Google Moved My Cheese!

Google Map Change Impacting Local Businesses

On October 27^th Google rolled out a new presentation of local search results. The new layout dramatically changed the way a page is viewed and ultimately how it is absorbed by the consumer. The big changes include removal of the Map from the center of the page and the bullet point listings to the right of it.

The map is now located in the upper right hand corner of the page. The bullet points, previously simple lines of company name and a link, are now listed in the main body of the search results with expanded information.

This new look affects the way the page is “digested” by the viewer. Map listings now dominate the page and regular listings have been pushed to the bottom of the page or off the page completely. The new look demands much greater emphasis on companies to make sure their Google Places listing is well managed and optimized.

These changes have hurt some folks and helped others. Google was quoted as stating “The algorithm has been improved and refined for Place Search.” Place Search refers to a local specific result. This means that local companies with local addresses are taking precedence in the search results now more than ever – especially for contractors and service providers.

Online Reviews Matter

One thing that has become clear from this change is the importance of “customer reviews”. These reviews are more visible than ever. As social media grabs a foothold in our daily lives, the reviews that people post about your company become more and more important. As a business owner, you need to take poor reviews very seriously as they can have lasting affects on future business development. You also need to be proactive in seeking the posting of positive reviews. If you have a happy customer, ask them to share their experience on Yelp, City Search, Yahoo Local, Insiderpages or Google Reviews. The good review is worth much more on the WWW than posted at the front counter of your store or in your pitch book. Your online reputation is a long-term report card that can be a boon for business or a silent killer.

Here are a few recommendations to get started:

· Analyze your position on Google for search terms important to your business category

· Check for reviews about your company – are you good? Invisible? Not so good?

· Analyze where you are spending your money and where your leads are coming from

· Look at your website – closely. Compare your site to those you admire.

· Write down your marketing goals for 2011 and your plan to achieve it

Go for It or Wait for It?

Tucking Your Wings or Using Your Wings?

These are uncertain times...that's certain! Most people got killed last year in their 401k. They have seen their home value depreciate, and on and on. No need to go through all the bad news we all know about.

However, there are stories you hear about how so and so bought a house during the bad times and made out huge. Or bought a stock when everyone was selling and made out huge. The classic story of the contrarian that had faith when others fled.

The success my clients are seeing this year leads to me to believe that this is a time to go for it with your marketing. Be contrarian. Why are my clients having better success than last year? There is less competition right now. The competition has tucked in their wings to wait out the storm! The market may be a little smaller than last year in certain areas but there is still a market - and my clients are getting more of it.

The argument can be made on either side with wise quotes..."Patience is a virtue", "Live to fight another day", or "Keep your powder dry". And there is obvious wisdom in all these, however right now, what I've seen first hand... "Carpe Diem"! Seize the day while everyone else waits and watches you!

"Whether it's the best of times or the worst of times, it's the only time we've got."

~Art Buchwald

Walk On Video Spokesperson

How to Make Your Website Stand Out with a Video Spokesperson

There's a new affordable option for local businesses to make their website more interesting, engaging and effective. It's called a "Video Spokesperson". The spokesperson (a real human - not animae) greets visitors with a welcome message from the company and perhaps a suggestion of an action to take or a summary of the company. I compare this new video spokesperson option to how you manage your physical business when someone walks in to look around. Most likely you have someone available to greet them...that's what a video spokesperson does for your "virtual store" AKA- your website! Shot in front of a "green screen", the spokesperson appears to walk on the home page of your website to deliver your short message. You can visit our website to see me walk on to greet you with our welcome message.

Video Walk-on technology has many interesting applications as well. You could use it for big sales, for customer testimonials, you can have different messages for different sections of your site, you can add animation or pop-up messages for example. The point is to engage the visitor and encourage interaction. It's easy to visit a website...and just as easy to go find another one...so the key is to develop strategies to covert more visitors into callers.

Another example site to visit is Roofing Contractor Marketing. Here I engage the visitor with a quick over-view of what RCM does and why you should call. Both of our examples are used to show the business owner how we differentiate ourselves to help local businesses get a jump on the competition.

If you are interested in how web video can help your business stand out from the crowd, give us a call. 303-968-2891. It's more affordable than you might think.

Your Business Needs "Up's" in this Down Time!

Branding is Great...but Leads are Better.

Pop quiz! Quick - answer this -- recall 3 ads from the super bowl! Time's up, pencils down...I couldn't get one specifically - I think Bud had a couple in there, maybe Coke or Pepsi...I remember laughing at one of them...$3 mill. each ad, all branding, zero recall.

Branding or image advertising is expensive in the short run, and hard to quantify in the long run. Big agencies love branding. You win awards with branding...but does branding drive business? I say no...not efficiently at least.

I Want Up's!

If you own a business I know you want "up's". Every business needs more business and they need it now. These days call for focus on lead generation first, branding as a bonus. Ask for the order every time.

Lead Generation with "Radio Sales Advantage"

We have developed a new advertising product designed for lead generation. Strategic partnerships with radio groups are being developed to execute the program for local businesses. Radio Sales Advantage is our solution to getting "more Up's in this Down time"! Designed from our experiences over the past 2 years working with local businesses, the Radio Sales Advantage new business development system takes the best features of radio - reaching masses of consumers during business hours, with affordable frequency and targeted audiences - and combines it with Google/Yahoo/MSN search advertising - all on a track-able platform for accountability and lead generation.

Here's our beta site for Radio Sales Advantage, called http://www.clearchannelcustomercapture.com/ If you own a business in Denver, give Clear Channel a call to find out more about this new lead generating marketing system. If you run radio stations somewhere - call me to find out how your group can benefit. 303-748-6247

Websites and Consumers

The process of consumer decision making has been forever altered with the advent of the internet. This may sound like old news and it is. Here's a short list of what's different.

The internet now plays the consumer role of:
1. The Yellow Pages (who uses the book anymore?)
- many consumers believe Google shows the best companies first in the category
2. Research Library
-price comparision, quality comparison, product research
3. "Just call 411" (who does that anymore?!)
-quick location or phone locator
Obviously the internet plays a critical role in the consumers process of deciding who to call - when they are ready to make a move. While this may seem like old news, many local business owners don't fully recognize how important it is to their business that they have a strong online presence.
4 Focus Areas for Local Businesses:
1. Where do I show up on Google in the natural search area (below the maps)?
2. Is my website address easy to remember and logical to find for my business category?
3. Does my other media drive traffic to my website?
4. Do I make visitors a great offer when they visit my site?

If you own a business, write these points down and post it where you can see it. If you focus on improving these 4 points you will increase your business. If you would like to see a fully integrated marketing plan visit http://www.clearchannelcustomercapture.com/. This is a joint effort of Hoffman Advertising and Clear Channel Radio that applies the very latest strategies in internet and broadcast advertising.

Affordable 2009 Marketing Fundamentals

Marketing Plan Fundamentals for 2009

These are strange economic times - it is very clear to all. Some claim more pain through 2009. Some say the worst is behind us. I say no one has a clue - from the very "top" and at all points in between. They are all guessing based on either pessimistic viewpoints or optimistic outlooks. And their data can prove both cases.

So how can a business owner build a marketing plan for 2009? If your plan is to stay in business and maybe even try to grow...you have to be smart, innovate and attack with some optimism. History proves that the current plight we are in will be "history" at some point in the future - right? So the economy is going to improve and those that keep fighting and innovating will be there to enjoy it's rewards.

To gain in 2009 your marketing plan may need to go through some pain. That might mean trying something new or going in a completely different direction. The world is evolving quickly and your business needs to evolve with it. Below are a few affordable fundamental marketing elements you should analyze very closely for 2009. Get these fundamentals right and you can gain significant shares of business with very little added marketing expense.

Affordable 2009 Marketing Plan Fundamentals:

1. Website Ranking - how does your company rank when a consumer "Googles" your business category? For example "Brake Repair Denver". You want to be on page #1. Are you? No? Find out why. Make it a priority.
2. E-mail marketing - do you regularly market to your existing customers via e-mail? You should - they are your biggest fans. Get their e-mail adress. Do this every month. It's cheap and it works.
3. Integrate your media - does your online marketing work together with your radio or TV ads? Consumers will find you online after hearing/seeing you offline. Drive more online prospects with radio for greater returns.

These are a few of the relatively most affordable but potentially extremely valuable considerations you should be analyzing for 2009. Get these 3 right and you can bank on far more business opportunities than your competition.

Happy Holidays to you and yours and here's wishing that 2009 will be your best year yet!

Greg

Radio Rocks the Internet

Radio Ads Drive Internet Traffic

Over the past several years the radio industry has experienced hard times, as have many traditional forms of media. Radio has been hard hit by big agency accounts, like automotive and others, shifting money to other "new" media or just cutting their budgets. The local direct advertiser has also shifted money to other "new media" as Internet marketing companies develop aggressive sales staffs and begin to hit business owners with their "new and exciting" products.

I was in radio sales and management for 20 years before embarking on my own advertising company. Now that I'm on "the other side" as a buyer/planner/consultant, ironically I see more clearly than ever that radio is incredibly powerful. I know this only because we tie internet strategies into all our radio campaigns and we can therefore track or "see" our radio ads working. Radio spots work extremely well at quickly driving Internet activity. I have documented proof of the impact radio spots have in driving qualified consumers to a clients offering. So radio is still really rockin' and it's clearly rocking the Internet. But why hasn't radio jumped on this opportunity?

Back to Their Roots: Local Business

Radio is going to have to rebuild their client base one local advertiser at a time. But they can't go in there with the same old playbook..."We're #1!" or "We're having a one day sale and we're giving it away!". Cheap Cheap Cheap! All these send the wrong signal to a business owner. He or she doesn't care about these things. Business owners care about how they can get the maximum return for their limited marketing budget. They are always thinking, "What's the best advertising combination for getting new customers or repeat customers to spend more at my store?" "What can I do to make the next ad campaign work better?" It's a Radio Sales 101 opportunity, but the 2009 version needs to be much different than the 2005 version.

Radio Marketing Systems

Radio works and the Internet provides the proof that's been lacking since Tesla. We know radio can attract new advertisers and retain existing clients for long term contracts by changing the offering from "We have the number one station" to "We can offer you a complete marketing system with tracking to show you how many customers we are attracting for you"; an integrated radio/Internet marketing system. When you talk to an owner in terms of complete marketing systems, the conversation and interest level are much different. Now you are talking their talk and getting them excited.

This "Marketing System" approach to advertisers will give radio sellers a new and unique tool that is much more compelling than the old song and dance. Most importantly, it gives radio a new method to prove to each client, one by one, that radio is highly effective, highly efficient and foundational to a great local marketing strategy.

Tracking Tools

One of the biggest hurdles for radio is tangible evidence of effectiveness. Well, they have it now. Radio drives Internet, Internet tracks unique visitors. Simple proof that radio is attracting lots of potential buyers. Now the focus turns to converting these potential buyers into action, not your ratings or your rates or "we'll give you more spots!" Now the pressure is on the business owner, not the station, to make a really exciting offer to convert all these prospects into business...ironically, that may be the hardest sell of all.