Small Businesses Can Get Attention Online

Will it blend? Blendtec is a company who has made some big waves online. Blendtec is a company that has been around a while but they have been able to use the Internet to dramatically increase sales. Up to 5X. Their success story is one that anyone can model.

The question is, what is unique about your company that will interest your customers? If you can’t think of anything, think about how you could talk about what you do in an interesting way. As a local company what would locals get that will connect them to my brand in a unique way.

Remember, it is not about becoming the next blockbuster and gaining tons of traffic. It is all about gaining the right traffic even if it comes in small amounts.

Posted in Local Business Internet Marketing | Add Comment »

Testimonials or Reviews? How About Both?

I have talked before about the importance of reviews and the local business listings. Reviews are important for your business listings because they help you rank higher in the listing as well as adding credibility.

But, what about when users come to your site? It is your job to entice them to call or purchase from you. Part of doing this is by having quality testimonials from customers about their experience with you on your website. This can be a written testimonial, or a photo and written testimonial, or a video testimonial.

Why not try all three, it could only help your credibility.

Daily Updates & Links:

• When marketing online as a small business it is all about simplicity. Do a check to see how easy is it for your customers to convert online.
• Ask friends and neighbors to look at your site. See how long it takes them to know enough about your site to email or call you.
• I’m going to start a listing of great local business sites. If you know a biz with a great site that caters to locals send it over. Thanks.
• Reviews are great for local business listings, but you need testimonials for your website as well. It can be a quote & a photo or a video.
• Testimonials used with images or video of the testifier is more powerful to visitors. They want real people telling them why you are great.

Posted in Uncategorized | Add Comment »

SMB Advertising Lesson #1: Know Your Target Market

Possibly The Worst Advertising Campaign Ever …. #5

Originally uploaded by michellebflickr

If you are going to be spending a lot of money advertising online or else where for your small business, you better know who you’re spending your money on. One of the basic rules of advertising is to spend your money on customers who will buy your product. This direct mail piece by Bic makes one big mistake. It tries to sell advertising pens to an Internet marketing company while at the same time saying pens are more effective than the Internet for advertising.

So not only are they selling pens to the wrong people, but insulting this company’s service at the same time. The lesson: Know who will buy your product and create advertising that appeals to them.

Posted in Uncategorized | Add Comment »

LinkedIn - The Best Social Network for Small Business

LinkedIn was on my mind today. I recently saw a great article on using it for business and I thought that more businesses should look into the potential of LinkedIn.com. If you had to choose one social network as a small business to join and test out for your business this is it, without question. It could change the way your sales force works. It could change the way you hire, and it could change the way clients and customers find you. It is more than a social network, it is a business network.

Oh, and I also threw one link in here about all the information that Google is collecting on you. It is worth a read. Makes you think you should look to other places for some of your services, particularly as a place to keep your health record.

Daily Updates & Links:

• Could LinkedIn be one of the greatest small business sales and networking tools around? If you’re in sales learn more today. http://is.gd/F5E
• Use Linkedin to find your contacts, ask to be introduced to others and use those contacts to start building sales leads.
• Great information source on how to use LinkedIn for your business and marketing efforts. Great read and great ideas. http://is.gd/Fen
• Don’t think Google is tracking much data on you… Think again. Here is the Google laundry list of what they have on you. http://is.gd/FeO
• Here is another great article on why LinkedIn is the one social network small businesses shouldn’t live without. http://is.gd/Ff5

Posted in Local Business Internet Marketing | Add Comment »

SMB Marketing Links: Do Small Businesses Need a Website?

Two great local search engine marketing links to check out in the daily updates. One dealing with all of the local search directory ranking factors that are out there, the other is talking about if small businesses really need a website.

Daily Updates:

• New! What Matters and What Doesn’t In Local Search Engine Marketing. Great read by David Mihm. http://snurl.com/2k38u
• Show a video of your biz on your landing pages. Include a testimonial in it & like I said before use it to tell your story. http://is.gd/AP6
• I saw a contractor’s truck proudly advertising their http://angieslist.com A+ rating. My how the internet is changing small business.
• Great discussion about whether small businesses need websites. http://is.gd/BK0 IMHO: If you want to differentiate yourself you need it.

Posted in Local SEO | Add Comment »

Can You Find the Missing Information?

Larkin Plumbing Ephemera

Originally uploaded by Roadsidepictures

This direct marketing piece elevates the door hanger. It not only comes as a truck that matches this plumbing companies service trucks but gives you two free hose washers to boot. It also extends their brand that has been around since 1936.

But, do you notice something missing in this great direct marketing piece? Go ahead and click through to see a larger version… You got it… there is no web address. Even though the company has a great brand and mindshare in their market, they still can’t afford to miss out on low hanging fruit. Make it easier for customers to convert by giving them even more valuable information.

What if I got this letter and I wanted to know what specific plumbing services they offer or maybe I wanted to see some customer testimonials. With this piece you can’t and you wouldn’t even know where to find them. But, by including that tiny little web address that won’t cost you anything extra to print on this piece you can help capture your customers attention and answer their questions before they walk away.

A direct marketing piece can’t tell you the whole story of your company, but by using that piece to send them to your site you can tell your whole story. Remember the ones interested enough to go to your site, are the ones you will be glad you spent your money on.

Posted in Local Marketing In Pictures | Add Comment »