They Ask, You Avoid??? Why Ostrich Marketing Kills Your Small Business’s Credibility

You may have heard the myth that ostriches bury their head in the sand when they’re stressed. Everyone can still see them, and they look like cowards – and not very smart ones, either.

Many small businesses are ostriches and don’t even realize it. They know what their customers want to know, but they’re scared to talk about it. Silence won’t solve your problems. It will hurt you.

At CSI Accounting & Payroll, we’ve advised small businesses on best practices for nearly 60 years. In the past few years, we’ve adopted our own transparency policy with They Ask, You Answer, and we encourage our clients to do the same. Here, we’ll discuss:

• The cost of staying silent.
• How Marcus Sheridan’s concept of They Ask, You Answer prevents ostrich marketing.
• How we avoid ostrich marketing at CSI.

The Cost of Silence

A few years ago, I was looking for a specific used car. It was my first big purchase, and I was scared of getting ripped off. Every time a listing was posted, I’d check on the details that mattered the most to me. To my surprise, most sites didn’t show all of those details. If I needed to reach out to get that information, I just moved on to the next listing.

Finally, I saw a detailed listing for my car. It had:

• Pictures that showed minor paint scratches and a hole in the passenger seat. Not perfect, but real. They weren’t hiding flaws.
• A somewhat high number of miles on it. The car was only two years old, but the high mile count meant someone had relied on it heavily.
• A detailed bio page for the salesperson I’d work with if I reached out. She cracked a lot of dry jokes, but I felt like I could trust her. I wasn’t afraid of not knowing who I’d meet.
• The price, which was in line with what I expected and was not negotiable. Some people want to negotiate, but that’s not my strong point. Plus, they had a “best price guarantee.” 

This might not have been the best deal, but it felt honest. So I reached out and bought the car. Other dealerships’ cars might have been in perfect condition with low miles, great salespeople, and even lower prices than what I paid. But because they didn’t show me that, they never heard from me. And I have no regrets.

If you’re not talking about hard truths, you’ll never know about most of your potential customers. You’ll lose them before they ever call you. This can all be avoided with They Ask, You Answer.

How They Ask, You Answer Prevents Ostrich Marketing

They Ask, You Answer by Marcus Sheridan mentions trust erosion (how silence feels shady) and addressing what others in your industry refuse to address. They don’t know that scaring away the wrong people by being honest doesn’t hurt them.

You become the trusted voice in your industry by asking your own experts about the Big Five topics:

• Cost
• Problems
• Comparisons / Vs.
• Reviews
• “Best of” lists

(In these sections, fill in each blank with a product, service, industry, and/or brand name.)

Cost

If your prices aren’t clearly listed on your website, visitors will leave within seconds. Write about it using titles like “Cost of X”.

Here’s the thing. You don’t need to give a specific number. Just talk about a range, an average, your industry’s pricing, and why it costs what it costs. But if you want more leads, you’ll need a cost estimator (like priceguide.ai) for your website. Visitors submit their information to see their estimate, which can generate 300% more leads than sites without an estimator.

Problems

Your potential customers are using search terms like “Problems With X”. So why not be the first company to talk about it? Whether it’s posting about your competitors or even yourself, this will drive traffic to your website. Put rumors to rest… or get ahead of ones that are true. What’s controversial in your industry?

Comparisons

Similarly, people often search “X vs. Y” or “X vs. Y vs. Z”. That means, for example, you should compare:

• Yourself to your competitors.
• Different products and services.
• Different industries or types of solutions.

Then, within all of those categories, you should compare:

• Overall quality.
• Features.
• Prices.
• Experiences.
• Problems.

(And more… the possibilities are endless.)

Reviews

Now, aim for terms like “X Reviews / Ratings”.

If you plug in your company’s name, that term will pull up your online reviews from different sites, but it can also pull up an honest review that you write about yourself. Be sure to also use customer reviews to build trust. Just like writing about problems, you can get ahead of misconceptions.

It doesn’t stop there! If you use popular terms for your competitors (like their company name or a product’s name), anyone who’s searching for them will also be brought to your website.

“Best of” Lists

“Best X” or “Top 10 X” are popular searches that can attract all of the traffic that’s searching for your competitors. The former best practice was to not include yourself in the list (to build credibility and sound unbiased), but now with AI pulling the wording from lists, it’s best to include yourself as well.