When it comes to modern marketing and advertising, technology-based platforms are clearly the answer to reaching clients and customers. For most small and mid-sized businesses, local search optimization is as important as anything else in the marketing arsenal. The days of traditional mediums of customer reach are numbered, as more customers go straight to Google to discover your business. The question is: are you being found?

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Getting found locally is as easy as going to: Google local business and listing your business information. This is a great first step in putting your business out there for customers to find you. Here are a few tips for you to use in getting found online, and it doesn’t require all the technical SEO stuff – afterall, that’s what the pros are for (wink wink)!

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Getting found locally. A few tips:

• Have your address listed with in Google local business
• Use some keywords in your business listing (put the words your customer will search to find you in the listing)
  
• Get reviews either at Google or elsewhere – Ask your best customers to help you out
• Include multimedia content in your listing (link to a YouTube video – this will help)
• Include lots of details (think of the top 2-3 questions your customers may ask you and be sure to answer them)

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Also, check out this awesome video from webpro news:

It is time for all of us to come to the realization of the new era of marketing and to understand that Google has, in fact, changed the game. We say it all the time: “marketing has not changed.” You identify your market, you build a strategy to appeal to that market, and you deliver your message to that market. This is a time-tested approach. What has changed is the delivery.

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Now that your prospective clients and customers are equipped with the tools to ease their buying decisions, it is highly important to be “findable.” The following video sheds some light on this new day of marketing. Enjoy.

In a recent article from the Examiner, three sixty solutions was featured in an interesting discussion about how the hit show Mad Men (on AMC) has changed the advertising agency world of today. One of three sixty solutions’ senior partners weighed in on what is referred to as the Sterling-Cooper Effect:

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“There’s a new expectation of how an ad agency should look, how it should act, and how it’s perceived based on people watching that show. In the last ten years, the whole ad industry has become very casual—what I call the ‘shorts and T-shirts creatives.’ Since “Mad Men” came on the air, I have noticed a dramatic change in the perception that clients we engage have of people in the ad business,” he said. “People who are hiring an ad agency for the first time are expecting Don Draper to walk in the door. When they see the guy in jeans and a T-shirt come in, they think ‘who the hell are you?’.”

To read the full article, click here.

There is a clear weakness that many businesses suffer. This weakness is looking at marketing as a reactive process. When sales start slipping and revenue projections are unmet, what happens? We try to pull a trigger and try a new marketing approach. When times are good, we get “fat and happy.” When times are not so good, we push a panic button. In this hilarious video, you will see what not to do.-

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There is no doubt that from some of the difficult times we have experienced over the last year or so, we do need to take a look at how our marketing efforts may improve to maintain a consistent and steady revenue generating business. In order to avoid the panic button, look to marketing strategies that can be measured, quickly implemented, and quickly tuned. The last position a business wants to be in is one in which it is “throwing money at a problem.”

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This is where interactive marketing comes to play. Pay attention to where your customers are going to find you. Understand what they want, and make it easy for them to find you. There are many ways you can do this on any budget. The most important thing you can do is stick with what works. If you need help, contact three sixty solutions.

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In the meantime, enjoy this funny video on “Guerilla Marketing.”

Think of it like this. Let’s say you have a retail store in a great location. Hundreds of cars pass by every hour and there is no doubt that you are located in the perfect spot to have lots of potential customers. Is it enough to have lots of potential customers passing by your store? Or, would you be even more successful giving them a reason to come in and shop? It is no different online.