Living in what used to be a fairly small town, Maple Valley has grown. The growth is so huge that small businesses that for years, even generations that were able to depend on word of mouth are finding themselves a bit overwhelmed competition with some big name brands. Our local Johnson’s home and Garden found itself competing with a brand new Home Depot down the road. The local bakery is now not the only place to get great baked goods. Three grocery stores, a shiny new Costco all have great breads, donuts and pastries that are frosted with convenience. The small bakeries like Cj’s Bakery and the Black Diamond Bakery are sitting in what seems to be the shadows of these big brands.

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Here we are just past the halfway mark in 2010 and we’ve tapped into the stream of future marketing planning with our readers for 2011 with a poll. Our question? What 3 online marketing channels & tactics will you emphasize in 2011? The number one answer? Not social media, not email marketing.

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In case you haven’t noticed—or you’ve just stumbled across my marketing musings—I am a HUGE proponent of outsourcing to Virtual Assistants (or VAs). Especially if you’re a solo-entrepreneur! Because it truly is the best way save yourself from getting totally overwhelmed by the never ending to-do list that consumes your life. And because outsourcing to VAs lets you get way more marketing done, so your business grows even when you’re not working on it.

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I know, I know. You’re thinking that I’m crazy.

But, I’m not.

I’ve been in marketing or advertising (online or otherwise) for 20 years. I’ve been thinking lately about why I got involved in social media. What was the attraction? I’ve realized it’s THE TRUTH. That’s something sorely missing from a lot of traditional advertising, where veracity is neither required nor particularly encouraged.

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The previous post outlined 3 rules of thumb for local based keyword research. Now it is time to draft a list of keywords. This is best started by asking yourself (and others) a series of questions.

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What do people think of you when they first meet you?

What do you think their immediate impression is? If it’s personally, you might not care too much – after all, to each their own, right? But what if you’re a business offering a service – does that change your train of thought? Does the view of the same new face now hold more sway?

Even more so, what if your service is one that defines people’s first impressions of your customer – would you place even more emphasis on every single interaction you have, to make sure the impression left is the right one?

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