I took my local marketing techniques to the road this past week to help the local businesses in my community. I sat down with the president of our Minden Chamber of Commerce “Jeri” to talk to her about doing the free local marketing event for small businesses here in Minden, La.
I told her that Minden is stuck between 1995 and back when it comes to keeping up with the times of marketing. When our newspaper is still the number one way to get your message out to the consumer, then you’re in trouble as a city.
We talk long and hard about doing this, and like I stressed to her that the turn out might not be that good because for one, most businesses in any city know little to none about marketing. On top of that, we are a small city who is more like a monkey see monkey do city, so businesses usually do what the business down the road is doing.
So, I got the ok to have this first local marketingdomination event on April 16 at 11:30 – 1pmwhich is lunch time for most business owners. Doing this was convenient because it was done on their lunch, so it didn’t take away time from running their businesses.
Heck I was even given the list of Minden Chamber members which was around 240 small businesses. So I put together a simple but very effective call to action post card that I felt would convert like hot cakes. I stressed on my event page, and my website that this event is 100% FREE, and all you had to do is show up and reap the benefits.
Event Day
Out of 240 post cards that went right to every business owner, only one person showed up. Yep, out of hundreds of businesses only one person felt as though they needed help growing their business in Minden, La.
Now, I wasn’t shocked or even mad because if you know me then you will know that I have been doing online marketing for over 13 years now so I have seen and heard it all.
My goal was to take what I have learned from trial and error over the years to share it with my community. Unfortunately, the community said that they’re doing fine, and they’re not too interested in this local marketing thing.
Maybe some of them just didn’t really understand who was going to be the presenter of this event. I understand that they didn’t know that I’m one of the top marketers in the world lived right here in Minden.
Whatever the case was, they didn’t show up for some reason or another. So, I sat there with the one person who did show up and revealed to her how to dominate your local market without a dime on advertising.
So What Now?
Basically, this is not the last local event I will be doing because like any, and everything in life it takes time for people to see the vision. Just one post card is not going to do it when trying to reach people who are stuck in their own ways.
I know for a fact that 99% of the businesses in Minden, Shreveport, Bossier City and all the surrounding areas need help on growing their business. Most of them are doing it all wrong, and if someone will do any sort of upgrade marketing that’s in their industry that it will almost butt them out of business.
So, my plan is to not give up on my community but take a different approach in getting in front of them. What I have learned over the years is that sometimes you just have to do things to get their attention.
What I’m planning on doing are reviews on every business here in Minden, La. I will make short videos about their website, Facebook page or whether or not they have an online presence or not. Then, I will contact them through email, Facebook and mail to get their attention.
Now, after I do this then some people will entertain what I have to say, but others will still look the other way. No matter what, I will keep pushing until I reach everyone here no matter how long it takes.
Plus, when it comes to doing another local event I will have to sit down, and come up with a better plan to really get people to show up. It will be something creative, and so out of the box that it will force them to show up because of the incentives I will be giving away.
Overall, I’m a happy guy knowing that our Minden Chamber of Commerce is willing to work with me more on doing another local marketing event sometime later down the road. So stay tuned, I have some more events coming up soon but this time I hope to get at least 2 people to show up. LOL
If you’re a small business owner and need to grow your business locally, then check out my local marketing domination guide that will help you put your business in-front of thousands of customers per month.
Local Marketing Domination Guy “signing out”
Hey Give Me Your Views Below “leave a comment”
I think every great speaker/presenter has had the same exact thing happen to them at the start, kudos to you for going for it, I hope to do the same when I move down to Charlotte, which is in 2 weeks! Keep in touch bro and best of luck!
Gary it was a little disappointing but its something I prepared my mind for knowing the lack of knowledge from the business owners. So like everything else I done in my life and I’m just going to keep pushing forward. Just looking to attack from a different angle the next go round.
“Like they say..Rome wasn’t built over night” Thanks for commenting bro..you always show support
Minden itself hasn’t seen much growth in over 40 years. The population has remained basically the same for decades. Good luck.
Yo Jay, it’s growing from a business stand point from new businesses coming into the city. But not in terms of catching up with the times of new technology. Yea it will be hard to educate those businesses in Minden, but I think the game plan I have in place will at least get them to listen.
SEO is a ridiculous industry. If anyone wanted to increase their web presence all they’d have to do is Google how to without the need of a seminar or anything like that. Being an “expert” in SEO is great, but trying to make a business out of it and attempt (and apparently fail) to “enlighten” a small town is sad.
“I understand that they didn’t know that I’m one of the top marketers in the world lived right here in Minden.” Being arrogant also doesn’t help your case. It’s one thing to be confident, it’s another to call yourself “one of the top marketers in the world” when all you have is some prowess in search engine optimization.
Alex, I can see that you don’t understand the seo industry. Yes people can search for building an online presence, but unfortunately most people don’t have time to do the research or know of the industry enough to even do the work.
Plus seo is a well and alive business if you don’t believe me just Google Matt Cutts, Aaron Wall and you will see our industry is a well sought out place. Plus when it comes to doing the workshop/seminaries it was all about helping those people in the local community which I personally don’t have to do.
I get thousands of visitors to my website and network with hundreds of marketers each month to build my brand. So getting clients isn’t an issues at all in this industry, but sometime you do have to step outside the box and help those right in your back yard.
Plus I wasn’t being arrogant at all because it a true statement coming from the thousands of people who I helped over the years. This was added to give weight to my expertise in the marketing world which is not all SEO my friend. SEO is just part of my business which consist of blogging, podcasting, email marketing, affiliate marketing, web design and all the above when it comes to online and offline marketing.
Believe me I’m not offended by your comments at all because if your online long enough people will say something negative about you. I’ve heard every bad comment under the sun over these past 13 years of online marketing so I embrace your comment.
Yes I could have easily deleted this from the inbox and keep going, but I embrace a community here on CMG where all parties can express their thoughts. So the workshop was a failure but it’s not the end of the world bro I got tons of projects in the making to help my local community to networking and a partnership with a new technology company over the weekend to bring social media to every brick and mortar business.
Thanks for the comment..