Everybody knows our economy is sinking, and a lot of people have lost jobs, seen their hours decrease, have lost clients, remaining clients are trying to get by with fewer consulting hours, etc.
You need every avenue you can find to put your business further out there so people can find you over your competition. You also need the ability to target your customers much more directly so you are marketing to and selling to people who want to buy what you offer. You have the ability to laser target your customers online.
You need to be immediately accessible to iPhone users and other internet-connected portable device users. If you are listed on Google Local, anyone with a portable connection to the web can search for you and get your name, phone number, address and a map to your location in town. They can also link to your website if you have one.
The phone book is beginning to go the way of the buggy whip. In 10 years, I doubt there will be telephone books anymore. It isn’t time to drop your Yellow Pages ad yet, but you may be able to reduce it’s size, or simply list your business name and number and save some money.
You do not necessarily need a website or blog to implement most of these ideas. In many cases you can use your facebook or myspace page to start. It gives you more exposure if you have a blog or website, but it isn’t mandatory.
There are 10 things you can do pretty fast to get a web presence and 7-8 of them are free. A blog can be free or paid. It’s a great time to reduce your marketing costs to little or nothing, depending on how many online techniques you want to implement.
With the use of free services like Google Local and social networking sites like twitter and facebook, you can reach far more people in your market than you can with a Yellow Pages ad. The cost of the 2-3 paid services is dirt cheap compared to the monthly fees the phone company, magazines, and local newspaper charge you.
To learn more and see a 20 minute video that will lead you step-by-step through the services available and how to implement them (or get it done for you) see our Market Locally page.
Learn about blogging with free blogging information (videos and e-reports) and a course I personally took and love on our Learn to Blog page.
If you want a blog (website) set up for you, please see our Get a Website page.
I hope these resources will help your business reduce costs and be more successful. Please leave any thoughts or questions you have in the comments.
To your business success,
Sherri
