Importance of Marketing Even in a Tough Economy

January 22, 2009 — BOULDER, COLORADO — The chorus of the famous Bob Dylan song says “the times they are a changin’” and when it comes to how businesses market their practices and attract new clients and customers, truer words never were spoken.

A generation ago, advertising in the Yellow Pages and in newspapers was considered a great way to market a business. Today, the Internet is king.

“SEO is the way to go,” said Ann White, dental coordinator for Sarasota Cosmetic Dentist Dr. Charles Crane, a client of the Internet marketing firm Sinai Marketing.

White said Crane’s practice isn’t renewing its contract with an area magazine to run advertisements, opting instead to increase the practice’s Internet marketing budget.

Web sites and Internet marketing efforts enable businesses to share their information with millions of people. Search engine optimization, pay-per-click advertising campaigns, blogs and informational videos can increase traffic to a Web site and generate new customers, said Sinai Marketing Founder and President Ali Husayni, a search engine optimization expert. Internet marketing efforts also can be much more affordable than traditional advertising mediums, especially when considering the audience that potentially can be reached.

But when tough economic times hit, it can be a matter of instinct for many companies to slash their expenditures, and marketing budgets frequently are the first casualties of a slowing economy.

“There is this belief among many people that when tough times hit, they must hunker down and prepare to weather the storm,” Husayni said.

Lying low and waiting for the dust to settle is not the way to go. Sinai Marketing advises that businesses should, in fact, do just the opposite. The Sinai Marketing effort focuses on “keeping your eyes on the prize, so to speak,” Husayni said. “The economy ebbs and flows, so when times improve you want to look back and know that you didn’t lose any ground to your competitors because you suspended your marketing campaign.”

If the competition cuts back on its marketing efforts, they stand to give up potential market share, Husayni said. For businesses that continue to market themselves, this creates a golden opportunity to attract new patients and to increase their stance in the marketplace.

SEO

There are several relatively inexpensive ways to “beef up” marketing efforts and get an edge on the competition when times are tough, he said. Updating your Web site is a great place to start.

“If your site isn’t search engine optimized, you should contact a SEO firm and get that done,” Husayni said.

The first step in the Sinai Marketing effort always is to optimize the company’s Web site, which improves the volume and quality of traffic to the site based on organic search results.

Minneapolis Orthodontist Dr. Jennifer Eisenhuth had entrusted her site’s SEO work to two other companies prior to turning to Sinai Marketing. It turned out that both previous companies were great at designing a Web site, but Eisenhuth never got the SEO results she was looking for.

“It’s nice to have a great site, but if no one is looking at it, it does you no good,” she said.

Since turning to Sinai for her Internet marketing needs, Eisenhuth’s new patient exams from the Internet are up 500 percent over the past year, and new patient revenue from Internet case starts is up more than 400 percent over the same time period.

Sarasota Cosmetic Dentist Dr. Charles Crane also has seen great results from his SEO campaign, even while the country is in the midst of a recession. And although he found that Sinai’s services weren’t as cheap as some of Sinai’s competitors, the fact that the company guaranteed results prompted him to pay more for service that he hoped would be superior, Crane said.

“As most clinicians already know, when it comes to materials and services, you really do get what you pay for,” Crane said. “Just as we see patient’s price shopping and getting far less for the ‘deal’ they perceive, we equate the same with our ancillary service providers from labs to SEO services.

“Sinai is not ‘cheap,’ and they are worth every penny when you expect quality, expertise and service,” he said.

Blog

Another way companies can market themselves on the Internet is by adding a blog to their Web sites, Husayni said.

Technology analyst Omar Wasow recently said, “The Internet is a participatory medium.”

Nowhere is that more evident than on a blog.

“It’s basically a conversation between you and your potential and existing clients,” Husayni said. “You can provide information on various topics related to your company on your blog and current and prospective clients can read it, make comments on it and ask questions that you in turn can answer.”

Videos

Ask anyone younger than age 30 what YouTube is, and they know. This demographic is more “plugged in” or “wired” than any other age group, Husayni said.

For that reason, it is great for businesses to post informative videos on their Web sites, blogs and on Web sites such as YouTube.

“The more you increase your visibility on the Internet, the more you increase the opportunities for attracting new customers,” Husayni said.

Learn More

If you would like to learn more about the Sinai Marketing plan, or you would like a free analysis performed to see how an SEO expert might assist you in marketing your Web site, call Sinai Marketing toll free: 877-932-6559, or (303)-932-6559 for international callers. Or visit the Sinai Marketing Web site: www.sinaimarketing.com.

About Sinai Marketing

Sinai Marketing is a search engine optimization (SEO) firm that utilizes knowledge of the Internet market and ongoing research to develop and implement SEO strategies for its clients. Ali Husayni created the Sinai Marketing firm, based in Boulder, Colo., in 2004. Husayni serves as the firm’s chief executive officer and SEO expert.

In 2008, Sinai Marketing created a new marketing tool for dental practices- www.infodento.com. Dental practices are eligible to join this site to use free services including free dental Web sites and dental forums and to post their dental articles, dental press releases and dental videos.

-END-

© 2009 Sinai Marketing. Authorization to post is granted, with the stipulation that Sinai Marketing is credited as sole source. Linking to other sites from this article is strictly prohibited, with the exception of herein imbedded links.