Camarillo Small Business Marketing!

1)  Why cutting the marketing budget can absolutely crush your small business.

It's a recession.  Historically, recessions force businesses to cut costs.  This is where problems begin to arise.  Many small businesses decide that the first cost needing to be cut is the marketing budget.  THIS IS THE WORST THING ANY BUSINESS COULD DO!  Sorry for the caps, but that needed to be shouted.  Notice how big business does things.  They cut jobs, reduce manufacturing, tighten their product focuses...but they don't touch their marketing budget.  Why?  Because marketing is the act of finding, engaging, and creating customers.  Advertising is only part of the equation, but it's a big part.  Without customers, there is no business.  Period!  So why do some small businesses cut that out of their expenses?

I would venture to say that there are two reasons.  First of all, the traditional advertising outlets for small businesses have been paper oriented, with long-term contracts and publishing dates that aren't "Today".  Secondly, unless a small business has a system in place to  track conversions from their advertising outlets, there really isn't any way of knowing how well or poorly a businesses advertising is doing.  This means that unless there is a special tracking system in place, any YellowPages/paper, billboard, TV, or radio advertising is not being tracked.  Without knowing how well or poorly an advertising outlet is performing, there's no wonder that the advertising budget gets cut first. 

The Internet: Your perfect solution.  With over 80% of households turning to the search engines for local business results, you now have the opportunity to dominate. 

Organic Search results are the most highly prized possession in the world of internet marketing.  Being ranked number 1, or on the first page of search engine results, is one of the most exciting things website owners could ever experience.  The traffic you get is enormous.  Based on the words people are using to search, that traffic is also very targeted.  But the best part; organic results are free!!! 

So, how does one go about getting good results in his/her local market?

For the answer to that, visit my site about Camarillo Small Business Marketing.