Complete Digital Marketing Plans Builds Local Business Awareness
This is a concept that I often find myself explaining to my clients. The main reason is my poor clients are continually bombarded with wild promises from Telemarketers that they can get them up on Google first page of search for hardly any money. Now most of these phone calls never go any further but what is happening is the uneducated business owner (in regards to digital Marketing) begins to believe that this is the only thing their business will need. Which is furthest from the truth if you are a business that is looking to achieve a competitive market share in your industry. Now if you are a pest control service and you own your own business and have 1 truck and a couple of guys then Google might be enough to sustain your business. However if you have aspirations of growing your business and having 10 trucks and 40 guys then you are not even scratching the surface.
To begin with you will need a custom website design that is competitive in depth and style with your competitors. For most major industries a 5 page website is no longer going to cut it. You will need a 20 page site or larger depending on your competition. In addition you’ll need unique relevant content to fill those pages. Detailing the important aspects of your business, encompassing consumer needs, and accentuating your competitive advantages.
Now comes the fun part, at least it is the part I get most excited about, which is establishing your digital footprint within your local market. To do that you need to have your local listing and social listing established. They include, Google+ Pages, Yahoo Local, Bing Local, Facebook fan page, twitter account set up, Yelp account which feeds Apple Maps, and Google Maps (Yes they are different then Google+, this will show your location on smart phone Google Map Programs). In addition you will also need to have your local listing created for many other niche directories including yp.com, dexknow, and many others. Interactive media also helps you to separate yourself with a youtube channel as well as video business profiles, product advertisements and product and service instructions.
Next in the process of a complete local digital footprint you will need your search engine listings to be SEO’d in their local markets. A reputation management strategies to gain client reviews and to be alerted when a negative review takes place. From there you add in some sponsored Pay per click (PPC) advertising to cover obscure but relevant keywords. Re-marketing Banners to continually stay in-front of your prospective clients during the buying cycle, as they will appear to people who have visited your site in the last 30 days. Video sponsored ads, for me this is an area that is being ignored by local businesses and I believe it is a huge mistake. These are videos that will play on Youtube to sponsor the upcoming Video, Keeping these to 15-20 seconds helps to keep your audiences attention.
Finally adding a mobile strategy as this is the fastest growing search segment, making sure your website is responsive which is what mobile users prefer over mobile sites. Emailing campaigns is also a great way to keep in touch with your clients and to inform them of new products/services or specials.
So as you can see having a digital advertising program is a lot more than just being or getting up on Google. I also anticipate that the search distribution will grow as mobile searches continue to Grow.
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