Local business owners often neglect or under utilize the power of the web when it comes to marketing their business and allocating their marketing dollars. Many understand that to be truly competitive in the market they at least need a website but too often that’s where it ends. Then, when that website does not somehow magically create new business they are left, once again, frustrated and disapointed wondering where to get the best bang for their marketing buck.If you haven’t yet noticed business is changing. And how to market ones business is also changing at a rapid rate.
As of September 2009 statistics show 1,733,993,741 Internet users world wide. And many of these users are going to the web when searching for products and services in their own neighborhoods.
We know that phonebook usage continues to decline in fact…AOL’s Walletpop blog created a list of the Top 25 Things Vanishing from America. They listed “The Yellow Pages” as item number 24, along with such things as outhouses, classified ads, dial-up internet access, phone landlines, VCRs, cameras that use film, and more.
Many report when they receive those big directories on their doorstep they go straight into the recycling bin along with newspapers and magazines. If you are a business owner who is spending $1500 per month to advertise your business in those media that should have you very concerned.
Although print media can and does still work for some businesses, those who currently only focus on print need to wake up and broaden to include Web Marketing Stratagies in their promotional repertoire.
With the bust of the economy in late 2008 many businesses have had to re-evaluate how they are spending their marketing dollars. What used to work is not working anylonger and they are faced with having to learn a whole new way.
In 2009 we experienced an explosion of this thing called social media. Prior to that you may have heard of Myspace for some years then Facebook but only as toys for our teenagers.
Not anymore. In 2009 you most likely noticed local and national news stations talking about tweeting and
Facebooking. Savvy local and national businesses have turned to these media to increase their exposure, and it is working!
The great news for business owners who are trying to survive on a limited budget is marketing online is far less expensive than traditional print advertising. The web is also a dynamic tool that can be changed and updated in real time where as print is static and may not be changeable for an entire year.
So for businesses that truly want to compete in this new business environment some changes are in order.
With the simple act of broadening one’s horizons to include the Internet, a wealth of opportunity suddenly opens up for local business owners.
Internet marketing strategies are important to local businesses for several reasons.
- Marketing on the Internet is much less expensive than traditional print
- Online marketing is dynamic and changeable
- It can result in an expanded client base
- It can streamline business operations
- It can reduce expenses
- Used correctly it provides an opportunity for two-way communication and relationship building
- Unlimited marketing potential
- Can be Automated
- Allows for extended business hours or expanded product base without adding employees or increasing hours
In today’s business environment Businesses are required to exhaust every marketing opportunity available in order to keep up with their rivals. If your competition is marketing on the Internet but you aren’t, you’re going to be left behind. Even if you weren’t planning on converting completely to Internet marketing strategies, all local businesses should consider developing some form of Web presence in order to stay relevant and competitive.
The bottom line is that local businesses must be able to think locally but act globally. The internet allows even the smallest micro business to that. By providing unlimited and unfettered access to the world’s markets, the internet changes everything.
Fluctuations or downturns in the local economy are irrelevant to local businesses who have established a global footprint online. Even if your local business can not go global, if the economic conditions where you are is in tatters, somewhere else on this huge planet are people with money who want to spend it. And because you have spent the time to educate yourself to this new online environment you will be able to utilize that knowlege to make adjustments in your products and services and put them in touch with new markets.
It doesn’t happen automatically, and it’s not necessarily easy to master. Internet marketing strategies change at the speed of light-what worked last week may not work tomorrow-and the evolution is constant. In order to deploy workable internet marketing strategies, the local business owner must become a student of the process.
Learn as much as you can, and keep learning. If you don’t have the time, hire someone to do it for you, just don’t ignore it…..It’s essential to your long term success.
