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Hunkering Down: Local Business’ Dilemma

Author: Ray Gulick; Published: Aug 4, 2009; Category: Business, Marketing, Zeitgeist; Tags: Business, Marketing, Zeitgeist; 2 Comments

Like a lot of people over the last several months, we’ve not been in much of a spending mood. We cut out some things that we judged non-essential, and one of those things was espresso. After several espresso-less months, however, my wife decided espresso was more essential than we thought. She headed to the local store (as far as we know, the only local store) that carries Illy espresso-ground coffee. That is, they used to carry it. They’d cut back themselves, no longer stocking low-margin, low-profit, or seldom-purchased items.

I should backtrack to let you know that this store is where my wife discovered Illy. The store contains (or used to) all kinds of “exotic” foods and wine, kitchen furnishings, furniture, and other household furnishings. We went there only on rare occasions, until my wife discovered Illy. Then she shopped there at least monthly, and she usually bought a lot more than espresso, which was the initial reason for the trips to the store. We’ve bought furniture there, which is not a low-margin item. I don’t mean to suggest furniture was an impulse purchase, but my wife’s familiarity with the store (we drank a lot of espresso) was a big part of the reason we bought furniture there.

Now, there’s not a huge reason for us to go to that store. No doubt we still will on occasion, but not monthly. Since we don’t know of another place to buy Illy locally, we’re looking for it online. Another local piece of business migrating online.

I can understand the store’s need to reduce it’s inventory to best-selling items where possible. But if you’re in the business of providing a range of exotic stuff, aren’t you shooting yourself in the foot (or your brand in the heart) by cutting back to best sellers? Isn’t that Albertson’s business model?

Do Static, Set-it-and-Forget-it Websites Still Have Value?

Author: Ray Gulick; Published: Jul 14, 2009; Category: Marketing, Search/SEO, Zeitgeist; Tags: Local Search, Marketing, Zeitgeist; No Comments

It seems as though this question could be answered with a simple “yes” or “no” (I would argue “no”), but a conversation I had yesterday with Chris Madrid of New Mexico Community Capital’s IMPACT New Mexico program helped me understand two things: 1) that a static website can still have some value as an “online brochure.” and 2) how far we have to go in New Mexico in terms of businesses understanding not just “how” to leverage the web, but “why.”

Certainly I understand that for small businesses just starting up, a website may not be their first priority. In terms of cash flow and number of hours in a day, they may be at capacity in just getting their business on its feet. But businesses have to do some marketing. The problem is many business owners have little or no expertise in nor understanding of marketing. As a result, they end up with a yellow pages ad and a banner in front of their place of business. If they’re lucky and they have great products or services, they will get enough word-of-mouth to allow them to survive. Some kinds of businesses, like restaurants, can even thrive on that formula. For many (perhaps most) businesses, that’s not enough.

So what value does a static, seldom-if-ever-updated website still provide? Assuming someone knows the name of the company or the URL of their website, they can find their way to it (not likely Google will be much help in finding it by searching on anything other than the company name). To some customers, having even a static website adds credibility to the company as long as the information on the site is not obviously outdated (if things appear badly dated, however, it can have the opposite effect).

If a static website looks nice, is easy to navigate, and tells a coherent and compelling story about the company and it’s products or services, prospective customers who find their way there may, in fact, decide to do business with the company. This is the nearly two decades old “online brochure” model of online marketing. It’s better than no website, but it’s never worked great (not even in 1993, when I launched my first website) for one simple reason: it doesn’t attract much search traffic. Which means not many people ever see the website. It’s like buying a television ad that runs at 3 am.

This is a strategy that absolutely depends on driving people to your website by putting its URL on business cards, yellow pages ads, mentioning it on radio spots, etc. Those techniques, with rare exceptions, have never resulted in much traffic for business websites.

So, static websites, if kept at least marginally updated, are better than nothing. But that misses the point. Marketing, rather than a (sometimes expensive) frill, is an absolute necessity for almost all businesses: it’s what keeps the customers coming. The online marketing game isn’t about providing cred to the 5-6 people per week who see your online brochure. The online marketing game is about getting found online by the hundreds and thousands of local people searching online for local products and services offered by your company.

Fundamentally, search engines have changed the game by focusing on local search results. It used to be that in order to see local results, I had to type in “Santa Fe” after whatever I was looking for. No more. Search engines now deliver local results (if any) based on your IP address, which indicates your geographic location. This both takes advantage of and fuels a trend in the growing use of search engines in looking for local products and services. If your website is not a search engine magnet, you’re missing out on business. It’s that simple.

Static websites are rarely (if ever) search engine magnets, no matter what might be done to make them more search engine-friendly. Blogs and actively updated websites with content management systems often are, if done with search engine optimization in mind. So you tell me: do static websites still have value?

Let's Sit This One Out vs. That Looks Like Fun

Author: Ray Gulick; Published: Jun 11, 2009; Category: Business, Communication, Marketing, Video, Zeitgeist; Tags: Humor, Seth Godin, Zeitgeist; No Comments

I read Seth Godin’s blog almost daily, and check out just about anything else the man has to say in print or on video. I don’t always agree with him, but he always makes me think. The other day, he shared a video on his blog that showed people dancing at a concert, and how it grew from one crazy (and probably intoxicated) guy to a mob of people (also probably intoxicated). Watching it can tell you a lot of what you need to know about group behavior as it relates to creating a tribe or building a market. Seth talks about the importance of the third guy joining in, and you should go read his post.

However, I’d like to focus on the people in the foreground. The ones trying to maintain their dignity as (near the end of the video) people all but run over them to be part of the mob. Why didn’t they get up and be part of it? They didn’t even have to walk far (a few of the folks sitting in the foreground did get up and dance, but not many). Why did they adopt and maintain "anti-mob" behavior?

Here’s my theory. Sitting close by, they witnessed a crazy guy making a fool of himself from the very beginning of his let-it-all-hang-out performance, before other crazy guys (and gals) had joined him. You can almost hear the conversation.
"Look at that guy making an ass of himself, Bobby Joe."
"What a jerk, Bobby Jim. Don’t you get any ideas about dancing around like that."
"If I was dancing, I wouldn’t be lurching around like a drunken idiot."
"If you were dancing, you’d look just like that, only worse."
And so on…

What I’m guessing* is that these people created their own barrier to participation by taking a mental position they could not easily abandon. Having agreed on the foolishness of such behavior and reinforced in each other their superiority for not participating, they were no longer free to say "Hey! That looks like fun!" when other people rushed over to join in the "foolishness."

Most of us have done this at one time or another. In fact, I’m willing to bet that right now almost all of us are prevented from doing something we would enjoy or that would benefit us in some way, for no other reason than that we’ve adopted a mental position/barrier. The trick is to identify our assumptions (what if we start with what we’re resisting?) and examine whether or not they still serve us well.

*It’s also possible they’d made a realistic assessment of their dancing abilities and had wisely decided it was better to enjoy watching other people have fun, in which case, they hadn’t had enough beer.

Waiting for the Small Business Fairy to Bless Your Small Business

Author: Ray Gulick; Published: May 14, 2009; Category: Business, Marketing, Zeitgeist; Tags: Business, Economy, Humor, Zeitgeist; One Comment

Fairy tales were fun when we were little. The dastardly, selfish, and conniving were always punished. Meanwhile, handsome, brave, pure-hearted princes or tailors hooked up with beautiful, pure-hearted princesses (or beautiful, pure-hearted commoners) and lived happily ever after, often after some help from a fairy godmother or some other magical being.

Unfortunately, too many small business owners appear to be waiting for the Small Business Fairy to whack them with her wand, rather than adopting new marketing techniques with which other businesses have found success. If you’re one of those, you should know that I talked with the Small Business Fairy recently, and I have some bad news. The Small Business Fairy doesn’t have much of a work ethic, and she’s not ever going to get to you, no matter how brave, pure-hearted, or otherwise deserving you might be.

If you want to find your fortune with your small business, you’re going to have to do it without the Small Business Fairy’s help (trust me: she’s not coming). You’re going to have to muster all the bravery and pure-heartedness you can and start a business blog. And maybe establish a business Facebook page. Maybe even, you will need to "tweet." You, brave small businessman (or business woman) must hack your way through the thorny underbrush of social media. Having done so, however, you will be rewarded, as good fortune (and Google) smiles upon you. And there are people who can help you get there: no magic wands or spells, but sound advice.

It could be worse. There could be dragons.

Because The Light is Better Here

Author: Ray Gulick; Published: Mar 14, 2009; Category: Blogging, Business, Marketing; Tags: Blogging, Business, Change, Economy, Zeitgeist; One Comment

It’s a punchline to an old joke you’ve probably heard, but just in case you haven’t, it goes like this:

Coming out of a bar at night, George sees Harry, a friend and fellow bar patron who’d left minutes before, on his hands and knees searching for something under a lamp post. "Harry, what did you lose?" asks George. "I lost my keys under a car," says Harry. "If you lost them under a car, why are you looking under the lamp post?" asks George. "Because the light is better here," says Harry.

Obviously, Harry’s judgment is impaired. He’s looking where it’s easier to look, rather than where his keys might be found.

What Harry is doing is not unlike what a lot of businesses do, as they continue to look for customers with broadcast media, print ads, and press releases. Though their customers are increasingly not to be found in the audience for those "tried and true" methods of marketing, that’s the marketing territory they know (or are being sold), so that’s where they continue to look. I’m sure they’ve noticed their results are not what they once were, but maybe if they "turn up the light…"

If their customers aren’t where they used to be, where are they? Most of them are on the Internet, either making purchases or researching purchases they plan to make. Who do they do business with? With whoever they find online who engages them with content that answers their questions and solves their problems. They start with Google, and they find answers and solutions without leaving their chair.

That doesn’t necessarily mean they buy online, although sometimes they do. Sometimes they find a website or a blog that speaks to them about what they’re interested in. They subscribe to updates and develop a relationship with the company. When it’s time for them to buy, that company gets their business.

That was an oversimplification, but the techniques of making your business findable—and engaging those who find it—are not complicated. They don’t require much money (especially in comparison to traditional marketing), but they do require time and effort, and a willingness to learn something you might not be familiar with.

Business people who want to stay in business follow their customers. If their customers are not "under the light," they find them where they are.