The New Marketing: February 2006

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Governor or Web Widget?

By Jim Bonfield

Doctors, lawyers, retailers, mortgage brokers, auto dealers, media companies, restaurants and even politicians—they’re all selling. Their “widget” might be healthcare services, great food, or a Hyundai. It may come wrapped in promises of prestige, trust, expertise or power, but everyone’s pitching something.
     During a recent coffee across the street from the Capitol, the question of what I do “specifically” came up. The man asking the question was Jimmy Orr, White House Internet Director from January 2001 to the end of 2004, and now Internet Operations Director for Gov. Schwarzenegger.
     I said I help sellers use the internet to be found by buyers on the internet. I explained, with a “brand-name” such as Schwarzenegger, “pushing out” his message during the 2006 campaign would be pretty easy. However, positioning that message to be “pulled in” by voters at the precise moment they actually wanted to digest it was a much more important and difficult form of delivery.
     The same principles apply for Orr that apply for all other sellers: If information about your product isn’t available when the customer is shopping, you will lose.
     We discussed my taking a look into what the people were actually searching for when terms related to the coming California governor’s election were used on various search engines and to compare the candidates’ websites as the race moved forward. He was intrigued, and we met for lunch the following week. The data produced was even more compelling than I had hoped.
Continued...

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