This has been a great week for 10|20! We’ve officially announced to our networks that we’ve launched. Our post on LinkedIn Pulse, titled, “Why It’s Easy For Every Small Business In Canada To Become Found Online” has generated almost 700 views in just 36 hours and countless messages of congratulations.

We’ve reposted the article here for you, but would encourage you to share, comment and like over on LinkedIn. And if you’d like to connect with us there, feel free reach out as well.

Jamie on LinkedIn | Mark on LinkedIn

Why It’s Easy For Every Small Business In Canada To Become Found Online

There are a number of tactics you can apply to become found online. As a small business owner, you can invest in a website, social media marketing, digital advertising, take a myriad of SEO approaches, attempt content marketing, online press releases, video production, and the list goes on.

The common issue for small business owners who attempt any of these approaches is that they each take a real investment of time and money to enjoy sustained success. And if you’re a dry cleaner, pizza shop owner, or run a small import/export company, marketing isn’t what you do best. No, you’re the best at removing stains, making the tastiest pizzas, or dealing with getting containers of goods over from China to Canada.

What you all have in common, though, is that you need people to call your business, find your location or visit your website. In fact, your business depends on it.

Consider these statistics:

  • 97% of smartphone users use a search engine on their mobile device at least once per week
  • 87% of smartphone owners make a search engine inquiry at least once a day
  • 86% of people view a menu online before dining out
  • 85% of consumers still prefer to shop in physical stores vs. online stores
  • 50% of local searches lead to a store visit within a day
  • 49% of local searches occur without a specific business in mind

Modern consumers start their shopping experience on search engines and review sites. The results they get from these networks determine where they spend their money, with reviews on each location’s listing helping them determine if a business is the right fit for them. As a result, if a business doesn’t appear in these local search results, the consumer will simply spend their money elsewhere.

So if you’re a small business owner in Canada, what’s your first priority for marketing your business? How do you maximize the return on your marketing investment? And how do you ensure that you can increase traffic through your doors or get your phone to ring?

That’s where our business comes in. With 10|20 Marketing involved, the process to ensure that your local businesses turns up on these critical networks is easy, time saving and automated. We will ensure that your location is consistently presented and error-free, that menus are online and easily updated, and reviews aggregated and monitored, so your business can enjoy improved findability and better overall search results across a number of engines.

The best part? This is an easy and cost-favourable way to market your business and get found. And it works beautifully with other marketing tactics that you may be considering or already doing. Getting found and having people walk through your door, though, is always the number one priority. And we can help you achieve that without breaking the bank.

To learn more about how 10|20 Marketing can help your business take the first step to being found online, just ask us and we’ll be happy to explain.