Get Your Business Noticed By Small Businesses

Small business is the backbone of our economy.  There are an estimated 29 million of them according to the SBA.  Whether you are a building products manufacturer, a financial services company, a chemical distributor or otherwise, chances are you market to and sell products and services to small businesses.

Small businesses use many sources to get information when they need to buy a product or service.  A key source is still word of mouth however you can’t rely on that alone to reach prospects and generate leads and sales.  It used to be true that the yellow pages were a “go to” source of information when in need of a product or service.  The game has long since changed thanks to the internet.  Where does this leave you?

People turn to the internet first when shopping.  More specifically, they use search engines.  They first cast a wide net to discover options.  They do their homework and research to narrow the field.  Then make a buying decision.  Remember, when you sell your product or service to small businesses, you are still selling to a person.  Using Search Engine Marketing (aka Pay Per Click) to market to small businesses is vital for many reasons.

1. Small businesses and their respective owners are busy, time-starved people.  Who isn’t these days?  Search engine marketing puts your products and services at their fingertips in a timely manner – when they need it and are looking for it.
2. Search engine marketing is the yellow pages of today.  You need to be present when your audience is in shopping and buying mode.
3. Most shopping starts online.  82% of consumers use search engines and more than 50% use it as a primary shopping tool. While this is a consumer stat, remember that people run and manage businesses.  Not the other way around.
4. If you have a website (and you probably do if you market to small businesses), you likely want to rank well for specific search phrases organically.  The reality is that you can’t rank for all keywords.  Search engine marketing (PPC) puts you at the top of the search results regardless of how well optimized your site is organically.  Studies show that if used in combination, SEO and PPC results improve – more clicks, conversions, leads, sales, profit.
5. If you’ve got a great website and nobody can find it, what good is it doing you?  Use search engine marketing as a means to be seen and generate traffic to your site.
6. Search engine marketing is highly measurable.  You can track a wide variety of metrics and understand which keywords and phrases result in site traffic, conversions, leads, calls and sales.  This allows you to optimize your spending.  And, it makes you and your budget accountable.

Whether you’ve got an existing search engine marketing program or thinking about starting one, let us know.  We’re interested to hear about your successes and challenges.

Flickr image courtesy of jm3