Small Business Growth Requires More Than
“Just Keeping Up”

Invest Today to Improve Your Retirement Nest Egg

Secrets to Grow Your Net Worth with Online Marketing

As my wife Pamela and I grow our small business, Advanced Care Pet Hospital in Sartell, MN, we are constantly reminded that online and offline marketing opportunities are growing at a pace faster than we can manage.

Heck fire, we have a high ranking web site, isn’t that enough? The short answer is no, not anymore!

The world of online marketing is rapidly changing. Likewise, physical business models are rapidly changing. The veterinary industry is being eyed by competitors like Walmart and Walgreen’s.

Creating Value is more complicated in an era where everyone wants Free or Very Cheap. Ironically, these same people complain about cheap imports taking away  manufacturing jobs, but I digress.

“Just Keeping Up,” is No Longer Enough!

I just completed a bunch of education courses on LinkedIn / Lynda.com covering online marketing, small business marketing, SEO, AdWords and Analytics. 10 years ago business owners didn’t have to mess with any this. They didn’t have to create their own websites like Advanced Care Pet Hospital did.

Today, that has all changed.

It will not take your business long to become an also ran if you are only: “Just Keeping Up.”

“Just Keeping Up” might mean you are still hanging on to the bottom of front page on Search Results for your category. Let’s not mention finding your business on page two.

You may are already behind if:

  • you can’t monitor how many people are looking at your website (Analytics)
  • you envy your competitor’s website
  • you can’t launch an AdWords advertising campaign in 8 hours
  • you can’t measure how popular each pages is on your website
  • you don’t have an updated business listing with consistent address information across Google/Bing/Yahoo-Yext + other directories
  • you don’t have consistent image & branding across social platforms
  • you don’t competitive parity with your competition’s client testimonials
  • you don’t keep up with any social marketing tools or efforts
  • your website hasn’t been refreshed in the last 18 months

At Advanced Care Pet Hospital, we have begun a renewed effort to step up our game, “Just to Keep Up.” The goal however is to get ahead of the game for awhile.

In reality, it can take a full time employee with multidisciplinary skills to help achieve the commitment online marketing requires of us, “Just to Keep Up.”

Most of us small business owners can’t afford to have an online marketing expert as an employee. We chip away at all the projects time permitting, attempting to keep up.

Consider hiring an experienced freelance person with these skills. I currently do this kind of work for our business, Advanced Care Pet Hospital.  I’m looking for 3 or 4 other non-competitive small business owners who need similar help to grow their businesses online marketing strength.

The interesting notion here, to the casual observer, and our competitors, is that it does not look like much is happening with us, especially on the surface.

The fact of the matter is we are undergoing extensive “Future Proofing” of our underlying online marketing / business foundation.

Most of our SEO efforts occur outside the realm of the website. We are investing in our digital assets: making all our html, visual and video assets future ready. If the past 6 years have taught us anything, things are going to change again, and soon.

We are documenting all our analytics. When we are ready to jump and implement change, we can measure the results and impact of our work.

I describe much of this underlying online marketing work as “heavy lifting.” It is not complicated, but it does require a lot of thought and effort.

Much of the heavy lifting with regards “To Just Keeping Up” happens behind the scenes and can be rather time consuming. Also the results of this heavy lifting doesn’t show immediate results. Trust me, however, when I say, the work is necessary to maintain competitive advantage.

Sure, we are a small pet hospital in a small market, so why is all this so important?

Our small business is our monthly income and our retirement plan.

“Just Keeping Up,” allows us to slowly improve our income today as well as build huge equity contributions to the value of our retirement plans.

This is why, “Just Keeping Up,” is so valuable for your small business. You future depends on it.

Ask yourself:

How much would you spend today to be worry free in your retirement?

Now imagine what can be accomplished when you are the “Leader of the Pack.”