Online Marketing is Important to Your Small Business Marketing Strategy
This is a question that comes up time after time, when I talk with a small business owner, that has a primarily offline business. Do I need to be online? My answer is YES! Yes, you need to be ONLINE and you need to do it well.
Online has several components to it and depending upon the industry your online presence may be limited by regulation, but you still NEED to be online.
There are billions of good reasons to be online. The billions — are potential customers and clients. Each business whether local or global should have an online presence that does a few things for them.
1. educates potential customers and leads
2. captures potential leads
3. engages with customers
4. communicates with leads and customers about the company, events, special offers, new services or products….
5. is a resource for customers and leads.
I hear people tell me, “well my business is all referrals” or “I don’t need online marketing, my business is all local” or “I hate being online” or “my customers aren’t online”.
I love these. They each may be true to a point, BUT what about the customers that are online, that are searching for what you offer, that are using their cell phone to find a local business of your type?
Do you really have all of the business that you need?
Most small business owners that I talk with are talking with me because they NEED more business. It’s not just a want, its a NEED.
So, do you NEED to be ONLINE? YES!!
You Do NEED To BE ONLINE!!
To get there, there are a couple of things I recommend first:
- A blog! Just like this, a blog can be the hub of your marketing.
- From a blog you can syndicate your content to several social media sites.
With this ONE step you are building an online presence.
The next key to building an effective online presence is your listings on key directory sites. This is especially important for local businesses. You MUST be listed on Google Local Listings….it is here that people that are trying to find you, will.
These sites link back to your website, your phone number and often to directions to your place of business.
With the growth of smart phone usage, this becomes even more critical. AND, you need to be sure that your site is mobile friendly or responsive so that it works on different devices.
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