It's a timeless challenge for local businesses: Getting more customers.
Traditional media is cluttered, not to mention expensive. Yellow directories are DOA (discarded on arrival).
What's a local entrepreneur or operator to do? Ride the trend: Use local search, the mobile Web and social media to attract and serve new customers.
This video introduces the Local, Mobile and Social Matrix of marketing for local businesses.
This video provides an intro to the LMS Matrix eCourse, including a brief overview and intro to each module.
Module 1 - Stepping Into the LMS Matrix
Module 2 - Advertising ROI
Module 3 - Tools of the LMS Matrix
Module 4 - Engagement in the LMS Matrix
Module 5 - Local Internet Marketing
Module 6 - Mobile Marketing
Module 7 - Social Marketing
Module 8 - Managing Your LMS Matrix
Module 9 - LMS Matrix Quick Start Guide
Module 10 - The Local eCommerce Specialist
This video provides the case for moving into the LMS Matrix for local businesses.
Citing statistics and trends in local search, mobile device usage and social media patterns, Module 1 acts as an introduction for concepts we will explore in much more detail in later modules.
In challenging times, and especially in local markets where every customer counts, it's important to understand and manage ROI on advertising expenses.
This lecture introduces concepts and a simple method for tracking and calculating ad spend ROI. Using the yellow directory model as a base, it outlines the importance of tracking results from advertising.
Lecture 2 continues with the importance of tracking in calculating advertising ROI, and introduces several methods for tracking media spend, both electronic and print.
Digital tools like tracking phone numbers and QR codes introduce a level of both trackability and immediacy into traditional media. They readily integrate with radio, TV or print into campaigns that can be organized for tracking and evaluation.
Lecture 2 also expands the idea of "ROI" beyond an accounting definition, to embrace "Results of Investment" that might differ between business types and priorities.
Lecture 3 concludes our conversation about advertising ROI with a discussion about branding.
The question comes up often - and is a time-tested tool of advertising sales reps everywhere: What about "branding"? Isn't there some value in advertising in the yellow directory/on the radio or TV/in the newspaper just because "everybody else is there"?
This lecture provides a clear, simple and maybe surprising answer.
Lecture 3 concludes by applying the tools of the LMS Matrix (local, mobile and social marketing) to the ROI grid and its priorities.
Module 3 introduces the tools you'll need to create an LMS Matrix. Lecture 1 provides an overview of the "L" component with a farily high level look at:
- Local search
- Local reviews
- Local advertising platforms
Module 3 provides an introduction to the tools of the LMS Matrix.
Lecture 2 focuses on the "M" component, tools for the mobile Web. As mobile device use and mobile Internet traffic skyrocket, it will be more and more important for local businesses to provide a mobile-friendly experience.
Fortunately, it's not all that hard to do. Lecture 2 introduces the basic components:
- Template-driven mobile Web sites
- Mobile coupons
- SMS (text) messagine
Module 3 introduces the tools for building your LMS Matrix.
Lecture 3 focuses on the "S" component, tools for social media impact.
In the LMS Matrix for local businesses, your social impact is determined by 3 factors:
- Formal reviews online
- "Informal" reviews on social media sites
- Your own efforts at creating a social media presence.
Lecture 3 introduces each briefly, and finishes with a "to do" list to help you get started creating your LMS Matrix.
Although "engagement" is a common topic for theoretical social media "guru" types, for a local business it becomes highly practical.
Interactivity can be a magnetic attractor for new customers and a great source of loyalty for current customers, especially if it used to solve problems, provide information and, especially, to welcome input.
Module 4 revolves around "storytelling" and its unique role in social media for business. In the LMS Matrix, it's not about "telling your story." You are a character in your customers' stories. Good engagement helps you craft a great role.
Module 5 digs deeper into the "L" factor in the LMS Matrix, local Internet marketing.
For local businesses, excellent local Internet marketing can provide a great pipeline of new customers.
Excellent local Internet marketing, in turn, revolves around 3 important components:
- Standing out in local search
- Encouraging and facilitating local reviews
- Effective local advertising
Lecture 1 provides an introduction to the topic and a roadmap for the rest of Module 5.
Module 5 digs deeper into the "L" factor in the LMS Matrix, local Internet marketing.
For local businesses, excellent local Internet marketing can provide a great pipeline of new customers.
Excellent local Internet marketing, in turn, revolves around 3 important components:
- Standing out in local search
- Encouraging and facilitating local reviews
- Effective local advertising
Lecture 2 introduces the unique dynamic of localized search and its 3 important components: On-engine information, off-engine filtered listings, and external (independent) reviews.
Module 5 digs deeper into the "L" factor in the LMS Matrix, local Internet marketing.
For local businesses, excellent local Internet marketing can provide a great pipeline of new customers.
Excellent local Internet marketing, in turn, revolves around 3 important components:
- Standing out in local search
- Encouraging and facilitating local reviews
- Effective local advertising
Lecture 3 provides an overview of the on-engine element of local search: Your places listing. It reviews the role of your places listing in local search and provides contact information for creating places listings on each of the "big 3" search engines.
Module 5 digs deeper into the "L" factor in the LMS Matrix, local Internet marketing.
For local businesses, excellent local Internet marketing can provide a great pipeline of new customers.
Excellent local Internet marketing, in turn, revolves around 3 important components:
- Standing out in local search
- Encouraging and facilitating local reviews
- Effective local advertising
Lecture 4 introduces the important but often-overlooked off-engine, filtered component of local search: Your directory citations. Citations refer to completed listings in large, local-centric directory sites. Lecture 4 provides an overview of their role in local search, and contact information for the most important directories.
Module 5 digs deeper into the "L" factor in the LMS Matrix, local Internet marketing.For local businesses, excellent local Internet marketing can provide a great pipeline of new customers.
Excellent local Internet marketing, in turn, revolves around 3 important components:
- Standing out in local search
- Encouraging and facilitating local reviews
- Effective local advertisingLecture 5 covers online reviews, a key source of information for local search listings and a critical local Internet marketing topic in their own right.
Online reviews are considered legitimate, independent sources of information about businesses, products and services. So they're valuable to the search engines' efforts to provide accurate and helpful search results.
They also provide a key touchpoint for prospective customers.
Lecture 5 overviews the role of online reviews and provides contact information for key online review sources.
Module 5 digs deeper into the "L" factor in the LMS Matrix, local Internet marketing.
For local businesses, excellent local Internet marketing can provide a great pipeline of new customers.
Excellent local Internet marketing, in turn, revolves around 3 important components:
- Standing out in local search
- Encouraging and facilitating local reviews
- Effective local advertising
Lecture 6 introduces the third major component of local Internet marketing: Local advertising. Where local search is "reactive" in the sense that it resonds to searchers' inquiries, local Internet advertising more proactively reaches out to prospective customers.
Lecture 6 provides an overview and introduction to local pay-per-click (ppc) search engine advertising. It is less a tutorial on PPC - which is itself the subject of an entire course - and more an introduction to ppc and some of its advantages and caveats.
Module 5 digs deeper into the "L" factor in the LMS Matrix, local Internet marketing.
For local businesses, excellent local Internet marketing can provide a great pipeline of new customers.
Excellent local Internet marketing, in turn, revolves around 3 important components:
- Standing out in local search
- Encouraging and facilitating local reviews
- Effective local advertising
Lecture 7 continues our discussion of online advertising with an introduction to local Internet advertising via free online classified platforms such as CraigsList, BackPage and FrogAds.
While some object to the "open" nature of these sites, they offer local businesses excellent, search-friendly places to gain visibility and get new customers.
Lecture 7 provides guidelines and resources for success in these areas.
Module 5 digs deeper into the "L" factor in the LMS Matrix, local Internet marketing.
For local businesses, excellent local Internet marketing can provide a great pipeline of new customers.
Excellent local Internet marketing, in turn, revolves around 3 important components:
- Standing out in local search
- Encouraging and facilitating local reviews
- Effective local advertising
Lecture 8 concludes our discussion about online free advertising platforms for local Internet marketing. It includes guidelines for using visual templates for eye-catching ads and keyword density for enhancing local search results.
Module 5 digs deeper into the "L" factor in the LMS Matrix, local Internet marketing.
For local businesses, excellent local Internet marketing can provide a great pipeline of new customers.
Excellent local Internet marketing, in turn, revolves around 3 important components:
- Standing out in local search
- Encouraging and facilitating local reviews
- Effective local advertising
Lecture 9 concludes Module 5 with an introduction and overview of FourSquare, a tool that is local, mobile and social. While not the trendy upstart it was a while back, FourSquare remains a steadfast favorite of its passionate user base and a useful tool for local businesses.
Module 6 explores the "M factor in the LMS Matrix, mobile Internet marketing.
Mobile Web traffic is exploding. Statistics indicate a strong user base of local mobile users, that is, prospective customers who use their mobile devices to find local information.
For local businesses, excellent mobile marketing involves creating a "mobile friendly" experience.
That mobile friendly experience can be broken into 3 components which mirror the customer's store visit and purchase processes:
- Information users seek before they visit a store or location
- Information they seek while in the location
- Tools and information that help facilitate a transaction
Lecture 1 opens Module 6 with an overview of mobile device and mobile Internet use statistics that support a strong trend toward mobile among our local customers.
Module 6 explores the "M factor in the LMS Matrix, mobile Internet marketing.
Mobile Web traffic is exploding. Statistics indicate a strong user base of local mobile users, that is, prospective customers who use their mobile devices to find local information.
For local businesses, excellent mobile marketing involves creating a "mobile friendly" experience.
That mobile friendly experience can be broken into 3 components which mirror the customer's store visit and purchase processes:
- Information users seek before they visit a store or location
- Information they seek while in the location
- Tools and information that help facilitate a transaction
Lecture 2 provides an overview of the mobile-friendly experience in terms of "customer experience funnel" as the prospective customer moves through the transaction process.
Also included in lecture 2: An introduction to the use of site templates to quickly and effectively create a mobile Web site for local businesses.
Module 6 explores the "M factor in the LMS Matrix, mobile Internet marketing.
Mobile Web traffic is exploding. Statistics indicate a strong user base of local mobile users, that is, prospective customers who use their mobile devices to find local information.
For local businesses, excellent mobile marketing involves creating a "mobile friendly" experience.
That mobile friendly experience can be broken into 3 components which mirror the customer's store visit and purchase processes:
- Information users seek before they visit a store or location
- Information they seek while in the location
- Tools and information that help facilitate a transaction
Lecture 3 continues the customer experience funnel, noting that 46% of smartphone users seek information about products while they are in a store.
Facilitating this sort of comparison and deep-insight shopping may seem intimidating to local businesses, but it is embedded into the emerging mobile culture. Thus, by providing this level of convenience, local businesses can attract and keep customers they might not otherwise.
Finally, Lecture 3 follows the customer experience funnel to the point of facilitating a transaction, especially through the use of mobile coupons, specials or check-out processes.
The emphasis in Lecture 3 - and in the local mobile Internet marketing overall - is to facilitate the transaction elegantly, without letting technology or process interfere with the mobile visitor's smooth purchase.
Module 6 explores the "M factor in the LMS Matrix, mobile Internet marketing.
Mobile Web traffic is exploding. Statistics indicate a strong user base of local mobile users, that is, prospective customers who use their mobile devices to find local information.
For local businesses, excellent mobile marketing involves creating a "mobile friendly" experience.
That mobile friendly experience can be broken into 3 components which mirror the customer's store visit and purchase processes:
- Information users seek before they visit a store or location
- Information they seek while in the location
- Tools and information that help facilitate a transaction
Lecture 4 provides an introduction to 2 key tools for local mobile marketing: SMS (text) marketing and QR codes.
SMS marketing can be a very powerful tool for local businesses, especially if they have time or space-limited capacity. However, SMS campaigns fall under the heavy regulatory umbrella of cell phone (voice) traffic and must be very carefully executed with a trusted partner.
QR codes are relatively new visual tools that marketers can use to encourage mobile users to download coupons or special offers, invite site visits, etc.
To engage local mobile device users, should you build a mobile Web site or a mobile app? Module 6, Lecture 5 considers both sides of the question and provides guidance based on your indidual business needs.
For most local businesses, providing "the basics" is more than sufficient to create a mobile-friendly experience: A template-driven mobile Web site.
However, developers and marketers sometimes work together to develop the rationale for a mobile app.
This brief lecture gives an overview of advantages and challenges to both sides of the issue.
Developing and deploying a mobile Web site can seem a daunting task.
This brief lecture provides a simple outline for the process of deploying the mobile site to a server.
It can be used as the backbone for a template-based site plan. Or it can serve as a sort of road map for dealing with IT or Web hosting providers.
Module 7 explores the "S" factor in the LMS Matrix, localized social marketing.
Social media is "the world's largest cocktail party," and local businesses can participate at least as effectively as large, global brands.
In earlier lectures, we noted that social impact for local businesses derives from 3 sources: formal reviews, informal reviews and social platform activity.
Module 7 focuses on the last 2, interaction with customers and visitors via their social media platforms.
Lecture 1 provides in introduction to the social media environment for local businesses by emphasizing the singular key aspect of social media: In traditional media, noise flows one way - from a source to an audience.
In social media, the audience is still there, and still tuned it. It's just that noise can now flow in more than one direction through the channel.
Module 7 explores the "S" factor in the LMS Matrix, localized social marketing.
Social media is "the world's largest cocktail party," and local businesses can participate at least as effectively as large, global brands.
In earlier lectures, we noted that social impact for local businesses derives from 3 sources: formal reviews, informal reviews and social platform activity.
Module 7 focuses on the last 2, interaction with customers and visitors via their social media platforms.
Lecture 2 equates social media impact (beyond "presence") with consistency: Consistent activity, consistent voice, consistent engagement and consistent authenticity.
In lecture 2, we look more closely at the first 2 items: consistent activity and consistent voice.
Module 7 explores the "S" factor in the LMS Matrix, localized social marketing.
Social media is "the world's largest cocktail party," and local businesses can participate at least as effectively as large, global brands.
In earlier lectures, we noted that social impact for local businesses derives from 3 sources: formal reviews, informal reviews and social platform activity.
Module 7 focuses on the last 2, interaction with customers and visitors via their social media platforms.
Lecture 3 emphasizes consistent engagement, the cornerstone of local social media success.
Engagement is where presence meets dialogue, where presentation meets interest. Lecture 3 provides some guidelines for social media posting, most importantly focused on customers, prospects and your local environment.
Module 7 explores the "S" factor in the LMS Matrix, localized social marketing.
Social media is "the world's largest cocktail party," and local businesses can participate at least as effectively as large, global brands.
In earlier lectures, we noted that social impact for local businesses derives from 3 sources: formal reviews, informal reviews and social platform activity.
Module 7 focuses on the last 2, interaction with customers and visitors via their social media platforms.
Lecture 4 emphasizes consistent authenticity, another key to local social media impact. Your local audience does not expect you to be perfect. But they do expect you to be real, and to make every effort to satisfy your highly visible social media-savvy customers.
Finally, Lecture 4 provides a "getting started" guide, in the form of an introduction to the major social media platforms.
The LMS Matrix is more than a set of tools and practices - even though simply putting the tools to work may very well help local businesses get more customers.
It is a comprehensive approach to taking an Internet-savvy local business to market. As such, it has organizational as well as technological implications.
Module 8 explores those implications for local businesses.
Lecture 1 reviews the integrated "Matrix Mindset" and provides a guideline to setting up an LMS Matrix for a local organization.
The LMS Matrix is more than a set of tools and practices - even though simply putting the tools to work may very well help local businesses get more customers.
It is a comprehensive approach to taking an Internet-savvy local business to market. As such, it has organizational as well as technological implications.
Module 8 explores those implications for local businesses.
Lecture 2 concludes our discussion of the Matrix Mindset and its implications for traditional media-driven marketing, transparency and the importance of redirecting marketing from a departmental to a global function.
Module 9 briefly introduces the LMS Matrix Quick Start Guide (included with the ecourse guidebook).
The Quick Start Guide takes a local business step-by-step into the LMS Matrix.
It is designed to help you set up the LMS Matrix tools and get more customers.
The LMS Matrix provides a great opportunity for local businesses to use Internet tools, strategies and resources to get more customers.
However, due to limitations of time, attention and budget, some will find it easier and more efficient to hire or engage others to manage their LMS Matrix.
For those who wish to become local Internet marketing service providers, the Local eCommerce Specialist designation marks their knowledge, experience and attitude about local Internet marketing.
Module 10 provides an overview of the opportunity and expectations of the Local eCommerce Specialist.
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