Is Getting Local Online Clients the Next Hot Thing? Maybe Not

I wanted you all to check out this great video below by Internet Marketer Ian Fernando on Local Lead Marketing and his belief that this type of business is bit ‘too hyped’,  shall we say.

Now, if you’re not sure what that is, it is simply attracting local businesses as a client so you can do things like SEO, Pay Per Click Ads, Email Marketing, Social Media, etc…

In other words, helping a local business get online and helping them get visibility and business from it.

Local Lead Marketing has become the hot buzz word lately with some pretty expensive courses floating around teaching it.

I am inclined to agree with Ian’s assessment on the video that LLM is a little tougher than what is being talked about and personally speaking, I’m not too sure (actually I am) it’s ‘The Future’ as some proclaim it to be…at least not in the near-term.

Let me give you a brief personal example:

I had a client who owns a bar who wanted to get more visibility on the internet and wanted to leverage Social Media by way of Facebook, Twitter, etc….

So we struck an agreement where I would build a targeted Twitter and Facebook following, as well as building a link campaign to his bar’s website.

What happened almost immediately was the client did not cooperate almost from the get-go…he would not change the website for SEO purposes (it was in Flash) and as I busted my rump building him a pretty good sized Twitter following he ‘decided’ that his sister would build his Facebook page (who knew nothing about Internet Marketing of course).

After paying me once he never returned my calls or emails again and never paid me.

The client did not understand in the slightest the business of Online Visibility and Social Media awareness. He wanted instant results but did not want to cooperate with an expert to get them.

This is very common with ‘Offline’ clients who want to get ‘Online’.

Now this doesn’t mean you can’t find local businesses that will understand what it takes to build brand awareness on the web.

But it is harder than some out there are making it out to be.  And you have to communicate this to your potential client.

It reminds me of that ‘Intuit’ commercial where they say something like ‘a few clicks of your mouse to build your website with our simple tools, click ‘publish’ and get found’!

Have you seen it?

Yeah right…it’s that easy.

My point:  Don’t think that everything is changing to the ‘local’ rage if that’s what you’ve been hearing.

It isn’t.  At least not anytime soon.

And if you get a local business who wants to ‘get found’ on the internet lay it out for them in no uncertain terms.  It’s gonna take time.  It’s gonna take commitment.

Don’t let the client steer you into what their ideas are for getting seen online.

Because they DO NOT know what they are doing.

You’re there to show them how it’s done.

-Kenneth

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GkleIvF3Fk&feature=player_embedded

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Tags: email marketing, local leads, Online Marketing, SEO, social media

Category: Online Marketing