Whether you’re presenting an SEO strategy to your employer for executive buy-ins, or to a client the principles remain the same.
Similar to a sales pitch, an SEO strategy presentation must reaffirm 2 situations:
- The current situation
- The desired situation
You must drive as large of a wedge between them as possible.
If a significant wedge does not exist, you are not skilled enough, or you are not confident in your ability to achieve the desired situation then you need to re-align on expectations or continue to develop your SEO strategy.
How to present an SEO strategy
An SEO strategy presentation should communicate a website’s performance, opportunities, competitor analysis, and a reality check of what will happen if they chose to do nothing.
This can be simplified into a common sales tactic:
- Current situation
- Desired situation
- Offer
Let me explain…
1. Highlight the current situation
The current situation should expose weakness and aggravate sensitivity to the point that it induces pain.
Gather data and use it to tell a story:
- Website audit
- Competitor comparisons
- Keyword gaps
- Keyword rankings
- Google analytics & search console metrics
- CRO audit
If you want to take it a step further you can run a traffic projection/forecast for the scenario that they do not take any action.
Overlay industry standard
- conversion rates
- close rates
- pricing
or better yet, pull this data from your prospect’s Google Analytics and CRM to get the most precise sales and revenue forecasts.
Learn more:
2. Illustrate desired situation/outcome
The desired situation should not focus on metrics, but rather use them to incite positive outcomes.
The business outcomes will be unique to each situation, get creative.
Use metrics & KPIs such as
- keyword search volume
- organic traffic
- conversion rates
- leads
- sales
- revenue
to illustrate what it would be like if you are successful.
3. Pitch your offer
The offer is how you will get from A to Z, and what you will receive in return.
Desired outcomes come at a cost. It is your job to inform the stakeholders of the resources required, and the time needed to execute.
Inform stakeholders of the resources and time (effort) needed to achieve the desired outcomes.
If when contrasting the effort vs the desired situation it is not an easy decision (ROI, traffic, leads, sales, revenue) you have not successfully done your job. Go back to the drawing board.
Final thoughts on SEO Strategy Presentations
In order to get executive buy-ins, or close an SEO client you need to
- Illustrate the value
- Outlining a clear path to success (that provides a positive ROI)
The wedge between the current and desired situations is the SEO strategy that you will present, but not focus on.
Instead, you will focus on driving as big of a wedge into the current & desired situation as possible, to the point where it is a no-brainer.
If it is not a clear decision, you have failed your SEO strategy presentation.
