The Secret to Marketing Your Small Business Online

There’s a secret to marketing your small business online. Some companies get it, but most do not.

Marketing on the Internet is relatively cheap and easy, especially when compared to offline marketing. Consider the fact that today a small business can go online and start marketing their product or service to just about anyone, anywhere in the world in less time that it takes to get traditional business cards printed and in some cases, for about the same amount of money. This quick and inexpensive means to reach customers offers tremendous opportunity for many small business owners, but it also posses a problem. The problem being that it’s just as cheap and just as easy for the competition to market to those same customers.

The response that many small business owners take is to set out to go nationwide, international or even intergalactic in the hopes they’ll attract more customers. The problem with this approach is that the longer their reach, the harder it will be to try and grab what they want. Keyword selection gets less specific and the more common the keyword, the more competition and the harder it is to land on the first page of search results. When this happens, they often find their message getting drowned out by the thousands of other messages being served up.

So what’s the secret?

Focus.

The small businesses that are succeeding in today’s online marketplace are those who are marketing very targeted offerings or extremely specialized products or services. Focus helps you identify with your audience so the message can be tailored especially for them. By focusing on a specific niche, you can create a unique identity that relates directly to your target audience.

It’s not practical for a small business to be good at everything. Small businesses need to specialize in order to deliver the type of products or services that offer unique or helpful solutions. So the first question to answer is what is unique about my product, service or business? For example, do you sell a telephone service or help companies appear larger and more established? Do you sell beds or solve sleep problems?

If your offering the same product or service that people can get anywhere for the same low price they can find elsewhere, then why should they choose to buy from you? And vague promises about how great your customer service is simply won’t cut it in today’s online marketplace. Customers come to expect great customer service and why shouldn’t they? Customer service is very important, but it’s not why the customer needs your product or service.

Customers want solutions to their problems and the Internet is nothing more than a convenient way to get to this solution. Focus on what you do better than anybody else and use the Internet to market this solution. In short, find your specialty with focus.

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