Using Branding to Grow You an Your Business

As an independent professional, and a self employed online small business owner one of the most challenging tasks is marketing “YOU”. You know how to do what it is you do really well, you know you can offer value to people, you just don’t know how to locate people (prospects) and convince them to use your services or products (become customers).

One of the most powerful techniques in marketing is to open your mind to ideal client and brainstorm how they would find your business. This helps you to refine who exactly your target market are and what would be the best marketing methods to communicate your message to them.

I bet right now if you used this technique on your business one of the first things you would think of is the yellow pages. Most people automatically go to the yellow pages because that’s how people find businesses. Coaches, Realtors, plumbers, Mortgage Brokers, financial advisor's, consultants and any needs can be met by your fingers do the walking on your computer key board.

The Internet Google Me Search Revolution

The Internet is fundamentally changing how people find things. The physical Yellow Pages, the big yellow book, is becoming superseded by the Google me web search. People use websites like Google, Yahoo! and Ask Search to find answers, buy products, and locate professional service providers. Not to be left behind, the Yellow Pages have reacted to the shift and have worked hard to make a web version of their directory available. It’s quite clear that the future is online and you can’t risk being left behind.

Thankfully it’s early days and most small business are reacting slowly or badly, either not bothering to have a web presence at all or not thinking things through. It’s very common for a small business to slap a poorly conceived website online, hoping that somehow people will find it and become new clients. The fact is that one out of ten business on line do nothing with there website and use it for a business card. To be frank if you are not actively changing your website and improving it then all you have is a business card. Today is an opportunity for individuals that take their time and use smart tactics to create a purposeful website focusing on a specific niche.

I would hazard a claim that for many small businesses, including yours, the web could become the only marketing tool needed to acquire more clients than ever before “ more clients than you can handle on your own. Just think about this. 70% of everyone who sees and advertisement on TV, Radio or in print search the internet first before making any kind of a decision to make a purchase or use a service

Why am I so confident? Because right now I use the web to generate all my business and I know of many others that do the same. For example, take a look at my friend an new and up coming Attorney. He uses the Internet to get nearly 100% of his new clients. He focuses on the Columbus, Ohio marketplace and faces almost no online competition. Hence whenever anyone searches for a Columbus Ohio Attorney or Lawyer his website is in the first page of search results. I could tell you a similar story about a realtor’s and a mortgage broker that both dominate a geographic demographic and face little competition online.

It’s Not Too Late to Branding “You” Online Marketing

There is no good excuse for not initiating some form of branding “YOU” online marketing. Even simply having a website listing your contact details is a start and should be leveraged using other marketing methods, such as including your name on business cards, letter heads and brochures followed up with Google Me (example Jim Cobb – Google Me}. The real power comes when you use the worldwide web as a marketing process to help generate a constant stream of eager clients just dying to purchase from you. While this is not a straight forward process the principles behind it are quite easy to follow and merely draw from the skills you already have.

The important thing to understand is that right now is the best time to start building an online marketing system using Google Me. Many online markets are not crowded and it is easy to find a niche you can dominate. I guarantee there are people out there searching the web for “YOU” and what you offer.

The Internet rewards people who maintain a web presence for a long time with regular updates. This means that over time as competitors come into your marketplace you can remain the leader because you have first mover advantage. You established your website first and enjoy the constant flow of traffic that comes from having a long standing Google Me web presence.

Just try it…You will not be sorry…

Jim Cobb – Google Me