Very Small Businesses and the Importance of Mobile

For the Very Small Business (VSB) segment -- under 10 employees, the owner is onsite actively managing the business -- there is one primary objective:  find more customers.

So what works?  What brings more customers?  Yelp, Groupon, Foursquare and others in the space say they are "the solution" for small business marketing needs. Are they?  How do you know what is really going to increase your foot traffic and ultimately sales?  Advertising?  Flyers?  Many are questioning whether these techniques work in today's world. 

Small business owners don't have time to research and understand the tools flooding the market, including tablets, marketing automation platforms, social marketing tools and more.  These are all viable solutions for some small business;  however, don't get fancy until you have the basics down.  Get yourself a mobile website today.  There are services, like ours that will do it instantly.

So instead of asking how to find customers, ask yourself, how do new customers discover me?  This points to the role that mobile can play.  And for local businesses, it's a must. 

Usage of smartphones and tablets is rapidly rising. How does this new wave of technology impact your business and what can you do to take advantage of it?

A mobile website is without a doubt one of the most important marketing tools for local businesses.  Visitors and tourists new to the area are using their mobile devices to search the web for suggestions of places to go, people to see and things to do.  If you don't have a mobile website, you will not be found.

The key here is "mobile".  For those of you who have a website, make sure it is "mobile compatible" which 80% of today's sites are not.  If you look at this photo (click to enlarge), on the left is a barely usable mobile site; on the right, the same site but mobile compatible. The difference is between whether your site merely shows up on a mobile device, or whether it attracts new customers and promotes your brand to its fullest.  Websites that are not compatible with mobile devices are frustrating. Research shows that most customers who cannot navigate a site on mobile devices will leave.  Those are lost customers.

According to Google's recent study on mobile two-thirds of smartphone users say a mobile-friendly site makes them more likely to buy a company's product or service, and 74% say they're more likely to return to the site later.

"Mobile is creating massive opportunity," says Jason Spero, head of Google's global mobile sales and strategy.

I've seen many small local businesses spend a lot of money building customized mobile applications.  Don't.  The usage for specific main street business apps is just not there.  Are they going to go the the "App Store" to find you?  Or are they going to go to the web?  It is the latter.

Here is a personal example of why these apps are not necessary for local businesses. Boloco, a small Boston-area burrito chain has a "Boloco" iPhone app.  I frequent the place many times a year, yet I don't use the app.  There's no need to; in fact, I forget that I have it. On the other hand, there are local restaurants that I've never even been to, whose website I have visited multiple times because they come up in search links or in other references on my phone.  If you don't have an online presence, there are potential customers walking around who won't know about your business.

Customers discover businesses on mobile devices either through social recommendations or through search.  The customer either wants to find a business in a category ("sushi restaurant on Newbury Street", "the nearest romantic bistro") or they are searching for a specific restaurant.  Either way, Google, Yahoo or Bing is going to lead them to a website. Make sure it is yours.  You have 5 seconds to make an impression.  Make sure it is a good one.

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This is the first of a series "Marketing for VSB - - What Really Works" from Randy Parker, an entrepreneur who has made his career developing products and tools for very small businesses and their advocates.  Prior to PagePart, Randy founded the highly acclaimed email marketing company, Constant Contact (NASDAQ: CTCT).