For almost 30 years Bennett's Plumbing in Santa Ana, Calif. relied on customer referrals and delivering donuts, bagels and other tasty treats to prospective customers in an effort to build its business. They even tried advertising in the traditional Yellow Pages; but with hundreds of plumbing company ads blanketing its services section, they weren't getting noticed. The ad was also costly for their limited marketing budget, and mired in publishing issues.
"Advertising in the Yellow Pages was not only expensive, but offered very little flexibility in making changes to our ad, which often went unnoticed. And, with so many ads to compete with, it was getting harder and harder to stand out and be recognized from the rest of the competition," said John Bennett, owner of Bennett's Plumbing.
The company also had to contend with a slower economy that was encroaching on its already slowing business. Bennett knew he had to take a more innovative approach to marketing to combat his many challenges. To that end, he decided to look into online advertising since more and more people were using the Internet to advertise their business. A friend later introduced him to local search advertising and Local.com.
"In reviewing my online marketing options, I found that the larger search engines delivered results from all over the place and weren't targeted like local search," said Bennett. "Because we work out of one location and can only target certain Southern California regions, we decided to try Local.com. The company had a reputation for delivering highly relevant search results to customers and that sounded like a perfect fit for us."
Bennett contacted Local.com and a Local.com customer service representative explained the benefits of local search marketing, including the ability to target his potential customers from Los Angeles to San Diego. Using the right keywords and search phrases, local search would be able to "pull" these targets to the Bennett's Plumbing website.
"Who would have thought that the problems we solve each and every day - slab leaks, clogged drains and hydro-jetting - would be some of the key search words that could help attract new customers and drive them to our site," said Bennett. "And because Local.com delivers highly relevant results, I knew my customers would find me."
Another key benefit that Local.com offered was the ability to instantly update his listing whenever he had changes or add new specials and offers - a huge benefit over the inflexibility he had previously experienced with Yellow Pages print advertising. Local search also provides an audit trail to measure the results and ROI of a company's online advertising campaign.
Within the first three months of working with Local.com, Bennett's Plumbing started getting five to 10 new customer calls each month.
"We've received an overwhelming response from new customers thanks to Local.com, and it's also costing us a lot less money than print advertising," said Bennett. "We're finally back on track and getting the attention we need to stay in business and get through these challenging economic times."
