Make Sure You’re Findable!

I had a frustrating experience the other day. I’ve been developing a new direct response TV commercial to replace one that has been airing for the past few months. The original commercial has done well, so I want to use it as a benchmark. This original commercial was pre-tested by a research company, and I wanted to get in touch with them to get a quote for running a similar test for the new creative I’m developing. This proved to be so difficult that I almost gave up and used a competitor. I’m sure this isn’t what the researcher would have desired, and the communication problem was easily preventable. See if any of their failures might apply to your company…

The only evidence of the original test was a copy of the finished report. That commercial had been created and tested before I joined our company, and the people who had commissioned the pre-testing were no longer with the company.

I checked through the report, and while the research company name was on it, there was absolutely no contact information provided. [LOST OPPORTUNITY #1: put your company’s contact information as a footnote on every page you publish!] “No problem” I thought. “I’ll just google them.” Google provided their website, but it wouldn’t open because I didn’t have the latest copy of FLASH software on my computer. The website provided a link to this (free) software, but when I tried to download the software, my computer wouldn’t let me do it.

Turns out that at my company, I require an IT administrator to download software. That wasn’t the research company’s fault, but it cost me another day before I could get in touch. [LOST OPPORTUNITY #2: if you’re going to require special software to access your site, at least put some company contact information on an easily accessible initial landing page.]

Once we’d installed the software, I opened up the researcher’s website, and the contact information tab on the site wasn’t working! Worse, there was no other place on the entire website with any contact information [LOST OPPORTUNITY #3: make sure everything on your website is working, and in case it isn’t, footnote basic contact information on your home page.]

Meanwhile, I looked for other Google citations for the research company. There were hardly any, even though this was a large, international firm. [LOST OPPORTUNITY #4: firm didn’t generate any separate mentions. Publishing some white papers or participating in trade organizations would produce alternate pathways to the company’s website and build credibility.]

I am very persistent. Finally on the third Google search page I found a mention of the company in a press release published by one of their clients. I called the client contact listed on the press release and asked if they could help me get in touch with the researcher. They didn’t have a business card [LOST OPPORTUNITY #5—not staying in touch with a current customer], but dug up an old email from someone in the researcher’s Los Angeles branch.

From there things improved rapidly. The Los Angeles researcher called me immediately, and provided contact information for the company’s Cincinnati Branch—which was located less than a quarter mile from my office! [LOST OPPORTUNITY #6: There is no B-2-B yellow pages listing—it’s under the corporate parent’s name.]

Make sure you don’t put prospects through a similar search for your company’s contact information.