Stop Making Excuses for Why You Don’t Need Inbound Marketing

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Unique yellow umbrella among many dark ones. Standing out from crowd, individuality and difference concept.

I know what you’re thinking, but no, your business is not unique. You may have some special solution to some common problem. Or, maybe you have a product that nobody has thought of. You may say that your business is run differently than that of your competitors. Or, you might claim that your customer service sets you apart from other businesses. While all of those circumstances may be true, I promise you in the digital marketing world your business is not unique.

In fact the only distinguishing factor between your business and the next is whether or not your business serves B2B or B2C. If you are telling yourself otherwise, you are wrong, and you are getting behind the rest of your competitors. Now let me tell you why.

My Customers Aren’t Online

You need to be a realist and have trust when working with digital marketers. Remember this is our profession and we have seen what works. So no matter if you think your business is online or not, we have been trained to find and promote your business in the digital world, and we promise we will do just that.

In 2015, 61% of global internet users researched products online, and 44% of shoppers begin by using a search engine. Your customers are online, and they are looking for help to their problems. If your customers can’t find you online, then they are finding your competitors, and you are losing business. Just think, if digital marketing strategies have worked for your competitors, the odds are they will work for your as well.

I’ve Been Doing Just Fine

In the past, most businesses did just fine with local advertising and word of mouth. Now-a-days, people are turning online to find anything: information, places to eat, things to buy, etc. No longer can a business hand out flyers, put up a good sign, and be successful. If you haven’t gotten the message yet, let me spell it out for you.

Get online or get left behind! I promise if you want your business to succeed, you need to find your place in this digital world. You won’t be doing fine for much longer.

But I’m Local

“I’m only a local business, and my customers know where I’m at.” This is something I hear from a lot of small businesses. Yet, last year 50% of mobile searches were conducted in search of local results and 61% of those searches resulted in a sale. That is a lot of local business you could be missing out on.

My favorite example of this is restaurants. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve turned to my phone to help me find a new local restaurant to try. Every now and then I find a hidden gem, but usually my search is flooded with big chain restaurants because local small businesses don’t care to be found online. Now I know what ten corners I can find a McDonalds on, but what I’m looking for is a local mom and pop diner. Are your customers looking for you online with no success?

You Can’t Sell My Product Online

Retro pitch man in black and white from a 1950's era TV commercial

Retro pitch man in black and white from a 1950’s era TV commercial

Have you ever seen an infomercial? You know the one on T.V. or more recently found on YouTube videos. The ones where they sell the most ridiculous items for even more ridiculous prices? Yeah, those are the ones. If some guy with a nice voice can sell hundreds of Sham Wows on T.V., I promise we can sell what I’m sure is a much better product for you.

It’s All The Same

Marketing has changed over the years. We are long past the days of Don Drapers sitting in conference rooms discussing cigarette sells like in Mad Men. We are also moving past the days of print ads and billboards. Yet, the one aspect of marketing that will never change no matter the medium is how we use emotion to drive sales. No matter what form of marketing you deploy, it is all about eliciting emotional responses in your customer. Whether that emotional response is online or in person is up to you.

Not to mention the fact that digital marketing is WAY cheaper than most traditional forms of marketing.

It is never too early to start digital marketing efforts, 71% of businesses plan to increase their digital marketing budgets this year.

Have you ever made any of these excuses? Let us know in the comments below.

Much success,

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