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View Full Version : What do small businesses want from online marketing?



adamba
11-30-2009, 04:03 PM
Hi i'm new here, but this looks like a good forum, so i though i'd give it a try :)

In short I'm developing a web platform to help market small businesses and I am wondering what small businesses would pay for online.

The platform is such that I can direct traffic to a businesses web page, and get users to call the business but I am unsure what I can do for businesses that do not have websites or do not provide a service. (Web traffic being good for businesses that sell stuff online and phone calls for businesses that sell a service.) Think small/family run retail.

I'm really racking my brain as to what I can offer or do to prove I'm getting people in their store (I assume that's all they really care about - as short sighted as they may be). I've thought these businesses could offer coupons through my service, but I'm for the most part stuck if they don't want to offer coupons.

For example, does anyone have any insight into how i can prove my worth to something like a Ma and Pa diner. They don't sell anything online (probably don't have a webpage) and probably don't take reservations (I'm thinking they don't even answer their phones).

Also, are small businesses that don't sell things online interested in website traffic, as in will they pay for it?

thanks a bunch

Patrysha
11-30-2009, 06:20 PM
This is my specialty and yes...if you can show value (and I know I can) you can sell online marketing to customers serving and local target market and help them do very well with their efforts.

I am a writer by passion...and so I do things like put together contact lists and email newsletters (as well as writing for print like brochures and product descriptions)...of course I am getting to the point where I don't write everything myself...but everything goes by me before it gets to the client so I can ensure they are getting what they pay for.

I am working towards specializing in group marketing efforts involving online and offline promotions...but my bread and butter at this point is the small town small business owner with a local market.

The best source I have found for (and this is an affiliate link...but I am a paying Gold Member so it's not an empty referral just because I get a slice if you choose to join and access the materials...they've been immensely valuable to me, but ymmv) OfflineBiz.com (http://www.offlinebiz.com/index.cfm?affID=Patrysha)

adamba
11-30-2009, 07:15 PM
thanks for the reply
i understand that they'll pay for it if you show value, but thats what im asking. I can direct people to their website and get people to call their business, but if the business is something like a small retailer where a web visit isn't worth much to them and a phonecall again isn't worth too much to them what do you do? Only someone in their store is worth $$, how do you measure that for them in order to prove what you're doing is valuable?
Is this simply the age old question of does marketing actually work? If the business doesn't want a phone call or a web site visit how do my users found them through me?

thanks

Spider
11-30-2009, 08:29 PM
Seems to me you have a solution and you are looking for a problem for it to solve. (Rather like today's pharmaceutical industry - develop a drug then find a disease for it to cure!!!)

Instead of focussing on the vendors your solution cannot help, look for vendors your solution can help. You won't sell everybody - focus on those you can sell.

vangogh
11-30-2009, 09:50 PM
I was thinking the same as Frederick. You mentioned you can show value to some so why focus on them. You have something that businesses with websites and particularly service based businesses would find value. That's your target market.

Focus on the people and businesses you can help now. Build your business around that market. Down the line you may find a way you can solve a problem that brick and mortar businesses have or you may find you do well enough with the original market.

Think about the people you can help and focus your business around helping those people.

Dan Furman
12-01-2009, 07:42 PM
The platform is such that I can direct traffic to a businesses web page, and get users to call the business

If you can really do this, you won't have to worry about mom and pops that don't have websites - you'll have more business than you can handle.

Harold Mansfield
12-01-2009, 10:38 PM
I think I understand what you are are saying and it's a difficulty problem, mainly because anyone with a website that is not a full time webmaster, ie: the average business trying to leverage internet traffic and turn it into sales, has heard it all before..."I can bring you traffic", "I can put you at the top of search engines", "You need targeted traffic, I can do that for you"...and by now they are probably weary of those type of claims.

If you have something that is different from the average SEO, or SEM guy then you need to insure that you are making that point, and also proof will be in the pudding...meaning, testimonials of past clients, and proof that what you say you can do actually works.

Saying that you can bring traffic is one thing, but claiming you can make that traffic convert is a bold statement that many are probably not going to believe unless it involves PPC...even so..a successful website with good conversions starts from the ground up. It's all but impossible to claim to be able to do that across the board for all kinds of businesses because quite frankly, a lot of websites suck and won't convert no matter how skillful you are with web marketing.

How do you propose to handle that?

yoyoyoyoyo
01-15-2010, 03:09 PM
Overall: whatever it is you do, you have a track-record of performing at a certain level.

If you are capable of showing a prospect a successful track-record, they will be more inclined to work with you at X amount of dollars. (as this seems to be a determiner of Worth)

Patrysha
01-15-2010, 03:12 PM
A forum that may really help you is Offline Biz. It's a paid membership site to get to the good stuff, but even the free areas are pretty full of great info. PM me if you would like my affiliate link or you can just search for it.

rhinoseo
01-27-2010, 09:26 PM
One of the biggest challenges with SEO and convincing a small business of the need is just that. SEO is a buzz word and almost all web designers are pushing it as a service to produce residual income. The problem is that months pass with businesses paying for no results... they lose faith and then SEO gets a bad rap.

David Espino
03-12-2010, 04:03 PM
Adamba, it sounds like your strength is in lead generation, which can be a great, scalable business model.

There are businesses that would be happy to pay you "per-lead" for someone who is interested in connecting with a local roofer, plumber, dentist, etc.

You would capture these prospects by - instead of sending them to your business owner-customer's website - sending them to a lead-capture page, which has an online form where the prospect expresses interest in hiring the best dentist, shall we say...

Then, you can sell that lead to your business customer.

The challenging part is determining how much to charge for each lead.

Typically, you want to get an idea of that prospect's "lifetime customer value" to the business and then charge a percentage of that.

You can get some of these answers by asking the business owner some specific, targeted questions about their average customer. (how much an average customer spends per year, what kind of repeat marketing do they do, is it a recurring sale, etc.)

The good thing about selling leads is that you get paid to do the hard work of bringing them prospects. Now it's up to them to actually be a good "closer" of those leads.

If they decide to stop paying for leads, (usually only because they are not closing enough of those into sales) contact another similar business in the area and start selling the leads to them.

You're in a good position as a lead generator because there will always be customers.

Dave

painperdu
03-12-2010, 05:24 PM
This is an old topic but a good one.

The way I get people interested in me helping them out on the internet is to ask them to search for their business on the internet. They may find their business listed at the top but quite a few can't find their business within the first or so pages. They will certainly find their competition, though.

vangogh
03-13-2010, 02:09 AM
You would capture these prospects by - instead of sending them to your business owner-customer's website - sending them to a lead-capture page, which has an online form where the prospect expresses interest in hiring the best dentist, shall we say...

That's an interesting idea David. Many small businesses are great at doing their work, but not so great when it comes to marketing and acquiring new clients/customers. Having someone in between who is good at generating leads is a win/win for both parties.