Tune in to an engaging episode of the Marketing Guides for Small Business Podcast, where we dive into the diverse world of content marketing for local search. Discover the myriad types of content you can create to boost your local online presence and learn why every small business owner is, in fact, a content creator. Our hosts break down content formats from blog posts to infographics, and how each can be optimized for local SEO to help your business stand out in the community. They demystify the content creation process, showing you how to use your unique business insights to produce content that resonates with your local audience. Whether you're crafting how-to guides, leveraging local events, or sharing customer success stories, this episode will inspire you to create compelling content that captures the essence of your brand and the heart of your town. Join us and transform your approach to local search, where every piece of content is an opportunity to connect and grow.

In this insightful episode of the Marketing Guides for Small Business Podcast, we zero in on a game-changing tactic for local businesses: mastering content marketing through strategic keyword phrases. As local search becomes increasingly crucial for small businesses, understanding how to pinpoint and utilize keyword phrases is pivotal. Our hosts delve into the nuances of keyword research tailored to local SEO, offering step-by-step guidance on finding the right terms that your local customers are using to search. Whether you're a brick-and-mortar shop, a service provider, or a hybrid business, this episode equips you with the know-how to enhance your online visibility and draw in a more targeted audience. Join us as we unravel the secrets of aligning your content with what your community is searching for, turning searches into visits, and clicks into customers. Don't miss out on these valuable insights that could revolutionize your local digital presence.

You know, you don’t have to do this thing called New Business Development alone. Especially not as a small business owner. The secret sauce is not in going to more events and drinking a lot more coffee with people but actually developing deeper relationships with what we call Power Partners. We cover: What is a Power PartnerHow to become a Power PartnerMistakes to avoidVirtual Power Partners Join in and learn how to use this valuable tactic for the months and years to come to help grow your business.

Having a "try" offer in your business is a good way for your potential clients to get the feel of what it is like to work with you. Try offers don't have to be free offers either. There are paid offers that give your potential client a lot of value, help you earn a good profit margin on it, and give both parties an idea if they'd be a good fit to do more business together. Listen in to learn about "try" offers.

Once you have people who know about your business, most are not yet ready to buy from you. How does an online funnel help you nurture prospects until they are ready to buy? Find out in this episode. Listen now!

Miruna and Planable have launched Social Teams 100, celebrating the top social media teams that have grown last year against all the odds of 2020. The list is based on their own market research and comes with some interesting stats such as top titles or most popular cities for social media hires. Listen now!

Landing pages. Those mysterious things that float out there on the web that aren’t websites but are still the secret weapons of conversion for those who know how best to use them. We’re going to talk about how you can understand not only what landing pages are but how they fit into your marketing ecosystem, what makes for a good landing page, what we should we avoid, even lead magnets. 

We’re continuing our series about online funnels and the role OFFERS play in the success of your funnels. If you’re having challenges building out your funnels or if your current funnels aren’t generating leads as you want, the culprit might be your offer. You'll learn: What an online funnel offer isTypes of offersHow offers vary depending on industryHow offers vary between products and servicesHow to start thinking about offers to promote for your own business

If you’re wondering why no one is buying your stiff after they download your ebook, why no one is taking the next step after signing up for your newsletter or wondering why your online ads are not helping you sell anything - the missing link may be a missing funnel. Learn what funnels are and how they help your business online. Hint: you already know this stuff from "real life" interactions with customers.

In this episode, our guest is Steve Clark of New School Selling. Selling can be hard enough in normal times, so understanding how to sell in challenging times is critical. And for many businesses, selling is frequently one of the biggest challenges.  Listen to learn practical ways to overcome those challenges and start implementing the suggestions this week.

In this episode, we’re going to dig deeper into the secrets of local SEO to really help small business owners and fellow marketers discover what matters most in local search ranking to get into the invaluable real estate known as the Google 3-Pack.

This episode will resonate with all small business owners, the feeling of being overwhelmed and not growing their business fast enough because they have to do it all.  Learn how to free yourself to succeed by outsourcing more of your company's marketing.

In this episode, learn what the Total Online Presence Audits or TOPAs for short. We’ll explain what that is, how it helps and why you need to consider running your business through a TOPA. Since most businesses are found online, wouldn't it help to know how your company's online presence is showing up to Google, your potential customers and compared to your competition? Join in as the panel discusses this simple process and how it can help set your marketing up for success.

We discuss what sales funnels a Small Business should have: Are sales funnels new?How do they power the customer journey?Can sales and marketing funnels work together?What funnels should a business start with?How does content support funnels?Can funnels be used to qualify prospects?How important are automated booking calendars?

We talk about how to use geofencing to steal your competitors' customers. There are actually ethical ways that advertisers can target their competitors to get new customers. Topics we discuss: What is geofencing and how is it different from just advertising in target-specific geographies?Where do these ads display?Can you do geofencing using Facebook?Who are these ads most effective for?Is it possible to go back in time and advertise to people who were in my geofenced area before I started my campaign?Are there other ways you can target your competitor's potential customers with ads besides geofencing?

We talk about how to make local marketing work for your small business, some slightly more advanced local marketing tactics and how to get the most from your investments to attract the right kinds of customers in your local geographic market. A quick overview of what we mean by “local marketing” and how it is different from online marketing that is not targeted to a specific geography?  What should a small business think of when it comes to Content for local marketing - how can a small business really optimize their content for local markets they are targeting and want to serve?One thing our listeners have probably heard of, but may struggle to really take advantage of, is “geofencing” or “geo-targeted” local marketing - we'll provide a better understanding of what that is?  What kinds of local businesses could most benefit from using geo-targeted marketing like this?When you work with a client to set up and market in a Local Service Area, what does that entail and what must a small business owner think about in terms of service areas - selection, tactics, measurement, etc.?What is most important for you in working with clients to get good content input and ideas from your clients so you can help them with their local marketing initiatives?What metrics matter most in working on Local Marketing initiatives and what do small business owners need to know about tracking results for their local marketing?

We talk with Shaun Clark, Co-Founder/CEO of High Level, an All-In-One Sales & Marketing Platform for agencies. Our topics in this episode focus on the challenges that small businesses face when it comes to sales and marketing: Too many businesses leak leads… we talk about what a small business should put in place regarding a sales and a marketing system.How important is it for a small business to have an automated booking calendar, and what features should it have?What are your thoughts about lead generation for a small business? What’s working and what’s not right now?What are your top 3-5 tips for a small business owner looking to improve their marketing in the current environment?The challenges and costs of a business having several different marketing tools, and getting them all to work together.  How big of a problem is this for businesses?How important is marketing automation for small businesses? What do you recommend that business should automate?What has been most UN-changed in marketing for Small Businesses?There seems to be a trend in the marketing world where agencies are taking disjointed services that need to be cobbled together or integrated with third party tools and turning them into an integrated software system. What are your thoughts on this? High Level is only available for Marketing Agencies. If you are a marketing agency and would like to learn more, visit High Level

We talk about what it takes to properly onboard, train and uplevel your marketing manager. What should they be doing? What should they not be doing? This is a topic that’s been very near and dear to the heart of many small business owners, so today, we’re going to bring a world of clarity and share what we believe it takes to ensure your marketing manager’s success. We'll discuss: first steps to start the processfoundational characteristicswhat marketing concepts they need to learnwhat tools should the be prepared to learnwhat should the marketing manager own and what could/should be outsourced To learn more about the Marketing Manager Training Program, just contact us using the links below Caliber Changescape Web Fortune Marketing

We discuss how small businesses can work with a digital marketing agency, the onboarding process, what to expect from the agency, and what the agency needs from you when you hire them. Why should a business hire a marketing agency and are there times when maybe the business should do some or all of it themselves? Why this needs to be a partnership and is not something that a business can just throw over the wall.What are some things the client and the agency can do to help the onboarding process go smoothly?What to do if you don’t have all the logins the marketing agency asks forHow to help the marketing agency set up the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) System for you as well as any type of marketing automationsDoes the client input stop after the kickoff meeting and once the account access is obtained? What should both the client and agency expect from each other moving forward?

We talk with Staci Wallace. Staci Wallace, EVP of Marketing and Strategy for Voxox, currently the host of The Comeback Small Business Radio Show, and founder of the non-profit, EMwomen (Empowering Women). Our topics in this episode are: The importance of supporting small business (especially helping them make a ‘comeback’) and Text message marketing – why it works so well.What is text message marketing and how can small businesses use it effectively? What is the future scope for text message marketing?What industries can benefit from text message marketing?What is the future for small business communications?How important is AI (artificial intelligence) and bot technology in 2021 and into the future?What can we all do to support small businesses make a comeback after this challenging year?The role of integrated, omni-channel messaging (email, text/sms, phone, and chatbots) in small business communications? To find out more about Staci Wallace: The Comeback Small Business Radio Show: https://www.facebook.com/thecomebackshow/ https://www.voxdirect.com/the-comeback-show  Voxox - https://www.voxox.com/ or for small business owners go to https://www.voxdirect.com/  EMwomen (Empowering Women) - https://emwomen.com/  Staci Wallace: https://www.staciwallace.com/home http://www.facebook.com/staciwallace http://instagram.com/staciwallace  https://twitter.com/staciwallace 

We talk about how to make Google Ads work for your small business.  Google makes it very easy to create a Google Ads account, drop in a credit card number and start advertising.  But should you take that super-fast way to get online?  Generally speaking most small businesses will quickly waste a lot of money without a more strategic approach to Google Ads What are Google Ads and how does “Pay Per Click” marketing works?Why would a small business use Google Ads vs other online ad platforms such as the social media platforms? How “Google Local Services Ads” work and what do small business owners need to consider in using this service?What are tips for doing keyword research to decide which keywords to buy ads against?  What are negative keywords? There is very little space in a Google Search ad to get a message across, how should small business owners think about their ad creative when creating Search Ads?What about after the click?  What should a business owner think about when it comes to Landing Pages, Thank You Pages and Metrics?  Should ads just be sent to the company’s homepage?

We talk about some more advanced social media topics with Ben Dell, Founder at Missinglettr, HeySummit, HelpShelf and OnboardFlow. There are so many ways to amplify your social media, yet most businesses stop at just posting. We’re going to talk about some ways to do this and how it can really help your business. Is content curation still an effective strategy for social media?What role do influencers play in social media, and how can a small business take advantage of using influencers?What is the importance of social media driving traffic to your website?Why do you need to post about the same content multiple times on social media, and over what period of time?Why is it important for your social media posts to be shared, including by people you don’t know?How can you leverage a community to help you share your social media content?What role do hashtags play in content discovery and promotion? How do you find the right hashtags?What is the most important thing a small business can do to improve their social media effectiveness? You can find out more about Ben Dell at https://twitter.com/bendell and https://missinglettr.com/

Wetalk about what a fractional CMO is and why it is important. Our guest today is Dan Gershenson, one of the co-authors of the book Content Marketing for Local Search. Many businesses can’t afford a full-time marketing person with all the expertise needed to handle all aspects of marketing in the digital world we now live in. One way to handle this is to work with a virtual or fractional Chief Marketing Officer (CMO). What is the Fractional CMO (also referred to as “Virtual CMO") approach and how is it unique to other types of businesses in the space such as large agencies or individual freelancers? How does having a Fractional CMO help a small business owner scale up? What kinds of situations are ideal to have such a role?How to address the concerns a small business might have about hiring a virtual CMO? What types of businesses is it best for, like niches they serve or business size?

We talk about a topic that either confuses many small businesses, or maybe they just ignore it - Analytics and Return on Investment (or ROI). Analytics can be very confusing and there are a lot of things that can be measured with online marketing, but how do you know what to measure? And what do you need to measure to even be able to start calculating ROI?

We talk about local SEO vs. traditional SEO and how they relate to one another.  What are search engine Crawls, Indexes, and Retrieves?How can you help the search engines crawl and index your pages?What are some of the differences between traditional SEO and local SEO? Are they different algorithms? How does Google My Business (GMB) fit into local SEO?Can you just ignore traditional SEO and focus entirely on local SEO? Or do they relate to each other to some degree?How does Google determine local intent behind a search query?How does a small business take advantage of geographically relevant information and user intent to increase my local search rankings on Google?

We talk with one of the really big influencers of Small Business Marketing, Mike Cooch. Mike is an entrepreneur and fast-growth CEO that has founded businesses in technology services, marketing services, digital publishing, and ecommerce. His businesses have been named to the INC Magazine List of Fastest Growing Companies, and were also nominated as a Best Place to Work in their respective cities. You can find out more about Mike and his businesses atL https://lvrg.com/https://theresandiego.com/ In our discussion we cover: What a small business should put in place regarding a sales and a marketing systemWhat are your top 3-5 tips for a small business owner looking to improve their marketing in the current environment?How realistic is it for a small business owner to get their marketing work done on their own / without either hiring staff or contracting with consultants or agencies?Thoughts about social media marketing for a small business - and which platforms to useHow important is marketing automation for small businesses?What has been most UN-changed in marketing for Small Businesses since you first wrote Duct Tape Marketing?What can a business do to vet a marketing agency or consultant?

In this episode, we talk with Glennetta Haymon, Esq. Glennetta assists clients with business law, intellectual property issues such as trademark, copyright, and probate issues. We cover: ⦁ What the difference is between a trademark, copyright, a registered trademark? ⦁ In what ways can you legally protect your brand? ⦁ What is intellectual property, basically what can and should be protected? ⦁ What types of businesses should consider protection? How does this pertain to local businesses like professional services, brick and mortar, or even local service area businesses? ⦁ Describe the process and typical timeframes for trademarks and copyrights? ⦁ If you find that someone has violated trademark or copyright, what can you do? Additional information: Attorney Haymon is a graduate of the University of Missouri, Columbia, where she earned bachelor’s degrees in Psychology and Interdisciplinary Studies. She obtained a degree in Law from Arizona Summit Law School and a master’s degree in Forensic Psychology. Currently, she serves as a board of directors for 3 non-profit organizations, is a serial entrepreneur with 3 total businesses, and is a mom to a fantastic and athletic middle schooler. Haymon Law Office, LLC www.haymonlawoffice.com

We talk about the world of mobile optimization and what it means for your website, your rankings, and your business, including: What does it mean to have a mobile optimized website?What is Mobile SEO and why is it important?What is Google’s Mobile First Index?Google recently announced an upcoming change to their algorithm in the area of page experience called web vital metrics. What is this change and how does it affect small businesses?How should we go about optimizing for mobile?What are some tools and/or resources that can help with mobile optimizationsShould we still care at all about desktop optimization and why?

We talk with one of the real gurus of Small Business Marketing, John Jantsch. John wrote the groundbreaking book Duct Tape Marketing, and also recently published a new book called The Self Reliant Entrepreneur. To find out more about John, visit https://ducttapemarketing.com/ In our discussion we cover: What is the Marketing Hourglass and why is the concept of the hourglass so important in understanding the customer journey?What are your top 3-5 tips for a small business owner looking to improve their marketing in the current environment?How realistic is it for a small business owner to get their marketing work done on their own / without either hiring staff or contracting with consultants or agencies?What is most important for a small business owner to get done when it comes to marketing strategy?How important is marketing automation for small businesses?What is a total online presence and why isn’t a website or a Facebook Page enough?What has been most UN-changed in marketing for Small Businesses since you first wrote Duct Tape Marketing?What can a business do to vet a marketing agency or consultant?

We talk about a topic that either confuses many small businesses, or can be very difficult to get a grasp on and can feel like just one more thing to deal with - Optimizing your Google My Business - or GMB - presence. It is an absolutely critical factor in making sure your business shows up in Local Search - or Maps - Search Results. Why is Google My Business so important for local businesses?How can a business tell if they’ve claimed their Google My Business listing?  What can they do if it’s been claimed but they’re not sure who has access? What should a small business owner think about doing first once they’ve claimed their Google My Business Listing? How should a business think about tracking results and the impacts of Google My Business on their listing?What are Posts on Google My Business?  How should a local business think about using these in their marketing?How about businesses that are “practitioners” within a “practice” - for example, doctors within a practice or lawyers within a firm - how should they manage and work with Google My Business?How should “Service Area Businesses” work with Google My Business?What impacts could this have for Small Business Owners if Google ads a paid option for GMBs ?

We talk about something we get a lot of questions about - Facebook Ads. This could be either one of the best lead generation channels you use or one of the worst most expensive if not harnessed correctly. We provide you with an introduction to the world of Facebook ads.  What types of small businesses should be using Facebook and why?What are the first steps to getting started running ads on Facebook? There are many different types of ads on Facebook. Which one’s should a small business use and why? What kind of targeting options are available for small businesses? What supporting Assets do I need to have in order to get the most out of my Facebook account?What are custom audiences and lookalike audiences and when should I use them? What are the biggest pitfalls or mistakes small business owners should avoid when starting with Facebook ads?

we are going to talk about how to get the most out of Facebook as a marketing channel for your business, given that things change on Facebook pretty frequently. Facebook and social media in general is a very common topic when we work with clients. And all of the social platforms frequently change what they use in their algorithms to show visitors their clients. And, like it or hate it, Facebook remains the gorilla in the space with well over 2 BILLION monthly users...so this is where your customers are spending time. So it creates an enormous opportunity to build awareness and convert folks to customers. When it comes to Facebook, is it worth doing organic posts with no ad dollars behind it?What kind of content or what types of topics should be posted about on Facebook? Should every Facebook post be boosted or advertised?  Also, how should a business owner think about planning a Facebook advertising budget? What is the best way to generate leads directly from Facebook?  How often should you post? What are the best tips / methods for growing a business’ audience / following on Facebook?

We answer the who, what, where, and why of Virtual Marketing Services. Why you should consider using virtual marketing servicesWhy virtual marketing services might be better for your businessWhat to look for and what to avoid when hiring a virtual marketing serviceDoes it matter where a virtual marketing service is locatedHow to get the most out of using a virtual marketing service

We talk about how America’s privacy laws could significantly impact small businesses. We're joined by a couple of guests - Donata Kalnenaite and Hans Skillrud from Termageddon. Privacy on the internet has become a big deal, and there have been several laws passed at the federal and state level that impact the collection of even something as simple as a name and email address. If your website has a contact form, you need a privacy policy! Termageddon helps its customers avoid privacy related fines and lawsuits via its Privacy Policy generator. If you have a website collecting as little as an email address via contact form, you may be required to comply with an ever-growing list of privacy laws. Termageddon removes this hassle by monitoring privacy laws for you and updating your Privacy Policy whenever the laws change.   Donata Kalnenaite is the President of Termageddon, a licensed attorney and a certified information privacy professional. She also serves as the Newsletter Editor of the American Bar Association - ePrivacy Committee and as the Chicago Chair of the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP.org). Donata often volunteers at the Illinois State Bar Association holding courses on the General Data Protection Regulation where she teaches other attorneys on the importance of privacy and what Privacy Policies should contain. In her free time, Donata enjoys bee keeping, hunting for morel mushrooms and walks with her fiancé and two dogs. Hans Skillrud is the Vice President of Termageddon, overseeing sales & marketing. Hans ran a 12-person web design agency in downtown Chicago for 7 years, and sold it in March of 2019 to focus all of his attention on Termageddon. Like Donata, he too enjoys bee keeping, hunting for morel mushrooms and walks with his fiancée and two dogs. Yes, they are engaged to be married in October 2020! Changescape Web is a Termageddon Reseller.

We talk about how to pick the right traffic source(s) for your business. Getting more traffic to a businesses website is almost a universal problem for every small business. While traffic isn’t the most important metric, driving the right traffic is paramount for success. The challenge is determining what are the right traffic sources for your business. In this episode, we discuss: categories of traffic sourceshow many sources you should usehow to measure the effectiveness of a traffic sourcewhat non-paid. offline, online, and third-party traffic sources you should consider

We discuss a topic we’re asked about all the time in regard to Small Business Marketing - Social Media. Obviously this is a big topic, so today we’re going to focus at a high level on what social media platforms are working, why social media is important, and how small businesses can most effectively leverage social media. We’ll do deeper dives into specific social media platforms including Facebook and Instagram in future episodes. Topics discussed: What social media platforms are most important right now for small businesses?Does social media help drive traffic back to the website? How can you even track something like that?What kinds of posts should a business post and what types should they avoid?Content curation has been an effective strategy for many businesses. What is it and is it still effective?Let’s talk about social media reach - is it an effective way to reach your ideal customer? Is there a recommended content mix that works for most businesses?How important is it to advertise on social media platforms?What social media platforms should you advertise on?We’ve talked about the customer value journey in past episodes. In what stages does social media seem to work the best as a tactic?How does a small business with a limited budget choose between building a sales funnel, doing search engine optimization, or using social media as their primary channel?Is social media a big difference maker for small businesses?

In this 2 part episode, we discuss a very fundamental, but often misunderstood aspect of Small Business Marketing - Search Engine Optimization, or SEO.  What SEO is, why it matters for business owners and how you can improve your presence in search engines will be discussed. What is SEO and why is it important?What is Local SEO and how is it different?What is the difference between paid search marketing and SEO - and can and should they work together?Ways to improve your SEOHow content plays into search results

In the second part of this 2 part episode, we discuss a very fundamental, but often misunderstood aspect of Small Business Marketing - Search Engine Optimization, or SEO. What SEO is, why it matters for business owners and how you can improve your presence in search engines will be discussed. Algorithm changes and a couple that have had the most impact on small businessesWhat impact does mobile have on SEO, and how can you improve itWhat should you measure and what tools should you use Does Antonio catch the chicken?

We discuss a topic that can be a major game changer for the average small business - reviews and reputation, including: What is Reputation Management?What is Reputation Marketing?How to get reviewsWhat to do about bad reviewsWhat content helps a business's reputation?How can you showcase your reviews on your website? Reputation Management is the title of one of the books in the Marketing Guides For Small Business available now on amazon.com

In this episode we discuss what goes in to an effective small business marketing strategy: Why it matters for every small businessWhat is at risk without a sound marketing strategyWhat a well-thought out marketing strategy means for a small business in terms of execution and effectiveness of marketingWhat does it mean to start each engagement with marketing strategy? What is the risk of not having a marketing strategy in place?Where do clients most often struggle when working on their marketing strategy?Does working on a marketing strategy mean that all other activity stops until the strategy is 100% determined?Why is differentiation so important to marketing strategy?How do you determine what a client’s most valuable target clients are?As marketing strategies, target markets and differentiation becomes clearer, how does this inform the rest of your marketing work?

How to generate more leads for your business, at a high return on investment is important for every small business. Today we will cover: the difference between “search engine optimization” and “search engine marketing”components of building & launching a successful Google Ads search campaignwhere should you send people to from your adscommon mistakes or opportunities for improvementwhat should a business do in terms of follow upwhat the keyword match types areand more...

We talk about an essential weapon for small business marketing: funnels. We break down what funnels are and what they can do for you and your business. What are the components of a “proper” marketing funnel?What technologies and tools do you need to build and run funnels?What makes funnels different from some of the traditional services agencies offer?How can a local business take advantage of marketing funnels?

In this episode we'll talk about what goes in to creating a website that builds trust: Why it matters for every small business What is at risk without a trust-worthy websiteWhat a well-thought website design means for a small business in terms of execution and the role it plays in the effectiveness of their marketingWhy is the 5 second test so important?What some of the key home page elements areWhy Mobile-Optimized is so importantWhat platform you should to build your website

We talk about something essential to inbound and digital marketing success: content, different types of content, how content relates to the buyer journey, and what it can do for you and your business. Overview of the buyer journey and how content fits into that journeyWhat types of content you should consider, and how you can use themWhat content is neededHow to start creating contentCommon mistakes people make putting together a content strategy

We discuss a topic that is probably mis-understood and under utilized by many small business owners - Email Marketing. Topics include: Is email marketing “dead”?What problems can you run into with email marketing?Is it a good idea to buy a list?Should you send email campaigns from your business domain?How do you build an effective email list?Should you have an email marketing strategy? Why or why not?Why should you regularly cleanse your email list?What do terms like blacklisted, spam, and bounce mean?Should you use an email services provider?Are incentives and promotions good in emails?What should you include in your email marketing?