Discovery Matters—Even in Referral Marketing


Hello Reader,

A few weeks ago, I talked to you about the three core elements of your marketing ecosystem: Discovery, Connection, and Belief.

I tend to get pushback on this from two distinct and highly specific groups: Instagram power users and referral-driven businesses. Today, I want to talk about that second group.

Many referral-based businesses underestimate the importance of ongoing visibility, such as that which comes from a discovery mechanism such as search engine optimization (SEO). They think, "My clients come from word-of-mouth, so why bother?"

But here's the thing: Even referrals-first businesses need to be discovered.

Visibility fuels your referral engine—because people referred by your clients check up on you before they connect.

A little story: Once upon a time, when my business looked very different than it does now, when we still offered website design as a core service, a client asked me to remove all the SEO work we'd done from their website because they perceived it as "tacky." I argued and argued, but eventually I just gave up, gritted my teeth, and did what they asked.

What was the result? Well, it was pretty unfortunate because their own website dropped below employees' personal LinkedIn accounts, below some media mentions, and below some databases they appeared in. All of those sites were optimized, so they surfaced their brand first whenever a referral looked them up. Not ideal!

My friend Eleanor calls websites your "Single Source of Truth" and that's such a apt way of putting it. If your single source of truth can't be found, people will decide that something else is the truth about you—and it may not be what you want.

Even if your only goal is exercising some measure of control over what referrals find when they look you up, that's a discovery component to your marketing ecosystem.

In the search biz, we call this "Branded Search," which means that we help ensure potential clients find you when they search for your name or business. Poor SEO can hinder your online visibility, even when people are actively looking for you.

I would also argue that referrals dry up in just about every industry.

In fact, I'm yet to encounter an industry in which this isn't the truth. Networks change, connections move on, they—gasp!—forget about you... When you commit to attracting a wider audience beyond your immediate circle of referrals you might discover new avenues for collaboration, speaking engagements, or media opportunities. Isn't that a cool knock-on effect of starting with that discovery phase of marketing?

In 2025, what can you do to make sure you commit to the discovery element of your marketing ecosystem?

Talk soon,

Sarah

P.S. The Smooth Sailings Website Migrations workshop will be on Jan 17—sign up here! (It's super affordable and discounted through Jan 1.)

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