Proven Tactics

How to Promote a Local Business on the Internet

Many businesses believe the Internet can’t be used to increase their success because they want to promote their business only within a targeted region.

Today I want to give you three strategies on how to promote a local business on the Internet.  Whether you operate a pet shop, day spa, restaurant or any other type of local business these strategies will work for you.

The first strategy is to:

Actively Build Your Email List
Have you ever had a slow day in your business?  What if you had an email list of your customers who you can send a special offer to when business is slow?  There is a Mexican restaurant that uses this strategy to literally pack their restaurants each time they send a special offer to their customers.

Here are three ways to build your email list of local patrons:

• Ask Existing Customers: The best place to build your list is with those who are already visiting your store or retail establishment.  Many businesses ask for business cards to be entered in a drawing of some kind, but rarely do they ask for your email address. Big mistake.
• Ask as Part of a Coupon or Promotion: There is a local business in Colorado who sends out a coupon to people via direct-mail. When their customers go to redeem it, they are to verify their physical address and write their e-mail on the back of the coupon. The business is currently getting over 50% of their customers who redeem the coupon to enter their email address. This strategy is allowing them to build their email list at zero cost.
• On your Web site: If you have a Web site, make sure you are asking for your visitor’s name and email address and make them part of your customer loyalty program for joining your list. It's an inexpensive form of advertising and is performance based because they must become customers in order to redeem the coupon.

If you don’t have an email list of your customers and prospects then you are missing out on an opportunity to increase the traffic to your business.  Why not start asking your customers if they would like to be added to your “customer loyalty program”? If they say yes, gather their name and email address, then when you have a slow business day send them a special offer that expires in 24 to 48 hours.

Try it and see what happens. The next strategy is to:

Use Regional and National Portal Sites
A portal site is consider to be a site that attracts a lot of visitors because of its resources. Yahoo.com, Weather.com, Google.com, and DexOnline.com are considered as portal sites. All of these sites offer advertising options that can be targeted to a specific geographical area.

Yahoo!, Weather.com and DexOnline.com can narrow your ads to your city or local area that your business serves.  This is a very affordable way to start testing paid advertising that is strictly targeted to a specific area or region.

You want to make sure to use a special page for the traffic that comes from your ads. Don’t send the traffic to your home page. You want to put the text you used in your ad prominently on the page they see after clicking your ad. For example, if you ad says;

Click Here to Save $10 off Our Deluxe Car Wash

After someone clicks the ad you want to repeat the offer on the web page that shows up alone with some addition details about the offer. This has worked better than sending them to your home page because most home pages have additional links to other pages not related to the offer.

Once your visitors are confused they will move on to another site, most likely your competitor’s.

The next strategy is to:

Use Offline Promotions to Drive Traffic to your Site
I’m sure you’ve heard the age old advice that says; “Put your website address on everything.”  Well, I’m here to tell you that is NOT enough. What you want to do is instead of just listing your web site address on everything; put an offer that gives the reader a reason to visit your website.

Here are some examples: (the following web addresses are for example only.)

Home Builder:
Look at our model homes at: www.GreatUtahHouseBuilder.com

Restaurant:
Save even more with our special offers at: www.GreatUtahRestaurantDeals.com

Mortgage Broker:
We can save you up to 20% off your monthly payment. Free quote at: www.GreatUtahMortgageBroker.com

You want to always look for ways to increase your email list, build trust with your list and send them special offers when business is slow. These strategies will help you effectively promote your local business on the Internet; all you need to do is apply them.

If there is an Internet Marketing topic you would like me to cover, submit your question/topic at: www.AskDionJones.com.  I will focus future columns on the topics you suggest.