Buzz!Words

Marketing Depends

I've had an interesting few days as I start up my new consulting business. I've been talking to a lot of local business people about marketing. And the interesting thing is that every businesses needs are different (go figure!).

Yesterday I was talking to someone in the health services field. As we talked, I figured out that he doesn't need a website to acquire new customers. Most of his customer base is local, and they wouldn't think to go on line to figure out which practitioner to use. It may be that some more traditional forms of marketing might be a better answer to reach a small, concentrated population in a small town.

The critical thing was to really think about his potential customer base, what he is trying to do (get new customers? Get lapsed customers to come back?), and then think of the best way to initiate a conversation with those customers. Whether marketing online or offline, the basics of marketing (who it the target, what is your objective, what do you want to communicate, how are you positioned and what benefits do you offer) all still play into how you choose to entice customers to buy, buy more often or buy more at one time.

OnLine Marketing for Small Business

Just read an interesting study from the real estate industry (from the London St Thomas Real Estate Board). In Canada, 72% of real estate searches begins on line. This is a pretty radical number. It means the whole way the industry does business is changing. In fact, this post just isn't about real estate. This post is about small business in general.

Consumers use the internet for research. Often they will do their "homework" on line comparing what each business offers, before they actually go into an office or store. The message here is, although you may not do actual sales transactions online, you still have to have a website that provides enough information to help a consumer include you in their list of possibilities. They may eliminate you if they can't find you online or if your website doesn't provide them with the information they want.

I was recently planning a 150 km trip to St. Jacob's, Ontario to go furniture shopping. A quick hop online showed me that most of the companies that I wanted to check out didn't have websites. I didn't bother going to those stores because I couldn't be sure that they carried what I wanted, and I didn't want to waste a lot of time. For those companies that did have websites only a few had samples of their product online. Those sites allowed me to figure out which stores carried the type of furniture (contemporary) that I was looking for. That eliminated all but 2 stores. I was able to go to those 2 stores and find what I was looking for efficiently. That 30 minutes online saved me hours of traipsing from store to store.

The same article on real estate also shows that 33% of search engine users believe that the number one rank on the results page is the number one brand for the industry.

Overall small business people are going to have to become more sophisticated in search engine marketing, advertising and website design and promotion if they are going to compete with larger companies. They are going to have to use their key advantage -- small businesses are much closer to their customers and know what they need and want. Now those small businesses just have to translate that knowledge to the new marketing world. It's becoming much easier to create web sites and online shopping sites with new content management software. More about content management software in a later post.

Everyone Needs Marketing

I've been thinking about marketing for the past few days, especially as it fits in the context of a consulting business. A blinding glimpse of the obvious has occurred to me. Everyone Needs Marketing. It isn't just about running the business, paying the bills, doing stuff. Potential customers have to know that you exist.

The big problem is that marketing is something that is easy to put off. And many businesses do. I've heard it all before - I don't have time; I don't have money; I don't know where to start.

My suggestion is to find the time, don't spend a lot of money, and find someone to help who does know where to start. But get started.

Here are a couple of websites that are useful marketing resources. BulidingBrands.com and BrandChannel.com

Annoying Website Marketing

I can't say it any better than Jason O'Connor did in marketingprofs.com about Ten Things I Hate in a Website. Here's a little titbit to whet your whistle:

When I click to a Web site that has five different fonts and colors, scrolls down to the core of the Earth, incorporates words that flutter about and big fat blocks of text, lists no phone number and has content dated 1996, I scream and know deep down that pulling my fingernails out wouldn't be as torturous as having to remain there a minute longer.

All I can add is that the best way to figure out if you have issues with your website is to ask your clients, friends and family. Many of them will tell you what drives them nuts. Then do something about it!

PR Marketing

Public relations is one of the least expensive, most effective forms of marketing there are out there. And, the best news is that PR can be done easily by small businesses. PR creates great buzz in the community. Large companies like Body Shop and Starbucks largely built their businesses on PR and word of mouth marketing.

How you ask? Well it's simple.

1) Find something that might be of interest to the local media. If it ties into a recent trend, all the better. For example, Home Staging for sale is a big trend in real estate and on Home Improvement TV right now with new programs like "Sell This House", "House Doctor" and "Take this House and Sell it". If you are a home decor designer, how do you take advantage of this trend? Well, get some training in Home Staging.

2) Once you have credibility through your training, what next? Well, you start with a press release. This is a one or two page description of what you think is news worthy. Talk about the trend, and what your firm has to offer. Have show and tell info (e.g. before and after pictures, or something related to the news).

3) Make sure that you include your website address, email address and phone number in the press release.

4) Make sure that your wesite contains info on this new trend, with some "freebie" information that helps the reader. You can link or refer to the news article once it has been published. Email to any potential customers with the link to the article or to your website with a reprint of the article.

5) Print copies of the news article as hand outs for any walk in traffic.

You can also tie your PR campaign into a special event. For example, if you are a decorator, you can do a before and after Home Tour event, inviting your clients and potential clients. Invite the press to the event and provide a press release. You can also tie in with other companies. For example, if you are a decorator, tie in with a local paint store or builder. An event takes a bit more work than just a press release, but, it increases the likelihood that the local media will pick up on your story.

Good luck and good buzz.

Websites Made Easy

It's not longer the domain of the big companies to have a professional, frequently updated website. With new content management software that is available on the market today, you can have a great looking website that can be updated in real time without any insane costs.

I've used Think Digital Media to provide me with some great content management software. They also host the site, at about the same cost per month as other hosting companies. They have a basic set up charge, which depends on the size of the website, but pays for the design and set up. The set up charges start around $300 for a 3 page site, and go up depending on the complexity of the site. In addition, if you are a retailer, there is an online store that is available.

The best part about this software, is once its set up, you control all of your content, and can change it on the internet in real time. No more waiting for a webmaster to change the site. Check out Sharen Realty GMAC Real Estate and McIntyre TV & Appliances to see how professional your website can look.

Search Engines are Important

I just finished reading a fax from a local real estate board that had some pretty startling facts. Did you know that 85% of all new visitors to your website arrive through a search engine? (You know those guys at Yahoo, Google and Ask Jeeves?

Here are a couple of other critical facts: More than 33% of all search engine users believe that the number one result on search engine results is the number one brand for the industry. And, less than 15% of users click through to the second page of results from a search engine.

So you need to get on that first page. I found a couple of places to go thanks to some helpful friends. You can try A Modest WebMasters Intro to Google or Google itself. If you feel particularly technical, you can go to Mike Greham's site, which has a download about the details of how search engines work. The download is about halfway down the page on the left hand side.

Key messages: 1) meta tags are becoming less important, Website title is very important to Google in Rankings; 2) Text on you home page is critical -- keep it topical and related. 3) Outbound links are good, just make sure that they are related to the topic of the website and don't get greedy. 4) Inbound links are even more important, but again, make sure that they come from sites that are related to your subject.

Good luck and good optimizing.