What do SMB’s “really” want from a local media sales rep?
You are a local media sales rep, (or a marketing services provider, or a sales consultant, etc.) Bottom line is that you provide tools to local businesses with the intention of helping their businesses prosper. What is it that the local business wants from you? Do you think they want your local expertise? You’ve lived in the market since before time, your forefathers used to hunt and fish with the pioneers on the very spot that the business is located. Think that’s why the business owner will do business with you? Or maybe you have the coolest new tools. You can create a hologram over the community every night for a week scaring all the residents into buying from the local business. Think that’s going to work? Or is it because you have the “BOGO?” You always come in with a “buy-one-get-one” that will help the business reach the market. (Everyone knows that 2 mediocre solutions are much better than one.)
Well, if you guessed that these are what local business owners want from marketing service providers, they might have made the list, but they are not the real drivers of their intent. The #1 thing that local businesses want from people that want to provide marketing services to them is someone that knows their business, and their line of work. You know that’s an obvious answer, and you know that was your next suggestion, right? Well not so right. How many times have you asked your local SMB owner the following questions?
- “Tell me about your business”
- “How long have you been in this location?”
- “What kind of services to you offer?”
- “Who are your competitors?”
If you’ve asked your local business owner these questions, you have proven to him/her that you don’t know anything about them or about their business. And by doing so, you have also proven that you don’t want to know anything, you simply want to push product on them.
Local business owners want marketing service providers to know something, they want them to offer ideas, they want to have a true marketing partner. And you don’t have to be an expert in every line of business out there to do some research. If you have access to Admall, you already have tools at your disposal. And of course, there’s this little website out there called Google.com that provides insight.
If you are a marketing services provider, start learning about your customers’ business. Understand that the local business owner wants good advice, and you cannot give good advice unless you know the business that he or she is in. And if you are a local business owner, you have every right to tell any advertising sales rep who may want your business that they need to know something about you and your business before you will even think of considering them as a partner.
Want to find out what else SMB’s want from local advertising sales professionals, check out AllAccess.com, July 7, 2015.
Facebook continues to grow, #1 for new SMB’s
New businesses* are heavy users of free or (relatively) low cost advertising, according to BIA/Kelsey’s Local Commerce Monitor™ (LCM) survey of SMBs. Facebook shows up as the most often used channel of marketing for these businesses. That includes posting, advertising, FB business pages, etc.
New businesses (a number of these are VSMB’s, or very small and mid-sized businesses) spent an average $1,124 annually on advertising and promotion last year. Their most popular traditional (all paid) channels for advertising were direct mail, direct to home (door hangers, flyers, brochures that are delivered to homes but not mailed), giveaways and newspapers.
For a little more on this, see BIA Kelsey’s Local Media Watch.
Trying to hit “home runs” on social media may mean you are striking out.
In a recent Q1 study conducted conducted by Sprout, it was learned that brands receive nearly 11,000 inbound messages across Facebook and Twitter, but respond to no more than 11% of those messages. And at the same time, these same brands are sending out promotional messages at a rate of 3 to 1 to potential customers.
In short this says that there’s quite a bit of focus on businesses trying to be a media channel on social media, and NOT being very social about it on the same networks. Social media has matured, no doubt. But it’s still SOCIAL. Having one-to-one dialogue with a potential customer via FB or Twitter may not sound as sexy as creating the coolest, neatest post that generates a good amount of “likes.” But it is a direct line of communication with potential customers.
What does this mean for local businesses? Consider social media a strong marketing tool, continue to post interesting and relevant content to your audience. But also remember that Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. are communication vehicles that the public is becoming accustomed to. Don’t overlook the one-to-one communication that can and will occur, use it to your advantage. What does this mean to local marketing service providers? You need to help your clients understand the versatility of social media. It’s not all about YOUR ad campaign on Facebook. It’s also about making sure that your clients customers feel that they are heard.
Want to see more? Check out Digiday, April 15.
Social media continues to grow as a source of news that nobody trusts!
More than half of all Americans get news from social media (a vast majority of them from Facebook.) That’s a shift that continues to grow. But while more and more Americans are using FB, Twitter, etc. for news, a vast majority don’t trust the news they get. Wait, what did you say? That’s right, while half of America accesses news through social media, few of them actually believe what they read. What is behind that, is the fact that there are tons (yes, that’s a technical term) of news sources posting to social media. And users are starting to be discriminating in noting the sources of those posts. In fact, a vast majority of those that are getting news from social channels place an overwhelming amount of confidence in the originating source of that news.
Ok, that’s alot of sources, channels, facts and figures. What does it mean? If you are a local business, you need to know that the world continues to gravitate to social media. That’s a given. But you also need to know that there alot of content posted to social channels that users are not trusting. Understand that any content you post to social channels is going to undergo an automatic fact-check with any user. Make the content real. And if you can, lean on a reliable consultant, one that already has the trust from social users. If you are a marketing services provider, you should pay attention to the exact same things. Any content, is not necessarily good content on social channels. And if you can leverage your affiliation with trusted sources of content, all the better.
You can find more on this at NiemanLab, April 2016.
Google updates GoogleMyBusiness
Last week, we reported that Google was providing more detail on how local businesses can improve their search ranking. Recommendations such as adding reviews, photos, content, etc to local listings is something that many SMB’s don’t do but should. Google has now updated their GoogleMyBusiness API. This provides much more functionality for those that manage their Google Listing.
So, what does this mean to me if I am a local business? It means that Google is doing whatever it can to make this important task easier. If you have never claimed or verified your listing, please do. It is the single most important thing you can do for your business, and it’s free. And now, Google makes it easier to “manage” that listing…ad content, check reviews, etc. All this will help ranking on search pages. If you are a marketing services provider, you absolutely must be on top of this and be able to show your clients how they can help themselves thru claiming, verifying, and managing their Google listing. You become a more trusted adviser when you have your client’s best interests at heart, and act in that direction.
For more, see SearchEngineLand, May 6.
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