Online Marketing Fishbowl Reality Check

As one of the Principals and founders of Dinkum Interactive, I’m intimately familiar with online marketing and how companies can use it to improve their business. I constantly preach the benefits of online marketing to businesses and I work with a group of dedicated professionals that do the same. Sometimes, this traps me inside my own “online marketing fishbowl” and insulates me from regular business. I recently had a reality check that I’d like to share with you.

After one of my speaking engagements, I was surprised to find an email from a small business owner who had been an attendee. His comments brought the realization that most businesses don’t understand potential benefits missed by not including an online component in their marketing plan.

For the sake of brevity, I’ll paraphrase his comments:

To be successful in business, you can’t be an expert in all areas; for those critical areas that you choose not to master, a business owner needs someone they can trust to cover those areas for you. For me, that would be the area of website and Internet “stuff.” I have no idea of how my business would benefit; furthermore keeping up with the continually changing technologies appears to be too time-consuming for what I thought I could get out of it.

Your presentation really opened my eyes to the potential loss of business from my lack of online marketing knowledge. In my quest to operate a successful business, I was simply unaware of the great potential online marketing has for business in general and my business specifically. Search Engine Optimization, Google AdWords and Social Media Marketing all hold potentially great business benefits.

Finally, working with you has been a great experience; your open, willing-to-share, educational approach is in direct contrast to most “web consultants.” I found it refreshing.

Thanks,

Tom Costello

Happy that Tom appreciated my help, I was truly struck by his “online marketing epiphany.” This resulted in my own reality check: Most business owners are simply unaware of how online marketing can be used to make dramatic improvements in their businesses. I’m grateful to Tom for this reminder.

The disturbing part of his email was that he had been to a number of other presentations and came away more confused than helped.

If we are to move the conversation about having more conversation then we need to make that more easily understood.

Do you regularly exit the “fishbowl” that is your business? If so, what do you do?

Rick Simmons

Rick Simmons is a principal at Dinkum Interactive, a firm specializing in online marketing solutions for small and medium sized businesses around the globe. With more than 25 years of experience in advertising and marketing, Simmons has spent the last four years focused on search engine optimization, and other Internet marketing strategies. Reach him at 267-626-9094 or [email protected]