Local Search Is Happening Every Day for Local Businesses
I had a banker once tell me that people don’t need to search for local banks. Well, they may not search for local banks, but if you don’t think people are searching for car loan rates, CD rates, and mortgages online you are sadly mistaken.
Last year, 80% of people said a search engine was their top choice of digital and non-digital ways to find information about local businesses. Here are some highlights of research by Burke (March 2017). These are sources that U.S. internet users have used to search for local products in 2016:
- Search engine 80%
- Company website 63%
- Friend/family 57%
- Social networks 48%
- Online video 38%
- Newspaper magazines 36%
- Printed yellow pages 13%
What is interesting is that the most trusted source is not friends and family (13%), but search engine (37%). Number 3 on the most-trusted scale was company website (11%). The most surprising result was that ratings and reviews were rated in the middle of the pack for both questions. Too many fake reviews and rankings have ruined the source.
Mark Mathis
Mark wrote his first direct-mail fundraising letter in 1981 for the University of Iowa Center for Advancement. The effort raised a few million dollars in undiscovered wills and legacy gifts. From that day forward Mark discovered a love of the big idea that moves the needle.
After 12 years at KWWL, Mark became a business owner as a co-founder of ME&V — rebranded as AMPERAGE in 2015. After 25 years of leading creative teams in video production, graphic design, PR, writing and web development, Mark transitioned out of ownership in 2021. Today he serves in an employee role as special projects consultant.
He is creatively ambidextrous — son of an artist and engineer — and famous for distilling complex ideas down to a few words and a few visuals. Mark is a writer. When he found that many nonprofits struggled with complex branding puzzles, he wrote the book, “NonProfit-NonMarketing .” He also wrote a novel called “Reenactment.”
Mark is an active blogger OneMinuteMarketer® with nearly 1,000 readers each week on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter. One of his most popular YouTube videos is on “How to Look Good on Zoom.”
One of Mark’s fondest business memories was being named to INC 500 two times and attending the INC 500 conference with other winners. Mark is considered by some a Civil War expert (and that explains his novel). Mark also served as an adjunct professor in the business and in the communications departments at Wartburg College.
Mark is a graduate of the University of Iowa and is currently vice president of the University of Iowa Journalism and Mass Communications Advisory Board.
Mark is married to state Sen. Liz Mathis, and the two love to travel, even when it means being trapped by a volcano in the Czech Republic for three weeks.