Some of you may remember a time when Coca‑Cola’s soda (pop) drinkers had a choice between Coke and Tab. Tab was its first diet soda, introduced in 1963. Diet Coke was introduced in 1982.
Now we have so many more choices: Coke, Diet Coke, Coke Zero, and other formulations. Original Coke now accounts for around 60%, while the other two combined account for roughly 40% of Coke sales. Coke Zero sales are on the rise, while Diet Coke's are flat (pun intended).
That is because the concept of “diet” is getting harder to market. The word “Diet” creates the impression that it contains artificial sweeteners, while the word “Zero” promotes the benefit of no sugar… even though Zero (Calorie) is just another formulation of a diet soda that also contains artificial sweeteners.
Diet Coke has more caffeine and a bigger taste, while Coke Zero has a milder taste with less caffeine.
So the word “Zero” has a better perception in the marketplace because it aligns with a healthier lifestyle.
As a small business or B2b company, you might think this marketing concept could be useful for promoting your business benefits, but in today's AI search landscape, there is another “Zero” that should set off alarm bells… loudly. It's the marketing trend known as “Google Zero.”
Google Zero
If you market your website or your client's, you may have noticed a trend. Website traffic from Google searches is going down… WAY DOWN!
I had a conversation with a client about marketing their business, and they asked, “What can we do to increase traffic (and ultimately sales)?” He asked if more SEO could help, but I responded that that would be a waste with declining search traffic.
I referred to his Google Analytics data, which showed that Search traffic was down 30% since last year and 86% since 2023.
Nilay Patel (at The Verge) started talking about “Google Zero” in 2024 to describe a world toward which Google is heading, where it would essentially send zero referral traffic to websites, as search itself is circumvented by directing users to AI overviews.
I have seen reports estimating that more than half of Google searches now end without a user clicking on anything outside the search results, which is pretty typical these days.
This buries your thought-leadership in a soup made with ingredients from competitors and others that have no relevance to you and your business. While you may get a reference that may build some notoriety or trust, without a click, you have no way to capture leads, data, or sales.
Social Sugar
Social media is becoming less social, and more media. You are seeing fewer interactions from your friends and connections and more from ads and media.
This media is increasingly becoming clickbait and reels, which are just engagement sugar with ads. If you interact with a brand, you see more of that category (I see lots of golf stuff). Also, you may see more clickbait stories that tell you the link is in the first comment. All of that is designed to keep you on the platform longer so it can show you more ads.
As a business, it's even harder to show up in people's feeds. LinkedIn is trying to cut down on AI slop with a “Seems like AI slop” button, so users can report low‑quality, AI‑generated posts and help train the feed to show less of it. Also, they are dialing back their AI writing tool and labeling it as a lightweight proofing tool.
So with all of this, including your content being summarized in AI answers with little to no attribution or click-throughs, how can you get your thought-leadership content and insights in front of your buyers and prospects?
Ad-atives & “You've Got Mail”
I have long been pontificating about how your website and email list are the only things you can control and own on the internet. You create, nurture, and prune a solid list. You get that list from both people who have done business with you and prospects who identify themselves as interested in your business.
Our current process is starting with a list from your CRM and/or accounting system. You could and should verify and update deliverable emails before you start. Kickbox is a great and affordable tool for that. If an email is unverified, it will bounce. Too many bounces and all your email deliverability is in jeopardy.
If you know an email address works but comes back unverified, simply use your personal mail program to send an email to it and see if it comes back undeliverable, especially if you know it's been used successfully in the past few months.
Once the list is imported, send an email letting them know that they have been added to an email broadcast program and include a clear way to unsubscribe. We see an average of 1-2% who do. They can always unsubscribe at any time later as you send your article summaries that link back to the full versions on your website.
Advertising Online
Advertising is the only clear way to consistently reach prospects. We have developed systems to help drive clicks for around $1 or less on Google for consumer-facing local businesses, and on LinkedIn for B2b national businesses.
We have found that it generally takes 10 clicks to get a lead (form or email) and 10 of those to have a solid sales conversation. With normal costs of $10 – $50 per click, a solid lead could cost you between $1000 – $5000. When you are paying $100 or less, it is more manageable for most small to mid-sized businesses.
The key to making this system work is maintaining a consistent flow of new thought-leadership content hosted on your website. Advertising is the most direct way to reach prospects that may click. All social platforms degrade actions that take people off them, but they are happy to loosen that rule when you are paying them for that privilege.
The bottom line is that the combination of email and ads means that your content teasers may be seen multiple times. I also suggest that you continue to post the same to your social media (both business and personal) to possibly create another opportunity to expose and validate your content with both customers and prospects.
Closing Thought
While I was describing the Coke Zero-Diet Coke-Google Zero metaphor to my wife, Kim (who was scrolling through Facebook at the time), an “Ad” for Diet Coke appeared in her feed. Neither of us drinks Coke or buys diet (I am a Sprite or Cheerwine kinda guy when I do drink soda).
It serves as a reminder that we now live in a surveillance economy, where bots and algorithms discreetly orchestrate our feeds using data gathered from our words, clicks, and purchasing histories.
Marketing becomes an uphill battle when our attention is constantly subjected to an invisible force of suggestion that persistently nudges us toward the next view, click, or purchase.
It's becoming clear that marketing professionals (and businesses) need to embrace email and data proliferation to compete for attention. If not, we might be missing out on opportunities our competition could be embracing.
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Comment below and share your thoughts, ideas, or questions about business-to-business sales and marketing today! Do you have a sales or marketing communications strategy that works for you? What tips or techniques can you share that work for you and your business?
To learn more about this and other topics on B2b Sales & Marketing, visit our podcast website at The Bacon Podcast.
