Recently, I’ve seen a rash of comments on various social media networks that talk about the mysterious “recovery” that few small businesses are seeing the effects of. 248creative has seen some pretty exponential growth over the past couple quarters, so this started my mind wandering. Is this feeling really as prevalent as it seems when you look over entrepreneurial forums or is that just a vocal minority? After talking to a few more people, I’ve gained some perspective on some of the problems that many small business owners seem to be going through and this is what I’ve come up with…

Business is most definitely recovering, but recovery DOES NOT mean a return to business as usual. No where is this more obvious than in marketing. The entire mechanism of gaining and keeping new customers is forever changed. Recovery does not mean that the local flower shop can start putting its quarter page ads back in the local throwaway and expect the same sales increase. That world is gone and no government intervention or media spin can bring it back.

Customers find their businesses online now, almost entirely. I know this a bold statement, but let’s face it, that’s just the way it is. Recovery does not mean your Yellow Pages ad will work again… it never will, save your money.

Buying advertising online is an exacting and fickle science.In theory, placing advertising with Google or some other PPC engine is simple, in reality, it’s anything but. If you want your ads to function and deliver the goods (sales) then there’s a million tiny factors to take into account.

1) Are you targeting keywords people are searching?
Keyword selection isn’t vague or amorphous, it’s a definite process that requires research, specialized tools and hard numbers. You need to know what keywords your high-ranking competitors are aiming at and spending focused time and energy combing through your keyword list continuously. You will definitely see results if you spend more attention on keywords you target.

2) Are your ads targeting buyers in that niche or everyone?
Not all keywords are created equal even IF there’s a lot of traffic going to them. Web surfers that are out hunting for a product or service to purchase go through specific modalities before finally purchasing… conventional wisdom states they pass through three distinct phases of searching mindframe before opening their wallet.

First they generally research what they’re interested in (ie “pickup trucks”), followed by a focused research on the specific product they want to learn details about (ie “ford f-150″), finally followed up by the stage in which they’ve decided to buy and are trying to figure out from who (ie “ford f-150 dealerships in rochester MI). The final group is your ideal target. Research shows that the website a person initially begins their search on and the website they finally buy from are almost always different sites.

3) Traffic Is NOT Free
Many small businesses are still drinking the early internet koolaid that states “if you have a website, a miracle will make millions of dollars in sales flow in through it”. This just isn’t the case. It’s true that on rare occasions, a particular product or service will go viral. These cases usually have a lot more going on behind the scenes than the casual onlooker realizes. There are specific reasons why things go viral. Outside of viral events, traditional traffic flow is usually from organic search rankings or search engine advertising. Of these two cases, organic search rankings cost time… a lot of it. Also, it costs the kind of time that you probably can’t afford to outsource, so expect to wrap your brain around a lot of new concepts and prepare for months of trial and frustrating error. In the case of paid search advertising, it costs money, but much less time. At 248creative, we do a little of both, but rely mostly on paid advertising, as it’s consistent and measurable. Paid inclusion also saves you from having to worry about arbitrary penalization or a change in the algorithm from Google.

Either way, expect to pay something for traffic.

4) Customers Have No Loyalty
This is a contentious reality. Small businesses hate hearing it, but it’s a part of the new business landscape. Especially if you’re working in a commoditized industry. Certain industries, like printing for example, are forever changed. The product is non-perishable, easily shipped, rarely time critical beyond ship-ability and the end product is largely identical regardless of who produces it. Many small business owners want to make themselves feel better about this reality by saying things like “but my customers know and trust me” or “but I offer better service than xyz.com”. Unfortunately, this only matters in a small percentage of cases and that number will continually dwindle.
If you charge $100 for 1000 business cards, your business will die unless you have some core differentiating factor that sets you apart from powerhouse bulk printers. It’s just the hard reality.

5) Customers Want Convenient Communications, On Their Terms
Phone number and email? Not enough. Your customers want sms updates on their orders. They want to be able to send you a facebook message or tweet you. If you’re an old schooler who “refuses to text” or “thinks twitter is stupid” then don’t blame the recession for your business dying, it’s falling off because you’re not evolving.

6) The Global Economy is Here, Ready Or Not.
This is one of the most brutal realities for many small businesses, especially services that can be performed regardless of geography. You can get a full-time bookkeeper with a PhD in accounting from the Philippines for $350 a month. This is truly a terrifying prospect for many small business owners, but it’s a reality nonetheless and it’s not going away. Again, the solution for the American small business owner is to evolve or die. How can you adapt this paradigm to work to your advantage? How can you streamline your operation to continue to be viable to clients in light of this global competition?

I could continue on, and I might in another post, but for now, I’m done. In summary, I just want today’s small business owners need to stop blaming recession and come to the hard realization that those old days are gone for good and there are new rules.

Those of us who accept, embrace and adapt to the new order are set to make considerable wealth in the years to come. I personally believe we’ve never been in a time of more potential than right now, the birth of truly global commerce. Those who wait in desperation for a return to the thriving corner store are waiting in vain… my expectation is they will not survive this transition.