There was a time when as a small business owner, all you had to do was sit down with a sales representative from your local TV Channel, Radio Station, Newspaper or Yellow Pages to determine your marketing direction for the entire year.

For most, only one form of traditional media could be used because of tight budgets or limited understanding of what the best marketing mix actually would be for their business.

Fast forward to this decade and times have changed faster than in any previous one. Let’s look at the following Canadian online traffic facts:

• The Internet now reaches more adults each week than either Magazines or Newspapers.
• Among 18-24 and 25-34 year-olds, the Internet has a higher reach than Radio.
• The Internet is neck-and-neck with TV for weekly reach among 18-24 year-olds.
• 64% of those surveyed made a first purchase from a company as a result of digital interaction – Website, Organic Search, PPC, online coupon or email
• 74% of households use the Internet as an information source when shopping locally.
• Approximately 45% of local searches had a buying intent.
• 70% of Canadians watch videos online
• Average Internet user in Canada spends about 60 hours online a month
• Canadians search twice as much as Americans – an average of 143 times a month
• almost 70% of the Canadian population is online in 2009- a higher percentage than in the US

~The Kelsey Group & IAB Canada

Making things more complicated for the small business owner is the use of mobile Smartphone’s such as the Apple iPhone, RIM’s Blackberry Storm, Google Android and Social Media networking sites.

By now, you’re probably wondering what all that fuss is about? Perhaps some of your competitors are on Twitter, Facebook or YouTube? Friends and family have told you about all the fun their having tweeting, well they’re not alone:

• 2 million Canadians have Twitter accounts
• 9% of small businesses are using Twitter
• 45% of Canadian Twitters are over 35 & use it primarily for business
• One Third of Canadians have Facebook accounts
• YouTube is the second largest search engine in Canada
• Types of businesses searched for in past 6 months from a mobile phone device: 43% search for restaurants, 37% for movies, 35% for retail stores, 32% for banks/atms, 27% for hotel/lodging

Let’s take a closer look at the following Online Internet Marketing options available to Toronto and Area Small Businesses:

1. Organic search engines results
2. Paid search engine results  (Google Adwords, Microsoft Adcenter, Yahoo search marketing)
3. Local web channels  (Google Local, Local business directories such as Yellowpages or Canpages)
4. Social media sites
5. Banner ads
6. Email Marketing
7. Video Marketing
8. Blogs

Prior to explaining each option, here are some of the online marketing channels and where they appear on a Search Engine Results Page:

1- Organic Search engine results:

When you search in major search engines, Google, Bing or Yahoo, the results in the area beneath the sponsored ads and/or local maps (shown in blue in the picture above) is called the organic results section. Google does not charge to appear here.

Ranking well in this area for meaningful keywords requires a combination of having a search engine friendly site with quality inbound links.

Various studies suggest that up to 80% of clicks after a search query is made, takes place in this section. As a result, organic search positioning continues to be very much sought after by all businesses today because it continues to provide the lowest Cost per Acquisition across various traditional marketing channels including direct mail, newspapers and yellow pages advertising.

2- Paid Search Engine Results:

All major search engines have paid inclusion program (shown in red above) One of the great benefits of PPC (Pay Per Click) advertising is that you only pay for when someone clicks on your ad.

All major search engines offer a user friendly backend to manage paid ad campaigns on your own, or you can hire PPC Management Company to do that on your behalf.

Professional PPC Companies provide the following services:

• Write enticing Ad Copy to target each adgroup
• Keyword Matching and Vanity URL’s
• Bid Management, if nessesary
• Testing Ads to determine which users respond to best
• Target an infinite number of keywords
• Can geo-target to city (Toronto Ottawa, Hamilton), neighbourhood (North York, Danforth, Leaside) province (Ontario, BC, Alberta) or country (Canada, United States, Australia)
• Better tracking capabilities, which ads work and which dont
• Can cap budgets

3- Local Web Channel

All major search engines have been refining their search results to reflect local business, products and services wherever possible. For example, Google provides local business results (shown in blue above) at or near the top of each of their results page.

By clicking on one of the enhanced business profile pages, you may find useful information such as driving directions, hours of operation, payment methods, maps, user generated reviews and, in some cities, a virtual street view of the business location.

Traditional media such as Yellow Pages and Canpages now have online versions of their once popular print products, where you can promote your business.  Newer, web 2.0 sites have also appeared for various business niches such as Yelp.ca and Toronto.com.

4- Social Media Sites:

Did you know that 44% of people recently surveyed recommended a product on Twitter and 39% discussed a product?  FaceBook, Twitter, Linkedin are not just for celebrity watching and keeping up-to-date with your friends social lives, they are becoming important marketing channels that can, done properly, increase your ROI!

Social Media Marketing is not just about increasing sales; it can be used to;

• Drive traffic to your website
• Generate brand awareness
• Improve customer service
• Conduct inexpensive market research
• Build authority and credibility
• Find new distribution channels
• Monitor your reputation – what are people saying about you or your company?
• An effective form of communicating with past, present and future clients
• Spy on your competition
• Get more referrals

5- Banner Ads:

A banner ad is one of the oldest, easiest and most dominant forms of website advertising. Essentially, it’s an advertisement placed into the top, side or bottom of a web page. The ads can be static or in flash to give the appearance of a mini commercial. It is intended to attract traffic to a website by linking to the website of the advertiser.

You can purchase banner ads on local newspaper sites such as the torontosun.com and thestar.com, niche sites such as Toronto.com and Yelp.ca, industry blogs and online magazines or even national publications and US newspapers through the Google ad display content network.

6- Email Marketing:

Ever wonder why when you check out of a major retail store they ask you for your email? Well, according to research conducted by the DMA (Direct Marketing Association) email marketing generated an ROI of $43.62 for every dollar spent on it in 2009.  This explains why a recent survey of small business owners by Vertical Response showed that 74% of small business will increase their use email marketing in 2010?

Reasons why you should you be using email marketing include;

• Over 50% of internet users check email daily
• Keep in touch with existing clients
• Easy to track an exact ROI
• Can generate repeat business
• Clear excess inventory
• Announce sales and limited offers
• Reach a substantial, targeted audience
• Set message and frequency to send push out message daily, weekly, monthly or quarterly
• Builds relationships and loyalty

7-Video Marketing:

If you have been paying attention to your results page, you may have noticed that search engines such as Google have begun listing videos on page 1 for meaningful keywords. For search engines, content is king, but content is not limited to text. Video and Images are equally important because search engines know that many of their users prefer to click on those links instead of text when searching online.

Whether you produce a polished infomercial on your company, a do it yourself segment filmed by a co-worker or repurpose a video related to your industry, having a video marketing strategy is a great way to generate awareness and build loyalty.

However if you produce a video for your small business and upload it to Youtube today, you will be one of over 65,000 added each day, so having a promotional strategy to meet your objective is critical.

You can purchase a video package from a traditional media company such as Canpages, Goldbook or Yellow Pages however you should note that they upload them onto their own sites.

Reasons to use Video marketing on your home pages to;

• It’s a great way to explain complicated products / procedures
• Grab the attention of visitors and engage them with your brand
• Builds immediate trust with products or services
• Builds authority within your industry

8-Blogs:

A blog is a type of website that has regular entries, usually in a commentary format using text, images and/or video. Blogs usually provide commentary on industry trends, opinions on issues relating to their particular market, or do it yourself tips on products or services related to business.

Did you know that there are over 200,000,000 blogs worldwide and that 73% of active online internet users have read a blog?

Blogs are easy to install, your webmaster can have it up and running in a day, or free by using one of the free online blogging services such as blogger.com.

If you don’t think blogging is for you, then you should read about a 116-year-old Massachusetts Company used a new blog to increase their sales leads by 850%! As big-box stores like Home Depot and Lowe’s entered the fencing business, Louis Page Inc. had to diversify and fast!  They specialized in niche fencing, bringing in unique products from Europe and specialty installations to stand out.

While the company supplemented traditional media buys with a website, the breakthrough came a year ago, when they added this blog – The Fence Post. – to the marketing mix.

Blogging assists each small business by;

• Increasing traffic to the website
• Promote the brand
• Establishes the company as an expert in their field
• Attracts new clients
• Easy way to add new content/products/specials to your website
• Share expertise and experience

In conclusion, every day, more and more people are turning to the internet to research new products, ask their friends for recommendations, and find local business services. Incorporating one or more of these onlime marketing channels to your existing marketing mix is a key ingredient to any small business success.