Around this time last year we wrote a blog post outlining several low to no budget ways to promote your small business.

Included in that list of tips was a short description of how to find online directories that will list your business for free, or at least for a very low monthly fee. I thought it was time to revisit this tip in more detail seeing as so many businesses are struggling to promote themselves in the current economic climate, yet also have trouble trying to visualise how they can harness online promotion to work for them on a truly local level.

Case in point? We run a business that offers Gold Coast video production and online marketing services. While a big chunk of our marketing clients are interstate, most of our video production work comes from within a tight geographic region that stretches from Brisbane to Byron Bay. It can cost clients a fair bit extra to pay for our travel expenses if they need our services outside this area, especially if they are based overseas, so naturally the majority of clients simply seek a service closer to home rather than pay a travel surcharge. This is understandable; unless they require specific skills, like surf videography, which our resident cameraman is a master at, they could probably find another videographer closer by (and therefore cheaper). So ranking #1 on Google for keywords like Video Production Australia would be harder and way less use to us than rating highly for a term like Video Production Gold Coast. Catch my drift?

Many businesses find themselves bound by geography on an even tighter scale. A doctor or hairdresser may find most of their clients from within the immediate suburb they are located in, while a convenience store, coffee shop or butcher may only draw clients from several blocks radius away. Can businesses working on such a limited geographic appeal still use online methods of promotion successfully? Certainly.

Several larger Australian online directories, like Truelocal, D Look and Yellow Pages, break down listings into specific regions and suburbs, and will give you a basic listing for free. Several, like Truelocal, also allow you to add promotional videos to really enhance your listing if you are paying for their upgraded services.

While many of the paid services these larger directories offer may result in more enquiries and clicks through to your website, we have personally found some of the best performing directories do not cost a cent. GoldCoastDirectory.com, which is the free local business directory section of the local area guide GoldCoastAustralia.com, actually pops up a lot higher than any of the paid Directories if you search for terms like Gold Coast video production services, so naturally receives a lot of traffic that are searching for local businesses like ours. In the past we have paid as much as $80 per month for Priority Listings on the larger sites that promised the world, yet none of them delivered any more enquiries or website click-throughs than our free listing on GoldCoastDirectory.com! So do not overlook these smaller local directories, as they can be a great free means of promotion. So how do you locate local directories like these?

1. Type into Google the suburb or region name you are targeting, then add keywords like Free Directory, Local Directory or Business Directory, eg Gold Coast Free Business Directory

2. Sort through results to find both larger directories that service your region along with local directories that purely focus on your area. All can be useful, so list your business anywhere appropriate and free.

3. Add your business details, website details, and all the areas you service alongside the products you offer in the text ( Eg. Byron Bay online video advertising) as this can help people find your listing when they are searching online.

Adding your business details to a bunch of sites may seem time consuming, but once it is done these directories often send plenty of customer enquiries your way for nix, so are well worth the effort.

Have you personally had great results from a local online business directory? If so let us know!

It seems Yahoo is pitting its pay-per-click search advertising to go head-to-head with search leader Google to try and capture a larger slice of Australian small business marketing dollars.

Last month Google announced its own version of the Stimulus Package by offering up to $75 worth of pay-per-click advertising to new customers. Not to be outdone, Yahoo trumped their offer by introducing a scheme they call Big Bang. If you register here at the Yahoo site before July 31st they are offering up to three months or $150 worth of pay-per-click advertising to try and encourage SMEs to trial their service.

Seems like a smart move. According to recent data there are over 1.93 million small businesses in Australia, but only around 400,000 of those businesses are currently using search advertising. Given that pay-per-click is a relatively easy and cost-effective way of getting a company name in front of the millions of web users searching online for products every day, now is a really great time to see if this form of marketing can work for you. Sheesh, while they are both giving their services away free why not sign up for both? The cool thing about both offers is they both promise there is no obligation to continue their services once the free trial is over, although you will have to check the fine print. To find out more about the Google free offer, visit the Google Business Stimulus package page here. By the way, if you do find you like the Google Adword service, Soul Arch Media also creates cost-effective small video ads that can be used to compliment you Google Adwords campaign as well as distributed to video sharing sites online to raise your profile. You can view a few examples of these SEO Google Adwords Video ads here.

In the meantime, happy experimenting with search marketing while the tab is still free!

Marketing Mag recently reported that the Australian Association of National Advertisers (or AANA for short) will be introducing a new standard for advertisers making green claims. Their news article outlined how the scheme, called the Environmental Claims Advertising and Marketing Code, will aim to ensure consumers are not being misled by companies trying to greenwash their products by making false environmental claims.

Certainly this will be welcome news to environmental and consumer advocacy groups who have long campaigned for clarity and transparency in advertising. The code aims to ensure that companies can back up their claims with solid evidence of how their product/service benefits the environment, and do not mislead customers to believe that they are voluntarily making big environmental commitments that are simply just legal mandates for their industry. In short, the code should go some ways towards stopping companies painting themselves as environmental saviours if they are clearly not.

It will be interesting however to see if the move helps boost buyer confidence in this area.

Recent research compiled by Melbourne-based consumer research company Mobuim showed although numbers of consumers wishing to ‘do the right thing’ by the environment via their purchasing choices has risen by nearly one-third since last year – from 62 percent to 82 percent - the number of consumers who seriously doubt ‘green’ claims has increased significantly over the same period, with 88 per cent of consumers saying they are wary of ‘eco’, ‘green’ and ‘environmentally friendly’ assertions companies make.

Hopefully the AANA move to clean up greenwashing in advertising will help in this regard, but with figures like those above perhaps the damage has already been done.

How about you - have you become increasingly sceptical of green claims in advertising? Or does consumer distrust created by greenwashing affect your company and its ability to convey a genuine environmental message? If so, we would love to hear from you. Send us your thoughts!

Seems every man and his dog is launching some form of Olympics-inspired ad campaign, but not many can match an oldie but a goodie that’s been wildly successful for over twenty years by Australian telecommunications giant Telstra. Called ‘Testra Hero Messages’, what started as a simple way to send telegrams offering best wishes to sporting heroes at the ‘98 Seoul Olympics has now evolved to incorporate a custom- built interactive website allowing users to send words (or videos) either via their mobile phones (SMS, Photo or Video MMS, or WAP message) or online (upload text or video) to offer encouragement to the Australian Olympic team. Sporting “celebrities” also offer best wishes via pre-recorded video messages, and punters can also send their greetings via an application on Facebook.
The introduction of video to the Hero Messages mix really brings the site to life, and you can imagine users spending hours viewing all the content on offer. Sure, we’re a bit biased - Soul Arch Media’s own Gold Coast videographer Dave Emge filmed several of the celebrity video clips, including those of swimming legend Duncan Armstrong and Titan’s footy star Mat Rogers - but we’re sure that as Olympic fever reaches full pitch, the mind-blowingly massive influx of activity on this site will create more brand awareness/ goodwill than most marketing exercises could even dream about. Check the Hero Messages site out and let us know what you think.

Just a note that if you happen to be online this weekend and are twiddling your thumbs, get over to http://www.boostsurfsho.com.au

Soul Arch Media & Marketing’s own Dave Emge is filming surf video for the live webcast of an international aerial surf competition for Boost Mobile & Globe. With ASP world tour surfers like Mick Fanning and Taj Burrow amongst the action, it’s well worth a squiz!

Webasts are rapidly growing in popularity for niche sports (like surfing) that don’t receive great  TV coverage,  thereby enabling specialty events like this to reach thousands of viewers online.  Make sure to get over to the event site to check out a great example of streaming video production in action.

Caz x