoking such as its risk of cancer. Another good example is the use of health education as part of marketing, i.e. using an uber or other forms of car sharing as a means to circumvent drunk driving if other forms of public transportation aren’t available, helping thereby to avoid incidences from drunk driving. While there is a clear health benefit there are also business and environmental benefits that come from shared mobility.

In these forms of marketing, there is no sugarcoating. It is honest. This differs to growing strategies in marketing for sustainability, which can tend to market “sustainability” such as sustainable lifestyles and products, although the intention often still remains the sales of a product or service. Hereby sustainability becomes an ideal that is sold as part of a marketing strategy. The risk is that marketing for sustainability can continue to facilitate consumption or more specific growth behavior, while in sustainability, growth or the sales of a product or lifestyle (see push marketing) can work contradictive.

This can be seen in products with a renewable resource base; if the extraction and processing contradicts the resources’ needed regrowth time. However, these products might not be kept longer, because they were pushed onto the consumer and possibly not intrinsically needed. This might differ to other forms of marketing such as in pull marketing for sustainability, where consumers make more concious choices in terms of a purchase so that the product or service chosen is kept longer by aliging more with what the consumer needs and wants. Of course this might not be exclusive and there can be overlaps.

How does marketing for sustainabiltiy work these days?

Before marketing was sustainable, marketing sold certain imaginary that likely were not sustainable, think about the topless muscleman, infront of a BBQ of brand x with his guy friends and the woman in the background taking care of the children. Now in marketing for sustainability we may no longer see the muscle guy, but the well dressed husband or a lesbian couple, with a vegan steak in front of the now a newer and more efficient BBQ of brand x. One may now buy not only that lifestyle, so close to a sustainability ideal, but most of all one buys a new BBQ. Marketing did it again. It sold.

Because it is marketed as sustainable, does not mean it is (in the long-term). Source

What is more likely marketing for sustainability?

Marketing for sustainability should be as simple as that it is honest and deviate from selling sustainability ideals sourrounding the product or by idealizing the product for being sustainable. It is nearly as knowing a partner who one choses to marry or a partnership one engages with for an investment, because one knows them. For example, a tourist agency could sell a sustainble sailing turn across the atlantic ocean with vegan food, FSC certified timber and a romantic ride into the sun. However, it also has to sell the reality that being the risk of sea sickness, the storms on the sea, the team-work needed, 24 hours readiness and most of all the lack of romantization such trip might bring along. If it does so, it will find that consumers sustain the sail turn, but will also return as consumers again because marketing was honest, and the reality sold matched what was expected. Honesty hereby makes marketing sustainable – the product being sustainable tourism- long term profitable.

Curious about the many ideals sold here? Klick here.

For physical products that could look as much like “here is the product we are selling, but it also falls short on long-term battery life. We are being actually honest that you can’t expect this from this product, but we are looking into developing a new model that enables you to keep the product and be able to easily replace the battery so that you don’t depend on new product purchases. This will also be part of a new business service offering, so that you don’t have to deal with long returns and actually safe money over time, with benefits for us to save on production resources too. The product is actually useful for these purposes…. and we don’t recommend if … because you likely won’t end up using it. If you still want to try it out, we can rent it out too as part of our new service offering. ”

It could also be as simple as selling a lack of ideals or filling a niche or problem: Here you can use the GPS tracker for your pet in the city so that your pet can go outdoors, you don’t get mad during home office, while you don’t have to worry, whether it gets locked up in a garage without finding it. This type of marketing might even work better then selling such GPS in idealized sustainable scenarios with a wild tracker pet father or couple, conquering wild river beds and sustainable forests with their pets, because most people work during the week, so selling a product what it is for in the context, make it sustain and the consumers too. It may even increase the reach including sales, while improving coustomer loyalty.

Of course selling purely sustainable values is great too, particular if it does not prohibit behaviors by purchasing products and lifestyles that are for instance socially and ecologically friendly prodcued such as re-use bottles or bags bags as a means to avoid the use of continues plastics. But to sell to sell and then use sustainability as a selling point.. hmm hmm.

More thoughts ? Message me anytime.

References

Koelen, M. A., & Van den Ban, A. W. (2004). Health education and health promotion. Wageningen Academic Publishers.

Training courses on the unconciousness mind, ideals and fantasy.