Why Being the Hunted is Better Than Being the Hunter

Nearly 92% of all online searches take place on Google, nearly 100,000 search queries per second. The number keeps going up and up. Soon we’ll be in excess of 10 billion searches per day. Every one of those billion searches had this in common: each used a keyword or keywords to obtain the answer. Since everything that can be found today can be found using the right keywords, it seems foolish not to have an intentional being found strategy for the times you want to be found.

I’m convinced that you can answer any question or find any information, solution, or person on the planet if you simply enter the right keywords. It may take you a few times adjusting your keywords, but in a few moments you have millions of hits returned to your mobile device. A few more clicks and you’re where you want to be.

Electronic Search Has Re-Written How We Do things

In the space of about 30 years electronic search has re-written the rules for the way things are done. Consider the following two areas that touch almost the entire population:

Employment: Prior to the internet, job seekers snail-mailed dozens of resumes to employers, answered help wanted classified ads, and traveled to job fairs and employer open houses, trying to get their resumes into the hand of potential employers. Employers hoped that employment advertising, help wanted signs, and job fairs would generate qualified applicants. It was laborious, manually intensive, and exhausting for all parties involved.

Today, job seekers create public-facing social profiles and electronic resumes tailored to the kind of work they want by embedding the right set of keywords. Online job applications provide employers with growing applicant databases that can be mined for potential new hires whose keywords identify them as potential matches. Entry level “feeder” positions are continually advertised to attract applicants, but a growing number of searches are done proactively by employers. Employers enter a string of keywords from a job posting to describe an ideal candidate, and in just a few seconds they can see people who match their criteria. Typically, HR will physically look at only the top eight to twelve candidates who best match the search criteria.

It is far better to be the hunted and be found by employers because you fit what they are looking for, rather than to do the hunting like in pre-internet days.

Employment today is driven by a small set of keywords to control which candidates are worth talking to.

Buying and Selling: Prior to the internet, retailers opened up expensive stores in prime shopping areas, spent tons of money on advertising and promotions, to drive buyers into their stores. Shoppers only shopped locally and had no access to the world market if it wasn’t found in its local stores. Their primary product education was provided through their shopping experience. B2B product and service providers physically traveled to potential customers to educate them on what was available, then built relationships with business client staff involved in the purchase.

Today customers educate themselves online and may complete the purchase without ever leaving their computer. They look at online reviews as well as online product and service descriptions and pricing. Consumers decide on where to eat based on what diners say about their experience. Retail shoppers visit the world electronically and sign up for services or have products shipped to them. B2B buyers complete as much as 75% of the sale before ever contacting a seller. Buyers proactively contact sellers based on keyword search.

It is far better to be the hunted individual who is found by buyers because your products and services fit what buyers are looking for, than to be the hunter in search of customers like in pre-internet days.

Buying and selling today is driven by a small set of keywords to control which candidates are worth talking to.

Why Keywords are Key

That means that if you want to be the one who is sought after, carefully choose the right set of keywords that draws the hunter to you. Embed each keyword multiple times in every one of your online profiles, products and services, because multiple appearances of the hunter’s keywords improve your chances of the hunter’s search finding you. 

Begin With Your End in Mind

One of the first tenets of effective planning is to begin with the end in mind. In what kind of searches do you want to be found? Who do you want to find you? Hunters ask themselves, “If I were looking for X (describe X specifically), what keywords would I use to find X?”  Here’s how to apply this to both employment and buying and selling:

Job Seekers. Embed keywords in your LinkedIn and other online profiles that are specifically associated with the job you want in order to attract employers, recruiters, and hiring managers seeking candidates using the keywords that describe you.

You can find the right keywords fairly simply by reading job postings for positions that interest you. Look at a dozen or so similar postings and use AI tools like ChatGPT to identify the common keywords. Look for the ones that appear multiple times, since these will be likely used by employers when they are seeking someone for that type of role. 

Once you’ve got a robust set of keywords, turn yourself into the hunted by rebuilding your LinkedIn profile using multiple insertions of the right keywords. On LinkedIn, you can place keywords into your Headline, the About Section, your Experience Section, and if they fit, your Skills Section. You can even ask those recommending you use specific keywords. You can further multiply the effectiveness of a keyword’s use by making it part of quantified accomplishment statements associated with what you have accomplished.

Sales Professionals. Does your company’s website embed the most sought-after keywords used when buyers are beginning their research on solving the problems that could use your solutions? A well-designed website highlights what you sell and highlights the advantages that make your solution better. Work with web designers and SEO firms that possess a history of attracting visitors and engaging them when they visit.

In addition to using keywords to describe your solutions and what they do better/differently, make sure they are embedded in case studies, customer testimonials, product data sheets, blogs, and other customer-facing pages. Your marketing function should be providing management with analytics and analyses of the keywords that are attracting visitors and capturing their attention.

B2B sales professionals should follow a similar LinkedIn strategy as described above for job seekers. Don’t rely on your company to do the keyword work you should be doing on your personal profile. Your blogs and articles, both the ones you write, and the ones you repost, should reflect your keyword strategy of attracting as many eyeballs as possible.

Post and re-post what your marketing and business development teams produce: events, people news, case studies, product announcements, and the like. Augment your posting of company content with relevant articles and videos by outside sources recognized by your audience. Use keywords in your posting to attract new viewers.

You will know that your keyword strategy is working because buyers are reaching out to you as a result of your activity on Linkedin, in groups to which buyers belong, and because you are seen as a knowledgeable leading voice in your industry.

Bottom Line

Keywords may be small, but they are mighty when it comes to creating a horde of employers and buyers hunting for you. If you want to be sought after, you must choose the right set of keywords associated with why you want someone to find you.