A 2006 study found that 55% of online consumers were using the internet to search for local business information and today that number is closer to 75%. The problem for most businesses in my area - Lakeland, FL - is that they still see internet advertising as a marketing tool for people trying to sell products online to a national audience (like on eBay or Amazon). They do not realize that their potential customers are looking for Lakeland service businesses on the web, and that they can reach these vital prospects through marketing online.

Internet Marketing – Getting Your Needle Found in a Haystack

As you know, the world wide web contains billions of sites. Search engines and directories were created to help users navigate to find specific information. Internet marketing is a form of direct marketing that cost-effectively targets customers who are actively searching for a specific product or service. Like conventional marketing, it can be divided into paid and unpaid placement of a marketing message. Companies choose specific search terms relevant to their business, and whenever anyone types in those terms, their company appears in search results or advertisements.

Local Internet Searches

A majority of internet marketers in the past were businesses selling products online. As we have moved from desktop to notebook to mobile phones, we have also narrowed our search to finding services that we want close by. Research shows that most internet searches in 2009 are local in nature. This means that people are using the internet to search for businesses in their own cities and states. Today, leading service businesses realize that their market uses the internet to search for a plumber, air conditioning repair company, roofing contractor, dentist, doctor or attorney. And, their results can be quicker and more powerful than conventional marketing methods.

Internet Replacing Newspapers and Phone Books

As people have increasingly turned to the internet for their needs, conventional newspapers and phone directories have spiraled downward in effectiveness. Internet advertising allows business to efficiently target customers who need them right away, and those who will need them in the future. In pay-per-click ads, it doesn't matter how many times the ad appears; the advertiser only pays for the ad when someone clicks on it to visit their website. The ads can even be set up to only appear in certain cities, metropolitan areas, or countries.

More than three years ago, businesses in other parts of the country involved in a pilot program of local search ads reported increasingly successful results. A printing company in Salt Lake City, Utah generated $30,000 in new business from their local search ads, a carpet cleaner in Atlanta, Georgia reported a 35% increase in calls to his business, and a national hotel chain reported over $80,000 in room reservation revenues as a result of their initial efforts, convincing them to invest further in the phenomenon.

Many companies also use an internet advertising campaign to build their email marketing efforts by offering visitors to their website the opportunity to join their opt-in email marketing list - allowing them to target potential customers who are interested, but not quite ready to purchase. By developing ongoing relationships with prospects, leading firms are cultivating future and continual sources of income.

What does this mean for your local service businesses?

The current search numbers are impressive. During July 2009 alone, more than a million people in the US searched Google for a plumber in their neighborhood. In Lakeland that month, 730 googled “Lakeland plumbing” and 720 googled “air conditioning Lakeland.” Other prospects for your business used Microsoft’s Bing! Or Yahoo. Those people wanted service right away. There were about 620,000 results returned from the Google search “Lakeland plumbing.” Was your company’s website listed at the top of your prospects’ search? Could you have profited from those customers? How much business did you get from the internet in July?

Local searching in the Lakeland area continues to grow and produce serious revenue for the businesses involved with marketing online. Customers are not just looking for businesses while sitting at home or at their desk at work, they search from their laptop at the coffee shop, their PDA in their car, or their phone while waiting in line at the grocery store. As Lakeland residents adopt new technology over the next year, the number of internet searches will grow exponentially. Believe it or not, the fastest growing segment of today’s internet consumer is women 60-65.The question for Lakeland businesses is: Are your customers going to find you, or your competition, when they are searching?

Find YOUR Solution

Many Lakeland businesses are seeing shrinking revenues and are afraid to invest their dwindling resources in anything other than the conventional methods that are continually producing diminishing returns. Recent national surveys of local-based business owners suggest that they are aware of, and interested in, marketing online, but see ‘internet unfamiliarity, time commitment, and the inability to track results’ as the biggest barriers to developing internet marketing campaigns. Lakeland businesses know from experience that just putting up a website doesn’t get the results they want.

Search for an internet marketing agency in your area committed to providing a few, select local business owners the opportunity to capture their share of profits from internet marketing. You can leverage the knowledge, experience and ability of a professional internet marketing services company. Ask if they will start your online campaign through a 90-day trial partnership that limits your risk, rather than a log-term commitment. You should begin to see tangible results within the three month period and be able to evaluate the benefits to your bottom line.

Unfortunately, not all businesses will profit from a professional internet marketing campaign. A good marketing services company will analyze your potential for success using a very specific set of established criteria. Make sure that they are someone you will enjoy working with, will give you personal attention, provide a customized plan and that they have the proper education, skills and abilities to grow your business.