Most Yellow Cats hate to blog. Why can't we just have the marketing like the old days! Get listed in the Yellow Pages. Advertise in the services section of the newspaper. And if you really want to go all out, fork out some extra bucks for an enhanced listing in the Yellow Pages, quarter page to full page ads. These are not cheap mind you but they must've worked because you wouldn't pay for something unless you got results. Right? Wow - already off subject. But in a really whiny voice say - "But whyyyy - why do I have to blog?"
You want to know how hard it is to get a plumber to blog? Imagine trying to unclog your own sink with a pipe cleaner. It says pipe cleaner on the package. So you take this little furry bendable stick out of the package and go about stuffing it down the drain. Ultimately you determine that this isn't working and what do you do? You call a plumber. And that's my point. The plumber is not the marketing expert. It's not his job to blog. If you're lucky enough to have someone in the office with time, maybe that person can be the designated blogger...otherwise - forget it.
So what to do? Buy a blogger! The whole online marketing experience was adopted by Yellow Cats for many reasons, besides the fact that you had to do it. Among the many was cost. You can add a directory listing, Google MAPS and a myriad of other online marketing channels for free. If you had a little PC experience, you could even get your own website up and running. But free is relative. Early adopters were rewarded with business from the web. Today, it's not so easy. More competition means you can't get the same results with a simple passive attitude. But LOCAL web marketing is still relatively new. It could be time to hire a LOCAL web marketing expert...perhaps one who knows where to find a blogger. And that solves your problem.
The LOCAL web marketing landscape is challenging. Yellow Pages is over 100 years old. Google is a little over 20 years old and really, local internet marketing really took off less than 10 years ago. There are a lot of reasons. Marketing needs the potential to reach a lot of people. Some of the requirements for LOCAL web marketing included broad scale use of the PC, fast access to the web (Cable and DSL). And now we're getting into the period where everyone carries the internet around in their pockets via the mobile phone. It's about time for you Yellow Cats to get serious or be left behind. It's not too late either. Frankly, its probably the best time to be budgeting for local internet marketing. The pipe cleaner just isn't going to work...