• Five Reasons Why Online Directories Matter to Your Business
• Strength in Numbers: Boomer Women
• Word of Mouth Marketing - Pass It On...

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Five Reasons Online Directories Matter to Your Business

Is your business listed in the Yellow Pages? No, not the heavy paper book that’s delivered to your door step each year. I'm talking about the online Yellow Pages! There are many excellent, top-quality online directories like this available for no-cost or low-cost, and if your company isn’t listed, you could be losing serious business because of it. Here are five reasons why your company should be listed in the major (and also some smaller) online directories:

1. Customers are Already Looking for You Online - According to a recent finding by The Kelsey Group, 70% of households now use the Internet as an information source when shopping locally for products and services. Because this trend is growing among all demographics, it means customers (and potential customers) are using online directories to find information that they used to look for in the phone book. If you aren't listed in the online directories, how are customers going to find you?

2. Customers are Mobile - Recent studies have shown that people are turning to the Internet first when looking for information about businesses, rather than looking up information in printed phone directories. The convenience of having directory information instantly available on computers, cell phones, PDA devices, etc., is a growing trend that your business cannot afford to ignore.

3. Time-Crunched Users Want Instant Information – People don’t want to wait to get back to the office to look something up, they don’t want to call a co-worker to look something up for them, and sometimes they don’t even want to walk into another part of the building (or another room at home) to dig out the paper phone book and look up information. Users rely on faster, more convenient methods like online directories and search engines to instantly find the information they need.

4. Local Directories – The introduction of local directories such as Google Local (and various other state or industry-specific directories) have made it realistic for people to use the internet to find business information. Before these local directories existed, business listings were often too “global.” Looking for a specific product might turn up listings in other states or other countries, which of course was not very useful for most people.

5. Comprehensive Exposure for Your Business –Your business information is probably already available across many media outlets, including your web site, search engines, marketing and advertising initiatives, trade organizations, etc. By listing your business in online directories, you can get your company name out there to countless other outlets that are seen by people who may not have otherwise found your business. The larger directories often “feed” smaller directories, so your information is automatically propogated around the internet without any additional effort from you.

There are also other benefits to listing your business in online directories, so be sure to take advantage of this growing trend. Don't limit your submissions to only one type of directory, though. The best results usually come when you're listed in multiple types of directories, including those that are locally focused, geographically focused, industry focused, and those that provide general information. These directories are already being used by your customers and potential customers each day, so make sure they can find you!

Strength In Numbers: Boomer Women

Yes, the Baby-Boomer generation has been influencing everything in our culture ever since someone first coined the phrase. From a marketing perspective, watching this generation get older has provided us with some fascinating information, including how powerful the “women-over-50” group has become.

Women in their 50s today are in their prime. They are healthier, wealthier, and carry more influence than any other generation of women in history. So from a marketing perspective, this is a very appealing demographic for many industries. These women have both money and the time to spend it!

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Boomer Women will increase an amazing 52% in the workforce over the next few years. By 2010, there will be about 10.1 million women age 55 and older in the workforce, up from 6.4 million in 2000. Now that’s a lot of purchasing power!

So as you continue to market your products and services, make sure you are including Boomer Women in your target groups. They play a huge part in almost every big-ticket market (travel, real estate, financial services, technology, automobiles, home improvement, etc.), and will continue to do so for the next two decades. Boomer Women today are healthy and vital, and you can keep your business that way too by paying attention to this very strong, very large group of influential consumers.

Word of Mouth Marketing – Pass It On…

Separately, things like testimonials, letters, community events, email, blogs, etc. can be effective promotional vehicles that help get the word out about your company’s products and services. But put these together in a plannable, trackable way and you’ve got something really powerful called Word of Mouth Marketing!

Great products and services, along with fabulous customer service, will get people talking about your business. Happy customers tend to tell their friends and colleagues about you, and your business can become well-known in the community very quickly. This type of buzz happens naturally, but there are additional techniques that you can use to encourage this type of activity in promoting your business.

1. Conversation – Identify the people around you who are enthusiastic and have the connections to relay your message to your target audience. These people might be new customers (or happy regulars) who are excited about your products, or even bloggers who cover your industry. Make sure these people have the information they need and give them topics that they can easily talk about in their conversations with others.

2. Special Offers – Create interest with coupons, give-aways, or any other simple idea that can be relayed to others easily. People typically enjoy sharing “good deals” with others around them.

3. Help Them Spread the Word – Special offers are worth talking about, but some methods are easier to pass along than others. For instance, sending out email campaigns makes it easy for your customers to forward the information to others.

4. Participate – Community events, blogs, and online message boards are all examples of ways in which your business can participate in feeding the “buzz” that your customers are already creating.

5. Track & Measure – There are lots of tools available to help you track what people are saying about your company. Conversations may be a little hard to measure, but blogs, emails, and message boards are already in writing and can be measured along with your other marketing data. This type of information is often more authentic than results from focus groups or surveys.

Word of Mouth Marketing is very powerful, but is also quite simple. Because it’s based on your customers’ real-life experiences, you can keep the conversation going by making your customers happy, then encouraging them to keep talking!

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