The word advertising means something different to everyone. We understand one common theme—if you’re in business, you’re in advertising. People who own, run, and manage small business in America are the ones who drive advertising.
I’m not talking Super Bowl ads, I mean Mom and Pops, Small Business, people like you and me who deal with one question every day:
How do I grow my business?
National corporations are targeting local leads. You need to compete online.
Advertising is Critical to Growing your Business
We’ve seen a growing trend in our market. Large national and international businesses are advertising in our local market. Sure, this has always been the case, with TV and radio, but the trend is happening online. Local is the new target. For service professionals, this is reason for concern.
In many industries, we’re seeing that it’s getting harder and harder to rank, in search for our clients. The cause, we put forth, is digital marketing. Many local businesses have been slow to adopt digital marketing. Sure, you have a website, but I’d bet you that it’s no longer effective in driving new business to you.
The reason? Big companies are using digital marketing to attack your local market. What is their target? Leads.
Networking has long been the local’s edge. We join a local chamber, we’re part of a local club, we belong to a local group of faith and we spend time working in the local community. Digital marketing is threatening this traditional source of leads. Building relationships is the key to any business. But as national brands advertise in our local market, they’re bypassing the old ways of doing business.
Example: Attorneys
Legal Zoom and Rocket Lawyer make it simple to get a service that your local attorney used to provide; a Living Will, or Power of Attorney, for instance.
It’s a simple service, so you don’t notice or miss the business, but it’s the leads they’re after. It’s the leads you’re missing. And it’s the leads, that grow a small client into a bigger client.
Service professionals earn the trust of their clients with the little things. And before you know it, the next generation trusts these companies, instead of building a relationship with your practice.
It’s the same story for Accountants, Finance, Mortgage Brokers, even technical ones, like IT Providers. People are actively trying to disrupt your business model.
Competing Digitally
The problem isn’t that there are corporations who want your market share, it’s that you are not competing digitally.
Here’s a great exercise, to see where you stand.
Google (search) what you do.If you’re an immigration attorney for instance, search for “immigration attorney near me”. What shows up in search will reveal your competition—and whether or not you rank against them online.
This simple exercise is a quick test for your business. If you’re not on the first page of search results, you need to be. Check your pulse.
Do-it-yourself advertising is dead
I’ve seen many trends over my 20 year career in advertising and marketing. As we climb out of recession, I still see so many business owners who still try to do everything themselves. I call it, the age of “do-it-yourself” advertising. Modern tool sets have become so advanced, that we can all pick up an app and build a website. We can make our own logo, send our own bulk email, build newsletters and get business cards printed.
Your time is limited. At what point does quality and efficiency come into play?
We rely on specialists because every task is nuanced. A pro, who specializes in digital can save you money on every ad buy. When you go straight to Google or a local magazine publisher, you pay retail. Organic search changes every week. Think you’re up on the latest trends in content marketing? I could go on.
A Noisy Marketplace
Most important—while it seems the need for people to help us promote our business is no longer an issue… what we don’t see, is that every market is flooded with noise. Everyone is yelling for attention. And we have trained ourselves to ignore it all. So how do you make advertising work for you?
New specialties arise. You need SEO, inbound marketing, outbound campaigns and expensive tool sets to manage it all or even automate.
Now the noise is automated.
When times were harder, we rightly struggled for every advantage. We saved on every task and expense. Yet, as we come out of poor economic times—each and every business is confronted with more competition, all vying for the consumer’s dollar.
And still, we’re bombarded with pitches, offers, and promises that seem so easy. We know they’re too good to be true, but still waste time and resources on a quick fix. One low monthly price and business magically rolls in the door. Does this sound familiar?
Longbow can help you build your business and grow leads, digitally. We’re members of your community, vested in mutual success.
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