What comes first - the Brand or the Keywords?

It's a classic conversation we've all witnessed at some point:

SEO Expert: Here's the list of keywords you need to focus on when writing the copy for the web site.

Copywriter: What do you mean? These don't fit at all with the way the brand communicates.

SEO Expert: Well in that case, people searching for the brand and its products just won't find them!

SO THERE! That told them...

Well, maybe, but there's a reason for the way a brand communicates, and its the result of weeks, months, even years of research and acquired knowledge. An 'upstart' like search can't just come and shoot all of this down with one pesky list of keywords...

Maybe not, but surely the way people search for your products is relevant to the way you should present and sell them? What it you're selling courgettes, but your customers are searching for zucchini? Or maybe they ARE searching for courgettes, but those with the largest potential orders are specifically searching for 'soft-skinned courgettes', when you're busy selling them as 'green and white courgettes' because this was the key message you decided on when you last looked at the way you communicate. In this case, they are less likely to find you, and you are potentially missing an important sales opportunity.

Search may be a relative newcomer in the marketing timeline, but it can provide you with vital information on the way customers perceive brands, as can the shiny new arrival, Social Media.  From a B2B perspective especially, they both represent the voice of the Buyersphere - what people are actually saying and thinking rather than what you believe they are saying and thinking. Whilst they are not the 'be all and end all' as some fans will have you believe, any wise marketer should add them to their toolbox and use them whenever possible.

And as for the branding question? If you have an established brand and a well-tried approach to your communication, of course you shouldn't rip up the rule book to accommodate keywords. To quote a favourite search mantra: build for the users and not for the search engines - in other words, take the keywords into account, but make sure that they fit the copy and not vice versa. If, however, you are at the start of a branding or a re-branding process, Search and Social media are invaluable, powerful and free research tools that can provide you with crucial feedback on how the Buyersphere searches for and talks about your brand, and I would recommend combining them in every case with the more established tools - surveys, round-tables, focus groups, etc.

So, in a way, the keywords do come first, but not in importance, just in order.