Purple Widget – An SEO Experiment

I thought I’d vary the subject matter just a bit today.  There will be some SEO ties but the main subject is really more of a marketing, brand management concern than anything else.

Recently, and perhaps with more to come in the future in the face of global economic concerns I’ve gotten (or seen) e-mails from companies promoting themselves as competitors have failed or changed services.

These marketing efforts have dual impact.  One, they provide news to customers – maybe you didn’t know company X no longer did Y.  And they offer a solution.  Since X no longer can do Y for you, let us do it!  Taking it even another step a coupon or discount of somekind goes even further…try us and save 15% for example.

The two that come to mind from my recent inbox are Staples and FedEx.

It seems, and I did not know this until I got this e-mail, Office Depot is closing 112 stores – the e-mail had the story in it!  Staples is making me aware of this and reminding me I can always count on Staples.  No specifc offer but very clear links to find a store and about their benefits of free delivery and their rewards program among others.  

I have also gotten several e-mails from FedEx reminding and informing me of changes at DHL. 
The first e-mail I got started with:

It’s official: DHL is discontinuing its U.S. domestic-only air and ground services. If you’ve been shipping with DHL, chooseFedEx to make the transition as smooth as possible for you, your suppliers and your customers.

DHL has cancelled its money-back guarantee for international shipments to the U.S.

But FedEx Express still offers a money-back guarantee on international shipments if we miss our published (or quoted, as in the case of FedEx® International Next Flight) delivery time by even 60 seconds*.

  I received two other e-mails after this that reminded me and offered links to FedEx.com to promote what they can offer me.  I never got any such e-mail from UPS.  Did FedEx do any PPC for searches around DHL job cuts or DHL stopping service, etc…?  I don’t know the answer but I bet it wouldn’t have been very expensive to do so.

How does this tie back to SEO?  Well, I’m talking about on the web and I’ve linked to these companies.  Many other likely are as well.

Opportunities are everywhere – don’t miss them.