skyscraper technique

Definition

Finding top-performing content in your niche and creating something demonstrably better, taller, and more comprehensive to outrank it. The marketing equivalent of one-upping your neighbor's Christmas lights.

Example Usage

They published '10 Email Tips,' so we used the skyscraper technique and created '147 Email Tips With Case Studies and Templates.'

Origin

Coined by SEO expert Brian Dean of Backlinko

Source: SEO and content marketing methodology

Related Terms

Intermediate

conversion optimization

The systematic process of increasing the percentage of visitors who complete desired actions, typically through endless A/B testing and arguing about button colors. Science meets superstition in pursuit of marginal gains.

📣 Marketing / Advertising

Beginner

lifetime value

The predicted total revenue a customer will generate over their entire relationship with your business, used to justify spending obscene amounts on acquisition. Abbreviated as LTV or CLV, because marketers love acronyms almost as much as optimistic financial projections.

📣 Marketing / Advertising

Intermediate

positioning

The strategic art of defining how a product, brand, or service occupies space in the consumer's mind relative to competitors—essentially, it's competitive mind-gaming. In marketing, it's about carving out your unique spot in an overcrowded marketplace by convincing people your mediocre product is somehow different. Good positioning makes people willing to pay $8 for coffee that costs 30 cents to make.

📣 Marketing / Advertising

Intermediate

Lead Generation

The process of finding people who might want to buy your stuff, which mostly involves bribing strangers with free ebooks in exchange for their email addresses. It's essentially the corporate version of trick-or-treating, but you're the one handing out candy.

📣 Marketing / Advertising

Intermediate

impression share

The percentage of times your ad was shown divided by the total number of times it was eligible to appear, typically in paid search or display campaigns. It measures how much of the available opportunity you're actually capturing.

📣 Marketing / Advertising

Intermediate

share of voice

Your brand's percentage of the total conversation or advertising in your category compared to competitors. Basically measuring who's yelling the loudest in a crowded room.

📣 Marketing / Advertising

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