There's SEO challenges, and then there's SEO mountains. In the world of search marketing, perhaps nothing seems more initially daunting than a site/brand/product/entity with little to no search volume. It's not commonplace, but in several sectors, particularly some sites in niche hobbies, the arts, nonprofits and startups, there can be times when what you're producing isn't something people are asking the search engines about (yet).

My idea to build and market metal whiteboards using SEO could be challenging...

If and when that's the case, there are other ways to get organic traffic - content marketing, blogging, social media, email, public relations, etc. - but there's also several SEO techniques that can be cleverly applied.

The Substitute, i.e. It's the New "Fill-in-the-Blank"

Many products, brands or websites may not have direct search volume, but they can be thought of and marketed as similar to an existing solution/brand. When that's the case, targeting keywords that fit the bill for that substitute can present an effective proxy stream of (potentially) relevant search traffic.

For our example above, we might create content like:

• Whiteboards are SO 20th Century: Evolve to Metal
• Glass Whiteboards: Transparent? Or Too Transparent?
• Whiteboard Paint is NOT the Answer; Metal Is.

These blog posts, articles or sales pages could then rank alongside the product that ours is seeking to replace, and though they may not be a 1:1 match, the substitution could attract awareness and attention of the new player in the marketplace.

The Comparison

Many products and brands won't have properties to truly substitute for an existing search query. But, in most cases, they will be comparable to something familiar and queried.

Imagine, for example, a new form of artistic body-modification that renders portions of one's skin transparent for 5-6 days. It's not really a tattoo or body painting, but more an artistic way to illustrate one's sub-dermal anatomy. Let's call it "transparantizing"

In this peculiar case, we might not be able to honestly call it a substitute for a tattoo (or exploratory surgery for that matter), but we could create content to compare them, such as:

• Tattoos, Henna, Body Paint & Transparantizing
• Comparing Exploratory Surgery, MRIs, X-Rays and Transparantizing

This technique can be applied to real-world situations, too. A local Seattle startup, Gist.com, provides a plug-in for Gmail and Outlook to show social information about an email contact (highly useful for salespeople, in particular). Although they're not a substitute for something like Salesforce or contact management software, they can certainly compare their offerings to these popular (and high demand) queries.

Attract the Audience, Not the Query

For some brands, organizations and sites, comparables may be challenging or simply not enough. When it seems as though all direct paths to relevant traffic are stymied, remember the goal of demographic advertising. Rather than directly marketing to an audience that's expressed a clear interest, demographic ads seek to reach an audience target defined by their age, gender, income and other personal traits. SEO can accomplish a similar task, but it requires some careful planning and preparation.

First, you'll need to know as much about your target audience as possible. In our transparantizing example, let's imagine one target group is doctors and surgeons. What types of sites do they visit? What demographic and psychographic attributes apply to them? And, most importantly, what kinds of queries do they perform on a regular basis?

If we knew that our targets were regularly querying for information about medical devices, techniques, journal articles, etc. we could create a blog with content focused on those topics, discussing precisely those types of content matters. Alongside the blog's primary content on these relevant topics, we could show off the brand/product to a group of highly relevant, potentially interested clients.

Articulate's E-Learning Blog

A great real-world example comes from Articulate, which creates e-learning software. Their blog features posts like 100 Powerpoint Tutorials & Free Templates, A Boatload of Free Hand-Drawn Graphics, and How to Create Color Schemes in Powerpoint to Match Your Brand. Many of us naturally do this with our content marketing - creating related "content" that appeals to our potential audience of buyers. It's a great way to combine the power of SEO with the awareness of audience-targeted marketing. 

Build the Brand

Last, but not least, the tactic of brand building has been around for decades as a method to increase awareness of a new product. When Pepsi or Coke launch a new beverage, they rarely turn to search, but they do bombard the airwaves and the web with advertising, promotions, contests and sponsorship to help create demand in the minds of consumers. Brand building is typically less-targeted than audience-marketing, but again, search can help.

Wow... Ricky Gervais did a video for Transparentizing! That's going to get a lot of views.

Those same contests, celebrities, adverts and viral videos can be made with SEO-savvy to help visitors searching for related content get exposure to your brand/product.

SEO is certainly not the answer to all marketing quandries, but neither is it completely useless in cases like these, where keyword search volumes may not be exciting, but secondary applications of search rankings can still attract great customers.

One of the things I've always loved about SEO and organic marketing, more broadly, is the power of creativity and imagination to have an impact. Don't let road bumps like "0 search volume" stand in your way; think outside "broad match" and opportunities will present themselves.

p.s. If anyone invents metal whiteboards or a technique to temporarily turn skin invisible, all I ask is proper link attribution :-)