Using Online To Market A Small Business
SMALL BUSINESSUsing the web to market your small business
Small businesses are the lifeblood of our economy, creating wealth and
jobs for all those involved. Like any business, some are successful and
some are not, and in many cases the reason for failure lies in poor
marketing or a complete lack of marketing.
In this day and age,
there is no reason why a small business cannot conduct a cost effective
marketing campaign that drives both online traffic and in-store foot
traffic.
Lets take a look at 5 ways to use the online environment, to benefit your small business:
1. Build a stable engaging web presence
Building
a website is like building home base. If you are going to implement
any sort of online marketing, home base needs to clearly impart a
message that the consumer will easily understand, that will encourage
them to buy online, or come into the store to buy. Don’t skimp on the
design (perception is everything), and don’t settle for anything that
doesn’t have an administration back-end. With the availability of
open-source software , there is no
reason why you cant have a world class website, with all the admin
functions you need, at a reasonable price.
Ensure you have an
analytics package installed. Google Analytics will do the job amazingly
well, and will offer some great insights into the kind of traffic your
site is getting…oh and it’s free.
2. Optimize your content
Writing
copy for a website needs to follow the LCD (lowest common denominator)
rule. If your content touts the fact that you sell “self enclosed
light emitting battery powered hand held lamps”, don’t expect anyone
looking to purchase a “flashlight” to show up.
It is imperative
to understand that optimization is based on relevant content. If
someone searches the word “flashlight”, that word should show up often
in the content, in the page titles, in the menu titles, and in the
keywords of your website, in order to rank well in Google. Relevancy is
key. SEO is also affected by links that point to your site from other
sites, corporate blogs, and social environments like Twitter and
Facebook, as well as customer reviews on sites like Yelp. Sure, SEO can
get more complex and in-depth, but this is a great start, and will
build an excellent foundation.
3. Don’t be afraid to advertise
There are incredibly cost effective, very
customizable and manageable programs available. Buying advertising on a CPC (cost per
click) model is a very effective strategy. What that means is you only
pay when someone clicks on your text ad or banner ad. If your website
is doing its job, that lead will become a customer. Geotargeting allows
you to target consumers in your immediate area, ensuring you are
driving local awareness. Look at programs offered by Google and Yahoo, which have no minimum media buys, with user friendly admin areas.
4. Use social marketing
A
local hair salon has implemented an amazing social media strategy. If
you write two positive reviews about them on Facebook, Yelp, or any
other social networking site, you get $25 off your next haircut. If
you refer a friend, you get $25 off. The kind of word of mouth that
this generates is incredible, and kind of SEO that the brand name is
getting is awesome. Think about it, every time someone searches their
name on Google, their website comes up first, followed by pages and
pages of positive customer reviews. That is marketing that you can’t
afford not to have. This leads us to point number 5:
5. Incentivize your customer
In
these economic times, everyone is looking for savings. Good deals
always draw attention. Lets look at our hair salon again. They
geotarget their adwords message. One of the keywords they are using for
their CPC campaign is Hair Salon and their zip code. A person
searching for a salon in their area sees their ad. They scroll down
the page and see great review after great review. They decide to click
on the ad. The website does its job and they feel comfortable coming
in. Once in store, they are presented with a welcome folder, along with
a handful of discount cards. 5 of the cards are to be handed out to
friends for a $25 discount, and one of the cards describes the online
review process, highlighting the $25 discount for two positive reviews.
Genius!
The online world is ideally suited to a small business
and the entrepreneur. It is cost effective, and easily optimizable. Go
to the bookstore and read up on the space. There are some amazing
reads out there. “The Online Advertising Playbook” is a killer read, as
is “The New Influencers”. Both are highly recommended. There are some
great online pubs worth reading too. Take a look at
www.iMediaConnection.com, and www.IAB.net. These are just two
publications in a sea of hundreds that all offer worthwhile information.
The
playing field has now been leveled, and effective marketing is
available to large multi-national brands as well as small businesses
and entrepreneurs. Go ahead and play.
Evan Lazarus is President and CEO of LazBro, Inc., a full service digital marketing agency based in Los Angeles, CA
