Your Customer Wants To Find You17 Feb
Recently, Becky McCray, of Small Biz Survival, asked for topics for the next Small Biz 100. I responded to her request on Twitter by asking:
@BeckyMcCray…here you go…in this economy, what is the best use of my funds? Marketing, expansion, keep it under the mattress? What?
I was curious about this subject. In a down economy, businesses of all sizes aren’t sure what to do. Do I grow the business? Do I take this chance to hire more people at a more advantageous pay rate? Do I just hoard cash? Every entrepreneur, CEO, and Board of publicly traded companies is going through these thoughts.
Then, I saw this report,from The Center For Media Research:
According to research from Webvisible and Nielsen (reported by Marketing Charts):
- 63% of consumers and small business owners turn to the internet first for information about local companies
- 82% use search engines to do so
- 44% of small businesses have a website
- 50% of small businesses spend less than 10% of their marketing budget online.
Wow. What an incredible dichotomy: 63% of consumers (your future clients!) turn to the Internet for information about local companies – most likely to feel comfortable about where they will spend their money. Yet, only 44% of small businesses have a website. That means that more than half of the consumers in your local market, when researching where to spend their dollars, can only find out about less than half of the businesses in your local market.
The other "Wow" in that article is that half spend less than 10% on their online marketing budget. This is a statistic that simply cannot jive with the previously stated reality. 63% of people are searching online, 44% are allowing those consumers to reach them, and half of that number only spend 10% on their web presence.
What are they spending their money on? Bus benches and the diminishing return of print advertising? The numbers do not lie. And right now, they are screaming the opportunity at you. You competitors are not online, and they are not spending any money on their online ad budgets. Your customers are all online, they want to shop locally, and they are looking for you. Now is not the time for retreat. Now is the time to take the cash you have (not all of it, mind you) and start strategizing and implementing your online marketing presence.
Rebuild your website. (if you have a site made with Front Page, its time to change!) Use a WordPress blog, or hire a designer. Are you blogging? If not, you should be and should be interacting with your future client base. You should provide answers to frequently asked questions and give tips freely. Let your customers know that they are part of something bigger, and that you appreciate them and want to engage with them.
Once you have created a more appropriate online image, push it. Work with Google AdWords, engage SEO (search engine optimization) services and, yes, create and distribute online video ads. Video ads are rather inexpensive and highly effective. An online video ad, targeted to your local market, will allow your already online customers to find out about you before they even need you. Having a video ad is engaging, with over 88% of the video viewed each time it is displayed. Video ads bring higher click through rates, which means more customers respond to your message, and reach your newly upgraded site. Remember, a video ad is only there to drive traffic to your site. Once your customer makes it to your site, they must have an experience that is up-to-date and offers engagement.
While you have to be safe with your business, smart business people recognize the opportunities and seize them. Now is the time to build your online presence. Your customers are looking for you….
You might want to be found.
Keep on Grinding!
Pretty interesting statistics, and we all know that the 63% is only going to increase! I agree that an online presence is an absolute necessity. There are many free or low cost options available for businesses to obtain a website. Once an online presence is established, it’s also a good idea to add your business listing to local search directories.
Many local business websites in my area have archaic sites built 5-10 years ago, some even still posted on free sites with banner advertising. What this says to me, though, is that many local businesses did try establishing an online presence. They just couldn’t connect any benefit to their businesses. And sadly, many just don’t see the point of trying again, even though the tools and times have changed dramatically. I think that’s a huge challenge – convincing them why things can be different this time.
Karen,
I wanted to thank you for your post on AdGrinder.com’s Blog. I apologize for not responding sooner.
I agree with your comments about small business “giving up” on an idea or thought process (like web presence and online advertising) without taking into account the new tools and opportunities available to them. However, I remain hopeful (and I believe that the stats back me up – that’s why I posted them!) that more and more businesses are looking to the web to reach their customers, and more and more customers are using the web to find local business.
Thanks again for your comments. Keep On Grinding!
– Tony