The following list is not scientific by any means. It is the personal list of marketing consultant, Randy Kirk who specializes in small businesses providing products and services and with sales between $200,000 - $5,000,000. The assumption for the list is that the small business applies the same rigorous effort to each through either cash, time, or both.
Kirk explains it this way: "For instance, you might spend $1000 to upgrade your Website or create a mobile version of the website. You might spend six hours a month on a blog or you might pay someone to do so (value $3000?) You could spend $6000 per year on PPC. You might spend $1000 or a bunch of time optimizing Google Places and Yelp, or go crazy and spend $5000 a year for a Yelp upgrade."
So Kirk acknowledges that the science is pretty wobbly. But he categorically states "Having said that, and acknowledging that a bakery, a bike shop, a lawyer, and a chimney sweep are going to have some differences, this list will be a fantastic guide."
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Kirk says that the reason social media is so far down the list is that it takes huge amounts of time compared to the return most small businesses are seeing thus far. He states further, "please note that some pundits lump YouTube and blogs into social media. I agree with that idea, but these two elements are so far out in front by ROI compared to FB, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+ that I preferred to leave them separate."
Randy Kirk is president of Randy Kirk and Associates and his website is Help4SmallBusiness.blogspot.com
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The New Yellow Pages for Local Business is optimizing website visibility through Google Places, websites, YouTube, LSE's, Forums, and Social Media. Traditional marketing, too. We invented the box; Still thinking outside of it. Help4SmallBusiness.blogspot.com 310-910-1848
