It contains the Name, Address, and Phone Number of your business, which is commonly referred to as N.A.P.

You most definitely want to make sure your N.A.P. information is correct so that when your potential clients search for the products and/or services that you provide, they’ll be able to contact you via phone, email, or visit your website for more information.

Can you imagine how much business you could lose if your contact information isn’t listed or is incorrect?

And we know that most of us don’t have the time or the patience to dig around on the net…

We’d just click to the next source to find what we are looking for.

The reason that I say Local Business Directories are killing the Traditional Phone Book, is because…

What’s easier and faster?

Using your smart phone to find a local business or browsing through your phone book?

Our respectable elders are even using smart phones to search for local businesses instead of thumbing through the Yellow Pages.

We all have a finite amount of time and wasting it is not an option that most of us are willing to sacrifice.

Submitting your business N.A.P. to local directories isn’t difficult, it’s just time consuming.

And some business directories may not be worth the effort, because not all of them are created equal.

The main reason why you want to submit your N.A.P. information to local directories is so that your potential clients are able to find you when they search for what you offer on the Internet (mainly on smart mobile phones and tablets).

Another benefit of submitting your N.A.P. is the fact that you can log into your accounts and update it.

For example… let’s say that you change your business phone number or relocated, you’d be able to update it on the fly.

Keep in mind that local directories refresh your information at certain times of the year to reflect any changes that you’ve made and they are all different.

But who cares, because this is just another way for you to get exposure to bring your potential clients to you.

Another benefit of submitting your N.A.P. is that you will get some backlinks to your website and the more quality backlinks you get can boost your Search Engine Rankings.

Submitting your N.A.P. to local business directories isn’t the end-all-be-all to increasing exposure to your business, but has to be made part of your overall Marketing Strategy.

That Marketing Strategy must include Local SEO, Social Media Marketing, Mobile Marketing, Referral Systems, Local Google Adwords Campaigns, and so on.

Please contact us at 800-970-5220 if you don’t want to painstakingly submit your N.A.P. information to several Local Business Directories, because you have your business to grow.

Rodrick Etienne

To Your Small Business Success!

Why?

Because these are four of the most visited websites in the world!

How phenomenal is that?

Not to mention, they are free to use in your business.

Do you get that?

FREE To Use!

As a Small Business Owner, you may be wondering how these mega sites can be used to bring more prospects to your business…

Right?

I thought so…

Well, let me give you a few examples.

Using Facebook To Drive Traffic To Your Local Business

You can include a picture of yourself or company logo (great for branding and increasing awareness), Contact information so that prospects can call to get more information about your products/services, Include links to your business website(s),  Briefly describe what products/services you offer (no sales pitches please), and so on.

You can even setup your Facebook Fan Page to automatically populate your blog posts.

How’s that for leveraging your content?

You can include product photos, write brief posts to keep your prospects and clients informed about changes or events (not trade secrets) happening in your company…

This is where that personality thing comes into play.

You can be as creative as you’d like, without offending your prospects…

Of course.

Using YouTube To Drive Traffic To Your Local Business

You can create short 30 Second videos that promote your products/services.

You can also create longer videos that demonstrate how to use your products and services…

What a great way to ethically persuade your prospects and clients to want to purchase what you offer.

You can film what your employees do on a daily basis, fun company events, and so on.

You are only limited to your creativity here as well.

Check out a video that I created:

Video Link: http://youtu.be/o-gWUNtSsGs

Using LinkedIn To Drive Traffic To Your Local Business

LinkedIn, if you don’t know is a website that’s mainly used by professionals and business owners to connect with each other. The big difference between it Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter…

Is you actually have to get connections primarily one at a time, there’s no mass following or mass broadcasting.

The benefit in this approach is that you are building quality relationships with other professionals and business owners.

You can setup Joint Venture deals with businesses that have access to the prospects that are looking for the products that you are offering.

Once again… you are dealing with leverage.

By the way, LinkedIn also allows you to include links to your websites.

Using Twitter To Drive Traffic To Your Local Business

Since Twitter only allows you to type 140 characters to get your point across…

You have more of a challenge, but you can still use it to grow your business and add personality.

Please don’t use Twitter as a blatant marketing tool, because no one wants to be sold.

I can’t emphasize this point enough.

It’s better to use twitter as a way to inform your marketplace about Trends, Industry Updates, New Articles and Tips that you’ve published on your website, and so on.

You can throw a few tweets in that promote your products and services.

You can even have your employees tweet for you, but not things that are too personal; otherwise you may offend your prospects.

I could go on forever about the benefits of what I call the Big Four, but I’m sure you are getting the picture.

It’s just unbelievable about the opportunities that the Internet offers for small business owners.

As a small business owner, I’d like you to realize that if you setup a web presence on each of the Big Four, you are leveraging the millions upon millions of people that visit and use those sites 24/7…

And all for FREE!

You will use the Big Four to drive traffic to your websites.

One more thing that I forgot to mention is that you can link the Big Four together for even more leverage.

So, my advice to you is to quickly setup your web presence on Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Twitter ASAP, so that you can grow your small business.

Just remember, you want to build a strong bond with your prospects by showing the human side of your business and that will allow your personality to shine through.

Rodrick Etienne

To Your Small Business Success!

They are everywhere…

In magazines, on food packaging, bus stop benches, on buses, TV commercials, restaurant menus, and so on…

And this is just the beginning.

Before I continue, let me quickly explain what a QR Code is.

A QR Code is two-dimensional matrix code that was created by Denso-Wave, a Japanese Corporation back in 1994 with the intention of allowing its contents to be decoded at very high speeds by a QR Code Reader.

A QR Code Reader can be downloaded onto your smart phone in the form of an Application or App for short.

I’m pretty sure that you’ve heard the popular, but corny phrase, “There’s An App For That?”

Now, if what I just stated sounds complicated, it’s not.

As a small business owner, you just need to understand the benefits of using QR Codes to grow your business.

Here’s a short list of how you can use QR Codes in your business:

• Drive prospects and clients to get more information about your products/services

• Point them to your website

• Route them to a special offer page

• Send them to an Opt-in Page so that you can collect contact information

• Send them to a promotional video

• Send them to a Map that shows your business location

To be honest, there are countless creative ways in which QR Codes can be implemented into your small business and is only limited by your imagination.

Tips For Creating A Successful QR Code

Tip 1: Establish The Purpose Of Your QR Code

Tip 2: Create A Quick Simple Flow Chart Of The Actions You Want Your Prospects To Take After He or She Has Scanned Your QR Code Into Their Smart Phone

Tip 3: Measure, Adjust, and Track The Results

Tip 4: Make Sure The QR Generator Produces High Quality Codes That Wor

Tip 5: Test Your QR Code

Of course, I can’t deep dive into each of the tips in great detail, that’s a good framework that you can follow.

If you have a smart phone, why don’t you download a QR Reader App and scan the following code and see where it takes you.

I’ll tell ya, this simple technology is soo cool and can really help you to grow your business if you implement it correctly.

If you aren’t using QR Codes to market your small business, go and do it now before your competitor’s beat you to it.

Rodrick Etienne

To Your Small Business Success!

Have you noticed the increased talk about Mobile Marketing?

It’s being talked about in the News, the Internet, amongst local small business owners that are in the know…

You may have even received a few solicitations from companies trying to sell you on promoting your business using mobile marketing.

Well, however you’ve heard about mobile marketing isn’t as important as the fact that you should implement it into your business strategy, because I can assure you that your competitors will.

You definitely don’t want to wait until the masses of local small businesses to catch on to this new way of reaching prospects at dirt cheap prices in comparison to traditional marketing such as the Yellow Pages, Direct Mail, and so on…

It’s never good to be late to the party, especially when we are talking about a major trend such as mobile marketing.

Mobile Marketing is a broad topic…

However, I’d like to briefly fill you in on using Mobile Coupons to drive targeted people to your place of business.

First off, Mobile Coupons are virtual coupons that reside on your prospects mobile phones in which they show you in order to get the discount that you’re offering.

Let me give you a quick example…

Let’s say that you own a grocery store and certain items were overstocked.

You could send out a text message offering a 30% discount coupon for shoppers who stops by to purchase within 3 hours, 1 day, or whatever time frame you specify.

Do you see the power in this simple method?

You create a legitimate sense of urgency and the shoppers get’s a great deal on your overstocked items. And of course, while they are shopping they will most likely buy way more than they planned on purchasing (especially if they are hungry).

It’s a win-win situation for you and your clients!

Real quick, here are some benefits to offering Mobile Coupons to your prospects and clients:

Ø  You can build a Text Messaging List of clients to build relationships with and to provide offers on an ongoing basis

Ø  Text Open up rates are 95% (impressive)

Ø  Clients can forward irresistible Mobile Coupons to family and friends

Ø  You can track your Results, Conversions, and Adjust accordingly

As you can see, providing Mobile Coupons to your prospects and clients is a very simple and economical, but powerful way to get them to purchase more of your products and/or services.

There’s no need to complicate this tactic as it’s very straight forward to apply.

As always, I hope I’ve giving you some insight to how to apply Mobile Coupon marketing to your business strategy…

Besides if giants such as Best Buy, JCpenney, and Target are using mobile coupons…

So, shouldn’t you?

Rodrick Etienne

To Your Small Business Success!

The first of the five that I’ll share in this series are amongst the most critical.

Let’s get to the point…

Some call them Policies, Procedures, and Processes or PPP. To keep this explanation simple, all this means is having step-by-step instructions for how to complete a process.

Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) are put in place to govern the actions of your business.

For example, Lets break down the process for how a client service rep may answer the phone:

STEP 1: Answers the phone using a specific greeting
STEP 2: Then they verify the client by asking for Name, Address, and Phone Number
STEP 3: Next they ask the Client the reason for their call
STEP 4: The Client Service Rep then proceeds based upon what the Client needs are
STEP 5: And So on…

The benefit of having these steps printed in a PPP or SOP manual is that you can analyze the steps in the process to see where they can be improved, removed, or replaced.

Improving your processes can increase efficiency, which can be measured in terms of time, energy, and money.

By analyzing your processes, you may discover that certain activities aren’t doing anything to grow your small business and is instead costing you money.

Based upon the above example, a way that you could improve the process is by making sure your REPS are multi-tasking as they are helping the client…

Instead of the REPS waiting for the clients to finish explaining why they called, they could be researching notes from any previous calls from that person.

Of course, the REPS must have the ability to really listen to what the client is requesting while performing research on any previous calls.

As simple as this may sound, the cumulative results can be staggering in terms of efficiency and productivity.

Your REPS can potentially take more calls, thus decreasing the amount of time clients have to wait in the queue, which really makes them happy?

Let’s say that you have 20 REPS that implement that simple improvement and they on average are now able to take 5 more calls per day…

If you times 5 more calls per day by 20 REPS that equals 100 more calls.

That’s incredible!

The bottom line is that it’s almost impossible to grow your business efficiently and effectively without having these SOPs and PPPs in place…

Your business could be dying of a slow death if you aren’t measuring your progress or lack thereof.

All you have to do is get a binder and start creating SOPs for all of your most important processes.

You don’t have to do it all at once, but you must implement SOPS and PPPs into your business.

Don’t complicate it.

Just assign someone to update each process in your PPP or SOP Manual when there’s a change.

Each time there’s a change, that person must put the date of that change and the version.

Stay tune for more in our Small Business Advice series!

Rodrick Etienne

To Your Small Business Success!

Then Local SEO Marketing is a great strategy that you MUST implement into your business!

I didn’t say think about it, I said you MUST!

I know that I’m sounding a bit pushy, but I’m really looking out for your best interest.

Since the web is going Mobile and most people search for products and services using their smart phones…

Doesn’t it make sense to hire a marketing firm to engineer an SEO Marketing Strategy that can have your website show up on the first page in the search engine results when someone in your local city looks for what it is that you offer?

The people that use their mobile phones to search for your products and services have cash-in-hand and are ready to make a purchase.

And whom do you think they will contact?

You got it… The business that shows up in the top search engine results.

Here are a few benefits of Local SEO:

• Your prospects may place more value on a website that they’ve found by using a search engine such as Google that appears in the Top 10 search results versus a Paid AD.

• Not to mention the fact that they will feel a sense of accomplishment, because they’ve found exactly what they were looking for without having to sift through hundreds of sites.

• Can bring you highly targeted prospects that you can convert into paying clients.

• If the campaign is engineered and executed properly, will end up being more cost-effective than traditional advertising methods (i.e. Yellow Pages, Direct Mail, and etc…)

• You can add your website address to your Google Places Page (Free To Claim) and enjoy the benefits of getting visits from your prospects.

• You can increase the popularity and visibility of your business, by providing great content that your prospects are searching for. As a result, other sites will link to yours. All these links will create little highways to your site, which gives your prospects more ways to find you on the web locally?

Learning SEO Marketing isn’t difficult, it’s just time-consuming.

I’m not discouraging you from learning it, but you must be aware of the many ongoing tasks that you must do in order to maintain a top local search engine position.

Some of the task includes Targeted Keyword Research, Article Marketing, RSS Marketing, Video Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Blog Commenting, Forum Posting, Keeping up-to-date on the latest techniques, tools, strategies, trends, and the list goes on.

Once you get your site to the top of the search engines, you must defend it against your competitors that are fighting for it.

If you’re anything like most small business owners, you barely have enough time to run your daily operations… Let alone learn all the SEO Marketing stuff.

A word of caution: If you plan on learning and applying Local SEO to your website on your own, you must be very careful not to implement tactics that can get you banned from the search engines, because if that happens…

You’ll have to register a new domain, because search engines such as Google
will remove your website from their indexes, so that when someone searches
for your site, it will not show up.

The benefits of implementing a Local SEO Marketing campaign into your
business is plentiful.

If you didn’t know anything about Local SEO Marketing, you do now!

I highly suggest that you get started now, before your smart competitors
catch on and give you a run for your money.

Another reason to get started ASAP, is because Local SEO is still in the beginning phase, but once more and more local small businesses discover this goldmine…

Like every other great opportunity, the competition will become fierce.

So, don’t wait to take action, do it ASAP!

I’m not into hype or putting pressure on people, I’m just here to
inform you of what’s coming in the future so that you can prepare your
business to profit from the current Market Trends and avoiding pitfalls.

I hope that I’ve given you another perspective on Marketing your local small
business.

To Your Local Business Success,
Rodrick Etienne

“IF You Haven’t Yet Implemented A Local SEO Marketing Strategy, Then Give Us A Call At 800-970-5220 or Email Us At sales@strategictwistmarketing.com For A FREE Consultation So That We Can Do The Work For You So That You Can Concentrate On Growing Your Business!”

With the extreme increase in smart phone usage, you can’t afford not to
get your business in front of your prospects and clients.

It’s amazing when you think about how many people around you, no matter
where you go…

Are glued to their mobile phones.

Some people walk and text, drive and text (very dangerous!), eat and text,
lay down and text, workout and text, text, text, text!

How is any of this important to your local business?

Well, If the majority of people are using their mobile phones for practically everything, this means that this shiny little device is an extension of their daily lives…

What do you think they will use to search for your products and services with?

Their mobile phones of course!

Keep in mind that searches performed on a mobile phone are local-centric, meaning that the results that it returns will list the local businesses that offer what it is the person is looking for.

Don’t you want your business to be the one that appear in the top 10 search results?

Mobile Marketing is much more than getting your website to show up in the top 10 search engine results for the products and services that you offer…

You can also setup “Mobile Text Message Marketing Campaigns” to get your prospects and clients to take action immediately.

Actions such as redeeming a discount coupon only if they respond within certain a period of time.

For example, If you were a restaurant owner and business was slow, you could send out a text message offering a 25% discount coupon for anyone who stops by to eat within 2 hours after receiving and responding to your text.

That would generate some business and could possibly fill your restaurant, where you would’ve otherwise had a slow night.

I could provide numerous examples of how Mobile Text Message Marketing could be applied, because it’s endless and only limited by your imagination.

Just pay attention to examples of how other companies are using Mobile Text Message Marketing…

You may see on a billboard or bus stop bench something like… “Text Pizza to 12345.”

When you see this, you know that the company is smart because they are embracing Text Marketing.

Mobile Marketing is a great way to target your prospects so that you can run surveys to see what it is they really want and then you could hand it to them on a silver platter.

You can also build wonderful, lasting, and trusting relationships with your prospects and clients.

One of the best things about sending text messages to your list, is that 95% and higher will read them…

That sure beats email marketing hands down, due to issues with SPAM.

A Mobile Marketing campaign executed properly, can be very cost effective when compared to traditional advertising such as the Yellow Pages, Direct Mail, and so on.

This article provided a few advantages of why you must implement a Mobile Marketing Strategy into your local business, but I barely even scratched the surface.

Right now is the best time to get a head start on your competition, because many of them don’t have a clue about what you have discovered in this article.

You really can have the first mover advantage!

I hope I’ve made you aware of why must act ASAP!

To Your Local Business Success,
Rodrick Etienne

Reason 1: Traditional Local Advertising Is Dead And Expensive!

Your customers are no longer using the Yellow Pages to search for your products and services.

In fact, most people never even open their Telephone Book anymore, they either through them in a pile or right into the garbage can.

When was the last time that you searched the Yellow Pages in a Phone Book to find something?

Chances are you either Googled it on your computer or your Smart Phone.

So why would you continue to Advertise your business using the Yellow Pages, TV, Direct Mail, Print Ads, and so on, when your potential customers aren’t using those to find what it is that you are selling?

We know that Advertising can get expensive, especially when you aren’t getting a good Return On your Investment (ROI), which means you are just flushing your hard-earned money down the toilet.

Reason 2: Potential Customers Are Searching For Your Products/Services With Mobile Devices!

Here are some shocking statistics:

• 82% of local searches result in Offline action, meaning that your customer searches for your products and services with their Mobile Devices and then go out to your place of business to make the purchase.

• An Estimated 50% of Local Small Business owners don’t have a web presence. This means that when your potential customer searches for your products and services using their mobile device, they will not even know that you exist, but your competitors that have a web presence will get the business.

• There are approximately 2.6 billion Local Searches per month.

• 91% of all Internet users use a search engine to find information.

Those are just a very few of the statics that will affect your local business success.

Can you see why you must claim your Google Local Listing?

If you don’t you will lose a lot of customers.

Reason 3: Your Smart Competitors That Embrace Local Mobile Marketing Can Put You Out Of Business!

I’m not trying to use scare tactics here, but if you don’t embrace the changes that are taking place with how your potential customers are searching for your products and services…

And your competitors do, they will win!

Your competitors will beat you because they are going where the customers are and if you continue to use the old Traditional Advertising methods, you will not be able to compete.

I could go on and on with why you must claim your Google Places Page, but here’s the point: You really can’t afford to ignore this major trend where Mobile Devices are used to search Locally for your
products and services…

Because it’s a golden opportunity if you embrace it, but can be very devastating to the future of your business if you resist it.

I hope my article has given you a perspective on what actions you should take immediately…

If so, I’ve done my job!

Rodrick Etienne,

“IF You Haven’t Claimed Your Google Local Listing, Then Give Us
A Call At 800-970-5220 or Email Us At sales@strategictwistmarketing.com For A FREE Consultation So That We Can Do The Work For You So That You Can Concentrate On Growing Your Business!”

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To Your Business Success,

Rodrick Etienne
SEO & Marketing For Local Dentists Done The Right Way!