step by step local marketing action guide
Post on 13-Apr-2017
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Tammy Hawk-Bridges
Step By Step Local Marketing Action Guide
Hi there I’m Tammy!Ready to learn about
marketing?!
© Content Intellectual Property of Perfect Marketing Equation. All Rights Reserved.
Hi there! My name is Tammy Hawk-Bridges. I provide marketing training and education for entrepreneurs.
I hope you’ll visit my website Perfect Marketing Equation - www.perfectmarketingequation.com and
also follow me on Twitter @THawkBridges.
Local marketing is a gold mine to a business that:
1. Learns how to leverage it.
2. Develops a process businesses follow through without fail.
3. Stays aware of new trends and integrates what
makes sense for their business model.
This presentation will lay out the entire groundwork of
considerations needed before you can develop an awesome local marketing
strategy.
Local Marketing: Lets Cover the Internet Bases
1. Your Website
You must have a website that was built with the
customer in mind.
•How is it laid out?• Is it user friendly? •Do you have an idea of
how people would search for what you sell?
•Did you consider this when it was designed?• Is there a place for clients
to sign up to your email list?
•What’s the incentive for clients to sign up?• Is there valuable
information that serves as answers to clients potential
problems?
•Do they see you as a leader in your space?
Important: Is your website mobile?
Action Item 1: Take out your handheld and
look at your own site. •What do clients see?• Is it mobile friendly?
The whole idea is to use your local marketing efforts
to drive traffic to your website.
•When they get there what do they find?
Action Item 2: Look at your website from a
visitor perspective and answer the following questions.
• Is your website user-friendly? • Is the content done well? •Do people find what they
need right away?
• Is there a place for potential clients to sign up to your list, front and center?• Is there valuable
information for them?
•Does your website make you look like a leader in your space?
2. Search
When people need what you sell they do a search on the
Internet.
Your local marketing efforts are more successful when people
can actually find you.
Action Item 3: Type into Google what
someone would type into the search engine if they were
looking for what you do or sell.
•What comes up on the first page? (Make sure you are logged out of any Gmail accounts while conducting this search, as it can create false results.)
If you’re already on the first search engine page, that is a
huge asset to your local marketing efforts. Huge
points if you are!
If you aren’t on the first page your competitors are
getting the action.
Make note of who is on the front page. You’ll need that info for the competitor part
of this exercise.
Don’t type in the name of your business and find
yourself on page 1. Most of the time nobody is
going to search for you under your business name.
For example: Search engine keywords will
look like this:•Hairdresser Atlanta GA•Restaurants Detroit MI
Local Marketing and Geo-Targeting
Search engines now identify a visitors location according to the Wifi, IP and GPS data They are content specific to
that location.
Check it out.
Local Marketing and Yelp
48% of mobile users have an iPhone. That’s almost half!
Apple has a partnership with Yelp, so when an iPhone
user conducts a search for a local business the first
resource offered up is Yelp pages.
Fact: Most businesses have either claimed their Yelp page
or completely ignore it and don’t monitor the reviews.
Action Item 4: Do a search for your business
and find your Yelp Profile. Make sure there isn’t one
that already exists before you recreate one.
You don’t want two Yelp profiles out there for the
same business. Once you find your
business’s profile, claim it.
Your Yelp Profile is crucial to your local marketing efforts.Never overlook profiles that carry this much weight on
the Internet.
Next, make sure its populated with pictures.
Now you will need to check your profile on a regular basis for good and bad
reviews.
Respond to ALL reviews good and bad.
Important Trivia1. 73% of consumers lose
trust in your business if your online listings aren’t accurate.
(Search Engine Watch)
2. A one-star increase in a business rating can equate
to a 5% to 9% revenue increase! (Harvard Business
School)
3. Apple maps are used 3 times as much as Google
maps on iPhones and iPads. (Venture Beat)
3. Reputation Marketing and Reviews
When was the last time you did a search on the Internet
to see what’s being said about you?
When a searcher sees a bad review about your business,
you have lost a potential customer.
Put a dollar sign on it – How much is this new customer
worth to you?
There are services you can pay for to keep a track of your reviews like Trackur, Reputology, and Review
Trackers.
Step 1: Weekly check and respond to ALL reviews on
the following websites:• Facebook•Google• Yelp
Step 2: Once a month type your business name into the
search engine.
Go back at least 4 pages to look for any potential bad
feedback on any websites or listings.
What if you get a bad review?
Don’t ignore it! Talk to everyone involved and get feedback from all sides.
Once you have researched the incident, contact the
customer and do your best to smooth it over.
Most of the time people just want to be heard and have a
feeling of resolve.
Try to reach an agreement and ask them to remove the
bad feedback.
If they won’t remove the review there’s nothing you can do but
strive to get more positive reviews to push it down.
Action Item 5: Conduct a reputation search
on your business using the steps I pointed out before.
Do it on a regular basis.
4. Directory Profiles
Its important to look through any directory listings like
Yellowpages, Merchant Circle, etc. to make sure your information is correct.
You can usually claim the free version of your listing
page.
There are tons of obscure directory listings. It is their
business strategy to populate your listings just enough so you will contact
them and claim your business.
Then they will hit you with their pitch.
Does it help to rank better in Google if I am on all of these
directories?
The answer is yes and no.
No – There is no value listing your business in every
obscure directory listing out there.
Having a ton of links to your website used to be helpful but now it can actually be
harmful.
It is helpful to have your link on high ranking on sites like
Facebook, Yelp, LinkedIn, Google, Yellowpages, etc.
It’s not helpful to have your link on directory sites no one
cares about.
Yes – Populate the top ranking directories that are on the first few pages of the
search.
No matter what, make sure the information is correct.
Important: Google looks to establish
sources of data to both build their database and check for local business information.
Visit Moz Local . It grades your effort in completing
your directories.Enter the name of your
business and the city and it will do the rest.
Action Item 6: Do a solid search 5 pages
back. Look for all directories where your business is
listed.
Claim listings and make sure information is correct.
5. Competition
Know who your competitors are and how they position
their business.
•Are they communicating via social media?•What does their website
look like?
•Where do they rank in your searches?•Are they advertising on
Google? Facebook?
“But we are special in our space, no one is doing what
we do and the way we do it.”
The consumer decides who your competitors are, not
you.
If they can get something you sell somewhere cheaper then you have a competitor.
Brick and mortar businesses are feeling the burn as
people start turning to the Internet for a wider range of
products, cheaper prices and free shipping.
The Internet is also your competitor.
Competition is real.
Consider having some hard facts on your competition as
part of your marketing strategy.
Action Item 7: Competition Analysis – Here are a list of actions to take to become more aware of your
competitors.
1. What would someone type into Google if they were
looking for what you do or sell?
Type that into the search. List 10 businesses that are
there.
2. Visit the competitor websites in the search one
by one. Write out observations. How good is
their website?
3. How are they positioning their business? Do you see
anything they are doing that is different from you?
4. Do a check on their online reviews.
This will give you an idea as to their customer service
practices and how good they are at their business in
general.
5. Look up their Facebook page and see how well they are at social media efforts.
Does it look like they care about what their business looks like on social media?
If not, then this is a big opportunity for you! Do they share useful
information and really engage with their followers?
7. Look around for evidence of email marketing efforts.Are they offering discounts or other incentives to get
people to sign up?
If this is something they are doing and you aren’t they
are more aggressively getting new customers and
staying in front of their customers.
8. Do you see evidence of a customer loyalty program in
place?
Customer loyalty programs enhance the customer experience and provide
incentives for clients to come to you versus going to a
competitor or on the Internet.
In today’s world if your business directly deals with the consumer, a customer
loyalty program needs to be a part of your marketing
strategy.
Consider all these points. How do you fare?
Make a list of action items and list them in priority.
These are the types of actions that are the
difference between growing your business and losing
new customer opportunities to your competitors.
Local Marketing: Google Places is an
Important Tool
Utilizing Google Business Places is just as important as
having a website.
When your customers go to look for your business online
Google Business Places is the first thing they see.
Did you know Google Places can give you a huge Internet
ranking boost?
When people go to the Internet to conduct a search Google Business Places takes
up a large portion of the landscape.
A greatly optimized Google page with lots of good
reviews has 2 major benefits to your local marketing
strategy:
1. It helps you to rank higher in organic search results.
2. It shows people who find your business online how
well you conduct your business.
Remember a 1 star increase can increase revenue by 5%-
9%!
On the next slide there is an example of a client of mine.
We are on top of all their keywords and they are on
page 1 for their search terms.
We started focusing on their reviews. Now for the first time in 2 years if you type “handyman Alpharetta”
their Google page ranks #2.
My goal is to get them to #1!
When someone conducts this search on a mobile
device there is a call option in addition to the website
and directions. A huge boost to our marketing efforts!
Some interesting facts:
•73% of all online activity is related to local content. (Google)
•82% of local searchers follow up with a phone call or show up on your doorstep. (TMP/comscore)
•66% of Americans use local searches to find local businesses. (comscore)
Action Item 8: If you haven’t claimed your
Google page, find it and claim it today! It’s critical to your
local marketing strategy.
Action Item 9: Populate your Google Business
Page until it reaches 100%.
Action Steps:
1. As before mentioned, you will want to make sure your
profile is at 100%.
2. Include product or service keywords in your listing
description.
List one or two of the suburbs/cities where your
target market lives. DO NOT overuse keywords.
3. Once your page is completely finished and
optimized then encourage all your best customers to leave positive reviews on
your page.
4. Consider launching a campaign with an incentive
for customers who leave feedback for you on Google.
It can be a coupon, a special discount – whatever you
want it to be.
Remember those reviews revert back to sales!
It’s worth a well thought out effort to create a marketing
strategy that increases reviews.
5. Include your Google page link on your newsletters and
your website.
6. Once you open up this effort you can’t just leave it!You should be checking your
reviews weekly.
Even when you get positive reviews respond and say “thank you”, it just looks
good.
When you have a bad review address it immediately!
Nothing is worse than when people see bad reviews on your Google page that go
ignored.
Local Marketing: Facebook is a Crucial
Element
Facebook is a huge part of your marketing puzzle.
If your customer is 35-55 years old, this happens to be
Facebook’s largest demographic, so you
definitely want to be there!
You actually won’t get a whole lot of engagement
just doing regular posts. But that doesn’t mean you
shouldn’t do them.
If you write something great and people start liking it,
that will give it more views in your fan feed.
I feel every business no matter what you do and
who your customer base is should be spending a small amount on Facebook ads.
If you are promoting a special product or sale, the best thing to do is write a
post and then boost it –that way you can decide how
many eyes see it.
Before you decide not to pay $10-$20 to boost something you feel should be free just
remember to always be focused on the result.
If you pay $10 to boost an ad and it brings in more traffic to your store and
increases sales that’s a win!
You should ALWAYS think of the benefit and value of
investing money to market your business versus cost,
especially if it’s a tiny cost.
Example:
It is most important for your Facebook to be fully optimized
and look professional.
Important: More people will engage with
your Facebook page from your handheld so make sure it looks good from all points.
Action Item 10: Lets do a Facebook checkup!
1. First, take out your mobile. See what it looks like to
experience what your visitor sees.
•Do you have your call to action set up properly?
For example: if your call to action is “contact us” or “email us” make sure its connected to the contact
page on your website.
If you have a consumer driven business my favorite
call to action is “Call Us Now”.
If someone clicks that from their handheld your number
will pop right up.
Look at the example from my client on the next slide. See how their call to action
is call now?
One of my other clients has a retail store. Her button
says “Buy Now” and it goes straight to her online store.
Make sure you make the best call to action decision for your particular business
model.
2. Get Verified. If your Facebook page isn’t already verified get that done right
away.
Getting verified gives your page more credibility.
According to Facebook, getting verified will give your
posts more advantage in your fan feeds more so than pages that aren’t verified.
Look at the white arrow on the next slide that is
pointing to the verified symbol.
To Verify Your Page:1. Click Settings at the top of
your page. 2. From General click Page
Verification.
3. Click Verify This Page then click Get Started.
4. Enter a publicly listed phone number for your
business, your country and your language.
5. Click Call Me Now to allow Facebook to call you with a verification code.
6. Enter the 4 digit verification code and click
Continue.
3. Fill out your information completely. Remember people go here to read
about your business, so you want to treat your Facebook
page like a website.
Make sure all your information is filled out in
full like general information, hours of operation etc.
Every single tab should be filled in.
4. Set up your automatic messaging options.
People can now send you messages through Facebook
and because you can’t always respond right away you want
to look professional.
Facebook has some great options for you. Go to
Settings>Messaging. Your options should pop up.
First set your response time. Let people know how long it typically will take for you to
get back in touch with them.
Example:
5. Below you can enable an away message when your
business is closed. See example on next slide.
Here you can set up instant replies so when someone sends you a message they
receive one back.
In the example on the next slide, we provide clients
with our phone number so they can call for immediate
assistance instead of waiting for us to get back to them.
6. Scheduling Facebook Posts- What if you are busy during the week and don’t have time to make posts?
Easy! Schedule your posts in advance.
Write a post like you normally would then click the upside down triangle you see the short arrow pointing to, then choose
schedule.
Once you choose Schedule, a box will pop up. (Example
on next slide) Set it up for when you want
it to go out and click Schedule.
I could go on about Facebook but I have already
written a novel. I hope you have found this
marketing guide useful.
Don’t forget to sign up to download your action sheet
in a PDF format. That way you can do your checkup at
a later time.
PLEASE get it done! It is CRUCIAL for your business!
Once you set up your local marketing online presence, make sure you take care of
it. Cheers!
© Content Intellectual Property of Perfect Marketing Equation. All Rights Reserved.
Please visitwww.perfectmarketingequation.com for many other marketing lessons for
entrepreneurs!
© Content Intellectual Property of Perfect Marketing Equation. All Rights Reserved.
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