Many people don’t realize that Google has released a couple of very cool search tools for text messaging hand helds and a 411 directory for any phone to locate businesses and services. The best part is that they’re free services.

If you are on the go, you can simply send google a text message from your cell phone or any hand held. Simply put google in the “To” field, and then hit enter. When the input field for your text message comes up, simply type what local business or service you are looking for, and Google wll return the business name and phone number or the top Google search result. You can then just hit the talk button, and Google initiates the phone call.

Another method of finding local business is by dialing 1-800-goog411 from you phone or cell. Google will then prompt you for the business name, city, and state. You can also have Google search generically by just stating the type of service you are looking for like “Plumber”. Google will then respond with the name of the top search result, or you can request Google to go to the next list in the search results. Very cool, and it’s free of charge.

Here at Longmont Business Marketing, we’re scratching our heads! We’re really surprised by how much marketing money is being spent by small businesses on marketing strategies that simply don’t provide return on investment.

We are repeatedly hearing from small businesses in the Longmont area that they’re spending big money and not getting many calls from their phone book ads.

The next time you’re checking your business yellow page ad to make sure it was done properly and put in the right place(s), you may also want check to see how many pages of ads are right next to yours in bigger print. It would probably also be a good idea to check the library of yellow books to see what your ad is competing with at a broader level. While your at it, ask your family, friends, neighbors, and business partners how often they actually open those books, assuming they didn’t make a direct trip to the recycle bin. Unless your talking to someone who is computer illiterate, you’ll likely hear, “I don’t use them.”  “I just Google it”.  Statistically more people now search for local products and services using the internet. They’re not only using their home computers, but their hand-help mobile devices as well. Longmont Business Marketing not only puts small businesses on the front page of Google local search, but in a variety of other search engines and directory services  for a lot less than a small ad in one of the yellow books.

The above is just one example how Longmont Business Marketing is preparing our customers for today’s economy.
Successfully marketing your business can seem complicated and time consuming. Longmont Business Marketing cuts to the chase by offering a free consultation that will provide you with an assessment of your web peformance, on-line presence, and current marketing strategy. You have nothing to risk, as we are a local marketing firm that has several great references… That simple. Please call us at 303-652-7631 or send us an e-mail at info@longmont-business-marketing.com.

Too often small businesses fall into the trap of “trying to sell something” to their customers. As a result, the potential customer feels like it’s a one-sided deal, or the deal favors the small business (seller). Customers get the impression “This guy is trying to sell me something, and it’s not clear to me why I need it”. The potential customer can quickly go into a defensive stance, and the deal falls through.

Small business’ needs to focus on what value their products and services bring to a potential customer. Instead of taking a “hard sell” approach, listen to the customer, and help them find the right solution, whether you offer it or not. Even if you don’t get the sale, the customer walks away with a good impression of you and your business, and may return at a later time, or tell other potential customers of the good experience.

Look at any potential sale from the customer’s perspective, and always look out for their best interest. In the long run, it’s a win-win proposition.

Marketing Mix Optimization is a term used to describe how marketing investments are spent across marketing activities (media, campaigns, advertisements, etc.) and how this aligns with customer purchasing behavior. If your Longmont Business is investing a significant amount of your marketing spend in an area that is driving a very small return for your business, your “marketing mix” isn’t optimized. This becomes even more critical if you have a limited amount of marketing budget for your small business.

You must track customer-purchasing behavior and ensure that you are focusing your investments where you get the most impact. There are several marketing tools available that enable you to re-allocate or reduce marketing costs, saving you money and ensuring that your marketing mix is optimized to drive revenue and profit for your company. A qualified Longmont-based marketing firm can help you realize your marketing mix optimization.

As more small businesses migrate to the internet by establishing websites there is an opportunity for small, local marketing firms to network their customers together, so they can leverage each other’s customer base.

Local business networking isn’t a new concept, but it’s typically managed by large international marketing firms that offer local chapters where small businesses work together to give each other customer leads.

This same concept can be done by small marketing firms working a local geographic area. Over time, a small marketing firm may build a fairly sizable client base that serves a wide range of local markets, offering a variety of products and services.

Many small marketing firms overlook the opportunity to bring their clients together, to form their own local business network via forums, blogs, or actual meeting places. This concept offers several advantages for not only the marketing firm, but for their clients:

• Customer referral opportunities (as mentioned earlier)
• Cross linking (back linking) websites across the network, resulting in better search engine results.
• Better customer visibility for each business within the network
• A support network for information and idea sharing for countless general business topics.
• Improved business branding by getting a business’ name more visibility across the network.
• A sense of loyalty and belonging to a local business community.
• This is also a much cheaper alternative to a chamber of commerce membership, or other business networking service.

Small business marketing firms can take a leadership role in establishing the network by simply organizing their own client base, and providing the necessary tools and forums for their customers to communicate.

As we all know, the corporate superstores keep taking business away from local proprietors, and obviously this trend is going to continue unless small business’ fight back.

Think about it. Not that long ago (relatively speaking), small businesses provided the products and services that keep our local economy going. The money exchanged hands locally…

Now that we have big corporate businesses moving into our communities at a scale that Longmont and the surrounding area hasn’t seen…. Do you really think that the profits that Walmart, Lowes, Super Target, Home Depot (just a few examples), and the like are going to be spent locally? Of course not. They are big national and international hungry corporations looking for profit for their investors, offering a lower price.  Same thing with the big grocery chains, the Michael’s craft stores, the Grease Monkeys, etc.
This trend will continue unless local citizens of Longmont take some action.  Next, they will go after our local service businesses, or hold them under contract based on “their terms”.

I for one, would like the City of Longmont to scale the number of large corporations coming into our community, similar to what Boulder is doing.

Obviously the problem is all about corporate taxes and big corporate money, and the lack of foresight of our Longmont city management to look at the long term picture for our community.

I know Boulder is pretty hot on the subject, and we as a community should be as well.

If you have a small business in the Colorado Front Range area, try contacting Longmont Business Marketing. We have several great marketing solutions for small business, and we don’t care much for the big guys.  https://longmont-business-marketing.com

For those of you that want to participate in the Longmont City Council meetings, see:http://www.ci.longmont.co.us/city_council/agendas/index.htm

xcerpt from Longmont Daily Times Call: Google announced Feb. 10 that it plans to install a fiber-to-the-home network that will deliver Internet speeds of 1 gigabit a second — more than 100 times faster than what most people have today — at competitive prices… Click here for the full article.

Longmont Daily Times Call — Google is looking for a handful of cities around the nation where the company would build and test ultra-high-speed broadband networks.

And what Google is planning to do is exactly what Longmont has been trying to do for 13 years.
Click here for the full article.

According to “Internet World Stats”, over 46% of the US population is now using the internet.  For details, see the article from Internet World Stats.

Excerpt – “The number of U.S. searches grew 31 percent across all media platforms between June 2008 and June 2009 (21.9 billion searches in June 2009), according to a new study by TMP Directional Marketing.”   Check out this Webpro news article.