How to Maximize Your Presence in Front of Prospects

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by Michel Fortin

For a business to survive and thrive in this hyper-competitive world, there are some tools that are considered absolutely essential. These tools, which I call "support systems," include search engines, directories, and particularly yellow pages. However, they are often misused because most businesses misinterpret them as advertising mediums. They are not.

For example, your yellow pages' ad, although an absolutely essential part of your entire marketing machine, doesn't have to be of a large size, in color, prominently displayed, or tied-in with other gimmicks the yellow pages have to offer. In fact, the most effective form of advertising is that which creates top-of-mind awareness through what I call "power positioning" -- and not institutional marketing.

When people have seen your ad, heard about you, or have a need for your services at any given time, your contact information may or may not be available to them at that particular moment. Therefore, you want the yellow pages to be a support system, not a full-blown marketing medium. Yellow pages salespeople more than likely don't have to sell you on the need to be in their directory. But where they make their commissions is by making your transaction as hefty as possible by selling you on size, color, and other gimmicks. Your presence is all that matters.

This goes for online directories as well, including search engines and various specialized or topical Web site directories. Many people will not agree with me, but your link doesn't need to be at the very top of a search engine's results based on a very vague or obscure word (or expression). Instead, you need to be in as many search engine results and in as many Web directories as possible.

Spread it! We're Conducting a Search.
First of all, I'm a fervent believer in support systems since, when positioning your business, you are creating top-of-mind awareness and a special interest among a specific target market. (Market targeting has been thoroughly discussed in my previous articles "How to Carve Your Niche in The Marketplace").

However, your potential clients may not necessarily need you and respond to you at that moment. They may do so later when your contact information may not be available to them. Whether it's local directories, specialty directories, occupation-specific registries, industry-specific directories, yellow pages, search engines, Internet directories, Web site databases, online archives, strategic alliances, or trade publications, you should seek them out and list your company (or site) in as many of them as you can. The trick, however, is to spread out among them.

Don't be prominent in size or display. Don't strive to be the biggest or the first one to appear. For print ads such as those in the yellow pages, you can have a small telephone ad, in black and white, carrying the name of your company, your tagline, your specialization, your "unique" product or service, and, most important, a special offer for, say, a free report.

However, spreading out, especially within a directory, is your best bet for a high visibility, which will thus increase your hit-ratio. For example, if you're a hairstylist specializing in at-home hairdressing, the yellow pages people might tell you to be in only one particular location of their directory. Don't. Try to be in as many locations that logically relate to your firm or your service. Your ad can be small but it should appear in as many sections of the directory as possible. For instance, beyond the obvious "Hair" section, it can also appear in "Weddings," "Event Planning," "Image Consultants," "TV Production," "Modeling Agencies," "Conference Planners," "Color Consultants," and even "Senior Citizen Services."

Simple Search Savvy
This also applies to the Internet and search engines. You should not only try to be on as many search engines as possible, but try to spread out as much as you can among them as well. You might register your Web site's front page according to a specific set of keywords, but if you register all of your pages and under numerous keywords, your hit-ratio will increase dramatically.

This is not limited to words that directly relate to your page or its content (let alone your firm and the services you provide), but should also comprise any word that may indirectly be tied to them somehow. While keyword "spamming" is discouraged by engine administrators (such as hiding keywords in the background), there are many other, more appropriate ways to include them.

For instance, many engines index according to "META" tags, but many others also index according to the title, the description, the "ALT" tags (the texts that appear when a mouse hovers over images), and the first word (or group of words) of every paragraph -- which is why a text-intensive, content-rich Web site will maximize the results. Additionally, if your keyword can be pluralized, spelled differently (even misspelled, if it's common), or part of an expression, then add them as well.

For example, a baker specializes in baking cookies. She not only cooks many different kinds of cookies but also creates different shapes, sizes, designs, and arrangements with them. One of her many creations are little cookie baskets with bows and lettering for, among other things, weddings, bridal showers, and baby showers. So, what does she do? She registered her pages on numerous search engines under the keywords "cookies," "weddings," "wedings," "bells," "mariages," "marriages," "showers," "baby," "babies," "brides," "grooms," "party," "parties," "churches," "gifts," "family," "families," "famillies," and so on.

Your Sleeping Salesperson
Another support system that is often ignored is the answering machine. Your answering machine should not be regarded as a means of taking your calls and messages. Turn it into a support system as well. In fact, turn it into a salesperson working for you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Does your message invite people to just leave a message? Or does it invite them to place an order for your free report?

Phone companies usually offer multi-voicemail box services. This is when the caller has the choice to either leave a general voicemail message or press a number to leave a message for a specific recipient in another voicemail box in the system. However, mailboxes don't necessarily need to be associated with an actual person. Here's a sample message: "Hi! You've reached Craig Jones of Investment Mastery, Inc. To leave a message for Craig, press 1. To order my free report, 'Money-Making Magic: 8 Surefire Strategies for Making Money in Stocks,' press 2..."

Ultimately, the object is to seek out support systems and to spread out as much as possible among them. Find as many support systems as possible. Once you've created top-of-mind awareness, your contact information may not be available to your prospects at the time they've come to buy your products, use your services, or visit your site. Therefore, you want to be there, in front of your prospects, when they have come to decide to go ahead or at least see what you have to offer.

In other words, spread yourself thin.