MDS Resource — Digital Ad Agency

Tag: local

  • Give Me New Sales Leads That Immediately Convert Into Loyal Customers & I’ll Burst Through Doldrums

    Call New Sales Leads To Action
    Call New Sales Leads To Action

    Are you a business owner in desperate need of fresh new sales leads? Leads are the lifeline of just about any business. No matter what market you’re in every business owner knows that there will be dry spells from time to time. But we’re living in very tough times. Business is tough because unemployment is depressing, many are losing their homes in droves and people just generally aren’t lining up to part with their money.

    New Sales Leads Are On The Internet

    Although, there may be many answers to this problem, for the purpose of this article we’ll discuss using the Internet to generate new sales leads. Do you think that the Internet is just a fad? What can this crazy caprice, this virtual amusement park for kids and geeks have to offer your local small business? How can this haven for spammers, hackers and Amazon.com stimulate your business’ economy? Simply said, the Internet is where eager buyers are shopping for what you offer. Right this minute they are shopping online and they are going to buy from somebody. How much of that business do you want?

    Can New Sales Leads Find You?

    So, what’s the secret to producing new sales leads on the Internet? First, your business must be found. You must be found by eager buyers. You must be found where eager buyers are looking. Anticipate eager buyers shopping for what you offer and everywhere they look you can be there. Furthermore, the more people are shopping there, the more targeted sales leads will enter your sales funnel. If you want a lot of leads, make sure you’re offering something in great demand. This combination of great demand and being found everywhere those demanding are looking is critical to success.

    Respect New Sales Leads

    Second, treat your visitors like the honored guests they are. Once found, be worthy of their visits. Consider what’s interesting about you and your company. Why do existing customers like to do business with you? How are you unique? Tell your story online and leverage your interesting and unique business character. Never talk about services and products again — instead, focus on eager buyers and how you can solve problems for them.

    How can you push the envelope of what is tried and true in your market? Remember, your guests are visiting because they want a solution to their problem. How can you benefit them? Tell them about benefits and they will stay; otherwise they will go elsewhere. Give them valuable and relevant information and you grow in credibility. If it’s easy it’s already been done and it’s no longer valuable.

    Call New Sales Leads To Action

    Third, at the height of your guests interest, ask them to take action. Think about how information spreads online. What valuable content can you offer totally free? Think in terms of spreading ideas — not generating leads. Make your content easy to find and consume.

    In exchange for a little information about your guest, you offer them an opportunity to receive more valuable information. Take them to your squeeze page where they give you permission to continue this relationship. An eBook, consultation and samples can nurture their interest until they’re ready to purchase. Every company has something fascinating, unique or funny that can be turned into a video that people will want to share. You do, too. As long as you hold their interest they’re not going to buy elsewhere.

    New Sales Leads Cure Doldrums

    Don’t be in desperate need of fresh new sales leads. Leads are the lifeline of your business, too. Great new customers always cure the doldrums. Still think that the Internet is just a fad? This crazy caprice, this virtual amusement park for kids and geeks also offers salvation to your local small business. Simply said, the Internet is where new sales leads congregate when they are ready to buy.

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    Answer Your New Sales Leads Question: 612-235-6060

    Call MDS Resource For Special Offer Now: 612-235-6060

  • If You Are Marketing Local Business You Can Double Your Best Sales In Ninety Days Or Less

    Free Publicity Marketing Local Business
    Free Publicity Marketing Local Business

    How does your business survive without local buyers shopping for what you offer? Marketing local business may seem daunting, that you’re at a big disadvantage to the big boys. You probably don’t have an online shopping cart and you create great customers eyeball-to-eyeball. Unlike international behemoths like Amazon and Target, you have a service area issue. Although, you’ll service buyers who travel hundreds of miles to you, your ideal customer lives within a 10 or 50 mile radius. Is this your business?

    You’ll be excited to hear that you’re not limited in the ways you can market yourself locally. Yes, I know, most business owners don’t specialize in marketing. This whole advertising thing has become a sinkhole for money you’d rather reinvest back into the business. After placing a few ads all over town, putting your company listing in the yellow pages and networking with your Chamber of Commerce and Lions Club, you’ve probably run out of advertising ideas. Times are tough, traditional advertising is more expensive and, near as you can tell, your return on advertising budget approaches zero. On top of everything else, Dorothy the yellow pages rep and Toto the local SEO geek are pestering you to get online, saying all you need is to be numero uno on Google and a million website visitors. That’s it — nothing more — right?

    Not.

    It’s true, as we learn to search and find what we want on the Internet – when we want it – we respond less and less to offline media. As consumers, we have definitely changed the ways we shop and buy. We no longer sit around waiting to be told what to buy and what’s available for purchase. Million dollar Super Bowl commercials are mere entertainment now, so why spend wheelbarrows of money on traditional and ineffective advertising? Get with the times, marketing local business benefits greatly from the following tips:

    Marketing Local Business Online

    Anticipate eager buyers shopping for you online and everywhere they look you are there. Remember yellow pages? Similarly on the Internet, there are directories that catalog local companies by location, by advertising and by customer reviews. These local online directories are quickly becoming popular resources for buyers to find local companies. Little to no cash gets your company listed in these directories. Advertise your company in as many locations as practical to gain maximum exposure. Google Places, Yahoo! Local, Bing Local, MerchantCircle and Yelp are but a smattering. There are also industry, thematic and cultural directories, too.

    Free Publicity Marketing Local Business

    It’s always vital to announce your business organization, activities and events to your community on a regular basis. This is more than simply telling everybody that you’re still in business. Survival and success are NOT the same thing. New products and services demonstrate that you’re interested in and responding to your customers’ evolving needs and desires. Your blog, Facebook, Twitter, MerchantCircle and even LinkedIn are great places to post your news. Press releases, news releases and media announcements are easier and cheaper done now than ever before. There are many sites online catering to your PR needs. When eager buyers see that you not only have what they’re searching for, but you also have an even newer model, they’ll likely tell their friends about you.

    Marketing Local Business Customers Love Coupons

    Consider the fact that people love to save money — don’t you, too? — coupons can create great customers. You don’t have to worry about complicated sales pitches, just offer them a discount for trying you out. Instead of direct mail or printing fliers, save yourself the distribution expense and publish coupons on the Internet. With billions of searches on the Internet every month, be creative and put your promotion everywhere your eager buyers are looking. Try mentioning a coupon in your blog post, experiment with QR codes people will scan with their smart phones and consider social media. Internet sites like Groupon, Foursquare, Gowalla, Yelp and MerchantCircle are only the tip of the iceberg. Get them in the door and you have the opportunity to create another great customer!

    Can your business survive with local buyers? Yes and marketing your local business online is easy and fun! You’re not limited in the ways you can market locally. By marketing local business effectively you can double your best sales in ninety days or less.

    Call Now
    Answer Your Marketing Local Business Question: 612-235-6060

    Call MDS Resource For Special Offer Now: 612-235-6060

  • Secrets Of Local Small Business Marketing – Funnel Eager Buyers Through Your Sales Funnel In Droves

    Diversify Local Small Business Marketing
    Diversify Local Small Business Marketing

    Local Small Business Marketing Thinks Big

    The first secret of local small business marketing is to not think like a small business. Have you ever wondered what it would be like if your brick and mortar business made you money even if none of your employees showed up for work and your door never even opened? Do you sometimes have nightmares of your company shutting down because your referral system dried up and blew away? If you answer yes to either of these questions, then you must consider the benefits of building an inbound marketing system to anticipate eager buyers shopping for what you offer and everywhere they look you are there. Instead of tossing and turning at night, with these cutting edge methods of marketing your local business you’ll sleep like a baby and your company will thrive. If the old saying “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks” applies to you, you may want to consider a total overhaul. Changing your marketing strategy can mean the difference between reaching new record sales highs or shutting down and filing for bankruptcy.

    Imagine for a moment marketing in a way that targets your best customer in her natural environment. Offer her valuable information that she’s already seeking for free. Imagine she’s so delighted by what you’ve given her that she returns time and again to pay you for what you do best. Sounds like a dream does it? Unfortunately for many businesses stuck in their ways, that is all successful business will ever be — a dream. Let’s face it, the profits of traditional marketing tactics — yellow pages, newspaper ads, telemarketing, etc. — are drying up and blowing away. Where did all of the customers go? Yes, the economy is dragging; but, we all know, consumers are still consuming. So, where did they go?

    Local Small Business Marketing Prospers Online

    The second secret of local small business marketing is to stake your claim on the Internet. Why the Internet you may be wondering? The Internet is where consumers gather to search, to buy and to share their experiences with other consumers. Web searchers are becoming more sophisticated everyday. Everyday, more and more people search the Internet to find and buy more and more. As we learn to search and find what we want on the Internet — when we want it — we respond less and less to offline media. Literally, billions of searches are conducted every singe month by eager buyers looking to purchase locally. More to the point, when was the last time you flipped through your yellow pages?

    Diversify Local Small Business Marketing

    The third secret of local small business marketing is to diversify your online promotional portfolio. Ten years ago, it was extraordinary simply to publish your online business card. Woo-hoo! You were on the Internet and everybody was so proud and excited and everybody told everybody that your business is on the Internet! Today, your online business card is a fossil. Nobody cares about your company, except you. What have you done for me lately?

    Promote your company on interactive social media sites like Facebook and YouTube. It’s no longer enough to trumpet your features and advantages to the world. As we learn to search and find what we want on the Internet we respond less and less to intrusive messages. I am a consumer and when I’m in the market for a new thing I will search for it. What’s in it for me? When I find your interesting product or service, I’m going to ask my online brothers and sisters about you. I’m going to check you out on LinkedIn; and then I’m going to do the same for your company. I’m likely to watch your and your competitors’s videos and read all of the articles I can find published online. How many fans Like your fan pages and Like your blog posts?

    Local Marketing Is Effective

    Are you still thinking like a small business? What if none of your employees showed up for work and your door never even opened? What if your nightmares came true and your business dried up and blew away? Inbound marketing anticipates eager buyers shopping for what you offer. Changing your marketing strategy can mean the difference between reaching new record sales highs or shutting down and filing for bankruptcy. Local small business marketing is effective online because it funnels eager buyers through your sales funnel in droves.

    Call Now
    Answer Local Small Business Marketing Question: 612-235-6060

    Call MDS Resource For Special Offer Now: 612-235-6060

  • Give Me Ninety Days And You Will Be Successfully Marketing Local Business Throughout The Twin Cities

    Marketing Local Business Has Changed
    Marketing Local Business Has Changed

    Marketing local business is not as simple today as it was in the past. A long time ago, it seems marketers promoted local business by putting ads in the yellow pages and buying ad space in the local newspaper. Business has gotten very hard in The Twin Cities. Eager buyers no longer look at the newspaper ads to shop for products and services. Today most consumers start by doing an Internet search before they buy. What will happen when you anticipate eager buyers shopping for what you offer? Knowing what they type into the search box, what’s keeping you from appearing everywhere they look?

    Marketing Local Business Online

    Take roofing for example. Drop by Google.com and search for the following:

    • twin cities roofing
    • minneapolis roofing
    • saint paul roofing

    As I write this, the search engine results pages all show one thing in common: that gorgeous map! Local business results are your key to marketing local business successfully.

    There are three sections to each Google search results page:

    1. Pay-per-click advertisements at the top and down the right side;
    2. Local business results and that gorgeous map above the fold; and
    3. Organic or natural search results everywhere else.

    So, each roofing company has at least three (3) chances to show on each page. And, take note, this is only Google! We’re not looking at Yahoo!, Bing, Facebook or any other search results. Is Your Website Marketing Local Business?

    Consider your own company website. You may have paid big bucks to publish your online business card — did you? Did you pay for pretty? Or, did you intend to pay to produce more customers? How many new customers did you get last month because of your pretty website? What is your return on that investment?

    What about your website content? Is it relevant to your visitors? Is it compelling them to take action and buy from you once they’re on your pages? What would persuade you to buy from you? Are you calling them to action on each page? If you don’t ask them to call you, what do you expect them to do? Not calling you, not buying from you and going away may be exactly the message they’re getting from you.

    As a local business, what are you doing to make sure that eager local buyers know that you exist? How would you find your company if you didn’t know about it? Remember that cool map? Google will only place you in the local business results after they recognize that your business is local to that search. What is your service area? As a Minneapolis roofer, how interested are you in Duluth business? Or, business in Fort Lauderdale? The best marketing local business strategy pulls customers directly from your local community. Even if business thousands of miles away can be good, won’t local business be better?

    Marketing Local Business Has Changed

    Marketing local business online is not that different from marketing offline. Eager buyers want to taste, hear, smell and feel your products and services. Give them a great reason to walk through your front door and they’ll come to check you out. There are rating and review sites providing places for your customers to express their feelings about your business. Claim your business listing on social rating and review sites like Google Places, MerchantCircle, Yelp, Angie’s List, etc. With half a reason to stand up in public and tell the world about your remarkable work, many customers will do just that.

    How much of that do you want?

    Community involvement will certainly build your brand quickly. The more your neighbors talk about your business, the sooner marketing local business brings them to you. Marketing local business is different today than in the past. Today most consumers start by doing an Internet search before they buy. Anticipate eager buyers shopping for what you offer and, of a sudden, everywhere they look you are there. In fact, marketing local business online is different: it is effective.

    Marketing Local Business 90 Day Challenge

    Give me ninety days and you will be successfully marketing local business throughout the Twin Cities.

  • Who Else Wants Targeted Sales Leads? Targeted Sales Leads Can Only Result In Better Customers

    Targeted Sales Leads Result In Better Customers
    Targeted Sales Leads Result In Better Customers

    Are Targeted Sales Leads A Secret?

    I ignored telling my buddies about this, thinking that they’re already aware, until one day one of my buddies approached me and asked, “How can I increase my sales?” I was stunned. You should have seen my eyes when I heard her question because I always thought every business owner knows that the best way to increase sales is to get in front of eager buyers. I’d so much rather be in front of an eager buyer shopping for what I offer than tire kickers or garage salers. Targeted sales leads are the best gauge of eager buyers I know.

    Of course, whenever I generate targeted prospects, I invariably get better customers and better deals at close. You know what I mean … people ready to buy anything you’re selling. During economic crisis, businesses begin the crunch and spiral, too, into financial crisis — even the doctors and lawyers. While most of the successful entrepreneurs that I know are walking away with fat envelopes day after day, they’re all reporting increased sales. How can this be?

    Whether you’re a doctor, carpenter, mover, salon manager or whatever business you own online or off, this is not a secret — sales leads are your life blood. The secret is not that you need targeted sales leads; rather, how are you going to target the sales leads you seek? The only secret is finding out the simplest and fastest way to target leads for your business. Even better, find an affordable way to keep your best prospects lining up at your door waiting to be sold!

    Targeted Sales Leads Make A Beeline

    Imagine inbound marketing is you putting out the honey trap, a special honey appealing only to eager buyers shopping for what you offer, and everywhere they look they see your honey. Is it any wonder that they make a beeline to you? Can you imagine any better customer than those that call you up and ask, “I’ve tasted your honey. Tell me more. What can you do for me?”

    I guess I’m one of those successful entrepreneurs. Expert coach and successful businessman for over 10 years now, I figured out 7 years ago how to continuously generate solid buying leads for any kind of business. Right now, I’m working with several local business owners to increase their sales and improve their business by creating a neverending stream of targeted sales leads. And, on top of that, thanks to the Internet and inbound marketing, all of this fits within business budgets that most are already spending:

    • What’s your return on yellow pages investments?
    • How many new customers did you get from your last newspaper ad?
    • What percentage of your website visitors actually paid you money?

    Better ROI Than Targeted Sales Leads?

    I help business owners who are disturbed about poor return on advertising investments. May I ask you a question? I talk with a lot of business owners. Lately, the two biggest problems I’ve been hearing are too few targeted leads and how to achieve serious business growth in 2011. Do either of these ring true with you?

    Why waste sales time on those who are not likely to buy from you? Yea, sure, you’re persuasive and sometimes you close an unwitting prospect. Be truthful, how good a customer has she been? Optimize your conversion rate with cheap targeted sales leads and appreciate how good customers benefit your business.

  • Give Me Local Small Business Marketing And I’ll Whip My Dreams Into Profitable Business Over Night

    Dream Local Small Business Marketing Profits
    Dream Local Small Business Marketing Profits

    If local small business marketing is unfamiliar to you, look at it this way. The target of every business is to get the word out to the maximum number of people to maximize marketplace exposure. In business, market exposure correlates with sales.

    Go Online With Local Small Business Marketing

    Today in our cyber era, having an effective online presence is of utmost importance. As people spend more and more time in front of the computer, chances are better and better that they will search online for the products and services that they will buy. The Internet allows small business owners to display your expertise directly to eager buyers. Unlike traditional media like billboards, television advertising and Yellow Pages, with online media local small business marketing no longer requires huge amounts of money.

    Local Small Business Marketing Is Affordable

    It’s true! There are some really cool ways to promote your local business, many of which are free, to attract the targeted leads you desire. Here are some of the methods:

    • Create web pages that feature keywords specific to your particular products and services. What do we mean by “keyword?” Anticipate what eager buyers type into the search engine box before they click [Search]. Savvy buyers are getting savvier. With local small business marketing you want to attract local customers.
    • Make sure to choose terms that people will look for to find local products and services. For example, if you own a Detroit furniture business, you don’t want to target phrase “furniture.” It’s too generic. Google it yourself and see 257 MILLION web pages containing that word. Instead, Detroit buyers will type the phrase “detroit office furniture” and search. Now I find 700 thousand competitive web pages and also that local map featuring local furniture merchants.
    • Build a blog and they will come. Your blog is the ideal way to tell your story and interact with an interested audience. You know? I know you’re great telling your story and persuading prospects sitting across the table from you. Write each blog post that way, as if you’re eyeball-to-eyeball with the largest possible audience. And they will hear your story today, tomorrow and next year — when they’re ready to hear it. Once you’re done writing your post, bookmark it in social book marking sites like Digg.com and StumbleUpon.com to promote even more traffic.
    • Last but not least, don’t forget a Facebook fan page. Now that Facebook is the third largest country in the world (China, India, Facebook, United States …) your Fan page facilitates keeping up with your customers regardless where they are. Local small business marketing benefits from Facebook patrons Like-ing your page and telling the world how great you are. Local patrons frequenting Facebook are more likely to pay attention to your local business when privy to your popularity. Additionally, Facebook facilitates instant communication with your audience whenever you do something noteworthy, like a special event or a special promotion.

    Dream Big With Local Small Business Marketing

    As local business marketing becomes easier and more familiar to you, eager buyers will notice. To maximize marketplace exposure your local business must be found. In business, market exposure correlates with sales. What do you have to lose by dreaming big and making local small business marketing an overnight sensation?

  • Millions Now Attract New Sales Leads That Instantly Convert Into High Quality And Repeat Business

    New Sales Leads Convert Into Repeat Business
    New Sales Leads Convert Into Repeat Business

    Why are new sales leads getting to be increasingly rare for so many businesses in America today? If you have a small to medium sized business, don’t you know exactly what I mean? Its not that you’re doing anything wrong to complain that new sales leads are getting harder and harder to find. It’s partly the economic situation that we find ourselves immersed in.

    New Sales Leads Succeed

    We’re all suffering in similar ways. Everyday you open up the news paper, turn on the radio and TV only to find that yet another company has gone bust. There is no doubt that this global recession has really taken its toll on small business. If you were to ask them, most business owners would tell you that the one thing that they long for right now is a reliable source of new sales leads that convert into high quality repeat business. This source of new sales leads would make the difference between thriving and going under.

    Many businesses are failing today. Yet some small businesses are surviving, even growing, in the middle of our current financial crisis. The difference is new sales leads and today great leads are found online. The Internet is a goldmine for new sales leads. No matter whether you are looking for local, national or international leads, look for sales leads online.

    New Sales Leads Are Online

    Almost every American has access to the Internet these days — whether it be online through a standard computer or through their cell phone. The Internet will soon be the only method anyone in the US uses to find business products and services. In order to secure for your business new sales leads that convert into repeat business, you need to learn how to use the Internet for effective marketing purposes. Failure to utilize the Internet in this way will result in losing out on all of those new sales leads your business so badly need.

    The bottom line is that all of those customers are still out here. They’re everywhere. They’re just not thumbing through Yellow Pages, not answering telemarketing calls and not responding to newspaper ads. Eager buyers are shopping on the Internet for what you offer. If they don’t find you, they will buy elsewhere.

    Eager Buyers Are New Sales Leads

    Consumers are using different sources to find the products and services that they need. Anticipate your buyers, where they shop, what they type into search engines, which websites and social media they frequent — anticipate eager buyers and everywhere they look you will be there. Once you position your business directly in front of all of your best customers you are found. Otherwise, you’re going to continue to hemorrhage customers and revenue and success.

    New Sales Leads Will Buy From Somebody

    Remember, too, that these eager buyers searching online for the products and services that they need will find businesses with which to consummate business. The question is, Are you happy allowing your competition to profit from your new sales leads? Your best customers are having their needs met. Every day you are not marketing yourself online, you are losing out on the opportunity to convert these leads to your customers. In effect, you are allowing your competition to grow.

    New sales leads are the seeds of serious business growth.

  • Are You Pitifully Marketing Local Business? Lessons To Turnaround Local Business Marketing

    Marketing Local Business Turnaround Lessons
    Marketing Local Business Turnaround Lessons

    Marketing Local Business Effectively Succeeds

    All small businesses catering to the real world ought to get started by focusing within a local area on a small niche market. There is a continuous demand around the world for effective strategies for marketing local business to the community. Regardless of this large number of businesses searching for ways to market within their local area, most end up failing. Why is this happening? How is it that so many well intentioned business people fail marketing their local business?

    Are these indications that local business marketing is not effective? Is it because business people, although qualified professionals, are not capable of carrying out local marketing tasks successfully? Local marketing is really about establishing your business presence within a specific area, getting eager buyers shopping for what you offer to recognize and respect your brand. Traditionally, there have been numerous ways to market locally, such as radio and TV advertising, telemarketing and print advertising including magazines, newspapers and Yellow Pages. With the advent of the Internet, however, traditional marketing is waning in effectiveness because consumers no longer respond to intrusive advertising.

    Even though all of these methods continue to be effective to a smaller degree, we have found it much more affordable and effective to advertise our local business online. Marketing local business online is a broad topic comprised of different strategies. Yes, everybody today has a website. Regardless how pretty your website looks, the true tests of effectiveness are the number and quality of the leads your website produces. How many eager buyers shopping for what you offer contacted you last month because of your website?

    Start Marketing Local Business To Nurture Prospects

    For starters, not every visitor to your website is immediately prepared to buy. Email marketing targeted at local businesses is a good way for people to continue learning about your business. Social media marketing is also powerful at promoting your brand in your community. Individuals more closely relate to businesses within their community than from dissimilar geographical locations. Additionally, we are a very visual culture and video is a fantastic way to tell your local business story to a local audience. Becoming familiar with these facts helps you to take advantage of and use the strength of marketing local business online.

    Search engine marketing is also readily directed at specific geographic areas and regions. Considering the simplicity of this strategy, in addition to effectiveness and affordability, it is the first I recommend that you consider implementing these days. Pay-Per-Click advertising is also readily directed geographically, but due to cost you need to allocate additional marketing budget. Last but not least, increase your website traffic with effective search engine optimization and basic back-linking techniques. SEO is really about publishing the rich, relevant and rewarding content search engine users seek. Back links are testimonials elsewhere on the Internet endorsing your local business by putting a link to your website on their website.

    Many people question the effectiveness of search engine optimization for local business marketing. Basically, anticipating the key words and phrases that eager buyers type into the search engines allows you to be found wherever they look. Google facilitates this through Local Business Results and Google Places. Yahoo! and Bing are also eager to provide local business results because all search engines recognize that millions of eager buyers are searching to buy locally.

    Marketing Local Business Speaks To Your Community

    Marketing your local business is essential if you want any new business from your community. When you fully understand and implement some of these techniques, then your local business will profit from local customers. Every business is different and one size never fits all. Try these techniques marketing local business online and determine which combination best profits your business. Besides that, understanding the strategies and options available enable you to plan effective local marketing that best benefits your local business.

  • Are You Afraid Of Closing Targeted Sales Leads? Why Don’t You Have More Targeted Sales Leads?

    Do You Want More Targeted Sales Leads?
    Do You Want More Targeted Sales Leads?

    Targeted Sales Leads Are Eager Buyers

    Today the Internet is an excellent resource that you should use to facilitate operating any small and medium size business. As you know consumers have numerous choices when they are shopping online. Need proof? Go to Google.com, type “plumber” in the box and click Search. Right now, at the top of the results on my computer, Google tells me that there are 11,200,000 pages on the Internet about the word plumber.

    How do you expect eager buyers shopping for what you offer to find you, to contact you and to buy from you? Out of all those web pages, only one can be ranked number one. Only a small number of links can exist on that first search results page, including organic, paid and local business results.

    Effective online marketing results identify targeted sales leads and direct them to your website. Why do you care about the mother looking for Pampers if you’re selling cars? When you don’t know how this works it can end up costing a lot of money and time. How much can you afford?

    Continue reading for some tips about how to improve your return on advertising investment. When your sales funnel is full of targeted sales leads you’ll be working full time closing deals with buyers eager to do business with you.

    Targeted Sales Leads Cannot Be Bought

    Never buy sales leads. There is no way to guarantee that a sales leads list is fresh nor how interested they are in your products. Having bought something similar in the past is no gauge of current interest.

    The Internet has certainly changed the way we consume. One thing is certain: when we are eager and preparing to buy, the Internet provides us with a plethora of research information about what we seek to buy. Would you rather try to coax people to buy from you, or stand in front of those seeking to buy what you sell?

    Establish a schedule and know your place in the sales cycle. Especially if you’re a sole proprietor, time is of the essence. Wearing too many hats (e.g., marketer, salesman, manufacturer and accountant) is the surest way to get nothing profitable done.

    Therefore, set sales objectives and schedule time and resources to achieve them. Where are you most effective in your sales cycle? If you plan to search online daily to find potential sales leads, does it make sense that the chief executive does this? Perhaps, you ought to hire a part time worker to get this done.

    Search For Targeted Sales Leads

    Search for targeted sales leads in your niche market. Everybody is an authority in something. Isn’t that why you’re in the business you’re in? Your business sells a specific product or specific service. Identify the one or two key buyer personae for each product and service.

    Who are they? Why do they want your product? Why do they need your service? What is their specific problem? What do you offer that will benefit them?

    Once identified, anticipate where they are and how they will seek you out when they’re eager to buy. Be found there where they’re looking. Ask them to call you, come in your front door or request further information online. Just imagine how easy it will be for them to ask for your help. How easy will that be to earn your profit?

    Convert Targeted Sales Leads To Great Customers

    Think about purchasing a software application to keep track of your sales cycle. Think about Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software as a dutiful assistant whose sole job is to prompt you every step of the way to converting targeted sales leads into satisfied customers. Once your online marketing is filling your sales funnel, you cannot afford to let any slippery leads get away.

    Yes, you have to research online to find your target market. CRM software can simplify and reduce this work. The key to getting a great start is know who are already your very best customers. Which of your customers, if you had ten more just like them, would seat you in the lap of luxury for the foreseeable future? Why don’t you have ten more just like that one? What are you afraid of?

    Don’t Fear Targeted Sales Leads

    Don’t be afraid to talk to you best customers. Ask them, Why did you buy from us? Why do you come back to us and buy more? Answers to these questions will put flesh on the bones of your buyer personae skeletons you sketched earlier. Once you understand who benefits most buying from you, anticipate where they are and where they will shop when they’re eager to buy.

    Be there. Be found. Prosper!

  • How Local Small Business Marketing Drove My Sales Through The Roof In The Dreariest Of Economies

    Local Small Business Marketing Drives Sales
    Local Small Business Marketing Drives Sales

    Is Local Small Business Marketing Right For You?

    The Internet has changed the way that the world does business. It really has changed everything. People no longer stop what they are doing to reach for the Yellow Pages when they need a service or product. They reach for their computer and this has changed everything.

    Has Local Small Business Slowed?

    Where once you might have succeeded advertising your local business in the local newspaper, now you need to get your business online with local small business marketing My business targets my local community — most of my customers come from a five mile radius. Year on year it’s been getting harder and harder to hit my sales targets. It seems like each year there are fewer good customers out there. Can you relate to my story?

    The reason for my struggles is likely the same as your struggles — I was not making the most of marketing my local small business online. It’s less about traditional offline media and all about the Internet now. How has the Internet has transformed local small business marketing? That is where eager buyers are looking for my products and services.

    Local Small Business Marketing Is On The Internet

    Since I started taking seriously what the Internet offers in terms of local small business marketing, my sales have literally shot through the roof. Where once I was struggling to make ends meet, now I’m struggling to cope with the avalanche of work I have coming in every single day — I need to add staff soon. There is no doubt in my mind that the Internet and its facility to put my local small business directly in front of eager buyers has changed my local small business for the better forever!

    Marketing To Local Buyers Grows Small Business

    I was taken completely by surprise that my business keeps growing, even throughout these current economic challenges. Not even this global recession has stopped my business from growing. My success is undoubtedly our change from traditional marketing methods to local small business marketing online.

    Local Business Profits From Eager Local Buyers

    I know that it might seem counter intuitive to use the Internet to connect with customers who are perhaps just a few miles from your door; but, look at the facts: The Internet is everywhere — in our phones, in our ipads and ipods, in our computers and in our cars and TV’s. More than 80% of Americans use the Internet regularly and more than 1 billion people each month search to buy locally.

    Get Onboard Local Small Business Marketing

    This Internet thing has changed the game of business by moving the goal posts closer for local small business. If you have a local business and you want to grow profitably in 2011 and beyond, wake up to these changes and get onboard. Local small business marketing is what you need to do right now.