Survey Shows Where To Advertise Local Business

If you are a local business owner and are running a special on one of your products, should you advertise in the local paper or on the web?

According to the latest AdWeek Media/Harris Poll it depends on your target market. The specific question the survey asked was “When you are looking for a bargain, which of the following types of advertising, if any, do you believe is most likely to help you find one?”

Of the over 2,000 adults surveyed 23% say the best bargains are in newspapers and magazines, 18% say the Internet is best and 34% say it makes no difference.

But, when you break it down by age groups…

When looking for the best bargains, different age groups have different ideas of where to look. Those 18-34 are more likely to say online ads (22%) and television commercials (17%) are the best places to go while those 35-44 years old go online (26%). The older one is, the more likely they are to use newspaper and magazine advertisements, as 24% of those 44-54 and one-third of those 55 and older (33%) say those are media most likely to help them find the best bargain.

In other words, if your product is slanted at a younger age group, you’ll get a better response with online ads. If you are targeting an older group your newspaper ad may get a better response.

Females had a slightly higher bias toward newspapers/magazines/catalogs, men had a higher preference for online ads.

29% of college graduates chose online ads for bargains while only 12% of high-school grads did.

So it pays to know your target market. While the difference isn’t all that much, you should gear your print ads toward products for older women and online ads for younger, college-educated males..
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Can Google Mobile Search Help Local Businesses?

Google has announced that it is adding location oriented suggestions in it’s Mobile searches. This is in regular Google search, not just Google Maps.

It is, according to Google,

an improvement to Google.com search suggestions offered on Android powered devices and iPhone. Now, Google will offer suggestions based on the phone’s current or last location, making the suggestions more relevant.

From the comments on Google’s Mobile blog the effort has started off with spotty results, but the idea its that eventually you will just have to start typing a search into google.com on you mobile phone and search suggestions will load based on your location.

This will be an advantage for local businesses because potential customers don’t always know to use Google Maps to find your business, although you have to turn on “Save recent locations” and “Allow use of device location” under the Settings link on the google.com home page to use the new feature.

The point is, that with advancing technology it will become even easier for people to find your business using their mobile phones..
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Video Intro To Google Trends

When doing market research or keyword research one of the tools I use is Google Trends. It shows data on search terms that includes the number of searches over time, whether in days, months or years.

Using this data can help you decide when to run online ad campaigns and is also useful for small businesses using direct marketing by choosing the appropriate time to run local ad campaigns.

Google Trends also shows data over time on web sites, whether your own or your competition.

The 6 minute video below provides an overview of Google Trends…

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Local Search Means Business

Even if you have a local business you need a local search marketing strategy. By local search I mean online search and now, more and more, searches using mobile phones.

A couple of months ago I wrote about local search taking over from Yellow Pages.

According to the latest study from TMP Directional Marketing it continues to grow. Local search has grown from 11% to 12% and Internet Yellow Pages usage has grown from 19% to 21% in the last year. Some excerpts from the study are below:

…the growing demand for local business information across interactive search platforms, especially online and mobile, is creating additional opportunities…  In order to reach target audiences, marketers must think locally and focus their messages on local marketplaces where consumers shop.

…in-store purchases decreased across the board since 2007, most likely due to economic factors, half of all local business searchers made purchases [emphasis added].

With 22 million consumers using the mobile Internet through June 2009, the preferred mode to access local business information remains the mobile browser. In fact, 127 percent more users accessed local content via downloaded applications on mobile devices, compared to June 2008.

This means having a web site with hours of operation, address, phone number and a map as a minimum. This means claiming your business in local search engines and signing up in online search directories.

To be successful in today’s interactive community, your local business must be in local search engines and online local business directories..
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Small Business And Mobile Search

There are three ways potential customers can find a small business using the web: Internet search, Local search and Mobile search. Mobile search is one that’s often left out of small business marketing strategies.

And Mobile search is the one that’s growing by leaps and bounds. According to a Nielsen report Mobile use is up 34% year-over-year from July 2008 to July 2009. And it’s not just teens fueling the increase. Seniors make up a big part of the growth.

Overall, year-over-year growth among the 13-17 and 65+ age groups outpaced the growth of the total mobile Web audience, with a youth increase of 45 percent and seniors surging upwards 67 percent in July. While men continue to make up a larger portion of mobile Web users versus women, comprising 53 percent of the audience in July, the growth of female visitors outpaced the growth of male visitors during the month, with women increasing 43 percent YOY as compared to a 26 percent growth among men.

So what can you do about it?

Neilsen’s report shows that women use AT&T search (run by Yahoo! Mobile) and AOL Search (run by Google) with their mobile phones.

So in addition to claiming your small business on Google and Yahoo! local search, consider signing up for mobile search.

Yahoo! Mobile Sponsored Search

Google Adwords has a special Mobile Search advertising area for your ad campaigns..
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5 Local Business Twitter Tips

Internet Marketers have, as usual, jumped all over the latest technology – Twitter – in addition to other forms of social media.

Twitter can be a useful tool for local business, though, if it’s used properly. I found some tips from a member of a new band who wanted to keep Twitter from becoming a “time wasting black hole”.

1. Clean up the Twitter feeds you subscribe to. If you are using it for business you don’t need to be following international rock stars or other celebrities. By filtering out most of the “noise” his band was able to quickly pick up on somebody looking for a band on short notice.

2. Subscribe to Twitter feeds with a purpose. Subscribe to local people who relate to, or can affect, your business – in his case it was local bands, clubs and club bookers.

3. Focus your Twitter posts (Tweets) on local issues. You are a local business, so attract local followers with topics that affect them.

4. Interact. The more the better. Like all Web 2.0 it takes work, but can also be fun to interact with your followers.

5. Take the relationship to the next step. Use Twitter which is, after all, a form of social networking to take the next step into the real world with your followers – whether that’s a lunch date with another local business owner or a sponsored party or seminar.

One final tip. You are not trying to build a huge following, you are trying to build trust – build your brand. Don’t try and sell stuff through Twitter. Establish a relationship with your followers. Then, maybe, provide a link to your blog or site for more information on a topic you are Tweeting..
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Small Businesses – Use Online Business Directories

Awhile ago I posted Online Search Beating Yellow Pages which explained that more and more people are searching online for local businesses.

I came across a video from SmallBusinessNewz.com that goes into using online business directories to your advantage…

By adding your business to online directories as well as Google and Yahoo local search you increase your web visibility, get links to your web site and improve your search rankings.

Many online business directories are free. The ones that cost money will have to be decided on based on your advertising budget.

Read more.
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Online Search Beating Yellow Pages

I recently came across an article showing a survey that had online search (31%) beating Yellow Pages (30%) for the first time in history.

Here are all the results:

A comScore study sponsored by TMP Directional Marketing finds that search engines have become primary sources for seeking local services (31%) — followed by Yellow/White Pages (30%), online Yellow Page-type sites (19%) and then local search sites (11%).

We’ve always advised local businesses to cut down on their Yellow Pages expense by using a smaller ad with their web site address in it. You can provide a lot more information at much less expense using your web site.

Read more.
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