My inspiration for this post comes from hearing the expression ‘drive traffic to your web site’ a little too often.
The phrase is used everywhere and has become common in web marketing vocabulary. I don’t take issue with the ‘traffic to your web site’ part — it’s the word ‘drive‘ I’m not particularly fond of.
Think of things that are ‘driven‘ in this manner. Cattle come to mind. Typically cattle aren’t interested in going in the direction they’re being driven but are encouraged to, by among other things, prodding and fear of what’s behind them.
Is this how we should be treating valuable human beings as they navigate the digital channel (or any channel for that matter)? With prodding and push tactics? I don’t think so.
The solution could be as simple as replacing the term ‘drive’ with ‘draw.’ Think of the real value we can provide on our web sites, social networks, and mobile applications and use that as a mechanism to draw traffic, fans, and followers (more on this later).
It’s a simple concept, but one that’s all-too-often overlooked.
Agreed wholeheartedly! The objective is the same, it’s the perception of how and why they came that is the distinction. “Drawing” eyeballs to a site means you have already provided an element of value, which hopefully you can continue to build on.
Semantics?
@Scott M — It may be semantics in some cases (I hope so) but I really believe too many marketers and site owners forget the importance of providing value.
I agree, value is key… It’s an interesting perspective.