The Local Marketing Paradox

It was May 1992 when Mr. Ellen, our 12th grade economics teacher said to our class “If you can find a new place to advertise, you could become a millionaire”.  While pre-internet, little did he know that ten’s of thousands of millionaires were about to be born by advertising directly to consumers in their most intimate moments.

I still remember that day well.  I had just noticed advertisements installed on top of the urinals at the local pub the night before.  I wondered, where else could one advertise.

Little did I know that advertising meant so much more.  First off, advertising an automobile at the local pub simply didn’t make much sense for drunks.  Little did anyone know that the birth of an entirely new fashion of attracting customers for all businesses was about to be born.  The Internet became publicly available that year.

I was an early adopter

I didn’t get online until 1994, yet I was still an early adopter.  Even during the internet bubble of 2000, little did anyone know how advertising on the internet was going to take shape.  Let’s face it, the Internet quickly became the most democratic environment on the planet.  With choices and free access to information, the last thing consumers wanted was an ad in the face.

Bottom line is the game has changed.  In 2001 Google revolutionized the advertising marketplace.  Let’s face it, they are the fastest growing company in history.  They are the most sought out employer in their home country.  The two owners were quickly the richest men on the planet under the age of 40, and very quickly became worth 10’s of billions of dollars.  Yes, billions.  I guess my teacher was a little bit off.

They introduced adwords.  A highly targeted means of delivering advertising on consumer behavior.  We knew direct mail offered targeted advertising and it worked, but nothing even close to this scale.

Gold Rush of 2000

During this decade many people became rich.  I know many marketers who are called affiliate marketers.  They simply create an ad, sell someone else’s stuff, and take a commission.  A new digital broker.  Big brands took note and some companies pour $100’s of thousands into the adwords platform daily.  the beauty of this system, anyone can play in the game.

I have a friend who blew up his insurance agency with adwords.  Another built his entire real estate agency on this system.  Ecommerce stores sold millions.  Everyone was happy, until social media came around.

Explosive Growth

I’d say somewhere around 2004-2006 things changes.  They say today there is more content created on the Internet today than during the first 20 years of the Internet (1992-2002).  It’s not surprising Facebook was founded in 2004.  The birth of social media.  Today Facebook connects almost 1.3 billion people.  That’s one in 6 people on the planet!

More people bought tablets during it’s launch than any other product in history, more than coke.  From the birth of the first iPhone in 2007, people became connected like no other adoption in history.

Today 50% of Local Business Internet activity is on mobile devices and it is said 97% of American consumers use the Internet to decide what local business to deal with.

You’re dead Offline

The fact is, a local business needs to be on the Internet to survive today.  There is no debate with this.  It’s a must.

It seems simple enough to create a few ads on Google adwords to drive customers.  Heck, millions have done it.  But it’s not longer so easy in 2014.  The cost to garner one click on Google adwords for some competitive local terms like [new york attorney] could command upwards of $50 per click!

Granted Facebook’s advertising platform is currently experiencing the growth like adwords and is still cheap, however finding consumers on a social platform is vastly different than the interruption of adwords during a consumer’s research phase.

Unlike those that have profited from online advertising, thousands have lost money.  Knowledge is key, and with such a competitive environment like pay per click advertising, you’re competing in a cesspool of advertisers.  Fundamentals economic laws still apply, supply and demand.  Supply is limited to a computer or mobile screen.  Demand is an indigence that represents over 95% of the population, at least in America.

The SEO Baby was Born

Fortunately the Search Engine Optimization industry was born.  Along with paid advertising, SEO is the process of ranking a business high in the search engine organically, not through a paid ad.  But just like the paid advertising industry, people quickly learned how to fool a search engine to ranking a website high.  Real marketers were left behind.

Fast forward to 2009 when Google launched Google Local….for local businesses.  Things changed again, but this time, it was for the best interest of the American economy.  Google realized their algorithm, the power it held, could change billions of dollars being transacted on a daily basis.  They knew they had no choice but provide users with the best choices, or their business would fail and someone else would pull it off.  Let’s face it, consumers have the choice in this environment.

Bottom line, organic SEO in 2014 isn’t about fooling a search engine.  We know people eat at busy restaurants because it must have good food, or service, or experience.  Otherwise they would not be busy.  Today, the search engines scour the internet to determine what restaurants are truly busy.

Take you favorite local restaurant with a unique flair.  Posted inside are article clippings of their exposure.  Why do they do this?  To prove to you people are talking about them and like them.  Psycologically this does a lot to a consumer.  The search engines simply want to see those clippings.  They want to see people talking about that restaurant, and leverage the best possible marketing, word-of-mouth.

The Secret to Internet Marketing – is Marketing on the Internet

The key to Organic SEO is simply effective marketing.  There is no secret sauce.  Create the busy restaurant syndrome.  Have a good business, with happy customers.  The goal is to help your happy customers on the Internet. That is the objective of today’s online marketer for local business.

Here’s a short comedy we created for you.  I think it tells a great story.  Once you’re done watching this, I have a special offer for you.  Sign up here for access to my FREE Marketing Fundamentals course.  It’s free and easy to learn, you get instant access.  I don’t hold anything back.  Now of course, you could also just ask us to provide you with an online analysis of your local business.  That’s what we do, get businesses to the top of Google.  But it’s your choice, we know you need to understand what makes a good marketing campaign online so we’re doing our best to teach this.  We know some of you are going to try this on your own…..but you don’t see me delivering my own packages or adjusting my own back.