Online ads are the Brave New World of marketing, an uncharted
frontier of opportunity and danger. With online ads you can get an
extremely high return-on-investment for just a little time and a
little money. The danger of this, though, is if you don't have
the ability to craft an interesting offer--or find someone who
can--be prepared for disappointment. Good writing is the key to
results. It's all about the words and the search engine's
ability to find them.
There are three ways to advertise "locally"
online:
1. Your website. Insert words and phrases into your web
page copy that web surfers in your town would likely type into a
search engine. Example: A few months ago my wife made an
appointment for me to see an allergist. Instead of opening the
Yellow Pages, she logged onto Google and typed "Allergist
Austin Texas". Would you believe that only one allergist in a
city of over a million people had bothered to create herself a
website? Well, that simple little one-pager made her $1,200 that
day. How often do you suppose this happens?
Content Continues Below
Let's assume you sell wheels and tires in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
For you to attract the attention of wheel shoppers in the area,
you're going to need to make sure all your brands are listed as
text because search engines can't read words that are imbedded
in a photo.
If I lived in Tulsa and was looking for a set of Cragar wheels,
I'd likely go to Google or Yahoo and type "Cragar
Tulsa". If I did, I'd find Car Toys at 8134 E. 68th Street. According to their
website, the store's phone number is 918-254-509, and Don
Tessier is the general manager. Bye-bye, Yellow Pages!
Web marketing wizards Bryan and Jeffrey Eisenberg take this to
an even deeper level in their online marketing book Waiting for Your Cat to Bark?, available
in June 2006. According to their book, "Keyword research is an
excellent way to gather insights into the types of questions
customers are asking at the precise moment they are focusing
attention on the buying process. After all, what is a keyword
search if not a question you're trying to answer?"
2. The local newspaper. Is your local newspaper cashing
in on the trend toward local ads online by creating a localized
news site for your town? An example of this is Austin360.com, a
local electronic newspaper published by Austin's principal
newspaper, The Austin American Statesman. I've used
Austin360 several times to find exceptional employees through its
electronic Help Wanted section. But the key to getting results, as
I mentioned earlier, is the writing of the ad itself. Bad
classified ads are about you, the job you're offering or the
educational requirements of the applicant you seek. Good classified
ads speak to the self-image of your hoped-for new employee. The
goal of a great classified is for the right person to see
themselves in it just as surely as if they were looking into a
mirror. Here's the ad that worked wonders for me:
"Do you love to write? Do you have boxes and drawers full
of stuff you've been writing since you were 14? Do you read a
lot? We're a quirky advertising company serving small-business
clients from coast to coast. Would you be willing to help turn
their weak words into strong ones? You don't need experience in
advertising. You only need experience with ideas and with words.
Send us a few samples of your writing. Don't try to anticipate
what we're hoping to see. Just trust that we know a writer when
we see one."
That ad finished by giving them a starting salary and an e-mail
to send their writing samples to along with their resume and a
cover letter. We got 135 wonderfully qualified applicants. A Help
Wanted ad written in the more traditional style would have received
only two or three responses.
Yes, strong classifieds use casual language, and three or four
times as many words as weak classifieds. Pay for the extra
words--it's a lot cheaper than hiring the wrong employee.
3. Localized national websites. Localized national
websites often have more penetration into your city than any purely
local web presence that might be available. Face it: Craig's List and eBay probably have more traffic
in your town than all the local sites put together. Unlike eBay,
Craig's List lets shoppers isolate to their own cities with a
simple click. Do you wonder if anyone in your area is advertising
there? Put it to the test. Spend a few minutes at Craig's and
your mind will likely be blown. My daughter-in-law was looking for
a very specific, hard-to-find baby crib recently, and with just a
few clicks of the mouse, she found one 12 miles from her house on
Craig's List. Wow.
In summary: Localized national websites such as Craig's List
and online search engines such as Google and Yahoo! are
instantly-updatable, word-driven research tools that are being used
by your customers with greater frequency every day. Learn to
harness these horses or you'll soon be left behind.