What is Wu Wei?
Taoism teaches a concept known as “Wu Wei,” or “Without Doing.” Zhuang Zhou, a notable Taoist philosopher, tells a parable to explain Wu Wei. Here is my abridged version:
Confucious walked near a river. He saw the turbulent waters throw an old man around like a rag doll. He ran downstream to a bank where he could hopefully pull the old man out to save his life. When he reached the bank, he saw the old man casually walking up the bank without a scratch on him. Astonished, he asked the old man what magical powers he possessed. The old man answered, “I have no powers but learned the secrets of the river in my youth. I go down with the water but also come up with the water. I survive because I do not struggle against the water’s superior power. That is all.”
How Does Wu Wei Apply to AdWords
Advertisers would do well if they heed this wisdom. For years, advertising meant bombarding people with reminders of how they aren’t good enough, people who are simply trying watch tv or read a magazine or drive a car. That still exists, of course, but the rise of pay-per-click, sponsored content, and big data has made the advertising discipline far more complex.
As it applies to AdWords, I, as an advertising vendor, must know that the world of people who make over a trillion searches on Google a year is the river. They are superior to little me with my tiny keyboard and knowledge of the Google AdWords platform. I can know every nook and cranny of that program, have a great understanding of the latest features, but if I do not adhere to the wisdom of the ancients, I will fail.
This is because I can’t force people to make Google searches. That water flows as part of sociology and culture, and I am but a speck in influencing what people want when they open the search engine. What I can do is create content that fits the needs of people.
The Rasko Digital Marketing Method
If a client needs something promoted, I, of course, will be flexible in using my skills to help promote that page. However, in general, my Taoist approach goes a little something like this:
- I understand my client, learning their reason for existing and what about them is unique.
- I research keywords, learning what is being searched frequently and how the water flows. I learn what competitors exist in that landscape. Oftentimes, it is better to not compete, to take a different path rather than get caught in a bidding war.
- I set up keywords, advertisements, and web pages to be in alignment with each other. This is important because of the quality score. Simply explained, Google wants its users to take a logical path. If someone searches “New Cars,” they will see advertisements with language about new cars, and click to a web page with language about new cars. Giving beneficial position to advertisements with this logical path is part of Google’s advertising algorithm, and everyone who does my kind of work must have a good understanding of it. This is very different from television advertising, where you could be watching a basketball game and see an advertisement for a new car instead of one for basketball equipment.
Summary
In summation, a good advertiser will understand your organization, the relevant data concerning google searches that could lead to your website, and how to create a campaign that doesn’t fight nature. A bad advertiser will throw money at a problem, increasing costs for the organization they are advertising while delivering worse results.
If you’re curious to learn more about Taoism, I recommend the Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff. It is a great guide for westerners, an easy read that uses stories from Winnie-the-Pooh to explain Taoist principles.
Michael Rasko is a nonprofit marketing consultant who specializes in Google Grants. If you work with or for a nonprofit who is interested in starting or improving a Google Grants account, contact him to learn more about a one-month, no-commitment free trial. Included in the free trial is application assistance for new accounts and re-activation assistance for accounts that have been suspended for policy violations.
You can contact him for this reason or any other reason by filling out the contact form below or calling (503) 558-6500. If you do call and get voicemail, remember to leave a detailed message to differentiate yourself from the many robocalls that publicly listed phone numbers receive.