If you’ve been doing your local SEO the way your SEO advisor has been advising, your business is now live and verified on Google My Business. Your address and contact information is consistent everywhere it’s visible online (website, Facebook, LinkedIn, Yelp, YellowPages, etc.).
Local community sponsorships, online reviews and local advertising blend with the creation of your online content stories and pictures to keep local conversations active and current. This helps keep your local brand equity high in the relevant local customer communities and networks.
That’s all good. But a recent survey of sales data taken before the holiday shopping season last Christmas shows a troubling trend. It only represents a small sample (fewer than 600 people), but one finding makes for a stark, drastic comparison. The Raymond James survey is covered in this Geekwire article.
The difference between Amazon at 47% and Local Businesses (combined) at 2% is a problem for local businesses. Fortunately, the solution is built into the reason for the difference: the difference is online.
How the Capital Market Values Online Space
Here’s another, more representative survey of the perceived value of Amazon. This graph compares the combined stock market valuations of the 8 biggest bricks and mortar retailers in America to the market value of Amazon. (Courtesy of: Visual Capitalist.)
The Purpose of the Business
No matter what the scale of operations may be, the online purpose is the same. Identify potential customers in their buyer’s journey. Connect with them in line with their behaviour and decisions. Deliver whatever satisfies their decision. Stay connected until the next time they have a similar need or desire. Scale up.
Fight Fire With Fire
In reality, it’s easier to say than do. We have written previously about the changing world of customer engagement, and the challenges facing sales, marketing, and customer service.
Online marketing and website SEO dominate the commercial landscape, while customers on smartphones are increasingly taking control of the flow of information. And it’s the smartphone that gives local business the edge in many cases. Because the smartphone is mobile, and mobile is so often local.
2 Strategies to Focus Your Resources
Two approaches (and more) related to mobile can be used to work in favor of local business. One is mobile content marketing using social media awareness and analysis. The other is targeted paid advertising that doesn’t interfere with mobile browsing.
Leverage Real Time Social Media Trends and Content
- monitor relevant social networks to identify trending topics as they emerge.
- incorporate trends into social media content generation with or without specific links to company products or services.
- reflect and respond to user generated content.
Run Automated Ads Within Major App Platforms
- online ads can compete using live bid engines targeting keyword syntax with built-in budget controls and other custom settings.
- searches within Facebook, Amazon, and other mega-apps (Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, etc.) now challenge Google, Bing for ad resources.
Some online spaces are more competitive than others and require more complex strategies. Some can be fairly dominated with a few basic, consistent actions and processes.
Go With an SEO Pro
If you’re not already outsourcing your SEO to a proven expert with an unmatched track record, now is the time to book a free consultation. We can quickly size up where your online marketing stands now versus where you could be with specific upgrades of online integration and content optimization.
Everything necessary for effective local content marketing can be outsourced, monitored, and measured in real time for tangible results. No additional resources need to be required from your existing staff. In fact, you should end up with net gains in productivity after delegating internal content marketing and SEO.
How’s Your CPC Mileage With That SEO Turbocharger?
It’s kind of like working on your own car. There’s not much you can do these days on your own unless you go deep into the tools and technology needed to get things just right.
Getting a web site and online marketing initiative to run well, and safely, and at a high level of performance when needed, also takes a highly trained and experienced ‘mechanic.’
An SEO expert who stays up to date and uses the right tools and data to target, measure, and report results is like the auto mechanic who uses only factory authorized parts (or better) and guarantees the labour for installation and shop work. You can drive with confidence in both cases.
Give Paul a call, or connect online. He’ll get the machinery working in top condition and the road trip to page 1 on the SERPs can begin.
