Local Marketing

If you’re listed in the service directories offered online these days, it can be a very good thing. Google Local, for instance, is one of the smartest places to exist, and so are  MerchantCircle, Yelp, and Foursquare. If you don’t exist there, you should, but if you do…

Do you have a Web site? Or did you simply list your business with them and expect that to be your online appearance?

It is a common situation for local companies to list themselves with little more than an online opportunity for reviews. I see a big problem with that. For one thing, when searchers are looking for a residential service company or a local small business, they expect to learn more about them than basic contact info. It really puzzles me to see the companies that have little more than a company name, but it really drives me nuts to see that often they’re not linked to a Web site, and have no name associated with the contact number when it exists. Top that off with reviews that may not be favorable, and it flat out floors me.

Often some reviews aren’t even from customers familiar with the business.

What to do? Remember a few things when you decide to list your business:

• Connect your listing to your Web site. Test your link. We want to know more about you than your company name.
• If you work out of your home, use a mail center P.O. because it allows you to use their street address, protecting yours. (USPS only offers P.O. Box)
• Do make a contact name available. It’s the first step to an introduction, and friendly is good.
• Manage your reviews. If they are poor, address and correct them.
• If your reviews are favorable, thank the customer.

We’ll be going into more detail soon about the importance of a Web site connected to directory listings and other ways they benefit the customer. Meanwhile, the last bit of advice I’ll give you concerns reviews that are not legitimate or favorable. I can’t stress enough how important it is to request customer reviews, especially when the customer ecstatic. Have some things in place to make it easy for them to do so, like a one line request on the invoice or receipt of service, or post card mailings with the link to your directory listing, or even asking the customer if they would like to add their email address to your list for future specials. Make sure the first email is a customer service survey with an opportunity to comment. You can then post their comment in reviews. Honestly, there is no easier way for a customer to publicly brag about your service than an email link.

The more favorable comments you have posted to your reviews, the less impact a negative or illigitimate review will ultimately have. Consider negative reviews a way to connect to your customers and correct problems you don’t want to repeat.

Our affordable business Web sites and hosting platforms have tremendous flexibility, and combined with your years of expertise, may be just what you need to increase visibility.

Take a look at our Small Business Accelerator Packages and see for yourself how affordable the combination of good advice and necessary services can be for your company. Would your company benefit from better visibility? Can you afford to be invisible?

5 Ways to Work Smarter

Ever feel like this? As a business woman, I admit that I sometimes do. Every once and a while I get the feeling that I’m surrounded by perfectly running businesses and I’m just not keeping up like I should. Times like that make me want to spin on my office chair and blow spit bubbles.

Crazy how we get into that mindset, isn’t it? We work and plan, and plan and work, and it just doesn’t seem to ever really get done. I mean…finished. I get done all right. I get done with projects, I get done with billing, I get done with tasks and errands; but I never get finished marketing. There’s always a better, newer, more persuasive way to get the message out there. It’s never ending.

You gotta’ love your job to live it, and I do. But how do those other companies make it look so easy?

The trick is, finding the easiest way to do the most in the least amount of time, and still build a quality empire. I’m a wife, mom, sister, and daughter–I don’t want to spend all my time working just to be like everyone else. So with that, here are 5 things I’ve learned to work smarter, and keep all my hair.

1. Use quality systems to aggregate. It’s never worth doing extra steps in any marketing strategy that you can do in just one. Consider using Ping.fm your social media updates, and AWeber for getting your small business email marketing campaign off the ground. This saves me TONS of time for pennies a day.
2. Give yourself permission to research competition, read about concerns, and update your brain files with new information. It may take longer than you think, but unless you put a priority on learning as an investment, you won’t be able to keep up with anything.
3. Remember, slow and steady wins the race. Getting up to speed fast is great if you have systems in place to keep up. If you don’t, take the time to set yourself up for success by simply inching toward your long term goals daily. Life is NOT about living in a squirrel cage.
4. Appreciate what the mentors in your market are teaching you, both by what they do, and how they do it. You can always learn the hard way, but isn’t it easier to learn from others’ mistakes rather than your own?
5. Go ahead and do something different, in a different way, and take that risk that you’ll regret not taking. If you never step out, you’ll never know what could have been. You have amazing ideas in your head that need to come out. Don’t mistake that adrenaline rush for fear you shouldn’t tackle. It could just be the turn on you needed to kick the competition’s butt!

That’s what works for me. How do you handle the occasional frustrations that stem from a busy environment? Do you ever feel caught up in the mundane while everyone else looks like they’ve accomplished their goals with ease? Hang in there!

Photo Credit: kevindooley on Flickr

Most of the things we do for our businesses, we do out of habit. We have some people that we call, we have direct mail sent out, we post coupons on Merchant Circle, or we post to Google Local online for decent SERP placement and reviews. Those things aren’t enough, and you probably know it, yet when asked what you’re doing for your business, you probably mention those things with an air of ‘I’m doing what I ought to be doing.’

You probably don’t need a marketing coach or a ‘guru’ to help you market your small business, but there are a few things those guys are doing right that you shouldn’t ignore entirely. They seem to know just how to center attention around themselves, and while that never denotes authenticity, having others in your field recognizing your efforts certainly can appear that way. Just how do they do that?

Here’s where the ‘guru’s’ have it, and even though I’m not a ‘guru’ or a marketing coach, I’m going to share it with you free of charge:

They know how to muster up credibility.
Marketers usually blog. They post something about what they do, and they comment on other marketer’s blogs, start conversations, and drop links. How is this practice good for you? By the time their would-be clients get to their site, they have plenty of others in their field endorsing their endeavors. That’s not actual credibility, but it is perceived credibility, a good start. Take some time every day to build relationship with others in your field by leaving a conversational comment on a competitor’s blog designed for response.

They know what promotions, offers, and Web site traffic is working for them.
It’s not enough to just throw information on a page and hope it does well. It doesn’t take complicated algorithms to figure it out, either. If you’re not tracking your efforts and traffic with (at least) Google Analytics, you have no real idea if you’re reaching who you want to reach.

They engage in social media.
Yeah, it’s a time-suck. But even so, limited engagement on social media sites is actually a smart way to engage local traffic, if your local city and state are part of your profile or username. Getting used to it is half the battle. Once in, you’ll enjoy short conversations with others and your list will naturally build over time. If you do more than just post your specials, that is. Respond to ridiculous situations that makes you laugh, or drop your own personal thoughts about a thing here and there. (Advice: Stay optimistic. Why follow a grump?)

Photo Credit: NeeDeeAh’s! Photostream on Flickr

Related Post: Why The Social Media Experts Are Smarter Than You

As cities strive to improve, many are looking at the heart of their community … their downtown. Towns, villages and cities were built on a core, the center of the community – their downtown. As the need for faster transit between points became necessary, downtown America was bypassed. Businesses who didn’t want to be forgotten moved from the core of the community to its fringes. For a time the core literally and physically shifted out to the expressway’s edge.

The old downtown seemingly died, and with it, many communities lost part of their soul. But now there has been a resurgence of redevelopment in downtowns across this country – partly because the center is being moved back to its original location. The heritage of the past is being given new birth with construction projects that bring the once forgotten back into vogue.

Right now in cities across America, the city center is being revitalized. Businesses are being encouraged to open there, and foot traffic is welcome. Greener thinking is affecting the way we look at commerce. We want locally grown produce, we want to purchase from our local retailers, and we want to enjoy local treats from local restaurants that have a unique flavor and method of operation than the chains that occupy suburbia.

Is this an opportunity for your business?

As the plans are being drawn, if you, as a business owner, are looking for a new location, consider the new downtown. As part of the core of your community, you’ll receive greater exposure and can establish or reaffirm your business as one that keeps the community’s heritage alive and prosperous. What’s the adage? … location, location, location!

If you’re changing your business locale, then you’ll need updated media to let your customers know where you’ve gone. Check out our Small Business Acceleration Packages and choose one of our prearranged options, or contact us for a customized package with the services listed on our Services page. You’ll be glad you did!