Why Local Businesses Need a Marketing Program
If you sell products or services in your local community, you need a marketing program designed for local businesses.
Here’s why: Nearly 97% of consumers use the internet to shop locally. If potential customers can’t find you online, they’ll likely buy from someone else. To survive—and grow—you need customers who can easily discover your business.
The Problem with Traditional Marketing
Not all marketing programs are created equal. Unfortunately, most small business owners have never developed a formal marketing plan. In fact, the majority don’t use any consistent or effective strategy to communicate with potential customers. It’s no surprise, then, that so many small businesses eventually fail.
Relying solely on traditional advertising to find new customers is difficult—and expensive. Studies show that consumers pay less and less attention to local ads. People are simply overwhelmed by information, and they’ve shifted their attention to the internet to search, compare, and make purchasing decisions.
The Power of Inbound Marketing
If you want to stay competitive in today’s market, you need to embrace inbound marketing—a strategy focused on helping customers find you.
A good inbound marketing program should include:
- Tools to get found online (such as local business directory listings, SEO, and social media).
- Processes to build credibility (like collecting reviews, sharing valuable content, and showcasing expertise).
- Clear communication of value (demonstrating what makes your business worth choosing).
The ultimate goal is to create an online presence that consistently attracts new customers, builds trust, and highlights the value you bring to your community.
Why You Need Marketing
Marketing is, at its core, communication. It’s the process of sharing information that influences purchasing decisions. If you want to sell your products or services, you need to communicate consistently and effectively.
The Challenge for Local Businesses
For people selling products and services locally, the challenge isn’t whether marketing is necessary—it’s how to get people to actually pay attention. Consumers today are bombarded with messages, which makes it harder than ever for small businesses to stand out.
Consumers Are in Control
Here’s the reality: consumers are now in complete control of the marketplace. With virtually unlimited access to online information, they can research, compare, and evaluate local products and services long before they ever speak to a vendor. Because of this, traditional sales pitches and local advertising campaigns have far less influence than they once did.
Why Communication Matters
If you want to attract customers beyond your immediate friends and family, you need to communicate in ways that build trust and demonstrate value. Consumers are looking for reliable information, helpful insights, and proof that your business can solve their problems. That’s the type of communication that gets attention—and wins business.
The consumer decision making process today looks like this:
Consumer Purchasing Process
Local Marketing Today
No marketing or advertising is ever going to be effective if the message isn't reaching people who might want or need what you're selling. That means the very first thing you need to consider is this: what marketing platform are your potential customers most likely to use to look for your products or services.
You found this article online. Chances are you have potential customers online right now looking for products and services you sell. The fact of the matter is that using the Internet to communicate with potential customers is the simplest, most cost-effective and powerful way to market your local business available today.
Here's another great point.
You will spent much less time and money helping local consumers find you online than you will trying to find them offline.
Local Marketing Program Objectives
With any marketing program, you must first have an objective. A good local online marketing program will focus on improving your online presence for the purpose of helping you get found online and attracting new customers. The program must use online business directory listings to provide consumers information about your business, the products you sell, the services you provide and special offers you may create. Local business directory listings are essential to any online marketing program. Using local online directories is literally about the only way to dramatically increase your local online VISIBILITY and subsequently make it easier for people to find you online.
Marketing Fundamentals
Marketing is a communication process. Its like a numbers game. The more people you can communicate with the more people you are likely to positively influence.
The same basic marketing fundamentals that have been used to influence purchasing decisions of local consumers for hundreds of years. It's actually a mathematical formula. The formula is this: VISIBILITY plus CREDIBILITY and VALUE leads to more customers and PROFITABILITY.
While the basic fundamental marketing principles haven’t changed, the communication process has. Today consumers search for local products and services online.
The Communication Process
An online marketing program today makes so much sense because all the essential information consumers need and want in their purchasing decision making process can be communicated quickly online. Business listing distribution can dramatically increase local VISIBILITY . Content on your website and attached to your business listings can dramatically increase your ability to state and define the VALUE you offer. Social media and online reviews provide social proof and promote CREDIBILITY. The result is a steady stream of new customers.
Online Marketing is Simple
The best part about any good local online marketing program today is this: they are generally very easy to set up and use. Especially if you use a program that provides you the tools to use. In that case, no technical knowledge or skill will be needed to set up or use the program, only a desire to succeed.
How our Local Marketing Program Works
Ask anybody selling products and services how they conduct local marketing successfully today and you are likely to get many different answers. As we already mentioned - the basic formula for marketing any business in the local community hasn't changed for hundreds of years:
VISIBILITY + CREDIBILITY + VALUE = PROFITABILITY
Why is this so important?
The formula works! Think about how you buy products and services. If you're like most people, you do some research, look for the best value, read some reviews and then make a decision. Its how people buy products and services.
What has changed over time is the way people conduct the process. The Internet is a communication platform. As a result if you are selling products and services in your local community and want to conduct any form of marketing you must carefully consider who your potential customers are and think about how you are most likely going to effectively communicate with them.
Chances are the answer is the Internet. The Internet today provides you the best opportunity to provide potential customers the 3 bits of information that are and essential part of a communication process that give consumers the information they need and want to make purchasing decisions.
This is How our Local Marketing Program Works - Step by Step
Overview
Our marketing program uses existing tools and a simple process to help you communicate effectively with potential customers in our society today.
We call the program “Local Marketing Magic”. The program defines a step-by-step process that is designed to help busy people effectively communicate (market) with people in the local community. The purpose is to positively influence the purchasing decisions of potential customers.
Following the steps in the program will help you improve your local visibility, promote your credibility and advertise your value. At the same time the program encourages you to focus on the single most important factor in marketing today; satisfying your customers.
The step-by-step process has three main segments: planning, setting up and execution.
1. Create a Plan
People and business don’t just fail, they fail to plan. We provide you a written marketing guide that you can personalize and use as your marketing plan.
The step-by-step marketing guide incorporates a proven step-by-step process that you can personalize for your own use. The marketing guide was created and designed so that you can use it as a workbook and becomes your marketing plan. This marketing plan specifically describes how you will increase your visibility, promote your credibility and advertise your value for the purpose of getting found online, attracting new customers and increasing profitability.
2. Set Up Your Tools
We provide you access to 5 essential tools that will make your local marketing campaign effective and keep it simple at the same time.
Using these tools will make accomplishing tasks easier and are essential to effectively reaching the goals you set in your plan.
3. Execution
You can have the best plan in the world and the best tools available and neither will work well for you if you don't use them.
Albert Einstein said that the most powerful force in nature is “compounding interest”. Similarly, the most powerful force in marketing is a “satisfied customer”. Satisfied customers talk. The more satisfied customers you have, the more powerful the program. Our step-by-step program will show you how to incorporate an incredibly sophisticated marketing program very simply into your daily routine. Not only will it help you concentrate on continuously satisfying your customers, but it will help you more easily get found online, promote your credibility and advertise your value.
The result is that you naturally expand your personal and professional network, attract more customers, grow your business and increase your profitability.
The marketing program for local businesses is incredibly sophisticated, yet remarkably simple and enables you to focus on what’s important; satisfying your customers, because satisfied customers are also your best sales people.
You may also like to read one or more of the articles below. Using good local online marketing techniques today is essential to helping you get found online, attract new customers, grow your business and make more money.