Hello , I'm trying to do some targeted marketing for a local small business. This is a computer service / consulting type business that has been established for many years. With the economy , and previous advertising no longer affordable/working (yellow pages), we want to get some new small business customers. Ironically, this business isn't very easy to market online due to the fact that the most tech savvy, etc. don't really need the services. We have a FB page(s) with about 1,000 or so friends, but have yet to get even one customer from this despite years and many advertising messages. The idea we recently had was to use existing systems and skills to send out an email marketing campaign to various businesses. This would be a one time send, with an unsubscribe option. The only doubt is whether or not some people will complain or cause trouble for receiving an unsolicited email. Another idea was to get emails somehow from fb, manta, etc. and send the offer that way. Kind of an "excuse" to send at least one reach out mail instead of just grabbing stuff from google. We want to network with small businesses (not individuals), and really don't have the time and resources to attend social gatherings and all that. Plus, this business is not very sexy or easy to market that way. Basically, we need a foot in the door and our great service and products will sell themselves based on need. Thanks much for any realistic advice , and whether or not any unsolicited mail might be a good/bad option. Again the usual adwords and seo traffic is simply too difficult to obtain as many of our customers and potential customers aren't very technically savvy.
I think you underestimate your potential customers. If they have a computer, they search for things. But most that have a computer cannot or do not want to try and fix it. You SHOULD use SEO and you SHOULD consider AdWords. You can do both yourself, but just as many do not fix their own PC, most business owners do not want to learn web marketing. And if you don't make a local listing in Google you are not taking advantage of possible free advertising. If you don't have a web site, you need to get one. You don't have to spend much money on it, but what you do spend should be well worth the investment. And given your attitude about online marketing, you really should find a consultant to work with. Yeah, I am a consultant, but I'm really not looking for any new clients. Please do NOT send email to people you don't know and who have not opted-in with you to get messages. If you are lucky it won't work well at all and may trash your reputation. At worst you will be reported as a spammer, have your hosting account closed and your domain name suspended. Those that think that can't happen have not spammed me. I report spam all the time and spammers don't like what happens next....! As a local business you really need to get creative and do things to get people interested, have them remember YOU when they have computer trouble, and get people to recommend your service to others. How many people pay your bill with a smile on their face? If you can start doing that your business will increase. It may be worth making a little less money now to get more business later. You should give customers an estimate for the work needed and then ALWAYS charge them that or LESS. If you want to build your business, charge them less. If you estimate $100 for a new hard drive and open the computer and see the drive is unplugged, TELL THEM and only charge them $10-$20!!! They will love you for being honest and talk about you with others. If you want some more ideas send me a PM (personal message) and I will make some suggestions and answer other questions. You see, this is the type of thing YOU need to do to impress people and get them interested in what you offer. It takes effort, it takes time, but it will give you good results after a while. At least it has worked for me.
1. Get a kick ass website that captures leads and is hooked into the popular web properties (yelp, google places, social networks, etc.) 2. Get a kick ass craigslist campaign going, possibly exploring some black hat techniques 3. Cold call local businesses and collect emails, possibly using your website and good/free info as incentive. With these 3 things, you are doing a lot, and picking up the phone is ultimately a great way to get business, and your website can assist the process.
I have a computer business to and i started to write articles for the chamber of commerce, although this for me might have only worked because they sent out my articles to 500 businesses. The products I advertise are Kasperky and laptop power supplies as well as my cloud consulting services. I know of another business who held a computer recycling event and sold all of the parts for scrap metal.
email marketing is OK. you can also go for SMS marketing. its a good thing. at least its cheap. you can also get some free sms marketing tools. but publishing your offers in face book and twitter is a great option and you can get good output.
Marketing programs carried out at franchisor head-office level are one important part of that formula. National marketing campaigns allow franchisees to be part of well-recognized brands on a national level. Ultimately, all the marketing efforts funnel down to the local area as each single franchisee does business locally, dealing on a daily basis with members of the local community.
Just some random thought is that my dad is an attorney. He's an older guy, very good at what he does and what knows. He does well in law, but he is far from tech savvy. In fact, he is almost scared to touch technology, even though he was one of the first attorneys in our area to graduate from an old typewriter to a computer. He knows how to search online, he can work his way through ebay, but if his computer or server at work breaks, he needs help. There are tons of businesses out there in this situation. The company I work for has their own IT department, but that's because we have about 200 employees in my building. These corporations are where you're going to make your money, and I do think they can search online.