Google Advertising For OFFLINE Local Businesses

14.08.07

Filed Under: Marketing Strategies, Website Profitablity, Search Engines, Google and the Hamptons

Were you aware that Google now has approximately 50% of the world search! People use it to find specific things, like … oh I don’t know - YOUR BUSINESS! 
 LOCAL REACH: Most of the businesses on the East End of Long Island (and I’m sure this is true around the USA), are offline businesses. Usually, people I send email to around here get back to me a day, two days sometimes a week later -which tells me they check their online sources of communication less than they go to the Post Office. Which is a huge mistake but things are changing.

So it stands to reason that most of these fine folk, are not really aware of what the Internet can do for them LOCALLY. Google, and many other sources online, allow you to market to your local market(s), not only the world stage.

I also have learned that about 90% of my clients, and those I speak to use Google on a daily basis. This is new, maybe a few years old but really very new - Google is used as a telephone book to find people, businesses, and all kinds of information, and Google is aware of it.

PAID ADVERTISING IN GOOGLE AND YAHOO

New technologies allow Google ads (and Yahoo) to be seen only by those in a local area - this is called Regionalizing. The only problem you see with this is that some of the Zip Code areas, although you can select them or a radius around a zip code won’t work yet because Google is targeting IP addresses. IP means Internet Provider it’s a # given to computers, servers, ISP network Computers serving huge networks and so on. So you may have to target New York City out to Long Island because the major networks which Google uses is located there. Entering 11963 won’t work yet. But it will - and soon.

Nevertheless, your ads, and listing in Google can tell anyone seeking keywords related to you where you are, what you offer so they can better decide if they want to click on the listing and take a look. From there you need to have several things in place to monetize on that visit.

But the point is you can reach people locally as an offline business or online business using paid ads in Google and Yahoo and their extended networks of other engines and websites - which is huge.

Count to 10… 1 second per #…

Google was just searched approximately 20,000 times. 2,000 searches PER SECOND.

FREE ORGANIC GOOGLE LISTINGS

The truth is, most businesses here do nothing to their sites to increase their rank for Free listings for the same keywords they would use for paid listings. There a many things that have to be done to a website in order to make this a possibility. And there are never any guarantees for free searches.

Google ranks your site based on numerous factors that create a Quality Score for your site and Relevancy rating for your listings and ads.  They are the same for both so don’t think buying an ad you can say whatever you want, or send someone to a page that is not related to your ad. You can but Google will charge you a fortune. They want high standards, and relevancy.

Most people here with websites do nothing to change them on a weekly or monthly basis therefore their rank really does not increase much if at all. This is an advantage for you IF you do several simple things to improve your rank. If you do, over time your rank will increase as theirs stays the same - you move up, they move down. Or vice versa.

When people come to this area, or search for local information with keywords like “hamptons” or “sag harbor” etc., your website should come up. However to insure it does, you need to put the keywords that people are using (now what you think they are using) into the pages of your site, metadata, and other elements. You need to write articles and submit them to several directories, and make videos if you can - YouTUBE can really boost the rank of your site if done properly.

So local reach with free ads will cost you to search engine optimize your website, but, it can help if you are willing to do maybe 3 hours of work a month or less.

OTHER FORMS OF ONLINE MARKETING TO OFFLINE LOCAL BUSINESSES

When you speak to someone on the phone, and then hang up without a sale, sending them to a site which displays your work, and your business, can often put a quality image in their mind and put you ahead of their competition.

It’s all about creating relationships -that’s what a long-term client is - a business RELATIONSHIP - not just a customer/client.

Your website can be the bridge between a yes or a no. It can also familiarize them with your company so when you call back it’s as if they have met you - rather than had just a phone conversation. A website brings the “experience” of what your business is all about into a prospects mind. And if you don’t have a website, or you have a poor one, you are doing more harm than good. So on that note alone, having a website puts you in a much more powerful position to impress new potential customers. Believe me, if they called you they are going to call another company too, and if they have a site and you don’t - well, it could lose that customer.

If most of your business is by “word of mouth” then realize people are asking around for your KIND of business. That means word of mouth is sending them to your competition too.

In any case, keeping your business in front of everyone all the time is just part of good marketing. Business may be good this year, but who knows what next year will bring. You need to keep people aware of you, and your website can be a powerful aid in that necessity. Email Marketing works wonders for Brand, as well as direct sales.

Email Marketing is not new - but for most of my clients it’s non-existent. Today there are programs for $20 or $30 a month, that allow you to capture email addresses, create targeted lists, and create beautiful emails in color and themes you can select from and also track clicks in the email.

For so many businesses out here, the tourist trade comes and goes - but you could be capturing their email and keeping in touch.

A few Ideas:

Note - don’t read this if you don’t want to double your sales off-season and on season. :)

Here’s an idea I gave to a few shops - I like local produce and organic product gets soggy fast. When that kind of produce comes in the owner of that store, could send an email out telling everyone who wanted that information a FRESH batch of produce is in.      That would speed up sales. It would sell all of their soggy stuff, and improve that business. More, I look around for produce in other stores BECAUSE sometimes I go into a store and the produce is not completely fresh… so a double-lost sale.

No one listens to me :)

BUT MAYBE THEY SHOULD:

I have friends who are musicians and I hear “did you see “so and so” he was great - and I say “No where” - at Bay Street, At …

I see my friend and say - WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME? He says “blah blah”… or better yet “it’s in the newspapers” like I read the newspapers here.

Well I do but I missed it obviously.

OK here is what they needed to do - at their low-key concerts and on their sites, or joint venturing with local organizations who like their work and can announce their concerts to their e-mail list to support the arts (remember that idea?),  they could write an email as difficult as this:

“”Dear John:” (the program enters the person’s name for you)*

I’m playing this week at the Steven Talk House - Friday at 8pm. Come on down. Tickets are $20…

You can also buy tickets here (link to the talk house, or a link to paypal if you sell it in your FREE account).

Your Friend,

Jim
phone #
email address
website link

—

What work. And the cost was - let’s see - I took my fingers and typed maybe 50 words, I opened with a few clicks my email list program online, entered the text, and subject and hit send.

OH MY GOD GET TO THE HOSPITAL.

COSTS? - a WHOPPING $0.00

For that amount of money and time I can understand why there is so much resistance from small businesses to actually look into the power of the net, email and other forms of advertising locally.

Did you sense a TAD bit of sarcasm there? :)

Imagine that - 1000 people hearing about it and 1/2 of them showing up. What organization wouldn’t want to pay you top dollar for your presence if you pulled in an audience like that.

ONLINE IT’S  POSSIBLE. More on that in another article.

A NOTE ON JOINT VENTURES:

Joint Ventures in Marketing is a good idea providing it’s done ethically. Endorsing someone’s product or service even for profit that you think stinks is one sure way to lose your email subscribers. Your list is golden if you treat it well.

Here is how Joint Ventures work:

LOCALLY

And keep in mind this can be done for anyone or anything - a product, a service - a party - anything at all.

“Dear subscriber”

I want to let you know that JIM is playing a great concert at the Talk house this Friday (date) and the Whaler’s Museum this Saturday (Date) tickets are $____

Jim is great and his music is…. etc.

You can buy tickets here (link)

You can also call the (name of concert hall ticket office if that is where the tickets are being sold) here - Phone #

Regards,

Signature of person the subscribers know.

—-

A little more work, but … what is a community for? Really, you need to see that local marketing is about building relationships, and, using technologies online to create sales for offline businesses and events etc. Helping one another helps everyone. This powerful technique is probably never used out here.

THIS IS NOT SPAM as the list being sent to is the person who is endorsing Jim’s work. IN return Jim will do the same for them.

You can increase the size of your marketing by email 10 fold if you use this method.

USING VIDEO

YouTUBE works. Google lists videos the same tday as listings. So entering keywords and doing that right in the video set up which takes all but 5 minutes, can sent targeted free traffic to your site from google, YouTube and their networks. People also put your videos on their sites - this means a link back to your website which Google uses to increase the rank and quality score of your website etc. It’s an all around good thing.

But for LOCAL MARKETING YouTUBE is cool too.

A home hand-held camera is fine for YouTube Videos. If you want professional video I have the guy for you - until you are ready for that, get your video camera out, and start shooting a little footage… Using a cheap online editor, you can edit it like you do home movies. Clearly it’s better to use professionals, but YouTUBE is about the average person having the power to BROADCAST THEMSELVES… and let me tell you something - IT’S POWERFUL ONLINE MARKETING.

Oh, and if you can share revenue with those who joint venture with you that would be a plus. Money tends to motivate people. I bet you knew that.

HOW?

You’re getting the idea - Email is a tool that has to be done correctly but its uses are many. The tools today to use this effectively exist for very low amounts of money and high quality too.  

Get Creative. Or, hire me to help you.

Today you can advertise to your local markets online in a way that even 2 years ago just was not as effective. Google’s reach has grown, you  should be taking advantage of that. Recently Bill Gates said that online advertising is only the tip of the iceberg… and he’s right.

SUMMARY:

Direct response from online and offline advertising is great but that’s not the only way your website can increase your profitability. Instead of having to mail literature out which is time-consuming and costly, you can send them a follow up email that opens your site, or offer email notices of new work (for some this works) or “other” creative process that brings prospects to your website. You can also construct it so they print it out from the site so you don’t have to fax it over. You can post contracts, information of any sort and upgrade it easily so you don’t have to mail them, you can show photos of work, of products, in real-time, and so much more. Your website is a Sales Tool! But you have to use it as such. Consider what that costs to do in print or even the time to call clients one at a time! On this level alone, if you added up your dollars and time saved you would find that a website will usually not only bring a profit directly, but it can be a great sales aid, time saver (money), and also save in print and postage costs which indirectly is just as profitable. Using Email and optin lists (not spam) you can develop a creative way to keep in touch with those people who want to hear from you and about what you do. It’s free, it’s fast, and it works.

You can advertises online now, which can bring quality prospects to the site, who can then call you or email you, you can capture their email on the site for future follow ups and more. In this way your website can become a sales lead generator.

Your website can become the center of your advertising system, merging all offline and online advertising and sales efforts for you. Adding some simple technologies which I can help you set up, you can create an entire local marketing plan to your local markets, and increase sales, and productivity and save time too!

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Written by
John Monteleone
www.HamptonsWebDesign.com
www.HamptonsDirectory.com
631-725-5251

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