This is a story to help other marketers avoid the mistakes that I’ve made. A story about missed opportunity. Yes, even a story that I might regret, except that I’ve hopefully learned my lesson and there is at least some value in that.
In the beginning of 2012, I had an idea for a genius SEO strategy. I was going to target both Netflix and Spotify and pitch them my idea. The idea was solid but I had a huge challenge to overcome. My challenge was the fact that I was running a relatively new SEO company and lacked the confidence I needed to approach people like Kelly Bennett of Netflix and Sophia Bendz of Spotify. So I waited (aka I didn’t do anything).
Side Note – My Big Idea:
Oh, by the way, here’s the idea I had: At the time (as far as I could tell) both Netflix and Spotify had all of their content behind a paywall. I was a customer of both companies and I realized that they could make a lot of money by creating landing pages for all of the TV Shows/Soundtracks in their library. In my master-plan, the landing pages would consist of a page that targeted things like, “Watch “name of tv show” online” and “song name” by “artist”.” I was planning on incorporating song lyrics in Spotify’s strategy to capture the billions of “song_name lyrics” search queries.
In addition to the SEO plan, I also had a corresponding CRO strategy to test conversions of the landing pages. I guess this was a good idea because both companies are doing 99% of my plan. Each company could still benefit from modifying some technical aspects of their pages. For example, Netflix could use more targeted title-tags and URL structures. Spotify could create a rankable resource by adding more content to their pages (can anyone say artist interviews and song lyrics?). I guess they can hire me for a consultation if they are interested in learning more about those suggestions.
Back To The Story:
So, as I mentioned, I didn’t do anything with my idea. At one point, I thought about writing a “How I Would Do SEO For Spotify” blog post like the ones’ written by Tom Critchlow. I chose not to write the article because I was afraid someone would steal my plan and use it. OH BOY, WAS THAT STUPID!
After I decided to keep my ideas un-public, I wrote the marketing directors of each respective company an email, but the emails were never responded to. I don’t blame them for not responding to me because I know they are targets for unsolicited sales.
So, What Happened?
Well, to keep this 2 year story short, both Spotify and Netflix ended up executing the SEO strategy that I came up with anyway. I’m sure a genius SEO consultant somewhere, or an in-house search marketing rockstar, came up with the same idea. I’ll be honest and tell everyone that I’m disappointed in myself for missing out on this opportunity.
I should have just called up and tried to make an appointment with the marketing directors. I could have even attempted to set up a coffee meeting. Thankfully, a more confident and slightly older version of myself has learned a few lessons from this whole experience. I’ve also dramatically changed directions over the past year. I am now exclusively offering consultations through BrewSEO and I have co-founded a new full service marketing company named Noble Creative. Noble has a more-talented and larger team which naturally increases my motivation for pursing new clients.
This Is What You Should Learn From My Mistake.
#1: Don’t be afraid to publish your ideas online.
I was afraid to write a blog post about my SEO strategy because I didn’t want someone else to steal it. The truth is that you aren’t the only smart marketer in the world. In fact, there are probably 100 people out there that have similar ideas.
If you publish a “How I Would Do SEO For _____” blog post, you’ll at least get credit for being the first to write about your strategy. You will also catch the attention of the company you feature in your article.
#2: Don’t wait.
This is one of the most important lessons to be taught. If you have a idea, or even a potential lead, don’t wait! My new philosophy on being proactive is, “You would have to pay me to not follow up with a potential client.” From now on, I’ll know that the risks of doing nothing are far greater than the risk of doing the wrong thing.
Au Revoir
That’s it. Let me know what you think about my story in the comments, and hopefully this will motivate a few of you towards being more proactive with your own ideas.