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Double Your Advertising Reach by being Online
Why Your Brick and Mortar Business Needs an Online Presence
Today internet marketing is so important that almost any business can benefit from an online presence. It seems however that some “brick and mortar” business still don’t get social media and internet marketing. Having an online presence with social media and email when well executed can be done with a relatively small advertising budget.
Who provides your customer with online information? We all scour news, read emails, research topics and it's all done online. If you are the business is providing that information you are developing your online presence and developing your potential market. We still read what sales are on in the flyers but some of these retailers are missing out on letting the rest of the potential market in on the sales. When you look at the cost of a small newspaper ad or flyers you can figure on several hundred dollars or even into the thousands. This happens week after week and the bill at the end of the year can easily be six figures. Retailers, restaurants, home repair, lumber yards, car repair and well the list could go on for ever all can benefit from an online presence. The cost of having an online presence with an email advertising list is often under $200.00 per month. When you consider the cost of any print media this is a bargain. Increasing your potential market does take time to develop your online presence however so be prepared to be in it for the long haul.
Right now there are a seeming plethora of coupon sites on the internet. You know who they are. The send you daily or weekly discounts and charge the retailer a portion of the sale of the coupon. For instance a restaurant offers 50% off a dinner for Two (a $30.00 value let’s say) and then pays the coupon site 50% for each coupon sold. Therefore on a $60.00 dinner the restaurateur actually receives $15.00. The cost to attract that patron was $45.00. Does it end there? I hope not. Now that the patron is in that restaurant the business should do everything in their power to get their email address. A card should be handed to the customer to complete.
Here is my social media campaign case study on internet marketing for a restaurant. Using this case study here is one way to increase your online presence without any major cost to your advertising budget. This should increase the frequency of your customer visits without the expense of a coupon company.
Thank you is a nice touch
1. Send a thank you email to the customer. This is almost never done and is such a nice touch. It is the start of an online presence doesn't impact your advertising budget at all. This is what a social media campaign is all about.
Marketing onAmazon
Offer something more
2. Ask permission to put the customer on your email list. The term to use is newsletter. You can provide a link to a sign up page and offer an incentive to sign up. In our restaurant example you could send an e-book on pairing wine and food and include coupons for every week of the year.. The e-book does not need to be pages long but long enough to feel substantial for the consumer. Photographs play a big part of e-books and it should be easy to get a some good photos through suppliers to get your social media looking professional. All done without impacting your advertising budget.
Use don't abuse
3. Don’t overuse our list. I have signed up for email newsletters only t be inundated with offers and these emails quickly get shoved into the spam folder. Offer your customer useful information about the town you live in, recipes to try, a new wine, etc. You can offer half off deals if you like and keep the money you would normally have paid to the coupon company.
Need to know basis
4. In the restaurant’s case the owner should segment his market. There could be a daytime lunch crowd, a dinner crowd and a weekend evening crowd that is looking for entertainment as well. There are different reasons why each crown comes to the establishment and the restaurateur should tailor the offerings to each client base. An email list can be segmented to offer each group what they want.
If you have a business without a website think of all of the ways a website may help your business and then cost out the advertising budget you will need to have for the traditional marketing avenues and then call a web developer and find out the cost of a website and email management.
About me: I am an avid hobby photographer and internet marketing thought leader. I write regularly here on Hubpages. If you liked my article you can pay for it with a tweet or by liking my facebook page.
My face book address: https://www.facebook.com/JanMaklakPhotography
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Where are some of my other posts on Hubpages
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