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Local Marketing Source is the new sponsor of Local BIZ Builders

By: Scott Gallagher8.1.2011 Comments: 0

I’ve got some great news! Local Marketing Source, LLC is growing and is now the new sponsor of Local BIZ Builders, the leading local internet marketing forum for Local Internet Marketers.

Recently we have become the new sponsor’s of Local Biz Buidlers, the leading local internet marketing forum. Our goal is to continue in Keith’s, LBB Founder, original vision of creating a large, powerful community of local Internet marketers where newbies and experts alike can give and take information in our special niche.

Everyone at Local Marketing Source has been really busy, and we’re really excited for the coming year. We have some great things planned for local marketers and local businesses. Go ahead and become a free member of Local BIZ Builders and network with other business owners, marketers, both newbies and experts! You’ll get a ton of free information and make some new friends. If you’re not on our list, then you’re missing out on some sequential training material…you know, the stuff that is created specifically to learn in a focused fashion. You don’t like it, opt out!

I’ve been busy. Right now I have three different projects I’m building along with two ‘secret’ ones! I’ve already introduced Local Marketing Source, but next is my Local Internet Marketing agency, CCS Internet Marketing. We provide Internet Marketing services to a few different niches, including the transportation industry. Third, I’m a partner in a National Same Day Delivery company, NAPAREX. We are an online platform providing same day delivery to 1000’s of consumers in the United States daily through integration of 100’s of local courier companies.

I look forward to 2011 and it’s going to be a great year, will it be for you too?

Make A Marketing Job Your Own

By: admin8.1.2011 Comments: 0

Marketing employment is similar to almost every other type of employment, in that many of the jobs start out the same way. Anyone who wants a job of any kind has to start by selling himself or herself to their potential employer. People who dislike the process of job applications and interviews are often found to be lacking in self confidence. They are terrified of appearing, at best, unworthy of the position for which they’ve put themselves forward or, at worst, of being humiliated by being exposed as someone who should never have put their foot inside the interview room in the first place. These people don’t believe, deep down, that they can offer a skill set to match what is required of the position on offer.

So, in order to get marketing employment, the first marketing strategy the jobseeker must put together, is one that highlights their own strengths, and what they can bring to the table that no one else can. The clever candidate always walks in knowing that there is something they can offer to their potential employers, and to the company’s customers, that not one other person on the planet can offer. And that is, the candidate himself.

Each person, by definition, is an individual, and therefore different in some way from every other individual in the world. The candidate who can put forward that about themselves which would bring a positive contribution to the company has done the hard bit. Whatever it is they’ll be marketing after that will be a piece of cake, and infinitely easier to figure out than how to sell oneself.

Products can be researched. Numbers can be crunched to show which demographic offers the best opportunity for increased revenues. Customer services can always be improved. Marketing these things is about learning and adapting. Marketing yourself is about confidence and belief.

Ok, it’s true that, just because you like yourself, the prospective employer is not automatically going to hand you the position. Many sales positions allow people with little or no experience to apply. These jobs usually have lower starting salaries and are geared highly towards commissions making up the majority of the remuneration package. Marketing jobs generally require a degree of training. Courses are available everywhere, from fully fledged BA-degree courses in marketing, to night courses that reward certificates of achievement, to online courses that combine marketing studies with economics and even law. The more strings to your bow, the better your pitch will resonate with your interviewers.

All the qualifications in the world, however, will not replace a bit of savvy, or “street smarts” and these are the traits that employers want to see as much as good grades, diplomas and degrees. Having those things is great, but mostly because they give someone even more reasons to come across as confident in their ability to do the job. Being a sharpshooter is one thing. Being a sharpshooter with a fully loaded gun is altogether more impressive. Carrying this analogy forward; let your certificates and training be your “bullets”, but let your personality be the “bomb” that gets the interviewer’s close attention and blows the competition away.

Once you have that career in marketing, it’s going to be important to keep up with current trends. All those things you learned to get those certificates or your degree could be about as relevant to tomorrow’s market trends as an ash tray on a motorcycle. Ten years ago, everyone knew internet marketing was coming. Now, it’s a massive force, but one whose nature is as ever- changing as the surface of the sun. Failing to keep up means you’re going to get burned, no matter how confident you are or how great your personality.

Small Business Internet Marketing Online – Standard Marketing for a Digital Age

By: admin8.1.2011 Comments: 1

If you want to expand your small business, Internet marketing online offers a lot of exposure for your business. Not realizing the power of word of mouth and the many ways that a local business can be promoted online, they often use it in the same context that they would use a listing in a phone book. Although someone might find the business, there are many diverse ways to interact with customers and grow your customer base.

Much like standard advertising for your small business, Internet marketing online is simply a digital version of print advertising. Instead of ads in newspapers, magazines and fliers, your advertisements are in digital format that also allow customer interaction. Very powerful information can be gathered from customer feedback on blogs, social sites and forums. When it comes to marketing your small business, Internet marketing online is easy and relatively inexpensive. Most services are free to sign up for and offer a simple interface to get you started.

One of the most important things to keep in mind is that you have to make whatever web presence you choose easy for your customers to find. You want your website, twitter account, or Facebook page to be one of the first things that shows up when people search for a particular product that you offer. As an example, if your business is to provide chimney sweeping services, if someone does a search for chimney sweeps in your area, you want your business to be the first one to show up in the search engine result pages. There are several ways to accomplish this. An easy way to start would be to use Google’s keyword research tool to determine just what terminology people would use to find a chimney sweep. These terms that searchers use are referred to as keywords and are the cornerstone to advertising online.

Once you have determined what people are searching for related to your business. You can then set up a website, Facebook page or other social network site built around these terms. This makes sense to Google and it is more likely that your page will show up when someone is looking for services or products that you offer. Although similar to an ad in a newspaper, digital forms of advertising can be changed on the fly to accommodate promotions or sales. This provides a unique opportunity to keep up with customer demand and feedback.

Social network sites are a great way to get the word out about your local business and in a lot of cases these sites are free to use. Sites such as Squidoo, Hub Pages and Weebly all offer a free website service with a very easy to use interface that does not require any web programming or special knowledge. By putting your digital “fliers” out on the Internet, you’re casting a wider net to a broader audience. Some consumers shop strictly online and, even though they’re local to your small business, Internet marketing online lets them know you even exist.

With the convenience of being able to search online, fewer people are using traditional phonebooks. When promoting your small business, Internet marketing online should include a listing in Google Places. Google Places is a free to use service that acts as an online phonebook that can be found easily by searching for a product or service in the searcher’s area. Having a listing in this free to use directory pays large dividends with people being able to locate you quickly when they need your services.

When promoting a small business, Internet marketing online is the next logical step in expanding your business. Inexpensive to get started, once your business grows you can expand your small business online presence to include mailing lists or online store. With this growth potential, small businesses need to step into the digital age.

Qualify Your Client for the Best Online Marketing Results

By: admin8.1.2011 Comments: 0

In the world of online marketing, not all businesses are created equal. When it comes to marketing to small businesses, your SEO and local online marketing strategies will differ from business to business. A lot of this is dependent on whether the business offers a product or service. If the business offers a service, the focus of the online marketing campaign will be geared more towards the review type strategy, where as those offering physical products will have an online campaign that is a little more complex and diversified.

With service based small companies, it is more common for customers to patronize local businesses as most services cannot be offered from long distances. This is where the customer review strategy comes in to play. When a customer is researching companies locally, they want to know that the business is not only competent, but offers the best value for the money. This is very simple to do by allowing customers an avenue with which to provide positive feedback. This feedback can then be converted to reviews that can then be published online. The bottom line is, these reviews will make the small business name stand out in the crowd and sets it apart as the premiere business for a particular industry.

Local businesses offering physical products however, have more competition. Many products can be purchased online with the customer never having to leave the house. This requires the online campaign to have a little more focus. Often, this requires the local business to offer something of value that precludes the customer from purchasing online. In most cases big name products are everywhere and the customer is inundated with offers. A local business could use the review strategy to set themselves apart, but in the case of most physical products, consumers are looking for the best value. This is where local online marketing becomes a bit more complex with the implementation of an online store.

An online store allows the small business owner to compete with the big boys on a smaller scale. While large retailers have a large catalog of products, small local businesses would do best to focus on a specific product or niche within their industry. It’s easier to achieve rankings for specific products or niches than a generalized category that would cause the small business to compete with sites such as Amazon, Best Buy or Wal-Mart. These large retailers are trusted names and it’s difficult to compete with them for the customer’s business. By presenting the local business as an authority in an industry, a consumer might be more likely buy from them based on knowledge and experience. Yes, they can buy that particular fishing pole at Wal-Mart, but is the Wal-Mart associate going to know anything about bass fishing and what bait would work best?

As with any market, research is essential in qualifying a small business for online marketing. Knowing the customer behavior in any given industry will help you gear the online local marketing in a direction that benefits the small business. Having a successful marketing campaign involves a lot more than putting up a website and hoping customers find it. A good way to find out where customers go is to browse forums that customers in the industry frequent. Customers will say what they want and where they go to get it. This helps you when marketing to small business for online campaigns. You know exactly who buys these products and how to get them to buy from your client.

When meeting with prospective clients, do your research first. This way you can approach the meeting with the best strategy for marketing the business online. This allows you to establish realistic expectations on the part of the customer, building their confidence in your online marketing abilities. Qualifying the business for online marketing insures a positive outcome in the future.

Local Internet Marketing to be BIGGEST Trend in 2011

By: Scott Gallagher29.12.2010 Comments: 2

Watch Local Internet Marketing blow up

I’m writing this post while visiting my parent’s home in Canada for the Christmas holidays in 2010. While I’m reflecting on our accomplishments of 2010, our vision for 2011, the changes in 2010 and what the future might hold, I was surprised when my father picked up the phone book to find the phone number to a local establishment to order some grub. I let him find the right page in the yellow pages before I opened my computer screen, and the race was on. It took me less than 15 seconds to open my computer, navigate to Google.com and type in the name of the business, hit enter and read the information out loud before he could find the listing on the page, that he was already on.

Why in 2010, someone who was managing a Computerland retail chain in 1984, owns a brand spankin new iMac and MacBook Pro, an XP laptop and XP desktop and a windows 7 laptop….still uses the darn phone book! Oh yeah, they’re owners of some fancy wireless devices as well. So the question becomes, why are we moving into 2011, 19 years after the inception of the public Internet, that it’s still so common to use the phone book? Even worse, why are less than 10% of SME’s in North America adopting Internet Marketing practices? What’s even more surprising, a recent study by BIA/Kelsey reveals that, get this

97% of consumers research products online

Sure, these are people that are already online, but 77% of Americans are online, increasing at an average rate of almost 5% increase year over year for the last 10 years. Yet it still gets better! Kelsey has also reported, in 2010, that 90% on local consumers are using search engines (Google has a whooping 66%) 48% use Online Yellow Pages, 42% use comparison shopping and 25% are using vertical websites.

In addition, over the years, consumers are using 7.9 different sources to find information about local products and services! To add to this, the Google-Groupon failed deal of $6 billion left many people wonder what the heck Groupon knew that other’s didn’t, why they’d turn away $6 billion for a two year old company generating $600 million in revenue. What the heck is going on??? Are you seeing what’s going on here? This reminds me of the milk industry in the early 80’s. Farmers around the country needed to sell more milk, so they created a demand for calcium.

Still in 2010, most offline business owners are clueless to the opportunities online.

Running into a Google Employee at lunch

They may not be an online business, but their customers are online! Plain and simple. There are tremendous opportunities online for SME, small business, local business, brick and mortars, whatever you want to call them. This is definitely a surprise for me though. Why did we have to wait until 2011 for this to be the top rated trend of 2011 by one of the top leading Search Marketing websites? yeah, our friends at Search Engine Land rated this. I would say they are right, by a long shot.

However, as a brick and mortar myself, I reflect back to 6 years ago when I got my first brick and mortar to #1 for a lucrative keyword with a geomod. I mean, concepts like NAPAREX emerged in many local markets quickly even in 2008. What about 2011? Well, open up the Yellow Pages in my town in Lake in the Hills, IL and I find two full pages for a local dentist…hmmm, maybe $1500 a month for this ad? How come if they are reviewed online, searched online and decided upon online, they don’t show up on the first SERP for their top keyword (Dentist) with their Geomods? Bottom line is that local companies are operating in the most dangerous quadrant of the circle of knowledge.

These business owners DON’T KNOW WHAT THEY DON’T KNOW! That is scary! So what is being done? Well, let’s consider the behemoth of Internet Marketers…Google! In mid 2010, the Google Small Business Blog was introduced.

The fourth quarter we saw Google Boost introduced. We saw the integration of Google Places into the main SERPs. We saw test after test after test after test in the local SERPs (follow Mike Blumenthals). We saw Yelp saw a 50% increase in traffic and practically DOUBLED the number of reviews in one year. We witnessed the previously mentioned company called Groupon, who generated more than $600M in revenue in 2010 (prorated for 12/10).

We saw the introduction of Local Internet Marketing education like Local Marketing Source, Nitro Marketing, Traffic Geyser and IM leadership among several others emerge. We saw introductions of new advertising mediums like Google TV in our living rooms, Mobile OS’s skyrockets and smartphone usage exploded past laptop usage among executives!

We learned Google was actually calling local businesses to verify listings! Google couldn’t even crack the automated local business code and needed to get some human power in to garner the best online database. To your left, was a Google employee I met on a business trip in Buffalo, when I learned in October 2010 that they were taking pictures of companies on the inside. Here’s a link to get them to come to your local business.

I could go on with the changes in 2010, but this one is the blatantly obvious move by the 800 pound gorilla as to what is really going on here. Check this out, our favorite Internet Marketer resorts to direct mail!!! Google mails 50,000 businesses information about being a favorite place! Alright, so is the picture being painted here? I hope I’ve provided enough evidence to demonstrate exactly what the message is here.

Local Business don’t yet get it, but the rest of the world does!

For a variety of reasons, many of which could take up a entire post, brick and mortars haven’t yet jumped on. This is great, adoption or change takes time, right? Well, this is the perfect storm for local Internet Marketing. There is no doubt that 2011 and 2012 are going to be massive years for brick and mortars getting online to gain more business.

Oh yeah, aren’t we in the greatest recession of our lifetime? Isn’t that further motivation for a local company to explore a new avenue of revenue in Q1 2011?

You decide, I’m already convinced.

If you are a local business owner, grab this free report from my marketing agency here. No Opt-in, direct download!

If you are marketer who aspires to provide these services to local companies, opt-in to grab out free introductory report here!

Local Online Marketing – A New Career in Difficult Times

By: admin12.12.2010 Comments: 0

In today’s economy, many people are being forced to change their career choice. With little or no jobs available, if you’re waiting for large companies to begin hiring again, you may be waiting awhile. This predicament has many people turning to the internet as a means to earn a living when jobs are scarce. If you’re seeking marketing employment, the internet could provide not only the income, but the means with which to control when and how you work. If you already have a marketing background, you are that much further ahead in the internet marketing game, however internet marketing is multi-faceted and there are many ways to implement an online campaign.

For those venturing into marketing for the first time, you not only need to understand the sales climate, but the technical aspects of marketing online as well. There are many courses available online that will show you the ropes. The prices on these courses are wide and varied and are dependent on which avenue in online marketing you want to take. It is usually recommended to learn one way of internet marketing first and expand to other areas once you see positive results.

With little to no competition in online marketing for local businesses, somewhat of a blessing has been created in the online marketing industry. Historically, small local businesses have failed to realize the power of the web and how they could broaden their customer base by putting their business online. Savvy internet marketers have recognized this and have begun targeting local businesses in their area for local business marketing. This is being referred to as the Gold Rush of the internet marketing industry with many marketers adding new local clients every day. As more local businesses see tangible results, the demand for solid online marketing services continues to grow and many people are positioning themselves to provide for that demand.

You don’t need formal training or a degree to become a marketer for local businesses but you do need to have knowledge of specific online marketing strategies. Most of the information you need to know can be obtained by simply researching the subject on the internet. A lot of what you might need to know can be learned at no cost by frequenting internet marketing forums. This is not structured learning however and might be a little confusing. Those who do best with a laid out step by step lesson plan might do best by purchasing a course as mentioned previously. One such course is Scott Gallagher’s Accelerated Training program. With focus on marketing for local businesses, this will give you the tools you need to get started in an increasingly popular market.

The earning potential in online marketing for local businesses is truly limited only by the amount of work that you put into it. You decide when you want to work and how you want your business to run. It is not always an easy road, however, and many would be marketers fall into the trap that it’s easy and requires little or no effort. As with any business, success requires time and investment on your part, but if you are willing to put in the time and determination, you will have a successful business that you have control of.

Many have suggested that in this economy that marketing becomes less of a priority for local businesses. The fact of the matter is, businesses must continue to reach potential customers to either maintain or increase their customer base. Marketing is truly a necessary cost to running a business and the internet provides a low cost way to do that. Some business owners don’t realize that a well run marketing campaign is essential to remain profitable, even in difficult times.

If you are looking for a job in marketing, employment is guaranteed if you have control and you call the shots. Start researching the different online marketing strategies to begin your new local business marketing career.