Far too many small businesses in local markets still have poor digital marketing collateral. Make sure your business isn’t one of them.

Recently, my colleagues and I had a conversation about troubles we’ve had with the online presence of local businesses and their follow-up to our inquiries. Here are some of the experiences:

Take out taken out

Carrie really wanted Asian food takeout. She knew of a local restaurant she liked, so she looked them up on her phone.

She found the website, but it was really hard to view on her phone screen. With some scrolling and squinting, she found the menu link, but she couldn’t get it to open up.

Frustrated, she decided she’d just call and order what she’d gotten before. But as she scrolled, she realized she couldn’t find the phone number or any contact information. What kind of restaurant website doesn’t have its phone number front and center?

Now losing patience, Carrie clicked back to the search listing to find the phone number. If she hadn’t known this restaurant was on her way, she wouldn’t have bothered.

Finally, after about three minutes of sitting in her car, it’s ringing with no answer. That can’t be right, it’s 5 pm. She hangs up, checks the number and tries again. Again, no answer.

She ended up buying a Philly Cheesesteak instead.

My kingdom for a landscaper

Brent needed to hire a landscaper. He found several online, and filled out the “request an estimate” form.  After three days, he had yet to hear back from anyone.

He went back to the same sites — and several others — and made some phone calls. At first, voicemails. He left messages but again was confounded by a total lack of response.

One morning, he got up at 6 am and tried to call — just to see if he could actually catch anybody. Finally, on the third call, he got an answer. It went something like this:

“Hello.”

“Hello…is this ACME Landscaping?”

“Ya.”

“Okay…any chance I can get an estimate?”

“Ya, but I’ll need to call you back this afternoon. Can’t get to it at the moment.”

“Actually, I’ve already filled out the form on your website and left you a voice mail, and I still haven’t heard a thing from you.”

“Ya, really busy right now. Try me back this afternoon.”

Finally, Brent managed to get someone to come out for an estimate at 1 pm on a Thursday afternoon. The guy showed up at 2:30 with no apology for being late. He seemed perturbed to be there, like Brent’s job wasn’t important to him.

To this day Brent is still trying to find a landscaper he believes will provide value.

Dental frowns

I was looking for a family dentist. Our previous dentist turned into kind of a rip-off, so I was looking for someone I could trust.

I went through about a dozen dental practice websites in my area. On one website after the next, I was struck by how similar each one was. Everyone did the same things, made the same offers and used the same cliches about how much they cared and how they’d brighten our smiles. A few had testimonials but they didn’t seem authentic.

The site designs were tired, dull and simply unimpressive. Who could solve my problem? Who might save me money or help with insurance? Who was great with kids? And what if my kids needed orthodontic work?

Nobody stood out. I checked some reviews, but in the end, just decided to wait. None of us wanted to go to the dentist anyway.

Local lead goes cold

Jerry was looking for a plumber to install a water heater. He searched for this service, but couldn’t find anybody local who seemed to either specialize in water heaters or who was offering a good deal.

He went on Facebook and asked for local recommendations. Somebody got back with a name.  Jerry searched online to check the guy’s website. He didn’t have one. That would have been the end, but since a friend recommended him, he looked on Facebook. The plumber had a Facebook page with no information about his business. He called the phone number and left a message.

Frustrated, he decided to look on Home Advisor. He did some searches, but nothing local looked too good. He filled out a basic request for an estimate to see what happened.

Within a minute, a plumber called him. He specialized in water heaters, but he wasn’t local. He was in Denver, which seemed too far. The plumber asked a few questions, gave him a quote. He could be there the next day.

Jerry filled out some lead forms from a few other local plumbers, but by the next evening, he’d only heard back from one business. He had “stuff” going on and couldn’t do the work for over a week.

Jerry also looked up some reviews, and it sounded like the local guy was notoriously slow. The water heater specialist from Denver, on the other hand, had mostly five-star reviews.

On the second day without a hot shower, Jerry called the guy from Denver and scheduled the job. He wanted to work with somebody local, but nobody stepped up to the plate.

Is your digital marketing getting it done?

It’s 2021. The Internet permeates our lives. We spend huge amounts of time online. We shop and look for services on our phones.

So take this challenge. Choose a local service, like a contractor, lawyer or medical professional. or check bike shops, restaurants or retail stores.  earch online for the service or product.

A vast percentage of the time, you’ll find:

• Dated websites with a dull, uninspired design.
• Websites that aren’t mobile responsive so you can’t view them on your phone.
• Sites with no value offer or persuasive reason to take action.
• Sites with long, insipid content that drones on about personal details of the business but fails to provide the necessary information you need.
• Sites with irrelevant images that are just a waste of space.
• Sites that don’t answer burning questions.
• Sites with blogs that haven’t been updated in years.
• Social media pages that are inactive and poorly designed.
• Businesses that are unresponsive to online lead forms.
• Staff that doesn’t answer the phone or doesn’t know how to speak professionally when they do.
• No videos that would quickly communicate what the business does or offer useful advice about their products, or amateur videos shot years ago.

Between the outdated websites, useless content, empty social media and unresponsiveness to leads, it’s a wonder these guys stay in business.

But the big question is why? Why the dilapidated online presence? Why the lack of needed info or value proposition? Why the weak images and video content? Why no activity on social media?

There are few reasons to consider.

The first is that digital marketing is still nascent. A lot of businesses (and consumers) are still coming to terms with what effective online communication entails.

Part of this is dealing with the fast pace of technological evolution. Consider that, in less than a decade, Facebook has gone from a novel social site most advertisers saw as inconsequential to a powerhouse of data, influence and marketing reach.

Many small business owners just can’t keep up.

The second is complacency. Too many business owners fail to see how badly their dulled competitive edge is hurting them. Riding on past success, they start to ignore leads and fail to let existing customers know how much they appreciate them.

With their narrow view, they miss new competition rising in the periphery. This competition is ready to advertise aggressively where ever leads are. They’re creating a vibrant, modern online presence. They’re making calls on Saturday night, speaking to loyal clients the competition has forgotten about.

Third, is that many business owners think digital marketing is too complicated and expensive — but it doesn’t have to be.

Digital marketing is multifaceted and dynamic, but that doesn’t make it intractable. Marketing software and automation improve every day, making overall management far more straightforward than it used to be. Today, it’s much easier for business owners to get a strategic view, set goals and track results without getting bogged down in the tactical execution.

And, digital marketing collateral itself is becoming commoditized. Mobile responsive website templates with easy editing tools are more affordable than ever.  The opportunities for organic (free) branding and lead generation are broader than ever. Automated touches with email and retargeting are efficient and effective. CRM software makes it where you should never miss a meeting or drop the ball with a lead again.

In the past, local businesses often spent anywhere from $500-2000 a month on just a Yellow Pages ad. For most local small businesses, a small investment per month would get a digital marketing program that would be the envy of most major brands.

But in the end, marketing is an investment. You put into it what’s required to have it pay off.

It’s an investment you have to make. If you don’t see how your digital presence is your first impression, you’re not understanding the perspective of today’s consumers.

And if you think you can slack on your intake process and customer service, think again. The internet opens doors for a whole different range of options, and consumers today know it.

It’s super easy to order food online — on some restaurant websites. Some landscapers are lightning-fast with their responsiveness. Dentists who give an immediate sense of being modern and professional get more new patients. The best plumbers advertise for specific services and make persuasive offers.

Make an honest assessment of how you stand against your competition. Look through their websites, ads and social media.

If you were a potential customer, would you choose you? If not, why aren’t you making changes?

There’s still a lot of poorly executed small buisness marketing out there. That translates into an opportunity for any business that’s willing to step up its game. Get started today. See our plans and pricing.

Originally published on 7/17/17