Are you on the map?

The other day, I was looking for a home appliance store in an unfamiliar town. Friends suggested they might have an item I needed. So, my journey began, not on wheels, but online. I didn't care to drive up and down every street until I happened to come across this store; I'd much rather know precisely where to go. I wanted a map. 

In my attempt to avoid looking everywhere for this appliance store, Guess what I found? Not much. Instead of driving through town looking for the store, I got lost on the web. Or more accurately, this store was lost on the web. 

In my case, I was determined to find this particular location. I got their phone number from a friend who recommended them, called the store and asked for directions (as well as, of course, verifying that they did have what I needed). It took extra effort and quite a bit of luck to achieve this. For instance, it was lucky my friend happened to know their phone number. It was lucky for the store that I had so much patience.

In any event, being able to find a business is essential to being able to work with a business. Consider how much impact location has had in the past on small business. Securing a highly visible, Main Street storefront might have been their entire marketing plan.

Can a potential customer find your physical location? In many industries, of course, customers need to be able to literally get to you. Can they find your website? Can they find some other shred of evidence that you exist? Can they find you if they don't know your name? Could they happen to find you by searching for a product or service you offer? 

Some businesses do such a nice job of turning their websites and their different listings into highly visible, "Main Street" locations. Others are letting their competitors have their share of new business by turning out their figurative "lights." Are you on the map?

If you found this useful, you may find you'd like working with a Vairenpoint Marketing planner at http://www.vairenpoint.com to help your business overcome these challenges and more.