The internet is influencing consumer behavior like never before and it’s changing how consumers find and connect with businesses. Because of this, online marketing has become one of the most effective tools for getting more leads, attracting new customers, and increasing the visibility of your brand.
I think the majority of business owners in Louisville, KY and around the country realize that they could benefit from marketing their business online, but there is obviously a lot of confusion about it. They don’t know where to start, they think online marketing will be too expensive, or they don’t know how to tell if what they’re paying for is worth it. So they end up putting off finding out more about it or just ignore it completely.
4 Reasons Why You Can’t Afford To Ignore Online Marketing
1. Missing a Huge Opportunity
97% of consumers use some form of online media when researching products or services in their local area and 90% use search engines.
Consumers are relying on the information available to them online to find, connect, and do business with you. If you don’t have a strong online presence you’re missing out on a huge opportunity to reach potential customers who are looking for your products or services.
* 91% of consumers use online search engines to find information and 59% do so on a daily basis.
* 55% of all local searches are done with the intent to buy.
* 80% of all local searches result in a phone call or visit to the company and 60% of those result in a purchase.
* In Kentucky, 71% of small businesses don’t even have a website.
* Overall, around 60% of small businesses don’t have a website and roughly 25% of local businesses don’t even show up in online search results (search for their name and you find nothing).
* Only 26% of small businesses have invested any time or money in online marketing.
It’s obvious that nearly all consumers have moved online, why haven’t you?
More and more businesses in Louisville, KY are investing or increasing their investment in online marketing. If you want to stay ahead of the competition, now is the time to get started marketing your business online.
2. Losing Out To the Competition
If you have a website you’ve at least taken the first step to marketing your business online, but it doesn’t end with simply building a website. You can have the most amazing website in the world, but if no one knows it’s online it’s not going to help you get more customers or make more money.
Search Engine Rankings Do Matter
Online marketing isn’t all about search engine rankings, but they’re certainly a significant piece of the puzzle. Where your business shows up in the online search results, especially on Google, makes a tremendous difference in the number of potential customers who find your business online.
The simplest way to explain how it works is, the higher your site shows up or ranks in the search results, the more people see your site and the more people that see your site, the more leads, sales, and customers you get.
The fact is the top 3 spots in the Google search results get 70% of the visits and 95% of visits come from the first page. Essentially, if your business isn’t listed on the first page of the search results potential customers searching for your products or services are not finding your business.
If you do an online search on Google for “[Your City] [Your Product or Service]”, for example “Louisville plumbing”, does your business show up in the first 3 spots or on the first page of the search results? If not, take a look at the businesses that do. These are the businesses who are getting all the new customers that you could be getting.
3. Throwing Money Away
Why are the Yellow Pages like Nursing Homes?
They’re shockingly expensive and few people under 70 use them.
Traditional Forms of Advertising Are Dying
The traditional forms of marketing like magazine and newspaper subscription rates are falling dramatically, they’ve stopped printing phone books in some cities, DVR and TiVo are eliminating commercials from TV, Sirius and others are doing the same in radio, many people just simply throw away direct mail, and cold calling is becoming more difficult due to “Do Not Call” lists and fewer landline phones.
* 90% of people who can skip TV ads do and overall 86% of people skip TV ads.
* 44% of direct mail is never opened.
* 67% of US citizens are on the FTC “Do Not Call” list.
* Only 14% of people trust advertisements, yet the average person is exposed to 3,000 advertising messages every day.
These forms of marketing put your business in front of people who are not actively looking for your products or services. This type of marketing is called interruption marketing. You are basically interrupting whatever people are doing and saying “Buy My Stuff!” You probably don’t like to be marketed to this way and other people don’t either.
Google Is the New Yellow Pages
For many years when you needed to find a local business in Louisville, KY or your hometown to fulfill a need, all you had to do was open up the Yellow Pages and search for what you were looking for. All the information was located in one place and almost everyone used it to find local businesses. This made the Yellow Pages the standard for local advertising.
Today Google is the central location where everyone goes to find local business information and today’s technology makes it even easier to find what you’re looking for online. The same reason being listing in the Yellow Pages was an effective advertising strategy for many local businesses in the past is the same reason being found on Google is so effective today.
So why are so many local businesses continuing to use these strategies when they are so quickly losing their effectiveness?
The old methods of marketing and advertising are no longer as effective as they once were and can simply be a drain on your marketing budget and your profits.
Most businesses that choose to invest in online marketing will be able to reduce their current spending on other forms of advertising while spending less on online marketing and still convert more prospects into customers.
4. Return on Investment
Don’t think of it as what you’re losing by investing in online marketing; consider what you are going to gain in return for your investment.
If I told you that for every $1 you spent you would make you $2, would you consider that a good investment? If the answer is yes, then consider these examples of the potential ROI of online marketing.
Inbound marketing has a 61% lower cost per lead than traditional marketing.
That’s because the potential customers who find your business online are actively searching for what you’re selling. They have found you and are choosing to look at what you’re putting in front of them rather than being interrupted by the message you are forcing on them. This is called inbound marketing.
Inbound marketing puts your business in front of customers at the exact moment they are in need of your product or service.
Essentially it brings the customers to you.
There is no other form of marketing or advertising you can do that will be any more targeted than customers actually seeking you out and wanting to buy what you are selling.
By providing potential customers with the information they’re looking for you’re actually helping them fulfill a need. The sooner they can find what they’re looking for, the sooner they can go back to doing things they would rather be doing with their time.
Example of Online Marketing Results
Take a look at this case study of one od our Louisville, KY clients.
If you’re tired of spending your entire marketing budget on the same old marketing strategies that continue to produce poor results, then why not find out how online marketing can benefit your Louisville, KY business.
Get started by contacting us for a no obligation, free consultation today!
There’s nothing to lose and only free information to gain; information that can help make your business more successful. This session could be the “one thing” you need to get your business off the ground or take it to the next level.
