Small Business Marketing: ‘Who You Are’ or ‘What You Do?’

For many small businesses, determining the direction of a marketing campaign depends on the answer to this critical question: “Should I market what I do, or who I am?”

This is a challenging question, of course, because ideally you would like to choose both. Marketing “what you do” refers to advertising and promoting your services. In other words, if you’re a plumber, you’d advertise your ability to fix leaks, install water heaters or assist in remodeling.

Marketing “who you are” is about establishing your brand in the mind of your customers and your market. As a plumber, marketing who you are would mean establishing yourself as a reliable, high quality solution to plumbing challenges. It would mean emphasizing the qualities that set you apart from your competition, whatever those may be.

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I Need More Traffic! … You sure about that?

Gimme traffic, gimme traffic, gimme traffic.

It seems like that is the answer to all internet marketing problems. At least that’s what the “Front Page of Google” peddlers would have you believe.

Yes, traffic is important, for sure. But the answer isn’t always MORE TRAFFIC.

I love when I sit down with a business owner to talk about their online marketing and they think our whole conversation is going to revolve around getting more traffic.

It’s been beaten into their heads, over and over, and often times the only “buzz word” they know when it comes to internet lingo.

They fear that I’m going to hit them up for a huge Pay Per Click budget. It’s what they are prepared for.

They are stunned when I say “before we dive into getting more traffic, let’s find out if that’s what your really need”.

“Well, what else is there”?

Conversion…

The most neglected and, in my opinion, most important part of local internet marketing.  If I had to pick one single thing to be great at, it would be conversion.

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Framing Techniques For Local Business Video

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One question I get a lot when it comes to making “talking head” videos for local businesses is…

“Most business owners are horrible in front of the camera and the videos just don’t look professional, how can I make these kinds of videos for my clients without hiring a professional crew?”

I can tell you that I struggled with this for a long time until I started using simple little framing tricks that you see on TV all the time but probably just don’t recoginize what is happening.

Here I demonstrate extremely simple framing techniques that will make a HUGE difference in the effectiveness of your video and solve a lot of problems shooting “non actor” clients.

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What Can You Do To “Google Proof” Your Local Business?

Hmm. Interesting question.

I’ve suggested for several years now not to put all your eggs in Google’s basket. They’ve been known to wipe out entire business models in an afternoon.

The unfortunate reality is that so many local businesses and internet marketing consultants feel that being on the front page of Google is Local Internet Marketing.

It is also the source of incredible unnecessary stress.  You know what I’m talking about. “What if I can’t rank on the first page?”, “What if I can’t get on the Places listing?”, or “I’ve made it to page one… What if I get slapped?”

What kind of business is that to be in? Why would you want to be so reliant on a Giant that thinks about you about 10 million times less than you think about it? Not to mention, one that goes around slapping the very people that made it such a powerhouse?

Simple Internet Math

SEO does not = Internet Marketing

Period. Case Closed.

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