Around this time every year, the pundits like to predict what they think will happen in the coming year. So, I think I'll give it a try with two easy predictions.
Some local business owner will become so seduced by the allure of easy money on the Internet they will spend an inordinate amount of money with an Internet development company and will never see a return on thier investment. Another local business owner will try to develop a web site on their own and it will look like it. In both cases, the business owners will suspend or discontinue their traditional media efforts at the expense of their existing market share.
| Listen to the podcast |
It doesn’t take any special visionary powers or special insight to predict that some local business owner will be seduced by the appeal of the Internet and suspend or significantly reduce their marketing efforts in traditional media and cause irreparable harm to their existing market share.
2009 was the year that “I’ll get back to my traditional advertising as soon as I redesign my web site” excuse rose to the top of the list for the most common objection for why the local business owner was abandoning or reducing their marketing efforts on traditional media.
During their self imposed hiatus from their traditional media marketing efforts , the small business begins to disappear from the traditional media landscape, the erosion of their existing market share begins and their potential customers go elsewhere.
The local business owner either believes some digital agency’s hype and ends up spending an inordinate amount of their hard earned money on professional services for nothing more than an expensive online brochure or they try to do it on the cheap by letting their nephew or a friend do the work for them and are in a constant state of incompleteness.
There is so much publicity about the future of commerce on the Internet that some local small business owners feel compelled to develop their Internet web site without a clear strategic plan at the expense of their existing marketing efforts.
So many small business owners have been blinded by the prospect that their business can go viral and get millions of people engaged that they have left common sense behind. If the small business owner isn’t equipped to sell and service their products on a worldwide basis, they will soon find that it takes more time and money than they originally thought to keep their electronic brochure up-to-date.
Just browse the web sites of local companies and you will see obvious evidence that many small business owners have found the expense too great to maintain. The content is out of date and the site looks unattended.
So many local business owners find themselves is this conundrum that Intuit has developed a commercial that uses these very challenges as the reason to use Intuit’s professional web site services. For less than five dollars a month the small business owner can have a professional web site.
I’m not saying that the small business owner shouldn’t be involved in new media technologies; they just shouldn’t be seduced by every new digital marketing idea just because some industry pundit thinks that it’s the coolest thing to come down the road.
A small business owner should pay attention to these immensely important developments like the rise of Facebook and Twitter. A small business owner should advertise online and engage with their customers via the social Web. The small business owner should have an appropriate web presence, one that fits nicely into their advertising budget and still have money left over for traditional media.
They shouldn’t abandon their traditional media efforts no matter how sexy digital media may seem because of the perceived lower cost.
The investment the local small business owner makes to build and maintain an Internet web site is a ticket to play ball with the big boys like Wal Mart, Target, Best Buy, JC Penny and many other multinational companies that invest millions of dollars into the number one category of Internet ad spend, paid search. This is the most competitive marketplace in the world and it is dominated by the titans of business.
The small business owner shouldn’t assume that just because there is a new way to do something it’s essential to run out and do it that way. In a small business especially, life is all about opportunity costs. You constantly have to make decisions about what’s critical, what’s nice to have, and what’s a luxury that you can pay attention to if you have the time and money.
It is crucial to have a strategic plan for your Internet presence. It is important but not to the exclusion of your traditional media plans.
Just look at Apple.
Apple is without a doubt the consummate innovator of the new media era, turning the music business and then the mobile phone business upside down, and now setting its sights squarely on the TV, publishing, and video game businesses. (Oh, and it has a nice computer business going, too.)
And yet Apple does none of the things that pundits always say you should do to succeed in the Internet economy.
Apple doesn’t blog; it doesn’t Tweet; it does little on Facebook; it doesn’t engage with its customer base. It doesn’t ask the “community” for feedback or rapidly iterate based on any such feedback or even respond to criticism.
Apple doesn’t give anything away for free — in fact, the company charges premium prices for just about everything. Its customer service is perfunctory. It engages in terribly consumer-unfriendly practices like making you buy a whole new device when the battery dies.
And marketing? It’s hard to think of any technology-related business that spends more money on that most retro of media, the glossy magazine advertisement. It pours tens of millions into traditional advertising.
Apple does buy online Internet advertising, but mostly display ads. For the most part, Apple advertising is old media all the way.
An online presence is important in today’s market place. But just make sure your expectations are realistic and your investment is appropriate. If the small business owner is only equipped to sell and service locally, they should only allocate the appropriate amount of their marketing budget to their Internet efforts with only the local commerce in mind. They need traditional media to drive traffic to their web site.
I’ve put together a white paper called the Two Ways Ways to Drive Traffic to Your Web Site. You can download a free copy from my web site. Just become a registered member and download your copy today.
