Small Business Commando News

The Orange County (California) Register had a nice article on Irvine, CA Based, Local.com.

I’m a big fan of Local.com, and their approach to aggregating as much relevant information as they can into one single spot.

Local.com’s purchase of marketing firm soUno (so YOU know) shows that they understand the basics of the local advertising market.

Small businesses do not BUY advertising, small businesses are SOLD advertising.

Ignore this rule at your own peril.

Bravo to Businessweek for once again delivering an insightful piece on the growth of the local Internet and the firms making it happen.

Their story takes about surfing the internet on a television to find local information.  This concept is not new, and perhaps the technology will work this time.

However, they do casually note that the company does not have a well developed local sales plan for attracting advertisers.

One this is for certain.  When it comes to capturing local advertising dollars, if you build it, they will NOT come, you need to go and get them.

A consumer poll of the most influential brands in the world revealed that advertising is no longer the most important tool of branding.

It shocked me that several of the “Most Influential” brands did not advertise:

• YouTube
• Google
• Starbucks
• Wikipedia
• Craigslist

None of these “brands” advertise in the traditional sense.

So I looked to see if this was a new trend. Y’know, had the old guard recently lost it?

Well, this survey is a little odd, because look at the results from 2001:

Yup, the world HAS changed.  The old rules no longer apply, and a great idea, well implemented can create a top brand nearly overnight.  Of course the pendulum swings both ways.  Some of the top brands of 2006 will look quaint and nostalgic in a few years.

Special thanks to Greg Sterling of Screenwerk.com for the news.

Special thanks to Randall Hilton for his recent series on Yellow Pages advertising for plumbers. Randall is a plumber’s plumber.

He has become a mouthpiece for the industry offering solid advice in a home-spun way.

I’ve learned a helluva lot about plumbing and the issues facing plumbers reading his newsletter, and I do a much better job for my plumber clients becuse of it.

He recently ran a series about Yellow Pages advertising that comes from the advertiser’s perspective.

Check it out at www.plumb-biz.com

Traditional Yellow Pages ad design holds that the advertiser’s number should be in the lower third of the print ad.

A shopper will read the headline, scan the ad looking at the graphical images and cometo rest on the business name, address and telephone number.

Notice the phone number in the lower right of the ad. I might add that this is a very high performing Yellow Pages ad.
Well, if you apply the same design principles to a website, particularly a small business website, you will miss business. Quite often, the lost business is staggering.

On a website, the contact information should be front and center. Top of the page, above the fold.

This small business website shows not only the phone number front and center, they reinforce the concept of making a call by putting a photo of an employee on the phone.

The website visitor does not need to scroll or navigate around the page in order to call.

In this instance, a plumbing / HVAC contractor, the phone is their primary customer contact.

It’s important to understand the difference in various media to generate the highest number of calls for each.

Recently, and without fanfare, craigslist added a field requiring licensing information for ads posted under the “Skilled Trades” section.So what are the implications?

1. craigslist is maturing as a serious advertising platform for the skilled trades, for one. They don’t make changes to their site without a strong reason, and the reason here has probably been initiated by several state licensing boards responding to complaints.

2. craigslist is following the lead of the print Yellow Pages publishers in requesting the informaiton, but not being the police. If a poster is in violation of the state licensing board, that’s between the state and the poster.

3. Posting ads on craigslist can be an effective method for driving highly qualified customers to local businesses. I know that this isn’t a newsflash to the folks who read blogs like this, but you’d be surprised at how many local businesses have no idea what’s going on.

Hey, let me know if you like the podcast. ok?

 Craigslist adds licensing information requirement: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

vFlyer is a service that simplifies distribution of classified advertising by providing a template and distribution assistance.

It’s an interesting concept, because although Craigslist and LiveDeal receive most of the attention, there are dozens of other free classified advertising sites where a local advertiser might gain traction.

vFlyer announced that they were officially launched and were offering subscription plans for businesses ranging from $20 to $80 monthly.

They offer a personal version that is ad supported with limited features.

Some of vFlyer’s distribution partners are automatic such as Google Base, Edgeio, and Oodle. They provide html templates for the channels that require manual input such as craigslist and LiveDeal.

Ultimately, vFlyer may provide a valuable service to businesses who post a high volume of advertisements across multiple distribution sites.

My grandfather, Joseph C. Larkin was the recipient of a burning cross courtesy of the Ku Klux Klan.

He was a newlywed in search of a better life for his family. He was a new school teacher in search of a job in a depression-racked world.

He sent letters to schools throughout southern Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky. The only offer he received was from a school in rural Kentucky. After my Grandfather and Grandmother arrived in town, the word got out that they were Catholic.

That evening, a cross went up in flames in the front yard. I asked my Grandfather what he did, and he said that he went out and kicked it down.

His father-in-law insisted that his daughter was returned safely, and my grandfather left the little Kentucky town.

It’s because of Dr. King that we don’t live in that world anymore.

May your spirit forever shine.

Couple of things:

1. The Pew Internet and American Life project repeased a report showing that 55% of teens use social networking sites and have built a personal profile.

That’s a big number, but this is more interesting:

- 48% of teens visit social networking sites daily or more often.

If you’re wondering where consumer behavior will be in a few years, look no further than today’s youth. Social networking is going to be a natrual way for people to exchange ideas in every aspect of their lives.

Teens may not be the audience that you are marketing to, but guess what. Teens grow up. I don’t do everything now that I used to do as a teen (such as guzzle Mountain Dew), but many of my behaviors remain unchanged.

2. I met with Jon Carder and Jager Fornal, founders of MojoPages.com, a new web 2.0 social networking / Yellow Pages site.

I am naturally very skeptical about new businesses that set their sites on changing the business of local marketing. And MojoPages has their work cut out for them.

However, there is an intersection of local business referrals and social networking that WILL happen. Several people are chasing the dream, and at least a few will succeed.

MojoPages intends to use the lessons of social networking and a background in lead generation to build new type of company. As Yelp, InsiderPages, Judy’s Book Yahoo Local and several others have demonstrated, this is not an easy task.

But, I liked Mojo’s spirit and thinking. Their site has a very interesting video blog showing the behinds-the-scenes look at the start of their company. The actual launch of Mojopages is a few months away.
They have something, shall we call it mojo?, that a larger organization will never have.  I think that they have a very good chance at success.  They’re keeping their burn rate low, they are creating great buzz, and most importantly, I think the market timing is excellent.
The point to all of this is that social networking is an important phenomenon that is still in its early stages, but it will impact local marketing in a major way.  MojoPages may be a winner in a very important game.

So does this mean that I didn’t pass my flying test?