The Best Local Marketing Solution For Area Business Owners…

Online Marketing For Local Area “Brick and Mortar” Small and Medium Size Businesses

Link to video about Marketing Works Kansas CityWouldn’t you like to dominate your local business market and double or triple the ready to buy customers visiting your business? In the next 90 days we can do just that for your business by leveraging effective and powerful internet marketing strategies and plugging your business into our local business marketing system.

We set up internet marketing systems for small and medium sized businesses that put your business right where buyers already are, online, and get you a steady stream of customers automatically from the internet.

Did you know your customers are already looking for your product or service online… and are ready to buy? 80% of people who are ready to buy do research online before they buy… and half of them then go on that product or service from a local business!

NEARLY 50% THEN GO ON TO SPEND MONEY LOCALLY! This is a HUGE opportunity for small business owners. Locally owned and based small and medium sized businesses will actually have an advantage over the “Big Box” stores. In a down economy “home town” residents would rather spend money with a local business, and keep their money “local”.

Over 1 billion local searches are performed online every month, on Google and the other search engines… and that number is growing over 50% per year. Most buyers rarely if ever, search the yellow page directories anymore… and that trend has carried over to newspapers, and traditional advertising as well.

In 2011 near 60% of of local online searches were done on smart phones like Androids, iPhones, Blackberry, iPads and other mobile devices.

The internet is the future for small business because that’s where customers are already searching for the products and services they want to buy.

So, the obvious question is this: If a buyer searches Google for the product or service you offer… do they find YOUR business… or your competitors business?

We make sure your business shows up on Google, Bing, and Yahoo local, and organic search.

Get more information about what we can do for your business, as well as powerful tips, tricks and tactics for growing your business…just click the graphic below, and get our free guide Getting New Customers Fast…


Golly Dang… Yep! We’re still under construction! But…

…There’s some dandy and useful content showing up real soon!

Be sure to check back… or just call me!

Local Search Rankings – “What’s The Big Deal?”


Why You Should Be Paying Attention To Local Search…


Local Search Behavior Graph - Wall Street Journal

Most of us have heard of the shift from print media, advertising, and entertainment consumption over to the online desktop, and now, onwards towards mobile devices.

For the last few years, most of the “big boys/big box” brands have been working hard at getting better positioned in the online marketplace.  The most savvy of them are making the online market a central part of their business models.

  With the proliferation of mobile price comparison apps, the big box bricks and mortar stores are in brutal competition with the large “online only” stores.

As The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) recently pointed out, walk in customers can go to Best Buy, find what they want and then scan the UPC code and get an instant comparison to the lowest online price for the item, and buy it on the spot… from Amazon.com!

The WSJ article also elicited a reader poll, asking consumers about how search plays a roll in when and where they buy. The results are visible in the graphic at the top of this post.

In the poll, 4 out of 5 buyers (79.3%) do research online, and then buy from a physical store. The impact of walk in buyers using Bricks and Mortar as their “showroom” for online purchases, is certainly a genuine challenge to physical retailers… but I think the poll results suggest something critically important to local retailers and service providers.

The decision to buy and “instant gratification.”

When someone types in a product name or service need, they are approaching the tail end of the decision process… they’re getting ready to buy.  Once they get their questions and selection process figured out… the wallet’s comin out of their pocket, and if the only or best choice is at a LOCAL store, more than half* of them will march on over to that local store, and make the purchase… especially if that  business is a well liked local establishment.

In fact, many if not most consumers would prefer to buy from a local merchant or service provider, and will even tolerate higher pricing in economic support of their community.

So what’s the big deal?

You have to be in the online search results for your potential customers to find your product or service. Leveraging the expertise to rank towards the top, and “own” that space, requires specialized knowledge and skill. For most business owners, working in their business is probably a better use of their time than working on their marketing.

Hiring someone who understands online local search strategy, and internet marketing strategy, and whose services get tangible results, is a cost effective high leverage way to be sure that your business appears where the buyers and their friends are hanging out… online.

These trends really do favor local businesses that take good care of their customers.

*6 to 9 month old data… and trending upward.

Advertising… The Key To Boosting Business? Maybe not

Advertising Won’t Fix A Business With Broken Parts

You need more customers, and you already have a number of sales people offering their advertising packages to you, with the promise of more business as a result.

Sound familiar?  Will buying advertising be sufficient to grow your business?  Consider these things before you spend a sizable chunk of money on an advertising campaign.

How are things going with your existing customers?  Do they come back because they feel appreciated and well taken care of?  When a new customer comes in do they consistently react in a positive way… maybe even enthusiastically?

Or do they come back because you are “the only game in town”.

Do your employees communicate appreciation and courtesy to your customers… or do they act like they don’t much care? (even though you provide them a paycheck…)

CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE – Key To Profitability

We read stories of folks who open a business, it takes off and they hit “pay dirt”.  We see a passionate business owner, whose enthusiasm and energy has a positive effect on their employees, their customers, and their community.  That enthusiasm and the clear selection and training of good employees makes it all possible.

Some version of that same “verve” is essential in every business enterprise.  When a business owner starts letting the “happy customer” basics fall through the cracks, that’s a danger sign.  When a first time customer shows up at a business exhibiting these danger signs, the odds are good it will go one of 2 ways (rather than “number 3″):

  1. If it’s okay, they may or may not come back.
  2. If they have a poor or frustrating experience, don’t expect them to come back, but DO expect them to tell others about their experience.
  3. They have a good experience, enjoy it, and on departure are made to feel like their business is greatly appreciated… that they MATTER to the business and it’s owners.  They will be sure to come back, and they will tell their friends and family about “this great business/restaurant/service provider.”

So, what does this have to do with a decision to buy advertising? If you are going to do an ad spend, and you have an “insufficient enthusiasm” problem in your business leading to a #1 or #2 (above) outcome, your per transaction profit better be really high, because you won’t have much customer retention.

How do you rate your business on it’s “customer experience?”  Which of the above 3 descriptions fits best?  Do you know?  Do you know how your employees treat your customers when you’re not around?

If your business is genuinely a #3 business.  Congratulations!  You have solved a common cause of business failure.  Your business will have new customers coming back over and over again, as long as you stay a “number 3″.

A “Number 3″ business builds powerful loyalty, appreciation and even pride among it’s customers.  It builds customers who are “patrons”.  They tell their friends and family about you, and even “take pride” in the fact they found you and they benefit because you are in their community.

A Number 3 business, will build a growing “fan base” of happy patrons over time.  A hybrid ad spend in a number 3 business will give back the best possible Return On Investment (ROI).

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NOTE:  When we reference the term “advertising” on this site, we are talking about online, or “hybrid” offline/online advertising.

If you’d like to learn more about leveraging targeted and effective hybrid marketing for your business, give us a call.  We’ll put you in front of customers that are already looking for you.