Viral Marketing Idea Friday - Tips For No Budget Businesses
Todays post comes from a question I got from a reader of the Viral Marketing Idea Friday posts, and more specifically one I did on marketing a preschool several weeks ago. Here is the question:
I read your port on Viral Marketing. I need to increase enrollment at my preschool and kind of at a stand still as to what else to do. Print media is so expensive and cannot afford to keep doing them because of the limited funds. Please let me know if you can help me.
Thank You
After more conversation via email, this preschool business owner went on to say:
I don’t have a marketing budget as such since I am a small preschool. The demographics have changed in the area I think and the older people are living in the area so thats one of the main reasons why I am having a hard time getting kids to school ages 2 to 6 yrs. Let me know what you think
I want to give some tips to anyone who may be in the same situation as this preschool owner. I want you to start thinking local online marketing. One, because its powerful, and two because everything I am going to share with you in todays post is FREE. That is one of the reasons I love local marketing and search more then anything is because it can really level the playing field for a no budget business, and their ability to compete in a huge market.
I did ask this preschool owner if they had a website and blog, and they did have a website, but not a blog so that would be one area where they could improve so they could take advantage of some of my viral marketing posts and create some amazing content that will generate buzz and help them rank easier.
So Tip #1 - Get a blog, and you can get the free WordPress software, and it is pretty simple to integrate if you have even basic understanding of FTP and hosting accounts.
Tip #2 - sign your business up at Google Local. In many cases once you are approved (and in the database) you can instantly enjoy a #1 (or top) ranking in the local results, and also in many cases there is not many people that are using this service (especially in targeted niches) and you can enjoy these top rankings for free by yourself or only with a few other choices. You can even go in and write reviews about the preschool, and have other parents who have used your services go in and write reviews because reviews are a huge thing that people are using and reading these days through the local results.
Tip #3 - similar to #2, but sign up for Yahoo Local results. Sign up through the link, and enjoy top rankings once again for free if you are one of the only businesses in the area doing what you do. You can also improve where you show up by having people that have used your services review you, and leave comments for others to read and make their own choice.
Tip #4 - Use Local Services like Yelp. Yelp is a place where you can review local businesses (even your own), add pictures, tell people if they were cool, useful, or pathetic. Again, you can have people who have used your services go and write reviews and comments about your business.
Tip #5 - Judys Book - a great place to find businesses near you, so another local marketing website that thousands of people in local areas use.
It is important to understand that you will not get millions of visitors a month from only marketing with these “local” tips here, but you will get very targeted traffic that could fill up your little business, and at this point that is probably ok with all who are in this position. Right? Once again, all of these places are free to sign up with - all you have to do is take the time to sign up with each of them. I also left several other local places that you could use to market your business for free with, but I hope this gets you thinking in the right way so you can use the Internet for the powerful tool that it is and find them yourself. Some are better then others, but testing, testing, and re-testing is what helped me get to where I am today!
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Matt,
I have finally figured out why Woody’s was showing up first on the results page at Google, for a certain search term. Google Local. (lightbulb moment) Sweeeet!
I thought it was the reviews, but after reading your post above, i see that it is both. (the listing on google local and the reviews)
Thank You!
P.S. So once others learn of this. How does one maintain a top (or near) top spot. Is it through the reviews. Yes?
P.S.S. We do have a blog, actually our site is a blog. Feel free to check it out, when you have a moment. Thanxs again!