Smart Business Owners are Marketing Online

I’m currently reading a book entitled The New Rules of Marketing and PR that my friend and local business owner Brad Johnson of Lawn America loaned to me.  It’s quite good!  I came across a story about a company that we all know and can identify with, and I found it relevant to many of the business owners that I speak to every week.  So, I thought I’d share…

Century 21 Real Estate LLC is the franchisor of the world’s largest residential real estate sales organization, an industry giant comprising approx. 8,000 offices in 45 countries.  You’ve seen Century 21’s TV ads before, but you haven’t seen them lately.  In 2009, the company pulled its national TV advertising and invested those resources into online marketing.  That’s a huge move considering the amount of TV they were doing.

Bev Thorne, chief marketing officer at Century 21, stated, “we are moving our advertising investments to the mediums that have the greatest relevance to our target buyers and sellers, and to where the return on our investment is most significant. In 2008, we found that our online investments provided a return that was substantively higher than our more traditional TV media investments.” They turned to Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube, to name a few.  Actually, YouTube is a large component of their activities, and they are putting a lot of their attention into developing that medium to promote their brand.

It’s easy to see the logic behind that. As a business owner, you should always go with the mathematical explanation to support why you make decisions like this.  What you think may happen and can’t be tracked or proven.  There is a lot of calculated data to support investing online and doing some Internet marketing. However, business owners are afraid to make even partial moves away from their comfort zones and into online marketing and social media.  But the evidence describing how people actually research products overwhelmingly suggests that companies must tell their stories and spread their ideas online, taking the content to the people.  It’s easier to do than ever before.  Ridiculously simple, in fact…it just takes some leg work.

I gotta be honest: it is exciting being a marketer right now.  There is so much un-chartered territory for small to medium sized businesses!  The little guy can make a huge mark in a very short period of time with some professional help!  But, sadly, the world of the unknown and unfamiliar will stop many business owners from making these investments online, and quite possibly miss the gold rush because of it.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking this is the newest fad.  No, this is how the world communicates now.  Bring your business up to speed and do it quickly before your competitors do.  It’s easier to get ahead now then play catch-up later.

Contact Innovated Media today – don’t wait!