How Local Businesses Are Becoming Market Leaders with Affordable Search Engine Marketing
Local businesses typically attract customers by creating a unique company name, opening a prime location on Main Street and spreading the word through newspaper, television and radio ads. But in rapidly growing numbers, consumers are shifting to the Web as their primary source for information. As a result, more entrepreneurs are discovering they must allocate part of their budgets to online marketing to compete and grow.
This white paper reviews emerging trends in online marketing that are impacting local businesses and examines the benefits entrepreneurs can achieve by making affordable, uncomplicated investments in search engine marketing.
Market Drivers Are Changing the Game for Local Businesses
To grow and remain competitive, small- and medium-sized businesses must adapt their marketing strategies to the behaviors of online consumers. Not only are more people turning to the Web to look for products and services, but they also are relying on highly- targeted searches to find exactly what they want ? especially from local businesses.
These market trends include:
? The popularity of online search: After email, search is the most frequently-used online application, according to a recent survey from Gardner Research. The survey also reports that searching for products and services has become the Web?s sixth most popular activity.1
? Highly-targeted search behaviors: Frustrated by the thousands if not millions of irrelevant hits returned by Google or Yahoo, many shoppers type precisely what they want into the browser bars of their search engines. For example, a user looking for legal services in Sussex County may enter ?sussexcountylegal.com.? A report by Jupiter Research estimates that nearly 17% of users search with this method called direct navigation.2 This highly-focused search behavior typically produces more qualified leads for the Web site?s owner.
? The growing use of search to find local businesses: A survey by Nielsen/Net Ratings and search engine marketing firm WebVisible found that 70% of respondents used the Internet to search for products and services from local businesses.3 Many customers prefer the comfort and convenience of buying from a local business, even when they first discover the company?s products online.
The Challenge: Finding an Affordable and Effective Method to Attract Consumers Online
A local business can gain a competitive edge through well-known marketing tactics. As an example, consider Tony?s Italian Pizza, a fictional restaurant in New York?s Upper West Side. Tony could build a Web site, open shop in a bustling area and quickly earn a stellar reputation for serving delicious pizza. But customers unaware of Tony?s brand name may never realize his business exists.
To increase awareness of his shop, Tony might distribute fliers door-to-door, advertise in local newspapers and buy air time on television and radio. Tony would have to spread his marketing dollars across these various media channels, measure which provided the greatest returns and adjust his media spending accordingly.
Promotional efforts like these are often necessary to create awareness of a business, but they also are fraught with risks, such as:
? Expenses can mount quickly as the business tries to reach customers through multiple media channels.
? Measuring the effectiveness of each channel is difficult and sometimes impossible.
? Information from multiple channels can overwhelm busy consumers or fail to capture their attention.
To grab the attention of the many consumers who prefer Internet search engines to find information, Tony would have to promote his business online. This would present Tony with questions about how to spend his marketing budget most efficiently
Search engines such as Google and Yahoo enable business owners to bid on relevant keywords that bump their businesses up in the search rankings. But this means Tony would have to bid continually against his competitors for the most desirable keywords.
Source: http://atixi.com/owning-a-piece-of-the-web/
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