When you were a kid, many of the things you did were because, “everyone is doing it.” I remember that when everyone else was getting 10-speed bikes for Christmas I told my parents I thought they were only a fad. I wanted a single speed bike.
That Christmas, I got a shinny, red, traditional, single speed bike. It was beautiful to look at. With two black, 26” wheels, flat red body and flashy chrome plated handle bars it was a wonder to look at.
A few weeks later a buddy of mine and I tried to ride our bikes to the house of a friend of ours we knew from church. He lived on a farm about 13 miles from town. I learned why we only saw him on Sundays.
The area of Indiana in which I grew up is hilly. My buddy had one of those nasty 10-speeds. When we had to ride up a hill, all he had to do was shift into a lower gear and pedal normally. I had to get off my bike and walk it up the hill.
I learned then that things that are popular are not always bad. Sometimes, following the crowd is not the best idea. If the crowd is rushing towards a cliff, you will not see it until you are falling.
Other times it is a good idea to keep up with the crowd. If they are running to the ice cream truck on a hot day and you do not join them, you will stay miserable.
INTERNET MARKETING IS NOT A FAD
The internet is the adult version of my bike for my business. When I was just a rookie insurance agent I used my computer to get on the internet a few times. In 1988 I decided it was just a fad for geeks and nerds.
In 2009 I revisited it from a marketing perspective. What I thought was just a fad in 1988 had become a staple of business marketing by 2009.
- In the past, people shopped at “brick and mortar” stores before they bought something. Today, however, they do their comparison shopping on line before they go to the store to buy.
- Just a few years ago people “let their fingers do the walking” to find a phone number in the Yellow Pages. Today, they “Google” a store they want to call to get the phone number.
Several years ago, I put together a web site, www.theinsurancebarn.com, for my business. I heard the stories about how people’s businesses boomed after they got on the web. Like the 49ers who rushed off to California to seek the promise of riches I forgot that nothing good happens without work. One of the rules of marketing is that people won’t visit you unless they know you exist.
A web site, alone, is not sufficient. Even web sites require some marketing to cause people to look at them.
In 2009, I took 2 steps to help my business.
- I started a weekly email newsletter.
- I built a blog.
As an entrepreneur, I hate waste and inefficiency. I have found that the internet is both more efficient and less costly for me with people under age 65. (I still use direct mail to reach older people who have not yet connected to the internet but my printing and mailing costs have drastically gone down as I have adopted a more efficient internet marketing strategy.)
When people are looking for goods and services on the internet, they usually do an internet search if they are not certain where to go. TIB Marketing sets you up with platforms that will allow your customers to find you.
Email is the most popular marketing method on the internet. It allows you to zero in on your target market and keep your business name in front of them so they cannot forget you. You are able to contact people on your email list frequently with colorful, attractive offers. After the people on your list have seen your name at least 8 times, the marketing books tell us that they will never again buy your product without first thinking of you.
Email campaigns are subject to “anti-spam” laws. If you are going to use email as part of your marketing plan, you would be best served to use an email provider. Most of them will keep you in compliance with the “anti-spam” laws.
Avoiding the loss of time, court costs and attorneys’’ fees are enough reason for me to use an email service.
It is not unusual for a search engine to find thousands of pages of vendors who provide those goods or services. Even if you have a static web site, it is probable that you will show up on page 123 of the search.
That may be sufficient for you if you already have all the customers you want and they know how to find you. If a potential customer has to weed through 1220 other vendors before they see you listing, how many new customers do you think you will pick up as a result of your presence on the web?
The criteria used by Google and Yahoo and the other search engines to order web sites in their search results are not fully known. However, we do know that you cannot buy a first page ranking. You have to earn it.
An entire industry has been developed to help people chase that coveted number 1 position in a search engine’s ranking. It is called Search Engine Optimization, or SEO.
I am a comparative new comer in SEO. When it comes to link building, internet analysis and key word seeding, I know enough to manage my own sites. I will leave it to the self-proclaimed “Gurus” to sell their SEO thoughts.
I know how to set up a basic blogging platform, email campaign and web site. I can give you basic instructions on how you can use them to build your business. It is up to you to read and learn how you can improve on them.
HOW I CAN HELP SMALL BUSINESSES USE THE INTERNET
I find it wasteful to not use all the newly developed skills and knowledge I have obtained in the last year. My primary business is insurance. I am an Insurance Counselor.
Marketing techniques have changed drastically in the last few years. The techniques of interruption marketing that I was taught early in my career are now considered obsolete. Today, successful business owners use more "permission based" marketing techniques through the internet. They are less wasteful and more efficient. To do those you need an internet presence.
If you own a small business and are interested in using the internet to help but do not know where to start, review the services we supply by clicking on the tabs above.
Rather than spending thousands of dollars and waiting for a professional web master to get around to you, you can establish a presence on the web today for less money. TIB Marketing can get you up and running in just a couple of hours.
The blogs and web sites we build will be attractive but you won’t have to spend $ 1000. More importantly, when you need to make a change, you can do it yourself. You do not have to wait 5 days for a web master to get the change made.
