Author // Mike Kalil
It may sound crazy, but it’s not. If you’re so inclined, you can have your competition’s radio, TV, print and billboard advertising work in your favor. The best part: You’ll only have to spend a fraction of their advertising budgets. And, unlike traditional advertising, the benefits you reap won’t disappear if you pull the plug.
Here’s how:
Study the competition’s ads. What services are they pushing? Are they identical to what you offer.? They are? Great. You’re halfway there.
Get your web presence in check. Make sure your online presence is strong. If you’re running a serious business, you must pay as much attention to your website as you would your brick-and-mortar location. Your website is often your first chance to make a good impression. If you blow it, you might not be in business much longer.
Optimize, optimize, optimize. Ensure that your site shows up prominently in Google, Yahoo!, Bing and other search engines when people search for your services. Showing up for your business name doesn’t count. Make sure you rank for the keywords your competition mentions in the ads. The only way to dominate rankings is to produce volumes of engaging content and build your site’s authority.
That’s it’s. How does this make your competition advertise for you? It’s simple.
Let’s say you hear a radio ad from a dentist. It reminds you that one of your teeth has been bothering you. You’re in between dentists. You make a mental note to take care of it. Since you’re busy, you don’t take immediate action.
When you do get a chance, you’re not going to remember the dentist’s name you heard advertised. So, what do you do? You hit up Google for dentists in your local area. The dentist who’s ranking the highest is the one who’s most likely to get your business. That dentist just benefitted from somebody else’s advertising.
The other lesson here: If you do invest heavily in advertising, make sure your web presence is strong so you don’t advertise for your competition. Radio, TV and print ads can be effective – but it’s essential that they’re backed by world-class web marketing. Otherwise, your ROI will be a joke.
If you need any help with your web presence, feel free to call us at (603) 217-5583.
