Thursday, November 18, 2010

Does My Local Community "Get It" When it Comes to Inbound Marketing?

Let me tell you that I have tried to get through to my local community in order to help them achieve their business goals through inbound marketing. I’m not sure how most business owners are, but I actually care about the economic situation my community may be in. However, I have a hard time getting anyone to respond to my introductions, to participate in conversations, and to connect with me on networks. Do they get it?




I feel I almost need a million dollars to do something totally drastic to get the attention of my local “peeps”. Let me provide you with some examples.



1. Have contacted over 100 businesses in my community about my services, knowing how much they are struggling, through mail, phone, social media, content, and email (I know. I know.). I have not received a single response. I am located in a resort community where business is seasonal. Things are tough in the winter. I see a lot of my local businesses are now on Facebook, which is great, but many of those accounts are abandoned because they did not know how to operate the page. Some of my local bars are even cursing up and down on their own pages. I also notice that they only have a Facebook page. There are so many other networks that could work for them. Also, social media is only a piece of a larger pie. If they wish to grow and gather leads and sales, they are going to need more than a Facebook page. With inbound marketing, they could flourish.



2. I have started a Linkedin group for my region of the country. I started the group on social media because that is the most popular topic people are seeking information on right now and I can help them use it to its maximum advantage. My group is shy. I seem to be the only person posting. No topics started, no comments, no questions, and no answers. They must be good listeners.



3. I belong to other social media networks where businesses can connect with other local businesses. My problem is that I have asked over 250 businesses in my local community to connect with me and maybe 10 of that 250 have connected with me. This is very confusing to me. I see the businesses are connected with other business members in the area, so why are they not connecting with my business? The downside of this is that I need someone to clean my chimney, inspect my chimney, fix my garage foundation, put on a roof, build a retaining wall, and cut down a tree in my yard. I tried to connect with businesses in my area that perform this work. I was looking to develop a relationship with them and give them my support and business; however, I cannot get a business to connect with me. Unfortunately, in doing this, they are missing out on not only my business, but I am sure the business of many others who were looking to do the same thing. This is so bad for their business and bad for me, a consume who can’t connect with a business.



Am I going to have to hire from out of town? Do my local businesses want more business? Are they interested in leads and generating more revenue? Why are they not responding? Do they have so many leads and revenue coming in that they don’t need anymore? Are they on there just to be on there and don’t know what to do? Did they abandon their pages? Do they get it? Is it me?



Spot says: Just lick their faces.



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