When it comes to marketing, Orlando is really a segmented town. At its core, you have businesses at the east end of town that predominantly cater to the local community including UCF & Research Park. The metro landscape is dotted by smaller municipalities such as Winter Park, Maitland, Oviedo, etc. Downtown Orlando is your typical business hub creating a skyline of a dozen or so tall office buildings fragmented around Lake Eola. At night, much of downtown comes alive with a fair number of nightclubs, especially along the famed Church Street Station. The west side of town is Orlando’s alter ego. Here the tourist industry rules the roost with Disney, Universal Studios, Sea World, and International Drive & Kissimmee at the helm. For small local Orlando vendors, going after the tourist market can be an expensive endeavor and for most should be a secondary venture. As I’d like to focus this article on the local customers and local businesses, I’m not going to really spend much time discussing marketing to tourists in town. Considering the economy, it’s a rough business to be in and I’ll probably devote a second article to that later. I will suggest if you insist on going after the tourist market, the only tourist business any local vendor will want to go after are tourists already here. TOLS Multimedia has clients in the tourist area right now and almost all of them are struggling. Why am I telling you all of this? Well, with respect to marketing, Orlando is not your average city. We are very tourist heavy on one side and Local Business heavy on the other. It’s unique in the sense that you can literally draw a dividing line between both sides. Here, you need to keep your marketing compartmentalized. Know your target market and let your marketing focus geo-target accordingly. Most of your local business will be driven from the Central and east side of town. Personally, I feel John Young Parkway can be considered the prime meridian.
Having explained my thought process, I hope the following Orlando web design and web marketing ideas TOLS Multimedia is going to share in this article, are going to help you build a solid web presence.
Your website design must follow specific design criteria that cater to the local Orlando community and their search habits. 83% of searches in our area looking for businesses want a local business. Human nature is funny like that. All things created equal, if a person can purchase from a local vendor versus a vendor far away, they will purchase from the local vendor. This even holds true when the purchase is done online. So, build your business around these principles and watch it flourish:
Provide local images of Orlando.
Know where locally your target market shops and network with those businesses.
Incorporate the word “Orlando” into your website content, specifically your H1 headers on your website. It’s also a good idea to put the same information into your metatags, even though for Google it is pretty much useless.
Create a descriptive domain name that includes the word “Orlando” and your service.
Link with other local businesses. Especially those that complement your services.
Make sure your business shows up in the Google Local Business Center.
Make sure your Google Local Business Center has you mapped properly. Orlando has many suburbs (Cassleberry, Maitland, Altamonte Springs, etc) and you want to assure a person searching for your type of business finds you.
Verify your Google Local listing with Super Pages and Info USA. It gives you better credibility with Google Local. Also, ask your friends and existing clients to rate you.
Make sure your Google local listing includes coupons, especially mobile coupons.
Make sure you are listed on Yelp.com and have your customers rate you again.
Write a press release and submit it to the Orlando Business Journal. We have worked with the OBJ for years and their entire team is wonderful.
Blog. Then blog some more. It can be very powerful on a local level. Make sure you include local keywords in your blog.
Get involved in your local Orlando community and make sure you send out newsletters that talk about your involvement.
Refer business to other local Orlando businesses. Nothing shows your support more than other businesses benefiting from your presence. Of course you can always ask them to rate you on Yelp as well.
Start a social network. Nothing extravagant, just something that local Orlando customers can appreciate.
Make sure your website can be read by mobile devices (IPhones, Palms and Blackberrys). This holds especially true for any ads you combine with roadside marketing. Restaurants: Listen up!!! Make your menus mobile!!!!
Market specific products. Don’t market your whole store. Especially if you have a “Brick and Mortar” location.
If you are still in the phone book…..you are simply living in the Dark Ages! GET OUT!!!!! Consider a localized Pay Per Click Google Ad campaign instead. At least you won’t pay unless you receive traffic. (If you are a phone book ad sales person you are definitely going to want to brush up on your resume.)
Don’t forget to have an analytics tool connected to your website so you can fine-tune your local marketing.
Make sure your web designer follows the guidelines laid out in the Google Webmaster Guidelines.
In closing, I want to let you know, we do teach many of these principles in our Skyrocket Marketing workshops. We usually rent a conference room at the downtown Marriott or the Crown Plaza at Colonial Dr and I-4. If you want to find out when the next workshop is, just perform a Google search for “Skyrocket Workshops Orlando” and we’ll surely come up. If we don’t show up, then we are a terrible web marketing company and I encourage you to call someone else. TOLS Multimedia is a local Orlando web design, internet marketing and social networking company who wishes you best of luck in your future business endeavors. Let us know if you are ever interested in networking with us.
Orlando web design firm, TOLS Multimedia, launches 1 800 Trial Pro, A New Website for Attorney Piercy Stakelum.
TOLS Multimedia launches 1800trialpro.com, a website for attorney Piercy Stakelum. The law office of Attorney Piercy Stakelum focuses on Personal Injury litigation. The personal injury field in Orlando FL is completely saturated. Thus TOLS Multimedia faced a considerable challenge developing a memorable website enticing the viewer to give 1800 Trial Pro a call.
The website incorporates an i-header Virtual Spokes Person of Mr. Stakelum himself. Bright colors and simple navigation enable the end-user to easily retrieve the necessary information to make an educated decision whether to contact the law firm or not.
TOLS Multimedia does consider this design to be a sales-driven format with two core goals in mind: 1) Make the client’s phone ring 2) Have the client receive an email requesting a consultation.
The website has been nominated for a Golden Web Award.
TOLS Multimedia, an Orlando web design firm, launched ToddlerVue this week. The ToddlerVue website provides parents with numerous valuable tools for their daily parental activities.
First, the website provides a market place where parents can buy and sell quality used baby and toddler items.
Second, the website provides valuable information regarding current events in your area. All events listed are geared around children and are updated constantly.
Third, the website provides a video upload area in which parents can share their toddler videos in a highly-secured video account.
This first portion of the website focuses on the Orlando, FL market, but plans include to branch out into other Florida cities by the end of the year.
Google Page One Marketing & Social Media Marketing For Attorneys
You Better Get on Board, Because Your Competitor Just Did
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Perhaps you are a veteran in your field, or perhaps you just got your ticket a few years ago. It really doesn’t matter! On the internet, everyone is created equal….love it or hate it. When I speak to my dad, a former litigator, I constantly have to re-explain what “Internet Marketing” can truly do, and what “Social Media” really is. Bless his heart, I still don’t think he gets it. I grew up with the law and I worked in my father’s firm for several years. For the last ten years however, I have devoted my life to building great websites and I love it. I have many friends in the legal industry and have built countless websites for all sorts of legal verticals, and it never fails…..the internet continues to be an enigma for most of you. I was recently asked by my good friend Rick Baker, Chairman of the Orange County Bar Association Bankruptcy Committee, to give a presentation at an OCBA luncheon. I also presented at the Central Florida Bankruptcy Law Association Seminar in December, and many of the questions asked there were the same as at the OCBA luncheon. Most questions involved internet marketing, and it prompted me to write the following article. Before I begin however, do yourself a favor and commit to reading the full article. I’m about to let you know how your practice can win at the internet game. Do any of these problems sound familiar?
You are a veteran in your field and you just want to practice law, but some young kid fresh out of grad school has a website that runs circles around yours.
You have no idea how to measure your website’s effectiveness and you are no where to be found on Google.
You are spending money on internet marketing and your website every month. You believe its running at max capacity, but you only see your sales rep at renewal time (I love that one).
You have heard that social media (Facebook, MySpace, Linkedin or Twitter) is the next great thing, but you have no idea how to leverage it.
You just want to practice law and not deal with internet issues.
To those of you who don’t want to deal with it, I say fine. I respect that, but do yourself a favor and find someone whose expertise will drive your ROI (return on investment). In the last decade your marketing should have fundamentally changed. If it didn’t, you are a dinosaur facing rapid extinction and you better do something fast. The “newbie” down the street is forging full force ahead. Internet marketing is a vital step for any firm that is looking to advance in this day and age. The internet is here to stay and it’s growing FAST. How fast? Consider the following:
We have been making several changes to our website over the last week or so and one of our goals is to push social media in the future for ourselves and our clients..By becoming a fan you will get specials available only to our fans and get the latest and greatest news.
The Outer Limit Studios is happy to announce that the Third Annual All In For a Cure Charity Poker Tournament will be held at Friday's Front Row on International Drive in Orlando on November 6, 2009. The Orlando Charity Poker Tournament raises money and awareness for Pancreatic Cancer with all the proceeds going to the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network one of America's leading patient-based advocacy organizations to focus on pancreatic cancer.
El mercadeo hispano en Orlando | Mercadeo dirigido hacia la comunidad latina en el area central de la Florida | Importancia del mercado hispano en el area central de la Florida para el desarrollo de negocios | El consumidor hispano en Orlando
Desde el momento en que nuestra economía se viró patas para arriba el año pasado, me he encontrado muchas veces sugiriéndole a dueños de negocios y a ejecutivos en compañías aquí en Orlando que sienten que sus empresas están estancadas o en alto riesgo que se pregunten: ¿Es la comunidad hispana parte clave de mi audiencia, y tengo en pié un plan de acción para venderle mis productos o servicios a este segmento, que es el de más crecimiento de posibles consumidores para mi? ¿Estoy siendo efectivo con mis programas de mercadeo en comunicarme con latinos en el área central de la Florida? ¿Soy culturalmente relevante? Para mi sorpresa, la respuesta a estas preguntas es muy a menudo un simple ‘no', a lo cual yo respondo con un simple ‘¿por qué no?'. Los hispanos son actualmente un 16% de la población total de los Estados Unidos y en el área central de la Florida son un 22% del mercado. En otras palabras, casi 1 de cada 4 personas en el área central de la Florida es de descendencia latina. Además, el segmento hispano esta creciendo cinco veces más rápido que la combinación de todos los demás grupos que existen en Estados Unidos juntos. Esto significa que las compañías en Orlando que quieren mantenerse saludable económicamente y aumentar sus ganancias tienen que dedicarse a tratar de conectar y entablar una relación con el consumidor hispano de una forma directa, estratégica y culturalmente significativa. Ahora les digo, el primer paso para tener un programa de mercadeo hispano efectivo es tomarlo en serio e incluyéndolo como parte integral de tu plan de negocio y no como plato de segunda mesa o una idea a posteriori. Busca mi blog de la semana próxima para el Paso #2...
Hispanic Marketing in Central Florida | Hispanic Marketing to Latinos in Orlando | Importance of the Latino or Hispanic market in Central Florida for Business Growth | Central Florida Latino Consumers | Latino Consumers in Central Florida
Since the moment our economy took a scary dip last year, I have found myself encouraging Orlando business owners and company executives who feel that their businesses are stagnant or at risk to ask themselves: Are Hispanics part of my target audience and do I have a business plan in place to sell my products and services to this, the fastest growing, consumer segment? Am I effectively reaching Central Florida Latinos with my current marketing initiatives? Am I culturally relevant? Surprisingly, all too often the answer to these questions has been a simple ‘no', to which I reply a simple ‘why not?'. Hispanics are currently about 16% of the total U.S. population and in Central Florida Latinos are 22% of the market. In other words, almost 1 of every 4 people in Central Florida is of Latino descent. In addition, The Hispanic segment is growing five times faster than all other groups combined. This means that if Orlando companies want to stay in business and experience growth they must actively pursue, connect and engage prospective Hispanic consumers in a targeted, strategic and culturally meaningful way. This said, the first step towards having an effective Hispanic Marketing initiative is to take it seriously by making it an integral part of your business model, and not a side kick or an afterthought. Check out my blog next week for Step #2...
To those of you who don’t want to deal with it, I say fine. I respect that, but do yourself a favor and find someone whose expertise will drive your ROI (return on investment). In the last decade your marketing should have fundamentally changed. If it didn’t, you are a dinosaur facing rapid extinction and you better do something fast. The “newbie” down the street is forging full force ahead. Internet marketing is a vital step for any firm that is looking to advance in this day and age. The internet is here to stay and it’s growing FAST. How fast? Consider the following:
