A new doorstop was delivered to my home last month. It replaced the one I received around the same time last year. Every June, a new phone directory arrives, and I dutifully replace the weathered one stored in the corner used to prop open my front gate with my shiny clean new one.
While I remember actually using phone books to find look up information on local business, most people born in the last twenty something years cast slightly puzzled, yet amused, glances at them. They just can’t figure out why in the age of the internet, magnified by informational capabilities available in most cell phones, anyone would choose to use one. Granted, plentiful internet access and technology literacy are assumptions with that generation, but their perspective with respect to information is the dominant one in the U.S.
Bloomberg Business Week comments in a recent article, “Fewer than half of all U.S. small businesses have websites or advertise on the Net, Nielsen Online reports, even though most consumers search online for local shops and services before picking up the phone or leaving the house.” Local franchises and national or regional chains locations can be quickly found using web based store locators, but other small business have to figure out the space for themselves.
However, advertising companies have recognized the importance and value of local search, and there are plenty of options available for the local marketer. Both Yahoo and Google both have local search capacities, Yelp offers information as well as reviews for local businesses, and there are a plenty of companies focused on providing local directories or optimizing local search and display advertising.
With consumers more and more depending on the internet as their primary local information source, mom and pop shops need a web presence and online marketing support more than ever to compete with multi-store businesses. The good news is that there is a range of options which are generally inexpensive and can therefore level the playing field to some extent. So as a local business, if you haven’t evaluated your local online marketing options lately, go take a new look.
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