Fun with Remedial Internet Marketing

By Joe Lowell

 

Old School New School

 

Until recently, I had been old school when it came to marketing my business. I own a print and copy center in Santa Ana, and I have tried newspaper advertising (limited success), newsletter marketing (some success), chamber membership (limited success), car wash advertising (0 success), postcard advertising (0 success), and word-of-mouth (good success). I even ran ads on ATM machine screens (limited success) near my business.

 

Google told me I had Customers! 

I became a new school marketeer after the Google gurus emailed in August to tell me that 345 people had visited my Web site in July. Old-school marketing has no real way to measure such information. That email surprised me. I didn’t know that so many potential customers had found me. I also learned that I’m not getting much business from those searches. Most follow-up calls I get from Google come largely from individuals, not companies, who want printing for nothing. I provide my customers with reasonable pricing, good service and a quality product, which has kept my doors open for three years.

 

Conversion is the Key

The stats tell me that my future business growth clearly lies largely dependent on search engine optimization, directories, email campaigns, and possibly social networking. (Of course, to really create new revenue, a simple acquisition always works best.) I need to figure out what I can better do to translate those Web site visits into sales from companies, rather than individuals.

 

Email Marketing to the Rescue

I also plan to market to new and existing clients via an email program using Constant Contact, which for me, probably will be the best way for me to find new quality, high-repeat customers that I’m seeking. Email campaigns have a reported success rates of 20 percent (vs. less than 1 percent for postcard campaigns), I believe I have a better chance of finding the clients I want using a sustained email campaign with information that benefits not my company, but my existing and potential new clients.

Joe Lowell owns Griffin Print and Copy in Santa Ana. www.griffinprintandcopy.com