Local Business Marketing

Support your local business community, that’s what I say. Now, more than ever it is time as consumers that we make a conscious effort to spend our money locally. As business owners, you need to get your name out there, you need to be agressive – this is about survival. The internet has always been a great medium for advertising.  Sure there is something to be said for billboards and the sides of busses, but the downside of traditional advertisings should be obvious. The cost is crazy, and the static nature can be a business killer.

Marketing your business online LOCALLY is a different than internet marketing. The internet is constantly evolving, this isn’t going to be a lesson on the internet – lets assume that you know that internet trends and advertising methods are always changing. What we are seeing now is that more than ever, the internet is a community. It is one large community made up of smaller communities. User generated content is king, reputation now more than ever is what is going to make or break your business. I do not want to focus on what doesn’t work, at least not on this page, but just know that the methods that work now are closer to real life than ever before.

Forget about SEO,  don’t get sucked into it. Forget about tricks and manipulation, the way things work now is that you no longer are going to tell people what you are about, they are going to tell each other. This is what will determine your visibility online. As I said, it’s like real life. Not to creep you out, but Google knows all. In Googles quest to index the world, it is constantly absorbing information.  From emails that are sent through gmail, to surfing habits, discussion forums, wikipedia, you name it. You are not going to tell Google anything, Google is going to ask the rest of the world – “What is this business, where are they and what do you think about them?”. If the majority are giving you a thumbs up, well good for you, thumbs down – you should focus on making some improvements.  Now this is not to say that if you type screwdriver into Google that there is a 100% guarantee that the first link is going to be the best screwdriver in the world. But there is a pretty good chance that the site is going to be where most people think is a good place to go get a screwdriver. And more than likely, it’s not going to be a porn site. Those days are over. Google is just one piece of the puzzle, all be it a big one, but there are more.

Marketing your business online take a multi tiered approach. You need to build buzz, the buzz needs to be good, and you need to keep the buzz going. Marketing your business online takes consistency and time. It takes you getting your business in front of people, and having those people talk about you to other people. Tell a friend who tells three friends who tell three more friends and so on. You have probably heard that eqation before in reference to a BAD review, well that couldn’t be more true online. It is easy to get a bad reputation online but is VERY hard to clean one up. You will see that most small online businesses that get trashed online simply fade away, they rarely rebound.