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Offline Marketing to a Population Less than 20,000

by Hard Boiled Greg
20 replies
Hello,

I am interested in starting an offline marketing company in my small city (population 20,000 including surrounding area). I would provide web design, SEO and social media marketing.

From reading the threads here, I understand the best approach is not to call a company and ask them if they want to buy a website, but instead to sell them the benefit of additional customers etc. from search traffic.

My concern is that the search volume by residents of this town might really be too small for that sales approach to carry much weight.

Does anyone have experience providing offline marketing services to a REALLY small town? Would I be better off focusing on the nearest big city (population 700,000 - 90 minutes away), right from the start?

Thank you,

Greg
#marketing #offline #population
  • Profile picture of the author iAmNameLess
    Why are you just sticking with one city? Who says you have to pick one city and that's it?

    I think you're reading the wrong threads. You can sell websites, SEO, SMM.. The best approach is to just call and see what they need, what kind of problems they have online. Offer solutions, through your services.

    Start with a smaller area if that makes you comfortable. IT will be easy competition for you to get familiar with everything.
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  • Profile picture of the author Rus Sells
    Personally I think for towns this small its better to create a social conversation via facebook.
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    • Profile picture of the author Eddie Spangler
      For a town this small you can go in and basically ask if they would like to be THE most well known and talked about xxxxxx in town.
      Help them dominate and get paid
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    • Profile picture of the author terip
      Originally Posted by Rus Sells View Post

      Personally I think for towns this small its better to create a social conversation via facebook.
      I go with this idea. Or through other social media sites as well, twitter and the like.
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  • Profile picture of the author prostarprofitsdotcom
    When I first started my business I lived in a town with 3,500 now I live in a town with 9million but I use to pick up the phone and call people if required I would also go to biggest towns.

    I was in a different industry at the time but the principle still applies.

    Respectfully,
    Chris Brown
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  • Profile picture of the author dminorfmajor
    I'd say just start where you live to get your feet wet. Once you've learned the ropes, target a city 50-100 miles away and start over.

    When I first started, I made a website targeting my tri-state area. The name of the tri-state area is in the domain name so if I email a potential client, they'll see the domain and it makes them feel more comfortable since they're dealing with a "local guy."
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  • Profile picture of the author Rus Sells
    I used to live in a town of around 20k and almost every one knew who owned what etc. etc. I don't see much value in asking the business owners if they need seo. Maybe a web site, but I think social marketing with promotional campaigns is where its at for towns this small.
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  • Profile picture of the author Aussieguy
    I live in a small area (~5k) that is next to a 20k town and work in the next town after that which is another 20k town. Lots of business either have or need a website in that area alone. I agree that SEO might not so much be where it's at. Websites and FB. Lots of them already have a FB page but don't really do anything with it.

    Even in the area I live, I see an opportunity for the local butcher (for example) to do some customer retention stuff (to remind people that it's better to go to them than the big supermarket in the next town). Not even so much a website for them, but an email catalogue for example wouldn't hurt! So there's always opportunities....
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  • Profile picture of the author localvseo
    Are there other similar size towns close by? One thing I offer my clients of small locations is the ability to market their services in surrounding towns that may not have heard of them. If you can market them in 4 x 20,000 person towns you will have a decent number to pull leads in from and should still be pretty easy to dominate each area.

    Originally Posted by Hard Boiled Greg View Post

    Hello,

    I am interested in starting an offline marketing company in my small city (population 20,000 including surrounding area). I would provide web design, SEO and social media marketing.

    From reading the threads here, I understand the best approach is not to call a company and ask them if they want to buy a website, but instead to sell them the benefit of additional customers etc. from search traffic.

    My concern is that the search volume by residents of this town might really be too small for that sales approach to carry much weight.

    Does anyone have experience providing offline marketing services to a REALLY small town? Would I be better off focusing on the nearest big city (population 700,000 - 90 minutes away), right from the start?

    Thank you,

    Greg
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  • Profile picture of the author jayspann
    Here is the method I used when I started out in a previous small town. I created a local directory site that I could contact (email, mail, phone, etc) and offer to let them advertise (list) their business for free.

    Almost never got a no from anyone as long as I actually got a response from them.

    Now you have all there contact information. Your an Internet marker (I hope) they are in your funnel now you know what to do.

    Send them great tips, offer advice, then ask if they need help with anything because you help someone just like them get great results with your wonderful widget package.

    Start small and up-sell OFTEN. It's ten time easier (and cheaper) to get current customers to spend more money then it is to get new customers.

    When I sold this business last year the new owners didn't even renew the directory site when it came due. I almost feel bad for them that they are missing out on this cash cow.

    I do feel bad for all the great clients that I had on the site. It never got a lot of traffic but they loved seeing their businesses on the site.

    OH p.s. I never did this but if you generate traffic to the site you can sell premium ad space too!

    Hope this give you some ideas. just blue not a link

    Jay
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  • Profile picture of the author MaxReferrals
    Cold calling with get you nowhere, other than frustrated.

    Look for ways to turn strangers into friends, and then those new friends eventually into potential business sources. That doesn't happen overnight.

    One way you can do this is by focusing on the needs of those you meet, rather than being so focused on yourself and selling your services.

    Then look for opportunities as you grow your circle of local friends/associates, on ways you can be a matchmaker and match them up with others.

    By doing so, you take genuine interest in the other person, and you'll automatically win because trust starts to form in the relationship.

    Good luck.
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    • Profile picture of the author ckbank
      Originally Posted by MaxReferrals View Post

      Cold calling with get you nowhere, other than frustrated.

      Look for ways to turn strangers into friends, and then those new friends eventually into potential business sources. That doesn't happen overnight.

      One way you can do this is by focusing on the needs of those you meet, rather than being so focused on yourself and selling your services.

      Then look for opportunities as you grow your circle of local friends/associates, on ways you can be a matchmaker and match them up with others.

      By doing so, you take genuine interest in the other person, and you'll automatically win because trust starts to form in the relationship.

      Good luck.
      Good advice, but you're wrong about one thing. You don't become friends with clients. That's a big no no.
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      Now that's what I call Guerrilla Marketing.
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  • Profile picture of the author danielsteven
    Get involved with the Local Chamber of Commerce. That (in my opinion) would be the best way to approach prospects in your city and get your name out there.
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  • Profile picture of the author Vietlinkmedia
    Originally Posted by Hard Boiled Greg View Post

    Hello,

    I am interested in starting an offline marketing company in my small city (population 20,000 including surrounding area). I would provide web design, SEO and social media marketing.

    From reading the threads here, I understand the best approach is not to call a company and ask them if they want to buy a website, but instead to sell them the benefit of additional customers etc. from search traffic.

    My concern is that the search volume by residents of this town might really be too small for that sales approach to carry much weight.

    Does anyone have experience providing offline marketing services to a REALLY small town? Would I be better off focusing on the nearest big city (population 700,000 - 90 minutes away), right from the start?

    Thank you,

    Greg
    I think to create a social conversation via facebooksocial. And social marketing with promotional campaigns is where its at for towns this small.
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    • Profile picture of the author Rachel Incoll
      I live in a town with a population of a few thousand & there are a few other towns within a 20 min drive with a similar population...however we do have a major city (pop. about 1 million) around an hour's drive away.

      While SEO is something that many businesses in the area won't really benefit from, some will.

      Those businesses within the small towns that are willing to travel a bit (service type industries - building, cleaning, constructions etc.) can however benefit from SEO. I've done a lot of online promotion for my husband's paving business on the net and have been able to generate tens of thousands of dollars worth of jobs for very little outlay. Much more cost effective than local newpaper advertising...in fact we don't even use the local papers anymore!

      The 2 things that have worked best for us include:

      1. A small amount of SEO...ok I haven't done very much at all really , so the rankings are no where near what they should be, but we've found there's a reasonable amount of searches for several keyword phrases related to paving + nearby city.

      All up it would only be around a thousand exact match searches a month for half a dozen or so phrases, but that's still enough to get a fair few quote requests.

      2. Google Adwords. Not just targeting the keyword + city phrases, but taking things even further and using the Adwords feature that allows your ads to only display to searchers within a certain area that you specify.

      So for example, we are to the north of the city, so we have it set so that his ads will only display to people who live on the northern side of the city centre, plus about another 100km (around 60 mile) to the north, east and west.

      Cheers

      Rach
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  • Profile picture of the author leemax
    What about a city site that's interactive for everyone? You could sell ad space, and premium listings, make it social, let them know whats going on in town, community calendar, all kinds of information could be put in to give your community a place to go.
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  • Profile picture of the author mjbmedia
    Business in small areas can sell to people in other areas and other countries.

    Surely thats one of the biggest plusses of having an online presence, you can be based in Sleepyville but have fee paying clients all over the world and so can your clients if you create different ways to package their offers to be of interest to people in different areas rather than just local footfall
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    Mike

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    • Profile picture of the author clarest
      I think you won't really know unless you test it out. Maybe work with an existing education/commerce institution to hold a something-like "What the internet can do for your business in 2012!" seminar that they can blast to their list and at the seminar you could build your own list from attendees. Or perhaps write a book on a similar topic and give it away free in exchange for their details.
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  • Profile picture of the author Sharyn Sheldon
    As someone else said earlier, this is not about what you're selling, but about what your customer needs.

    Your challenge is that your customers don't necessarily know what they need. You will have to educate them on the potential benefits
    However, before you can state benefits, you need to do some market research.

    - where do these businesses operate? Is it just locally, or is there potential for widening their business to other locations
    - What is the nature of their customer relationships? Are they transactional, personal, relationship-based, social, mainly referrals...?
    - How much do they already understand about internet marketing? Do they have an email list of subscribers? A Facebook page? Existing website? Do they even use Google? You'd be surprised.
    - etc.

    You'll then want to segment the market, even though it's small, into different targets depending on who can benefit most from different services you are able to offer. Start with the ones where you have an easy way in. Then you can get referrals and build from there.

    There are so many different ways you can market yourself locally and in some ways it can be easier than in a big city. Word gets around fast - though that means you'd better not mess up! Focus more on understanding these local businesses first, think about where you can help them most, educate them on benefits of different services, and then move to solutions and asking for the business.
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