Marketing is undoubtedly among the most essential aspects of any small business venture. It is actually how businesses grow and how they continue to work toward profitable goals. However, marketing is also one of the most challenging areas for small business owners to manage. It is often difficult to figure out what type of marketing is needed and which is effective.
Keep It Simple With Online Marketing For Small Business
Small businesses might not know the best places to advertise or might not know which marketing agency to hire. For the most part, online marketing for small business is the ideal solution for most of these concerns. The strategies to carry out marketing online for small business are very simple to understand and are considerably more affordable to use compared with traditional marketing campaigns, such as newspaper ads and Yellow Pages spreads. If you think about how ineffective traditional marketing with wide-ranging strategies is today, you will realize that the amount of money you have to spend on these campaigns is wasteful.
Online Marketing For Small Business Targets Best Customers
Just imagine that you purchase a commercial advertisement from your local television station in the course of their most popular programs. Suppose your product is geared toward the younger market, but the program is targeting all age groups. Even though you might make several product sales and some of your ideal individuals might pay attention to your advertisement, you probably will not generate sufficient interest and sales to cover your considerable advertising costs. The truth is, more often than not, you would have wasted your money.
One Alternative: Online Marketing For Small Business
Now, think about online marketing as an alternative. Your ad is published online in places frequented by interested individuals who want to see it and buy it. These people are trying to find the information that your advertisement provides, whether they are seeking a specific product, your service or more information. Now, because of the brilliance of online marketing, the market you are targeting will find your website because eager buyers are shopping for what you sell. This makes a huge difference, because rather than placing an advertisement in a single spot with the hope that someone will actually see it, your ad will be requested by eager buyers shopping online for what they want at the moment they want to buy it.
Remain Flexible With Online Marketing For Small Business
Online marketing for small business directs customers directly to your business. Done effectively you get considerably higher quality leads. Measurement of traffic quantity and quality allows you to determine how effective each ad is. In addition, in contrast to traditional marketing, online advertising empowers you to easily make changes to your campaign even while it continues to run. Have you ever attempted to do this with traditional marketing promotions? Can you change your Yellow Pages spread once printed? Can you change your TV commercial after production? Traditional advertisements created by traditional marketing agencies could easily bankrupt your business if you insist on changes that are carried out effortlessly everyday online. Flexibility is key to online marketing for small business.
In case you have just become a business owner, you should know that it is vitally important to find the best opportunities available for marketing local business. Doing all that it takes to get and keep consumers interested in spending money to benefit from your service will be your key to generate a lucrative profit.
Marketing Local Business Appeals To Eager Buyers
Local advertising campaigns have proven to be crucial for every business, whether you are a professional doctor or lawyer with some years in your field, or a roofing contractor starting out. It is always best to advertise locally even if your business is already established, because local buyers will be the first to invest their money in your products and services. Marketing local business is the best way to appeal to buyers in your neighborhood and for you to cultivate a successful business.
In many cases this exposure can expand from local to international with simple, positive word of mouth reviews. By using a marketing strategy that leverages testimonials, this will enable your business to thrive. When you are prepared with the best way to market your local business, you will not spend an enormous sum of money — not even in the beginning.
Marketing Local Business Requires Expertise
The most effective way to market local business and boost revenue is to enlist the expertise of a local marketing company. Once the majority of your community knows about you and also what you have to offer, then you should move on to other effective advertising strategies. Advertisements in the local newspapers, tabloids and magazines in order attract more customers used to be the only way. Those traditional methods may not be as effective today. All of your advertising must prominently display your business logo. It is a major visual component to your brand and can be seen everywhere. Your logo can look great on signs and billboards in close proximity to your business.
Marketing Local Business Exceeds Expectations
After you capitalize on these basic marketing techniques and your profit looks good, then you can continue to the next phase. Going beyond the traditional approach of creating brochures, pamphlets, leaflets and flyers to be distributed all over your local area, continue promoting your local business wherever eager buyers are shopping for what you offer. At all times you want to ensure that you are using all advertising options to your advantage. Striving to make earnings exceed expectations, you will find nothing more essential than effective marketing. You will discover that this is one of the best decisions you will ever make for your business.
Marketing Local Business Fulfills Dreams
Now is really the time to get aggressive with local marketing. Ensure that your local business continues to grow to the level you desire. Dream big! Always remember that the opportunities for marketing local business were never this easy. The sky is the limit if you are serious about success and you keep your finger on the pulse of your best customers. Marketing local business brings results.
Connecting with others regardless of proximity is one of the strongest values Social Media brings to the table. My blog may be read in earnest around the world and I appreciate that. LinkedIn has brought business to table with people I’ve not met nor am I likely to meet (e.g., China, India.) Exchanging tweets across the universe is fun and rewarding. So, what is all of this hoopla about Location Based Social Media?
That being said, I do in fact live here, in this specific place, and not only to I reside here, but I shop here, I eat here and I come face-to-face with hundreds of people every week — right here in Minneapolis, MN USA. Most businesses I see do not benefit from ecommerce and shopping carts. Somebody in Afghanistan on the Internet can go to target.com and order a 4-slice toaster; Target will do the currency exchange and ship the toaster to them the next day — everybody wins. On the other hand, my dentist in Plymouth, MN is not likely to benefit from that Afghani shopper. My dentist has a service area outside of which he’s not likely to profit.
Location Based Social Media are the darlings of 2010. New social media platforms, known as Location Based Services, add a contextual layer of movement and proximity to our relationships online and offline. Location Based Services are smartphone applications utilizing GPS to provide information and social networking relevant to our current location. Location Based Social Media are our interfaces to these applications. We are exploring our community online, tracking our friends whereabouts, recent activities, opinions and we shout out to our world where we are and how we want to be found.
What does Location Based Social Media mean to you? ABI Research estimates, “By 2014 global LBS revenues will have surpassed $14 billion.” The more detailed information we have on prospect behavior patterns and social context, the better we find something truly valuable to offer them. We can also provide more specific, directed information based on the location of our best audiences. Location Based Social Media is particularly valuable for brick and mortar store front business who need to drive local traffic to their store, and for anyone promoting an event at a physical venue.
Social Check-in sites enable users to access information about businesses in the local area. At the same time, Social check-in sites encourage users to develop location based relationships with other users, with their other social networks and with local businesses.
Offer incentives to users to check-in and frequent your establishment. Compelling offers bring new customers to your location and build loyalty with your existing customers. Encourage users to check-in on any and all Location Based Social Media. Honor incentives you offer across any Location Based Social Media a user may use.
Listen to your guests! Review sentiment. Comment on posts. Acknowledge Testimonials and Referrals. Most Location Based Social Media have Facebook and Twitter connections that allow your guests to promote your business to their entire social network.
Some Location Based Social Media have search options facilitating keyword and brand term searches. Look for opportunities to promote special offers to users checking in to a nearby locations. Some Location Based Social Media have advertising platforms that enables marketers to purchase advertisements based either on category or location.
Social Review Sites
Social Review sites encourage users to publish online reviews, referrals and Testimonials based on their experiences at restaurants, hotels, shops and wherever you and your business are found in Location Based Social Media. Quality scores can be assigned to each comment based on this user-generated content.
Not all Social Review sites are Location Based Social Media.
Social Review sites are critical for brick-and-mortar business — do not skip your strategy here. Utilize Social Review sites for the free market research they offer — make the changes your customers ask for as appropriate.
Social Review sites enable businesses to publish local business content. Many Social Review sites facilitate offering coupons and discount offers to loyal customers.
Make absolutely certain that your guests remember that you exist on Social Review sites. Ask them for their Testimonial. Acknowledge customers that take time to post the positive reviews. Respond to your negative reviews with tact and consummate professionalism.
Local businesses need to listen closely to what their customers say about you, and respond to their suggestions and complaints.
There is no more effective marketing than Testimonials. Every review, every referral, every comment is a Testimonial to the quality of your business. The more positive Testimonials you accumulate, the greater your authority and credibility in your community.
In real life you cannot please everybody. Everybody cannot be your best customer. Some customers cannot be satisfied. The minority negative review is real life. Occasional dissatisfaction is more believable than saccharin drivel, and builds your online personality.
Social Scheduling Sites
Social Scheduling sites facilitate sharing your “social calendar” with your social networks. Individuals can find out about upcoming events. Networks of people can plan anything from birthday parties to movie dates.
Rather than publishing to the world where you are at at this moment, Social Scheduling sites facilitate sharing where you will be. Like a public calendar, you publish where you’re going, which events you will attend and with whom you are going.
Social Scheduling sites often include comment and review functionality. Other users comment, share information, and they can publish their own intent with a “count-me-in” button.
Social Scheduling sites can facilitate keyword searching, so customers and Location Based Social Media can find out about your events. Any marketing involving conferences, meetups, parties, or other get-togethers will benefit.
Conclusions About Location Based Social Media
Carefully examine the list of Location Based Social Media. Explore the pros and cons. Determine which platforms will best help you communicate with your customers. Marketing Local Business Online demands that you go where your customers are. Be found everywhere they are looking for you.
Listen carefully and learn from your guests. Self-reporting your location has a value in itself. Declaring your current location is more than just a piece of information — your intention is behind it. Suppose you’re in a bar and the name of the place is broadcast to your colleagues. That’s both a statement about where you are and an invitation to others. They can infer about your availability or your willingness to interact socially.
Engage with your guests — communicate — bring something of value to the conversation.
Remember that Location Based Social Media is very new. You are marketing to early adopters with voyeuristic tendencies and enormous digital mouths.
Be genuine. Engage your guests with open arms, a big smile and kind words. Offer them the right incentives at the right time. Your Location Based Social Media community will become your most loyal customers and loudest evangelists. Location Based Social Media is where we’re at.
Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor, Your Huddled Masses Of Excuses …
Truth be told, all of the excuses listed below I have used myself. Yes, I’m as guilty — perhaps, more guilty because of my vocation — of irregular blog writing as many of you dear readers perusing this post. Writing my Blog is Social Media. For my Blog to be found I must publish. Search Engine Marketing assumes that my online marketing words can be found; therefore, blog writing is essential to my business success.
Knowing that it is human nature to avoid the unknown, those things in life and business that we do not understand, I, too, have procrastinated and equivocated. Today, Labor Day here in the USA, I want to take a few precious minutes to explore the very best, World Class excuses for not sitting down once or twice each week and scribbling to the world why, O why, are we in business?
Without Further Ado, Here Is My Top Ten List Of Blog Writing Excuses:
I don’t have anything to say.
Really? How do you sell anything? What do you want to say to your Best Customer when she’s sitting eyeball-to-eyeball with you? I know that you are passionate about what you offer; and I know that you will have a great deal to say to every eager Prospect ready to buy what you do best. Suppose you said some of this online. Furthermore, suppose somebody new reads your online words. Is it beyond reason that some of them will be influenced by your words, and ask to buy from you? Blog writing is nurturing your relationship with your marketplace.
Nobody wants to read my blog.
Rest assured, everybody is an authority in something — even you. Regardless online or offline, marketing your business requires you to build a relationship with each Prospect, nurture those relationships, and to service those relationships throughout your business life. Every relationship begins with a single conversation. Some will listen, some are not interested — that is the way of business. When you speak to a larger audience, what happens to the number of your listeners? What larger audience opportunity do you have than blog writing?
I don’t like to write.
Do you like to write sales orders? Will you write a proposal for me? How do you feel when you endorse a check? Writing is an extension of what you have to say. When you are comfortable with speaking with great Prospects, the words drip easily from your tongue. Record your best sales presentation. Listen to yourself. How does that story you tell your Customers affect you? Put it down in writing a few hundred words at a time. Tell your story. Your Customers love your story and they’ll read your blog writing.
I don’t have time to write a blog.
OK — time is of the essence. Do you have time to write orders? Do you have time to cash checks? If you find a simple method of attracting eager buyers who come to you to buy what you offer — will you find time to sell to them? Would you rather cold call or be found? I’m betting that when you sharpen your sales tools by honing the persuasive story you tell … I’m betting that blog writing will be well worth your time.
My industry/company does not allow self promotion.
Actually, this can be one of the most challenging hurdles. For example, Financial Services professionals are subject to stringent regulations from the SEC and FINRA, and their broker/dealers and compliance departments may choose to restrict rather than interpret rules. Nonetheless, I find no shortage of commercials advertising one Financial Services provider over another. Find a way to express your personality, your trustworthiness apart from your limited business persona. When was the last time you bought from somebody you didn’t like? Blog writing is telling your story.
I’m afraid I’ll lose my privacy.
Yes, it’s true. Those words you publish online are likely to live forever — and I do mean longer than your human life. You are a professional, and I’m asking you to keep professionalism in mind while writing your blog. Professionalism with personality … this is what makes your business better. This online universe is forcing us to be better businesses. Step up and be the personality for your business. Make your Customers so excited about you that they advocate for you in public, too!
My customers don’t read blogs.
Really? Are you willing to bet your business on this assumption? Yes, it’s true, some people aren’t online often or ever. However, it’s very easy to demonstrate that millions of people are searching online for what your business offers. Google measures over One Billion online searches each month for products and services that the searchers can find locally. When was the last time you sold to a prospect from the Yellow Pages? One person reading your blog might tell ten people about you — but, only after your blog writing …
My business cannot benefit from a blog.
Are you sure? If you want to be successful in this Online Age, you must step up and be a thought leader. The easier it is for Prospects to choose among competitors the better those competitors have to get to keep playing. Practice makes perfect — we’ve been told this forever. Your Blog is a tool. Blogging gives voice to the marketer inside of you. The more stories you tell, the better and more persuasive they become. Your blog writing shall become an influential book about you and your business.
I’m afraid of bad blog comments.
Blog writing is a subset of Social Media, which, by definition, is social and public. Blogs are most effective as discussions. When readers actively participate, you have engendered a conversation — so much more than a one dimensional monologue. As in real life, you will disagree with some, and some will disagree with you. Focus more on gathering Testimonials, and less on trading widgets and widget services for money, utilizing widgets and widget services as a means to Testimonials. Won’t business be more fulfilling and everybody win?
Blogging Return On Investment is too low.
Granted, measuring Blogging ROI is problematic. Measurement is your salvation. If you do not measure, how can you calculate ROI? If you do not know your ROI, how can you evaluate the value proposition? In this online universe, eager Prospects are already searching for what you offer. If they don’t find you, they will buy from somebody else. When you place your story everywhere they are looking for you, qualified Prospects will come to you. What will it take for you to be found everywhere they are looking for you? Writing your blog ensures your visibility.
Whether you agree with items in this list — or you find this all hogwash — I implore you to comment below. Tell us what you do — or don’t — get from blog writing. We want to understand what it is about blogging that does not work for you or your business. Furthermore, we want you to understand what you do not understand. Share with us — we will listen.
… Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!
Inbound marketing is the surest and simplest means to filling your sales funnel. Marketing local business online works precisely because it puts local business directly in front of eager buyers. A full sales funnel keeps you busy — profitably busy.
Thirty (30) years ago, we had to be told when a new widget or widget service was available. We blithely went about our daily lives mostly unaware of great new things to come. Inbound marketing wasn’t an option, because consumers had woefully less information easily available to them.
Newspapers, billboards, commercials, telemarketers … they intruded into our lives, then we knew what was available for purchase. We allowed these intrusions because, without them, we remained unaware how honest they had been with us. Many companies took advantage of us in many ways, telling us no more than they wanted us to know.
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. Tivo is popular, especially allowing us to skip those commercials. Caller ID is ubiquitous, allowing us to skip those telemarketers interrupting dinner. Have you checked out the Sunday Tribune Classifieds recently? I see fewer billboards, and read fewer still. When was the last time you flipped through the yellow pages?
Somebody’s Sales Funnel Is Full
Right this minute … Right here in the Twin Cities … Somebody is on the Internet searching for what you offer. If they don’t find you, they will buy from somebody else.
What will it take for you to be found everywhere they are looking for you? Google reports that billions of people every month are filling sales funnels. How many are in your sales funnel?
Admit it. You, too, tune out intrusive outbound marketing. You have at your fingertips the miracle of searching the Internet Universe for whatever you want, whenever you want it. How do you shop? Do you shop before you are ready to buy? Neither do your customers.
Like you, my 80 year old parents go to the Internet when they are curious. They search the Internet to see if what they imagine is available for purchase. When they find it — surprise! — they may also find that it is available for purchase scant miles away. Have you seen the map? The Local Business Results list local businesses immediately adjacent to that map, showing you exactly how to get to what you want to buy.
How Full Do You Want Your Sales Funnel?
What difference will it make in your life when new customers come to you and they ask to buy from your business? When your best customers shop exactly as you shop, they will search for what you offer, go to one of the businesses listed next to that map in the Local Business Results and buy what they want from a local business.
Would you rather cold call or be found?
Inbound marketing is putting your business directly in the line of fire. Learn your customers well, very well. Anticipate what your best customers type into Google and Bing, and you can place a link to your web page on the Search Engine results page that they will read. Marketing local business online requires you place your link right next to that map. Go to where your best customers are looking for you and your best customers will ask to buy from you.
“Permission marketing is the privilege (not the right) of delivering anticipated, personal and relevant messages to people who actually want to get them.”
Marketing Local Business online demands a rigorous understanding of how best to be found when people search the Internet for what you offer. To best understand HOW people search for what you offer, it is necessary to understand the tools they are using. As I write this, Web Search Engines stand head-and-shoulders above other search tools; and Google dominates all Search Engines with more than 80% Search Engine marketshare.
Before we can understand Search Engine Marketing (SEM,) we must have a working relationship with Search Engine mechanics. Effective Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is predicated on creating content that people want to find in a way that the Search Engines will notice and catalog and make readily findable by those hungry seekers.
What is a Search Engine?
A search engine is a tool used to find interesting information in a database. In recent times, such search tools are computerized. In its simplest form, the electronic card catalog at your public library is a search engine.
Although search engine is a general class of computer programs, the term is often used to specifically describe systems like Google, Yahoo! and Bing that enable users to search online media, the World Wide Web and Usenet newsgroups.
What is a Web Search Engine?
A Web Search Engine is designed to search for information on the World Wide Web. Web Search Engines work by storing information from billions of web pages, which they gather from the web page code.
Web page contents are gathered by a Web crawler, or spider — an automated Web browser that reads every line of code in every web page, and follows every link on each page. Contents of each page are analyzed to determine how to index it for later retrieval. The index allows information to be found quickly.
Three essential features of Search Engines are:
crawling,
indexing, and
searching.
Search Engines evolved from Internet Directories
Archie [1990], “archive” without the “v,” was the first tool searching the Internet. Archie downloaded directory listings, not contents, of all files located on public FTP sites.
Gopher [1991] combined document hierarchies with collections of services and gateways to other information systems.
W3Catalog [1993] was the first primitive Search Engine, periodically mirroring numerous specialized catalogues.
World Wide Web Wanderer [1993] was the first web robot and generated an index called ‘Wandex’.
Aliweb [1993] was manually notified by web site administrators of an index file at each site.
JumpStation [1993] used a web robot to find and index web pages, and used a web form interface as its query program.
WebCrawler [1994] allowed users to search for any word in any web page, which is now the Search Engine standard.
Lycos [1994] was one of the first Search Engines with a for-profit business model, followed closely by: Magellan, Excite, Infoseek, Inktomi, Northern Light and AltaVista.
Yahoo! [1994] founders David Filo and Jerry Yang, Ph.D. candidates at Stanford University, started their guide as a way to track their personal interests on the Internet.
Google [1996] began as a research project by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, at Stanford working on the Stanford Digital Library Project (SDLP). Google’s first funding was secured in August 1998 in the form of a $100,000 USD contribution given to a corporation which did not yet exist.
Microsoft [2004] began a transition to its own search technology, powered by its own web crawler (called msnbot). Microsoft’s rebranded search engine, Bing, was launched on June 1, 2009.
On July 29, 2009, Yahoo! and Microsoft finalized a deal in which Yahoo! Search would be powered by Microsoft Bing technology.
How do Search Engines make money?
In 1996, Netscape sought a single featured search engine for their innovative web browser. Five Search Engines paid $5 million each to be in a rotation on the Netscape search engine page: Yahoo!, Magellan, Lycos, Infoseek, and Excite. Today, most Search Engines are commercial ventures supported by advertising revenue.
Some Search Engines allow advertisers to pay money to have their listings ranked higher in search results.
Other Search Engines seek to categorize and prioritize web pages by measures of intrinsic value and make money by running search related ads alongside regular search engine results. Such Search Engines make money every time someone clicks on one of these ads (Pay-Per-Click.)
How do Search Engines differ from Directories?
Historically, Yahoo! was among the most popular ways for people to find web pages of interest, but it operated on its web directory, contents of which were submitted by web site administrators. Web directories are databases of human-compiled results, also known as human-powered search engines.
Unlike web directories maintained by human editors, Search Engines operate on algorithms, or are a mixture of algorithmic and human input. Search Engines automatically create web page listings by using spiders that “crawl” web pages, index their information, and follow each page’s links to other web pages.
Spiders return to previously crawled sites on a regular basis to update web page changes. Everything that these spiders gather is entered into the Search Engine database.
How do I use a Search Engine?
Major Search Engines include a simple dialog box into which you type a word or phrase, and a Search submit button to begin the search.
A Keyword is this word or phrase of words in this simplest sense.
Most Search Engines support using Boolean operators AND, OR and NOT to further refine search queries. Boolean searching on the Internet may manifest in three ways:
Full Boolean logic with the use of the logical operators (rare)
Implied Boolean logic with keyword searching (typed symbols)
Boolean logic using search form terminology (multiple form entries)
When a user submits a query, the Search Engine compares it to its index and returns a listing of web page information, usually with a short summary containing page title and part of its content. Some Search Engines support natural language queries that allow the user to type a question in the same form you would ask it of a human.
What is a Search Engine Result Page?
A Search Engine results page (SERP), is the listing of web pages returned by a search engine in response to a keyword query. The SERP typically lists web pages with titles, a link to the page, and a short description showing where the keywords have matched content within the page.
SERP’s of the major Search Engines may include different types of listings: contextual, algorithmic or organic search listings, sponsored listings (PPC,) images, maps, definitions, videos and suggested search refinements. Major Search Engines visually differentiate specific content types, such as images, news, blogs and sponsored links.
Each SERP also includes navigation to subsequent and/or previous SERP’s, possible search suggestions or refinements, suggested similar searches, and back to begin a new search.
How do Search Engines sequence results?
Initially, web site administrators manually submitted their web site information to be included in Web directories, often for a fee. Often as part of their business model, these “search engines” featured these sponsoring web sites according to the amount of fees collected.
By 2000, the Google Search Engine was gaining popularity among searchers because it achieved more relevant results with an innovation called PageRank. Google developed an algorithm to rank web pages based on the number, trust and authority of other web pages that link back to them. Google’s premise is that good and desirable web pages are linked back to more than less desirable web pages.
Now, major Search Engines operate similarly.
How each Search Engine decides which pages match best and in what order varies widely from one engine to another. The methods also change over time as Internet usage changes and new techniques evolve.
What is an algorithm?
An ‘algorithm’ is an effective method for solving a problem expressed as a finite sequence of instructions. Each algorithm is a list of well-defined instructions for completing a task. In computer science, a search algorithm is an algorithm for finding an item with specified properties among a collection of items.
There are also many algorithms designed specifically for retrieval in very large databases, such as bank account records, electronic documents, product catalogs, fingerprint and image databases, and so on.
Each Search Engine uses a proprietary algorithm to index and return only meaningful results for each search query. The index is built from the information stored with the data and the method by which the information is indexed.
While millions of web pages may include a particular keyword, some pages are more relevant, popular, and authoritative than others. Search Engine usefulness depends on the relevance of the results it returns on each search query.
Who are Search Engine customers?
Major Search Engine business models are for-profit.
Each SERP has a clearly defined topic and targeted theme. Money comes from paid advertisements strategically placed on each SERP. Each ad includes a Web link to the advertiser’s web page. Advertisers pay for these ads to attract people searching for particular keywords.
No search engine has control over the content of the universe of web pages. The better a Search Engine responds to each search, the more money that Search Engine is likely to make.
These Web searchers are becoming more sophisticated everyday. Everyday, more and more people search the Internet to find and buy more and more.
It stands to reason that Search Engines will continuously hone their search algorithms to continuously improve profitability.
What is a Search Engine? Perhaps, it is the key to your Local Business prosperity …
It’s no longer enough to sit back and wait for new customers to come to your Local Business. Fact is, in these times, your customers are more sophisticated than ever. Barraged with thousands of Buy-Me messages everyday, they are determined to find for themselves true value. They are not waiting around for your message; but, they are seeking what they want to buy on the Internet.
Therefore, Marketing Local Business online is your new imperative. Now that you understand Search Engines, how they work and who uses them for what, it is time for you to seize the day. Use the Search Engines to market your Local Business. Put yourself in front of your customers. Take the initiative.
Be found!
Eager customers are looking for you in the Search Engine …
“… a Marketing Relationship is a specific conversation between Business and a market. Therefore, Internet and Online Marketing are relationships between Business and customers and prospects that take place in the New Media of today, and New Media of the future.”
How have new customers found you in recent months?
Today, people find out about your Local Business in two main ways:
Word-of-Mouth depends on the good will of existing customers. How would you like people publishing Word-of-Mouth recommendations online? Why not spend zero dollars marketing your Local Business?
What is Outbound Marketing?
In traditional outbound marketing companies focus on finding customers through:
Building brand awareness,
Advertising, and
Promotion
Outbound Marketing includes:
Focus on your product / service (advertising & promotions),
Focus on your transaction (sales),
Focus on your business (public & media relations),
Focus on your post-sales support (customer service), and
Focus on your customer after-the-fact (customer satisfaction)
Everyday, a typical consumer is overwhelmed with over 2000 outbound marketing interruptions!
They have become quite creative in blocking these interruptions, including:
Caller id,
Spam filtering,
Tivo, and
Satellite radio
Customers need to find a very good reason to visit your Local Business.
Marketing Local Business online is quite a challenge!
What is Permission Marketing?
Alternatives to intrusive and increasingly ineffective outbound marketing are based on what Seth Godin calls Permission Marketing:
“Permission marketing is the privilege (not the right) of delivering anticipated, personal and relevant messages to people who actually want to get them …”
“It realizes that treating people with respect is the best way to earn their attention.”
For the business to engage the prospect, the prospective customer must grant either:
Explicit Permission (e.g., request email or catalog), or
Implicit Permission (e.g., follow a search engine result link)
Furthermore, Godin says:
“In order to get permission, you make a promise. You say, ‘I will do x, y and z, I hope you will give me permission by listening.’ And then, this is the hard part, that’s all you do. You don’t assume you can do more.”
What is Inbound Marketing?
Google reports more than 1 Billion searches each month for local products and local services.
Fully qualified prospects are already looking for products and services in your industry. Inbound Marketing is when customers call you to:
Make appointments,
Purchase products, or
Gain information
When customers find you and like you, you can get business from them, from their friends and from their family.
“Home delivery is the milkman’s revenge… it’s the essence of permission,”
Godin says.
Online Marketing is starting to make more sense …
What comprises Inbound Marketing?
Rick Burnes suggested an intertwined relationship between three main components of Inbound Marketing:
Inbound Marketing Content
Content is the substance of Inbound Marketing.
Content is the information that attracts prospects to your Local Business.
Content includes the Call To Action that converts prospects into customers.
If people don’t know you exist, how are you going to do business?
SEO makes it possible for potential customers to find your content.
Marketing Local Business online must include both Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and SEO if you want your Local Business found.
Inbound Marketing Social Media
Social Media amplifies the impact of your content.
Widely distributed content will be discussed.
Socialized content taken seriously becomes authentic.
There is more trust when a person has a choice.
Social Media have two sides:
What you say about your business
What others say about your business
Why Inbound Marketing?
Inbound Marketing has high Value
Cost less than buying ads, PPC, mailing lists, print, etc.
Blogs and Twitter accounts are free to start
Higher Return on Investment (ROI)
Inbound Marketing is Effective
Targeting specific markets is easier
Prospects qualify themselves
Pre-sold customers search, find you and ask to buy
Inbound Marketing has great Timing
Prospects search for you
Searching prospects are considering a purchase now
Prospects considering a purchase are more receptive to your message
Godin remarks,
“One of the key drivers of permission marketing, in addition to the scarcity of attention, is the extraordinarily low cost of dripping to people who want to hear from you.”
What are Prerequisites to Inbound Marketing?
You need to do your homework and fully understand those looking to buy what your Local Business offers.
Your Market analysis includes:
What groups of customers exist? (markets)
Which customer groups do you prefer to serve? (target markets)
What do they need?
How do their needs change? (market trends)
How do they use these products and services?
What price are they willing to pay?
How do they want to receive what they buy? (distribution)
What do you offer that meets those needs?
Who are your competitors?
What are your competitors doing about your target market?
Exactly how are your customers searching for what you offer? It’s not enough to know how you describe your offering. What matters most are the exact words prospects use to search for it.
Simply make it easy for potential customers to find your Local Business.
“The Internet means you can treat different people differently, and it demands that you figure out how to let your permission base choose what they hear and in what format,”
instructs Godin.
How is Inbound Marketing Done?
Setup your web site to attract visitors naturally through:
Search Engines,
the Blogosphere, and
Social Media sites
Don’t forget your Call To Action to convert visitors once they arrive on your web page!
The Inbound Marketing process is straightforward:
You provide content of interest to people wanting to learn or know something.
You share similar content from other people who do the same.
Interested readers come to see you as an authority in your field.
When somebody considers a purchase related to your expertise, they will come to you.
Inbound Marketing is like Word-of-Mouth with people passing recommendations online.
Seth Godin sums it up like this:
“Real permission works like this: if you stop showing up, people complain, they ask where you went.”
Marketing Local Business Online Is Inbound Marketing
“Marketing is a system the sole purpose of which is to communicate with the marketplace.”
Marketing, then, is the social process by which individuals and groups obtain what they need and want through creating and exchanging products and value with others. The Marketing concept becomes a philosophy. It makes the customer, and the satisfaction of his or her needs, the focal point of all Business activities. It is founded on the belief that profitable sales and satisfactory returns on investment can only be achieved by identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer needs and desires.
Let’s look not only at identifying customer needs, but also to satisfying them and anticipating them in the future. The right product, in the right place, at the right time, at the right price …
In that same spirit, Internet Marketing is a relationship between Business and customers and prospects that takes place in Internet Media, such as Search Engines and Web Pages.
Furthermore, Online Marketing is a relationship between Business and customers and prospects that takes place in Online Media, including Email, Mobile Phones and Internet.
As you recall, a Marketing Relationship is a specific conversation between Business and a market.
Therefore, Internet and Online Marketing are relationships between Business and customers and prospects that take place in the New Media of today, and New Media of the future.
Internet and Online Marketing are relationships between Business and customers and prospects — the only difference between these relationships and other Marketing processes is the Medium!
What, then, is the Opportunity and the Potential offered by this unique Marketing Medium? Let’s compare and contrast:
If a Medium has a continuously shrinking Market, the potential for doing Business in that Medium approaches zero.
If a Medium has a continuously growing Market, the potential for doing Business in that Medium approaches infinity.
This, then, is the crux of everything we have to discuss in this and subsequent conversations.
If you want to grow your Local Business, you must participate in the largest and fastest growing Markets for what you offer.
If Business is not communicating with a continuously growing Market there can be no relationship with that Market and little or no Business comes from that Market.
What Relationships do you want with your Market?
Over 1 Billion Local Searches are performed every month on the Internet …
… if your Customers do not find you, from whom will they buy ???
The Internet is one of the largest and fastest growing markets in the known Universe. Ecommerce and multinational companies have created extraordinary fortunes based solely on Internet Marketing. Local Internet Marketing for small Business is quite a different animal, as we will discuss in subsequent conversations.
To learn more about Internet, Money and your Local Business browse our Web Site and see if our ideas work for you and your Local Business. Look for our further conversations and Brilliant Ideas About Internet and Money !!!
Marketing Local Business Online Is Internet Marketing
David Packard, co-founder of Hewlett-Packard, once remarked,
“Marketing is too important to be left to the marketing people.”
How can that be? What is so important about Marketing? Who are your Marketing people? What benefit do they provide your Local Business?
Peter Drucker, the father of Business Consulting, often admonished us,
“The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits him and sells itself.”
What do you have in your Local Business if you do not have customers?
If you do not have enough customers, what changes do you need to make in your Local Business?
Furthermore, after studying the most successful Businesses of all time, Peter Drucker observed The Purpose of Marketing:
“Because the purpose of business is to create a customer, the business enterprise has two — and only two — basic functions: marketing and innovation. Marketing and innovation produce results; all the rest are costs. Marketing is the distinguishing, unique function of the business.”
Marketing is a System the sole purpose of which is to communicate with the MarketPlace.
Marketing processes are specific conversations between Business and a Market.
Relationships start with a Single Conversation — Marketing Relationships are no different:
Every conversation is a relationship between Business and a distinct set of customers and prospects.
Every conversation takes place in a specific medium, whether print, radio, television or Internet.
What Relationships do you want with your Market?
What conversations have you started with your Local Business customers?
What conversations have you started with fully qualified prospects?
Will your best customers search for you? Or will they go to your competition?
Think about the conversation we started with you here a minute ago in this blog post. What about our message rings true with you and your Local Business?
To learn more about Internet, Money and your Local Business browse our Web Site and see if our ideas work for you and your Local Business. Look for our further conversations and Brilliant Ideas About Internet and Money !!!
Millions Now Find Local Business On The Internet Even Though The Yellow Pages Lie On A Shelf In The Closet
Is Your Local Business Getting Enough Phone Calls?
MDS Resource Is Marketing Local Business Online
What keeps you awake at night, indigestion boiling up your esophagus, eyes open, staring at the ceiling? What do you secretly, ardently most desire? Is your business growing to satisfy all of your Needs?
With the radical changes in the economy and people moving away from Yellow Pages, newspaper Ads and other old school advertising media, your customers are looking on the Internet for you. They search the Internet, and then they go down the street and buy what they want and need. If they don’t find your Local Business in their search, they are not buying from you. When are you going to be marketing your local business online?
Times have changed, indeed. The Internet is still new; but, it is everywhere, and it is not going away anytime soon. The Internet has transformed our world, shrunk the whole world into a computer you hold in your hand, heretofore known as a cell phone. If you don’t get your business in position to be seen on that small screen, your customers are going someplace else.
Marketing Local Business Online is what you need to do to be found.
If Your Local Business Is Found On The Internet, You Can Sell
WARNING: Your Customers Are Looking For You Online Right Now!
Perhaps, a few statistics will shed light on this mystery:
Over 1 Billion Local Searches performed every month — growing over 50% a year
80% American consumers are using the Internet [2009]
80% of people first search online before making a purchase
97% Internet users use the Internet to shop [NPD Group]
90% Internet searches result in offline brick & mortar purchases [Comscore]
82% Internet searches result in calls & contact with businesses [Comscore]
74% Internet users perform Local searches [Kelsey Group]
73% Internet searches are related to Local content [Google]
66% Internet users use Internet for Local searches [Comscore / TMP]
25% Internet searches have purely Local commercial focus [ Kelsey / Bizrate]
Pepsi, FedEx pass on 2010 Super Bowl Ads … shift Ad dollars to new marketing efforts mostly online.
Marketing Local Business Online Is A Brilliant Idea
What Are Your Customers Looking For?
Old school marketing is still King. Times have changed, and media change, too. None of us alive today remember the King’s herald announcing news from the official scroll. Some of us recall barkers calling out theater or carnival sideshow attractions to passers-by. Most of us have bought something from a newspaper advertisement, or called to order something prompted by a Yellow Page spread.
The Internet and computing devices are new media. Applying old school marketing principles to new media is a wise idea. That’s exactly what we are about to show you here. Marketing Local Business Online simply makes sense.
Can Your Customers Find Your Local Business On The Internet?
Local Business Search Results
Don’t worry — if you’re a Fortune Multi-National Conglomerate, you don’t need to appear in the Local Business Results.
One of the best kept Local Internet Marketing secrets is Google Places. Until your business is registered here, it cannot be found in the search results map. Google implemented this feature in early 2009, and it’s been evolving ever since. For those buying locally, however, this is the First thing most searchers see … and probably the First links on which they will click. Once here, not only are you at the Top of Page One — look at that Map! They now know where you are and how to Get To You …
If you’ve seen maps and GPS on cell phones, this is how your Local Business shows up on mobile devices. The Mobile Market is enormous and truly the Wave of the future. Marketing Local Business Online puts you on the Map.
Organic Search Results
Additionally, you need to be at the top of the normal, Organic Search Results, the traditional results area on the left, mostly below the Local Business Results. When your web page link is in the Top Six Organic Search Results — your Local Business has Another Clickable Link on this First Search Page.Multiple Clickable Links on the First Search Page increases your odds that your Customers will go to your Web Site … once there, we believe you can close them. This is the heart of Marketing Local Business Online.
Your Organic Search Results are a function of the Quality & Credibility of your Local Business presence on the Internet. You want all online roads leading back to you and your Web Site. There are virtually unlimited credible and respectable sources throughout the Internet, and from there nearly infinite routes back to your Local Business Web Site. Remember traditional Referrals and Testimonials from old school marketing? Referral Links back to your Web Pages from everywhere on the Internet are Testimonials to your Local Business relevance.
The Local Business with the Most Links Wins !!!
Content Search Results
Furthermore, your Online Content must also appear in the Top Search Results! All Content relevant to that search adds More Links back to your Local Business on the First Search Page. You and your Local Business are going to be viewed as the Top Authority on all matters regarding this Search. Google loves Rich, Relevant & Rewarding Online Content !!! If marketing is fundamentally the relationship between business and its marketplace; then, Marketing Local Business Online presents the opportunity to initiate conversations with your marketplace.
Online Videos (Youtube.com)
Online Press Releases (PRweb.com)
Online Articles (EzineArticles.com)
Social Content Sites (Squidoo.com)
Online Classifieds (Craigslist.org)
Online Business Directories (MerchantCircle.com)
Online Review Sites (Kudzu.com)
But, wait, there’s more!
Pay-Per-Click (PPC)
You want to be in the Pay-Per-Click and/or Sponsored Results up there in the top yellow box and down along the right side. Pay-Per-Click is Pay-As-You-Go — your Ad Only shows up when somebody searches for your specific Key Words. Your Ad is Only shown to your Best Customers who are searching specifically for what you have to offer. You set how much you are willing to pay, and you Only pay when somebody clicks on your Ad — the Fully Qualified Buyer.
So, the question is, how much is each Fully Qualified Customer on your web site worth to you ??? Marketing Local Business Online is your opportunity to decide.
Geo-Targeting Your Ads
Furthermore, you can also target your Ads to Local Customers in your area. By focusing on Local Customers, your Ad is Only seen locally. Locally seen Ads are more likely to attract Local Customers, are cheaper for you, and you do not compete with companies on the other side of the World.
For example, a consumer searches, “I need a plumber.” Google knows where the Local Plumbers are. When you Only show your Ad to people in your city for these “generic” keywords, you get cheaper clicks, targeted traffic and less competition. Do you see how Marketing Local Business Online differs from the yellow pages?
What If Your Web Pages Sit Atop The Search Engine Results?
What If You Are The #1 Authority Online?
Imagine what Marketing Local Business Online means for your Local Business! How many more customers do you want coming to you every single day? every single week? every single month?
What will it do for your Local Business when you have your Online Market Domination Plan in place?
If Marketing Local Business Online interests you … If you’re just a little bit curious … If your Local Business wants more telephone calls …
Contact Us Today! 612-235-6060
Make an Appointment for an Absolutely FREE and NO Obligation Consultation.
MDS Resource will review your Local Business and your current situation on the Internet. MDS Resource will work with you; we will work out a plan that Best meets your Needs. MDS Resource will light your way to Marketing Local Business Online.
If you have a Yellow Pages Ad, you are already Spending Marketing Money. What is your Return On That Investment ???
WARNING: Only A Few Will Qualify To Work With Us
Every Search Engine Result Page can present only the Most Relevant Web Pages that fit into the limited space on one page. Only an Elite Few Local Businesses can possibly be seen there. Marketing Local Business Online is simple today because you will leap ahead of your competition; and once in the lead, you need only hold the lead to win.
Do your own homework. Look for yourself. Do a search using keywords that your Best Customers will use to find your Local Business.
Which Local Businesses are on the First Search Page? How many Local Businesses are on the First Search Page? Is that your Biggest Competitor there in A. or B. in the Local Business Results? Are your Best Customers going to your Competitors because they find them — NOT YOU — in the search results?
As you see, nobody can possibly do a credible job placing more than six Local Businesses in your Market on Google Page One. Furthermore, when you consider our goal is to have Multiple Links to your Local Business on that same Google Page One, even fewer Local Businesses qualify for our representation.
Will your toughest Competitor come to us first? Do your Competitors want more customers? Are your Competitors marketing local business online.
Act Now! 612-235-6060 Call Today!
Marketing Local Business Online May Be Your Salvation
