Do offline businesses need more basic advice?

What Andrew said...

My experience has been that the average business owner is astoundingly clueless about using the Internet as a marketing tool. Even the ones that have a web site.

Especially the ones that have a web site.

With a lot of these small to medium sized businesses, the problem I would run into was that they didn't understand the most basic stuff about how powerful Web marketing can be. And, like so many people, they had already plonked down a sizeable chunk of change for a purty web site with whistles and bells - that was completely useless to them. Of course, no one had considered the content, which would range from lame to downright awful.

Plus, sometimes the design of their purty web site was so unusable (whistles and bells notwithstanding), it was killing any kind of conversion.

Telling these folks they're going to have to start from scratch again is a message rarely received with unbridled joy.

Although the problem you described is very common, I found the market, for the most part, to be completely unaware that they HAD a problem.

Personally, I found it an uphill sell, and a LOT of work. I prefer to work with people who already understand that their web site is not supposed to sit in the wind-swept hinterlands of the Internet, in the faint hope that some lone surfer will someday stumble across it.

But, yes, offline businesses could certainly benefit from more basic advice.

[quote=AndrewCavanagh;147828]Most businesses have no idea at all about how internet marketing works.

And the average web designer is going to charge them several thousand dollars or more to create a fancy website for them that's unlikely to make any sales or drive any traffic./quote]
This is a timely discussion thread for me. A friend of mine has a business where he sells a unique specialized physical product. The prospective buyers for his product are a relatively small group that tends to not have that much money, so it's a bit of a hard sell. He's been looking into having his web site updated, and the web designers he's been talking to have been telling him about the importance of SEO and keywords and the like. Of course having an optimized web site would be a good thing, but what he hasn't been told is that it's not enough to build a pretty site and assume that potential customers will find him. If no one is doing searches for the key words his site is optimized for, his site is as good as invisible.

I suggested that he reach out to his potential customers - join related forums, comment on blogs in his niche, frequent related Myspace groups, even create his own blog or YouTube videos - but he "doesn't have time" for that kind of marketing, and his most of his advertising budget is going to the new web design. Unfortunately, I wouldn't be surprised that if a year from now the return on his investment is so poor that he'll decide that the whole internet thing doesn't work for him.

I suspect that part of my friend's problem in grasping the importance of internet marketing is that he seems to be thinking that his web site is equivalent to a glossy magazine ad rather than a store front. What I'm having trouble explaining to him is that, just as if he had a brick and mortar store, he needs to do the online equivalent of placing ads in magazines and on billboards, handing out fliers to potential customers, and networking with other businesses.

What's stupid is not that the business owners don't know anything...it's that people keep trying to teach them this stuff and turn them into online experts.

Listen up guys:

A business owner is perfectly happy to PAY YOU GOOD MONEY for you to do all this stuff for them.

And they'll pay a whole lot more for a hands off solution that doesn't require any work or education for them.

They have very little time and ultimately they just want to see results.

Focus on doing everything for a business and getting them real results and you can make real money doing it.

It really is that simple.

Let me put it another way for you...


If you wasted 2 days of a business owners time trying to explain the difference between a blog and a website and you've charged him for it...and you failed!!... you just made yourself a ripoff scam artist.

I know no one on this forum wants to do that...even by accident.

We want to give value to the people who come in contact with us.

And the simplest way to do that is not by trying to educate people who don't want to be educated...it's by giving them the solutions...giving them the results they want.

Kindest regards,
Andrew Cavanagh

That's good one!

Hi Nicholas,

This depends entirely on what the purpose of the site is.

Many businesses don't even properly consider what the purpose of their site is.

Also, it depends what your revenue model is.

I have no intention of spending my time being a web guy for other people - so I make my money from consulting and if they're friends I might build them the site, but then I remove myself from the equation.

You could run a very lucrative business from doing this but maintaining the hosting for their sites and charging for hosting. If you have a reseller hosting account this will cost you nothing and you can do it for 100 people and make a full-time income.

Sometimes I build sites from scratch, sometimes I pay someone like Karl Warren to make some nice graphics and I use a CMS or a template, other times I just outsource the whole thing.

For me it's a matter of time. I value my time and I don't like to spend it doing manual things that make other people money if someone else could do it just as well.

I use every type of site there is depending on the purpose, the budget and timescale involved.

I'm not trying to build an income from doing this, so it's not something I give a lot of time to.

Andy

There is a point of no return here. In my experiences, in order to sell what it is you do, there must be some education involved.

Unless you strictly sell "Web design", there needs to be an explanation of WHY a biz owner should choose you. No, you don't have to spend "Days" explaining things, but you certainly have to be able to talk to an owner in a language they understand, so they can see the value.

They don't need to know HOW to set up an autoresponder, but they certainly need to now HOW it works and HOW it can benefit their business.

They don't need to know HOW to do SEO, but they need to know HOW it will increase visibility to their site.

They don't need to know HOW to write great sales copy, but they do need to know HOW it can help sales and conversions.

Most biz owners I speak to have no real idea of the potential of the internet. Nor do they really care about the nuts and bolts. But as stated, most don't know what they are missing out on...and that is where you come in. No need to spend countless hours educating them, but there is a need for the basics. The main point here is to focus on the benefits, not the boring details.

Business owners have little time and even less patience, and want RESULTS. If you focus on providing results, then you will have no problem selling your service.

Some owners don't "get it", and chances have it, no amount of time and energy you put forth will be worth it.

The more you do it the more you will be able to identify those who "get it" and those who don't.

Remember, as Andrew stated, YOU are the expert. That's why you are in business...so they pay YOU to do this. You need to work on your presentation and how to convey benefits. Trust me, there are plenty of businesses who need and WANT what you have, the others either will struggle along allowing their ignorance of the subject to limit their business, or come around at some point and call you.

Either way, keep on moving and find those that need and want you, all the while working on your "presentation".

Keith

I think many businesses are numbed to a "marketing budget" with no trackable results. How much does that yellow pages ad bring in? The radio campaign? The doorhanger coupon campaign? How about the full page newspaper ad?

Many businesses are spending like its going out of style on all kinds of marketing, but they have no idea what that money does for them.

If you can bring a tracking component into their marketing - or even bring this up in the conversation - they'll love you to death.

I think this goes in very well with that Cash Cow thread that is currently raging... http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...-its-free.html

You can measure it easily
One of my clinets is measuring the increase of traffic to her website
A blog can get alot of hits
And you cna show how many times an article is viewed
In fact you have better stats than many large print companies doo- because you cna show them they looked at that part specifically,as opposed to viewing a tiny add in the back of a mag, that may have cost as much to run as keeping you on for a month to advise and assist them

The key to helping a business owner see the potential is to get them to give you numbers.

eg.
"If we started capturing the email addresses of everyone who comes into your business how many new people do you think we'd get in a week?"

"So if we waited a month and then emailed all those xxx emails with a special offer how many do you think might come in?"

"And if you had that many people come in how many sales do you think you'd make?"

"What would your approximate profit be on those sales?"

That way your prospect has come up with his own figures (and he's taking ownership of the whole idea.

Then you might point out that you can automate sending out the emails and that he could be sending email offers every week and his email list and potential sales and profits could be growing every week.

That's just one example. There are many ways of doing this.

Kindest regards,
Andrew Cavanagh

I work with offline businesses and couldn't agree more strongly with Andrew and Keith. Most offline businesses simply want you to do it for them and maybe for you to show them that it is working. They are so used to just pouring their advertising dollars down a hole.

In fact, in my experience less than 10% of small business owners have any idea about marketing much less about online marketing. The majority of small business owners go to work every morning and punch the clock. They are busy working in their business and believe they do not have the time to work on their business.

Most of them base their advertising decision far more on how much money they have in the bank and/or what the latest sale is when the advertising sales guy/gal of the day walks into their office then whether it makes sense strategically for them to invest in that media. It's sad, but true.

So while I do believe that we need to educate our clients, we need to understand that most of them really do not want to know. It's just our job to deliver results to them and they will happily pay us to do so.

Doug

That is very true. Most business owners have very little idea of marketing and that is an enormous opportunity for you.

If you share the most basic marketing knowledge with a business owner he's likely to think you're a marketing genius.

(In fact I have clients and business friends who call me that even though all I've told them is something really simple like using an autoresponder or teaching their staff to upsell a low price high net profit product on the cash register.

If a business owner sees you as a marketing genius the chance he's going to hire you to help him goes up significantly.



I don't really know of any small business owner who has the time to learn how to do this let alone the time to be posting on forums, Myspace groups and blogs and posting YouTube videos.

What might be a whole lot smarter is to offer to do it for him for a fee.

Or if you're starting out and you're not making money online yourself you could offer to do it in exchange for a fee if he makes some sales.

You'll get ripped off of course and you'll be unlikely to get paid any significant amount of money but after the first client you'll have some experience and confidence and you can charge the next client upfront.

The key here is not to try to sell myspace posting or blog posting or creating YouTube videos but to sell the potential sales and profits these activities can create for a specific business.

Then offer to do it for the business owner at a fee that's significantly less than the potential profits.

Kindest regards,
Andrew Cavanagh

I have not really earned the right to be dispensing advice just yet but; here is my experience.....

With a mostly mail-order and mortar background (now getting into IM) I agree with most of what has been said here.

But....

Do not forget that a website is just part of a successful business.

Of course (for some) it will be a bigger part.

I took an IDM approach "Integrated Direct Marketing" and feel, at the very least, a business should have a web presence or brochure site (many do not) .

A simple well designed brochure site can be very powerful and should have 3 basic things:

1. Who you are
2. What you do
3. Action benefit
4. How to get a hold of you

All on one page.

I know what you are thinking....."DUH!"

But sometimes we need to get back to basics and build out from there?

I found that many of my biggest sales came from tradeshows/business cards/articles/brochures where my website and email were prominently displayed. Thus, customers had a place to find me.

I also found that many customers remembered and were specifically looking for my product and/or service from the above marketing efforts and wanted a phone number.

Yes....a phone number!

With all this fancy online ordering technology there is still a huge segment of the market that does not trust ordering online and want to do it over the phone.

We moved a 1-800 number to the top of everything we printed (order now) and also put it on the label of everything we sold. This increased sales dramatically.

Oh, and being a former business owner, I totally agree....I do not have the time to know, build and maintain all the IM bells and whistles. Do it for me me and make sure it's measurable!

PS; But I can wrap my mind around a simple brochure site to anchor the rest of my marketing efforts

-zenmn

Hmmmmmmm....this post really has gotten me thinking.

My background is in retail management. I could really put that experience to use with the ideas in this thread.

My head is spinning right now with the possibilities....

I think he could get a lot more sales by reaching out to his customers and demonstrating why his product is a worthwhile investment. He could also sell to hobbyists in his niche who likely have more spare cash than the underpaid professionals. But as a professional in the niche himself, he's reluctant to do this, since the hobbyists don't "need" what he's selling. Ultimately to be successful, I think he has to get someone on his team with marketing experience to take care of the selling.
And if it's a brick-and-mortar store, make it easy to find your address and business hours. I've come across sites where I can't even figure out what state the business is located in.

I remember several years ago speaking to a group of yoga teacher training students about marketing themselves when they started their own yoga practice.

I mentioned a whole pile of marketing strategies...over 20 from memory.

1 of them was about using the internet to market yourself more effectively.

Guess what everyone asked about after the seminar...

That's right...how do I use the internet?

How do I send out emails automatically?

What's the quickest way to set up a website?

Will it cost me more than $10,000 because that's all I have to spend...

etc etc.


Look the average business owner still sees the internet as a magical, potential source of huge revenue.

If you start talking about real proven strategies customized to help their business make more sales and profits you are going to get hired by a lot of these business owners.

Kindest regards,
Andrew Cavanagh

You're more likely to get hired based on 2 factors:

# 1: Your understanding of that particular business. If you've run or worked in a restaurant you'll probably find it easier to talk to the owner of a restaurant.

# 2: Your ability to build rapport with the owner.


Number 2 is random although you could start by talking to the business owners you're already friends with (duh).

Number 1 is not that much of an obstacle if you're willing to ask intelligent questions an listen.

You get paid more by businesses for providing a customized solution in any case and that will depend on you asking a ton of questions and really listening to the answers.


The quickest way to find out where the low hanging fruit is for YOU is to talk to a few business owners.

After half a dozen the chances are very high that someone will be offering to hire you.

Kindest regards,
Andrew Cavanagh