Internet Marketing Trends for Local Businesses

Twas the night…

Ok we are over the elves, reindeer’s & sleighs. Now its time to look ahead to 2012 Internet Marketing Trends.

More specifically how will the current internet marketing trends effect your business in 2012.  What steps can you take to get ahead of the competition and more importantly how can these internet marketing trends improve your current user experience.

Getting Ahead of the Competition

With todays current Local Internet Landscape the opportunities seem plentiful but there are many pitfalls to look out for as well.  Lets take a look at some of the exiting opportunities businesses have to separate themselves from the competition and individualize there local web presence.

Web Design 2.0 if you do not have an updated web design in the last 24 months it will be a good idea to do that in 2012.  A survey done by web visible indicates that 84% of people surveyed believe the quality of a website directly relates to the quality of a business.  Aspects of a website clients are interested in are, professional design, easy navigation to guide a users experience, interactive media like video feeds & links to your social media pages, and don’t forget to make an offer it is the easiest way for your customers to go from shopping to buying from you.

Social Media Integration was a high trend in 2011 and I believe it will remain as important if not even more important.  As business owners have begun to realize the importance of social media many have still not taken the time to integrate there clients experience through the social channels.  First of all,  business today should have a custom welcome page on Facebook that describes the social experience that you are trying to create.  If it is to be highly informative, lets say for an accountant, continuing to update your client base on important dates as well as need to know changes would be highly successful.  It can also be offer driven, “like us on Facebook and win a chance at a free gift card to your restaurant of choice.  I would say 2011 was big for businesses getting on Facebook, but 2012 will be dedicated to figuring out how to use it for your business.

Interactive Media is becoming larger and larger and in 2012 the big have for local businesses will be to a custom Youtube channel with videos that link to and from your websites.  Good video ideas should be based around helping your client base, such as how to’s that describe how to get the most out of your services.

The big pitfall to look out for in 2012.  Mobile marketing for local businesses.  I believe this will be a big trend in 2013, however in 2012 there still are questions on how to target mobile local clients.  Stay tuned as this technology develops I believe it will become more important to business owners than the actual local web is.  What you can do with mobile in the meantime is get a mobile website.  A mobile website is designed to create an easy user navigation that fits in their mobile browsers.  This will certainly increase your clients user experience.  However as far as truly successful mobile marketing strategies go they are in development and your clients will determine which platforms are successful by their usage.  If you are going to invest in mobile strategies in 2012 I would recommend stating with a low budget until this technology if proven by trackable results.

Happy New Year to all.  Next Month I will dive into improving your clients user experiences.