Growing Your Business with a Local Marketing Agency

With everything nowadays being automated and easily accessible, you can sell your services to anyone worldwide! Amazing, right? But, the real question is: HOW will you reach your market from different regions on the planet? You can't possibly see all your customers face to face and offer your services. Have you thought about using the services of a local marketing agency?

This podcast episode will teach you how to step up your game, reach more clients, and earn a profit consistently. Today's conversation will dig deeper into making your business more accessible to the millions of people on the internet. If you are someone who wants to strengthen your brand image and entice the local market with your products and services, then you'll value the insights shared in this week's interview! The Five Echelon Group's Founder / CMO Eric Dickmann, has an informative conversation with 38 Digital Market's CEO- Randy Rohde, about growing your business with a local marketing agency.

The Power of Digital Marketing

Randy Rohde got started back in 2008 when he had his own education services company. He learned how to build websites and leverage pay-per-click campaigns through Google. Randy quickly learned the impact of digital marketing and the power it could have to help local businesses and it continues to grow and mature in its reach and capability. Randy perceives digital marketing as an enhancement to content across various social sites and can encompass video production, multimedia content, written content, and press releases to build brand awareness for local businesses. 

He explains that a business can grow when these strategies are executed well, and business choose keep their content fresh and engaging. We also discuss how consumer behavior has changed and migrated to  digital platforms. As business owners, you need to understand more about your target customer's activities and behavior online. He thinks that you, as a business owner, should always be seeking to learn something new from the market and apply it to  your company's marketing strategy to benefit and satisfy the needs of your target market.

Online presence is crucial to the growth of your business. Randy Rohde tells us that no one likes the experience of a slow website. Since 65% of the internet is mobile, and a shocking 92% of all search traffic goes through the first page of Google, companies must make their sites responsive; and, as much as possible, quickly accessible to anyone, anywhere. For instance, if you are in the services industry, you want to make yourself visible within your target geography when someone seeks your product or service through Google Maps. Being listed as a top local business within Google Maps can have a huge impact on your incoming website traffic and phone inquiries.

Organic Leads

The holy grail of digital marketing is organic leads. It drives people to your website without really having to pay large amounts to get them there. There are many websites online competing for the first page of Google, and the content you place on your website is critical in boosting traffic to your page. Whether it's a written or video content, you should dedicate more focus in making people realize that your product or service is worth the click.

Video content plays now plays a critical role in branding and content marketing. An attractive five or ten-minute video can link and push people back to your website. Consistency is the key in content creation. There are times that businesses posts excellent content for several weeks or months, then slows down, or suddenly stop posting anything at all. It can take a lot of effort and time to synchronize all your social media with all your content daily, but trust us, it's WORTH IT.

Is It an Authority? Is It a Brand That Can Be Trusted? Is It Credible?

These are the questions that always run in the minds of customers. Map out a powerful and long term strategy for your website's content. For instance, in blogging, ensure your next blog posts will support the content you are writing at the moment. With a dedicated strategy comes credibility; post relevant and up-to-date information. Doing all these and keeping in track with the latest tags and trends will give your audience and visitors something to look forward from you. Don't let them down! Randy reminds us to "Stay long-term and the search engines are going to value that and reward you for that."

Randy Rohde explains that you can't do everything in your business alone. He advocates that the bringing in of agencies, experts, and freelancers to your business shall help you get to where you want to be in the future. Earning a large, consistent profit daily in a consistent manner requires you to work on with what you are best at. Learn how to trust people to help you out in the areas you are not so familiar with. Randy again reminds us that the longer you wait, the more difficult it will be for you to finally break in because everybody else is fighting for the top spot. Make sure you can answer these questions:

• What do you want to achieve (make it measurable)?
• Where do you want to be three to five years from now?
• What kind of a company or what kind of sales or revenue do you want to have?

Once you have answered these questions, we can start to understand what track we want to take to build an effective marketing strategy. You may wonder why your content is not appealing to prospects or why your social media posts are not reaching your desired audience. Maybe, your current strategy and messaging is resonating with your target audience and needs to be changed or enhanced to better communicate your unique differentiators in the marketplace.

A Local Marketing Agency Can Help

There are 4 P's in Marketing- Product, Place, Price, and Promotion. These are the areas where a local marketing agency can help your company brand, products, and services get discovered.

1. Product - These may be tangible or intangible. Your customers should be able to distinguish and understand how important your product or service is to their daily life. A unique marketing strategy must be implemented, and the potential market for your services should be narrow and focused. 
2. Place - Know where your customers are and how to make your products and services accessible to the market. Identify by what means your goods or services will be purchased and delivered. A good placement strategy can create more opportunity for your business and strengthen your brand's reputation. 
3. Price - This is the amount that people are willing to pay for your goods or services. The price of a product can determine how well it will sell. If your product or service has a strong customer value, your goods may sell for even a higher price. However, if the customer doesn't understand much about what you are offering to them, this could negatively affect its perceived value. 
4. Promotion - Promotion is the communication aspect of the entire marketing function. Your promotion strategy should be tailored to what kind of goods or services you are selling. You need to invest in an effective and long term marketing strategy. You may offer a good product and excellent service, but you may have an unsatisfactory return on your investment if your marketing strategy and execution are weak.

For you to be a market leader in the product or service you are offering, you must be able to create and develop a trusted relationship between the business and its clients. Stand out from other companies by providing real solutions to the customers' needs and problems.

This is where a local marketing agency can help. They can help your customers understand the strengths and uniqueness of your products or services. A local marketing agency makes use of promotional materials such as unique content, social media, email, advertising, and search engines to ensure that your business is on the right track to be found. These agencies are able to pivot swiftly at any given time. Through experimentation, they can find out what messages best resonate with your potential customers. They will ensure that you find the best and most appropriate advertisement relevant to your product, allotted budget, and location.

The best thing about working with a local marketing agency is that they understand your market and are accessible when you need them. This is how they focus on serving you best!

Four Elements of a Good Marketing Strategy

When you work with a local marketing agency, these are the FOUR Elements that you should take note of:

1. Segmentation -WHO is your target market?
2. Media - HOW will you reach out and communicate with your prospects?
3. Messaging - WHAT message would you want to convey to your potential market?
4. Measurement - How FAR have you gone with your marketing efforts? How POSITIVE are they?

Video Live Stream Replay

FAQ

• A local marketing agency knows the geographic area and local market conditions
• They have local network connections and can facilitate introductions and partnerships
• A local marketing agency is more accessible to your business when face-to-face is important
• A local marketing agency is invested in your growth and success because they are also part of the community

Episode and Guest Links

Eric Dickmann - Founder/CMO of the Five Echelon Group, can be found online on Twitter or his personal webs

• To learn more about Virtual CMO, strategic marketing consulting services, or anything else discussed here, please contact The Five Echelon Group.
• The Five Echelon Group's  Resources to Restart Your Business
• If you have feedback, questions, or are interested in being a guest on the show, please contact us here.

Randy Rohde - CEO of 38 Digital Market and can be found online on LinkedIn or emailed at randy@38digitalmarket.com

• For more insights on digital marketing and business strategies, visit Randy's company 38 Digital Market. 
• You can listen to Randy's podcast "Running the Bases with Small Businesses" on Apple Podcasts or your favorite player.