Why Market Online?
So just why should you be doing online marketing?
These days, if a person wants to find a local business, he most likely will go to his computer (or to his Smartphone), open a browser window to his favorite search engine, and type in:
- The type of business he is looking for, and…
- The name of the city in which he wants to find it.
For instance, if you live in Cincinnati and want to find a car wash, you might go to Google.com and type in:
Cincinnati car wash
And voila! You would be taken to a page showing 10 results (on page #1) for local car washes.
This is called a “Local Search.” That is, you are searching for a business in a specific locality, in this case Cincinnati.
Now consider this:
74% of Internet users perform local searches.
That’s right! 74% of those who use the Internet perform searches for a business, a service, a location etc. within a specific city or locality.
82% of those searchers follow up offline via an in-store visit, a phone call, or a purchase.
Now think about that for a moment. That’s more than 4 out of 5 local searches that end up with a potential client contacting a business. And if it’s the potential client who makes the initial contact, it means he’s more than likely in a buying mood!
61% of local searches result in purchases.
Beginning to get the picture? But just how many local searches are there?
There are 2.6 billion local searches per month
and…
66% of Americans use online local search
Wow!
Now with a population of roughly 300 million, that means that every month there are about 200 million people who use online local search in the United States alone. That’s 200 million people who are looking for a business, and 61% of those have their credit cards ready and are prepared to spend some money!
Here’s another reason you should be marketing online. Let’s look at traditional advertising media and do a comparison:
TV: When a person turns on the TV, his goal is to watch his favorite TV show – not to make a purchase
Radio: When a person is listening to the radio, his goal is to listen to music – not to make a purchase
Billboards: When a person is driving down the highway, his goal is to reach his destination – not to make a purchase.
Magazines: When a person looks at a magazine, his goal is to find and read interesting articles – not to make a purchase.
Newspaper Classifieds: While it’s true that people sometimes read the classifieds intending to purchase something, fewer and fewer people are reading newspapers these days. And in any event, if you run an ad in the classifieds (not cheap!) you’re ad will be competing with dozens, perhaps hundreds, of other ads.
Phonebook Yellow Pages: Soooo… when is the last time YOU cracked open the Yellow Pages? ‘Nough said!
But…
When a potential client is searching for a local business online, his goal is to find a local business that sells the product or service he is looking for!
And as we’ve shown above, the market is HUGE!!!
If you’re not capturing a piece of that market, you’re missing out! But it’s not good enough just to have an online presence. The problem is that…
98% of online searchers never look past page 1 of the search results!
Think about the last time you did an online search and didn’t find what you were looking for on page 1 of the results. What did you do? Did you look on the next page?
Not if you’re like 98% of Internet users. No, if you didn’t find the results you were looking for, you typed in a different search term and started over.
Do YOU want your business to appear on Page 1 of the search results for your local business… and grab a chunk of that huge market share?
We can help!
Give us a call today, for a free consultation.
Local: 513-828-6200
Toll Free: 888-832-0711
No obligation – no high pressure sales pitch – just straight talk.
Give me a call – let’s talk :-)
Sincerely,
Ben Hanania