Your 3 Best Marketing Investments for 2009
Posted by Chris Johnson on Mon, Aug 18, 2008 @ 01:36 PM
Happy New Year! With the holidays behind us, we're heading into a challenging year. Staying profitable may take a little more creativity than usual. This issue of Local Backyard Marketing can help - with 10 low-cost (and even no-cost) ideas you can use right away to keep your business healthy and growing throughout 2009! Even one of these ideas could make all the difference! Take a look.
Your 3 Best Marketing Investments for 2009
1. Local Search. Newspaper readership, Yellow Pages use, and TV audiences continue to shrink, making local consumers, hard to reach. The good news is that more and more consumers are going online and using local search to find everything from attorneys to home improvement to child care. For you, local search can be far less expensive than traditional marketing. It also can deliver a much better “cost of sales.” Since local search zeroes in on your own highly targeted audience, you’ll get leads that are more relevant and it will take less time and money to convert those leads into customers.
2. Online Video. . Studies show that video can boost website experience click-throughs 50%. It also boosts your search engine visibility. That’s why smart marketers are starting to use video in eMail, eNewsletters, microsites, press releases, and in advertising and awareness campaigns on sites like YouTube and Facebook. During 2009, experiment with using video yourself! Some ideas: product demos, testimonials, introduction to your website, special report, a status report (e.g., progress on a project or how you’re renovating your offices), etc. Video is expensive though right? WRONG!! It may cost you $700-1200 to produce a high quality video for your business. That video can then be used in sales presentations to WOW your potential customers, on your website to get them to call and help your website stick out from the rest. It can even be mailed to potential clients. But the main thing the video does is make your website and any other marketing more personal. They get to SEE you or your business personnel and let’s face it, people would much rather watch something than read. Cater to their laziness and rack in the customers from your competition.
3. Messaging. Trade “nice to haves” (convenience, luxury, etc.) for a value statement that communicates “need to haves” (lasting value, money savings, etc.). Example: When a salon and spa owner saw a huge drop in demand for massages and high-end hair color services, she changed her website, ads, and what stylists were saying to customers: instead of promoting “pampering,” the new message was “in this job market, you’ve got to look – and feel – confident and relaxed.” This simple change of message turned the salon services into smart investments rather than indulgences or things that you can put off until later. Online marketing lets you change your message instantly instead of waiting for the next issue or worse the next YEAR! Find your value statement and you’ll find more customers.
Want to Grow Your Customer Base? Just Ask!
Is it possible for your customer base to grow even as the economy shrinks? You bet! In fact, new customers could be yours just for the asking. Try this:
1. Ask Mom for Help. Generation X and Y moms make $1.7 trillion of purchases a year. 
Even if the recession has them spending less, they’re still making decisions about everything from insurance and household maintenance, to choosing where to eat, shop, travel, and entertain the family. Use the Internet to tap their influence and spending power! But follow the guidance of a MarketingCharts study and use a different strategy to reach each group: Gen Y moms go online to read blogs, create and share their own videos, and participate in an online community of moms. Gen X moms go online to shop and upload photos. To learn all you can about this market, read blogs for moms and search on phrases such as “marketing to moms.”
2. Ask for Ratings and Reviews. Today, more than 75% of shoppers are using product ratings and reviews written by other customers to help make a purchase decision. Plus, referrals from ratings and reviews generate 97% more revenue per referral than referrals from natural search engines to product pages. Backyard Marketing automatically enhances your search listing with ratings and reviews made directly from testimonials we collect for you and through other sites. Benefit even more by publishing ratings and reviews on your own site — right where potential customers are considering purchasing from you. The best reviews are ones that give specific examples or tell how you solved a problem for the reviewer.
3. Ask for Referrals. Do you always ask every customer for a referral? If not, you could be missing out on a huge chunk of new business. There’s no need to be pushy. Just print a short message on receipts that asks for referrals. Have cashiers smile and say, “Tell your friends about us” as they ring up customers. Create a program that rewards customers who bring you new customers. After a sale, send a follow-up note or email: “Thank you so much for your business. We’d love the opportunity to see you again soon. And if you know anyone else who might enjoy what we offer, we’d so appreciate a referral. If you send us a referral we will give you a 20 percent discount on your next visit…” Simply find a tactic that works best for your particular business and do it — every time with every customer!
To Boost Natural Search Rankings, Lighten Your Load
How long does it take your website to load? The answer could directly impact how you rank in natural search results. That’s because search engines include load time in their algorithms. Having a slow site puts you at a disadvantage with search engines and with competitors.
Bottom line: to help your website rise to the top of natural search, it pays to “lighten” your load time. Here’s how:
1. Minimize the size of photographs and other graphics. Images eat up load time — especially if they’re large. Your best rule of thumb is to keep graphics, photos, and other images on your website to 72 pixels per inch or less.
2. Run an assessment of your overall site. Use keyword searches like “load time optimization” and “Web resize tool” to find a wealth of online optimization resources. You 
may want to start off with one of the many sites offering free tools, including speed tests that calculate the size, composition and download time of your pages.
3. Check with your tech. If you don’t have a website guru, hire one to make a few little tweaks that can make a major improvement in speed and performance. Secrets include adding a “far-future expires” header, structuring for fewer HTTP requests, Gzipping page components, and minimizing CSS, HTML and JavaScript. !
Ask BackyardMarketingGroup.com
Q: I am interested in doing some things but I need someone to help me figure out what works for my company. How can I do that without breaking the bank?
A: Any company worth their “salt” will be more than happy to give you some pointers over the phone. They can even run an analysis of your site free of charge. We do that for people all the time and there are other firms that do that too. If you want us to provide you with information give us a call at 1-888-710-8389 or email Mandy at Mandy@BackyardMarketingGroup.com . She can help you or assign a member of her department to help you out.