I really want to tell you about a knock at the door I had recently…. 
 

Hello Reader,
 
Last Tuesday, I opened the door to a young lady, a young lady who
turned out to be a Yellow Pages sales rep or agent if you like. I
can only assume she was a commission based, field representative
sent by the company, to target as many local
businesses as possible and hard sell them their services in order
to 1) meet her sales target and 2) keep her job.. You know the sort of
thing… we all receive numerous disturbances of some sort
throughout the week, mine are normally on the phone.

Frankly, I was baffled at what she was trying to sell me… and that
was Internet Marketing. I was so intrigued, confused, even excited
that she may have some sort of breakthrough digital marketing tool
I hadn’t heard of, I swiftly invited her in.
 

Now, despite what I had heard from businesses all throughout last
year, I became engaged in conversation with her and showed an
interest in what she was offering. I guess any type of online
marketing gets me exciting and switched on, just the topic and
subject gives me a buzz. I love it.
 

As I began on the questions, it was clear to me she was way out of
her depth, I mean, let’s face it, she’s used to selling to
businesses who don’t usually question the processes and strategies.
And that’s only half the story. After throwing some (what I would
call quite basic) questions at her, which still remains unanswered
up to this day, I thought I’d put her out of her misery to avoid
anymore arkward errr”ss and ummm”ss and asked her to fast forward
to, how much it would cost. (I was never going to purchase
anything, I just felt so sorry for her and felt it right to change
the subject, her Internet Marketing knowledge was pretty basic)

Then she said it, she told me the price, and even worse, tried
to get me for a 12 month contract.
 
I was shocked. I froze, then burst into laughter! (I felt really bad
about laughing, still do. It had confirmed all the stories I’d been
listening to from business for the last few years.)

 
“What are you laughing at ”? she said
 
“You must think I’m crazy, I show people how to do all of that
for free and you want me to sign a 12 month paid contract”
 
I’d finally experienced first hand what people had been telling me
all year, that they feel cheated by the company.

 
What confuses me is when did the Yellow Pages become Internet
Marketers? I’ve heard of them selling business listings on
yell.com, again, what a nightmare that is for local business. Just
to touch on this, who goes to Google and searches yell.com and then
searches the business? The answer. Hardly anybody. You just search
the business in Google, right? Which is why Google Places, (you’ve
probably seen the red dots on the Google Maps, that’s them, Google
Places) is Google’s answer to a Global Digital Yellow Pages, it has
been for several years. It’s Google’s service which is killing
them; it’s the main reason why they won’t be publishing hard copy
directories anymore. Just search online for a local service in your
area to see what I mean.
 
 
Put it this way, traditional Yellow Pages are doomed, as
voice-activated Internet searches combined with Smart phone
technology gets better by the day. When you say something like
“Plumber” to Google or into Microsoft’s “Tellme” service, the
results are far better than what you get in the Yellow pages,
especially for the majority of us who use smart phones, because of
the accuracy of the location based results. Yellow pages usage
amongst people in their, say below 50, will drop to near zero over
the next four years. Just think about that for a second.
 

Make no mistake, companies like the Yellow Pages are panicking, the
business is simply obsolete and they know it. As with my recent
experience, trying to sell internet services to me, an internet
marketing company, is like an apprentice builder asking another
builder if he needs any work done on his house.
 

And that’s why I’m writing to you today, just a simple piece of
advice, a word of warning as to why you and your business must be
careful this year and next. I saw this time and time again in 2011,
where businesses had been tricked into overpriced contracts on
online advertising deals from these big companies. I started to
notice a trend in the way businesses felt towards companies when
only several months into their contract term..”they couldn’t wait
to get out”.. Have you ever felt like that?

At the Kent Marketing Club we’ve been educating local businesses on
how to get their customers to find their business online for many
years. If you ever need to discuss your online marketing dilemmas
then feel free to get in touch with us today. We offer
complimentary advice to businesses on how to generate more leads
using the Internet and social media. If you’re not doing this, you
need to be.
 
 
 
Yours for a greater online business success,
Jon Pankhurst
 
 
 
P.S. If you want to receive my free advice on what the Yellow pages
was trying to contract sell me for 12 months, at what I would class
as “disgusting” value for money for local businesses, plus much
more complimentary advice from industry experts and our ever
growing Kent Marketing Club team of professionals and Internet
smart agents, please sign up today absolutely free of charge. I
personally guarantee that you’ll be in the best possible hands. Oh,
I’ll mention it again… it’s free.

P.P.S Post your comments for chance to win a complimentary mobile website.

If you are not using social media as part of the marketing strategy for your business, then the only thing you are accomplishing is losing business to your competitors. Your competitors are using social media to attract new clients and communicate with existing ones. It is no longer a question of whether or not businesses should be using social media networking and marketing; the question is now how businesses should be integrating social media into its marketing mix.

It’s Not a Trend

Marketing is one of those tasks in a business that is necessary but daunting at the same time. It may also seem as if a new marketing trend comes along all the time and if you tried every one, you and your business would be broke. This, however, is not the case when it comes to social media marketing. This type of marketing is not a trend and is here to stay.

What this means for your business is that you need to learn how to leverage the power of social media now or suffer the consequences of lost customers and a decrease in profits later.

It Creates a Sales Force

Still not convinced that social media is a powerful tool for promoting your business and boosting your sales? Consider that the average Facebook user has about 140 friends. Assume that one of your clients mentions that they just bought your product or used one of your services and how great it was. You just received a positive advertisement for your business that reached at least 140 people.

Then, multiply the 140 people the initial message reached by the 140 people each of these friends has on their Facebook page, and now we’re are talking about some serious numbers.

And, all you had to do is create the platform for these conversations to take place and your sales force to start spreading the word for you.

It’s Free

When it comes to the marketing budget, it is always music to a business owner’s ears when they find out that the use of social media marketing is free. You or an employee should put together a social media marketing plan and someone has to implement the plan, but other than the time it takes to do this, social media marketing does not cost you or your business a dime.

Stop fighting it. Join the millions of small, medium, and huge corporations that are using social media as part of their marketing strategy today. If you continue to fight it, you may as well just refer your customers directly to your main competitor that is using social media. If you are ready to stop fighting it, then learn more about social media benefits, how it can boost your business, and the ways that avoiding this type of marketing can make or break your business.

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Kent Marketing Blog will be bringing out their new Mobile Marketing ebook, free to all their subscribers. If mobile marketing is something your business is interested in, then make sure you keep your eyes on your email, it’ll be on it’s way to your inbox very soon. We’ve got some excellent content coming up over the next few months, so now is a really exciting time to be part of our Kent Marketing Club.

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Social media and blogs are a key part to any marketing strategy.  Here are 6 ways they help grow your business:

1. Quick to Start. You could launch a Facebook page today or get a blog going in a few days.
2. Low Cost. You can get started in social media and blogging for very little or no money. They are among the most cost-effective methods of reaching your audience.
3. Instant Interactivity. Both blogs and social media can give you nearly instant market feedback – good or bad. We get all kinds of feedback through the comments on our blog; people also leave reviews and other comments for us on Facebook, LinkedIn and other social media channels.
4. It’s the Search Engines, Silly. Surveys indicate that 90% or more of people begin their purchasing process in search engines. Blogs and social media make it more likely that your prospects will find you online when they search.
5. Inbound Marketing. We are are big fans of inbound marketing at Kent Marketing Blog. Outbound marketing is telemarketing, direct mail, cold email blasts, TV and print ads – all the things that buyers tend to block out more and more.  Social media and blogs are essential inbound marketing tools.
6. First Mover Advantage. For blogs and social media, there is an advantage to moving first. If you don’t jump into the conversation, your competitors will (if they have not already) and then you’re fighting an uphill battle to become influential in these online conversations. 

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