The Untold Bond Between Marketing & WWII
Quick Summary
- What this covers: marketing-wwii-connection
- Who it's for: executives, CMOs, and business leaders evaluating SEO investment
- Key takeaway: Read the first section for the core framework, then use the specific tactics that match your situation.
Think about this for a second.
Marketing works to define and segment the audience it is targeting, in order to better 'serve their needs' (this is arguable).
When you think about the best forms of marketing, the stuff that gets people to react to what they're looking at — it's specific, jolts an emotional response, and compels an action. Which for most people in today's day and age, that's making a purchase online.
So at what point did humans become okay with this innocuous micro-segregation?
Turns out, no one did.
Marketing in its current form, as it relates to using some form of measurement against effectiveness of the campaigns themselves, didn't exist before WWII.
There was marketing. Marketing has existed as long as markets have. I've argued in the past that communication is a basic form of marketing in my earlier 20s.
So World War II happens, what would you assume is the nearest living relative to marketing that would coincide with the deadliest conflict known to humanity?
Propaganda.
Bernays and his crafty crew of word-spinners created the world that we know live in today.
They say the Allied powers won, but how true can that be if we're living in a world designed by the losing side?
That doesn't make much sense to me.
The point of the matter is, without a clear distinction of who it is that needs to be purchasing from you, you're not going to reach them. Not in any way that matters.
If we're to take me as the example, my segmentation looks something like:
- Business Owner
Business Owner
- Executive Suite
Executive Suite
- Upper Management
Upper Management
- Has a website
Has a website
- Offers a service or product
Offers a service or product
- Has been in business longer than 5 years
Has been in business longer than 5 years
- Has a website built before 2018, better if before 2010
Has a website built before 2018, better if before 2010
- Understands the internet is important but has been lost to changing times
Understands the internet is important but has been lost to changing times
- Relies on traditional or alternative forms of marketing in order to reach their audience
Relies on traditional or alternative forms of marketing in order to reach their audience
- Is not leveraging their existing website in ways that are conducive to organic search
Is not leveraging their existing website in ways that are conducive to organic search
- This is where I come in
This is where I come in
Someone who meets a handful of these bullets is someone I want to speak to.
You have to know your audience the same way.
I may end up writing about 'how' you go about doing that in a later edition.
Until then, you’ll have to deal with these non-segmented, non-edited, off-the-dome rants.
If you made it this far, thank you for reading.
Your Valentine,
Victor V.
P.S. — Reply to this email if long-form instructional video content (SEO, Systems, etc.) is something you want to see in the immediate future.
When SEO Isn't Your Priority
Defer SEO investment if:
- Your product-market fit isn't validated yet. SEO compounds over months. If you're still iterating on what you sell and who you sell it to, those months of SEO work will target the wrong audience. Nail the positioning first.
- You're in a winner-take-all paid acquisition market. Some verticals (insurance, legal, finance) have organic results pushed below the fold by ads. If your competitors all buy their traffic and organic results barely show, paid channels may be the pragmatic choice until you can invest in long-term organic.
- Your sales cycle is shorter than SEO's payback period. If you need revenue in 30 days, SEO won't deliver. Run paid campaigns for immediate pipeline, then layer SEO as a compounding channel once cash flow supports the timeline.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I evaluate whether our SEO investment is working?
Track three metrics quarterly: organic traffic trend (is it growing?), organic revenue attribution (what revenue came from organic search?), and market share of search (what percentage of relevant searches do you appear in vs competitors?). Avoid vanity metrics like keyword count or domain authority — they correlate loosely with business outcomes. A good SEO program shows compounding organic revenue growth over 6-12 month windows.
How long does SEO take to show results?
Technical fixes (crawl errors, speed improvements) can impact rankings within 2-8 weeks. Content investments take 3-6 months to gain traction and 6-12 months to compound. Competitive keywords in established markets may take 12-18 months. The timeline depends on your starting position, competitive landscape, and investment level. Budget for 6 months before expecting material ROI.
Should we hire in-house or use an agency for SEO?
In-house makes sense when SEO is a core growth channel (>20% of revenue), you need daily execution speed, and you have enough work to justify a full-time hire ($80-150K+ fully loaded). Agency makes sense for strategic guidance, specialized audits, or when SEO volume doesn't justify headcount. Many companies benefit from a hybrid: in-house execution with agency-level strategy oversight.