1. Q&A with customer – Consumer Service Business & Retail Stores

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    Kosmo's Doghouse
    Kat Lange-Richards

    Name: Kat Lange-Richards, Owner, Kosmo's Dog House

    Founded: 2010
    Location: Scottsdale, AZ

    Q: What does your business do?
    A: We offer dog grooming and training services, as well as sell pet supplies.

    Q: What made you want to start your own business?
    A: I've always been interested in dogs. And after my dog shelter dog, Kosmo, passed away, I wanted to do something to honor him. Kosmo's Dog House is a place where his memory can live on.

    Q: What's the number one lesson you've learned in running or managing your business?
    A: You're married to it! Your business really takes over your attention.

    Q: What advice can you give to other business owners?
    A: You have to be careful with how you buy and how you spend money - especially in this economy. Additionally, to get people to come in, you have to advertise. But if you can't afford it, you can't get business. It's a vicious cycle.

    Q: What kind of marketing were you doing before working with GannettLocal?
    A: Some print ads with local magazines. None of it has worked as well as we would have liked.

    Q: What marketing or business problem were you trying to solve?
    A: I wanted to find out what our main market was, and how to target them. We wanted to target the local market, as well as use the right medium to reach them. We have a lot of older customers, and trying to reach out to them online might not be as effective.

    Q: Which of the GannettLocal services have you implemented and how has it worked?
    A: We implemented print ads, and they've worked very well. We got more responses with our little GannettLocal ad run for 3 days than a half-page, color ad in a local magazine.

    Q: Are you planning on expanding the GannettLocal services you use?
    A: Yes, we're looking into exploring SEO and Maps optimization.

  2. GLTips – Law Firms and Solo Practices

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    Law Firms

    Law Firms and Solo Practices

    • Target new clients with pay-per-click ads for your specialty, such as DUI, Family Law or Accident Law.
    • Demonstrate your community involvement by advertising in community newspapers.

  3. GLTips – Auto Services & Repair

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    Auto Repair Services

    Auto Services and Repair

    • Drive people who have just moved to your neighborhood to your business with a “Welcome to the Neighborhood” offer.
    • Persuade new customers with a discount offer in a pay-per-click promotion.

  4. GLTips – Consumer Service Business & Retail Stores

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    Customer Service

    Customer Services

    • Generate buzz for time-sensitive events and specials with color flyers in targeted neighborhoods.
    • Help people who new to your neighborhood to find your business by optimizing your appearance on search engine map services.

  5. GLTips – Health Services

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    Health Services

    Health Services

    • Even if you don’t have a website, you can list your service in local online business directories.
    • Make prospective patients aware of your services through quarterly educational emails.

  6. Q&A with customer – Law Firms and Solo Practices

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    Julio Laboy
    Julio Laboy

    Name: Julio Laboy, Managing Partner, Laboy Law Office

    Founded: 2009
    What they do: Criminal defense law in the Phoenix metro
    Q: What inspired you to found your own business?
    A: The founding attorneys, Julio and Melanie Laboy, both worked in the Maricopa County Attorney's Office as criminal prosecutors. That helped them learn how to build a strong defense, and they wanted to bring those skills to the Phoenix area.

    Q: What marketing had you been using prior to working with GannettLocal?
    A: We'd used Arizona Republic ads.

    Q: How was that working?
    A: It worked pretty well, but we felt we needed to do more to increase our web exposure.

    Q: What marketing or business problem were you trying to solve when you signed on with Gannett Local?
    A: We were trying to increase web exposure.

    Q: What GannettLocal services did you take advantage of?
    A: The Google Maps program and the search engine optimization (SEO) services.

    Q: What results have you had?
    A: We expanded our office in Downtown Phoenix and have seen the number of calls increase. With regards to Google Maps, we're on the first page of search engines for several popular keywords and phrases. As we implemented Maps, there were several keywords we wanted to target that didn't provide Maps results. Our Local Marketing Navigator explained how to get exposure for those terms using organic SEO.

  7. Q&A with customer – Health Services

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    Health Services
    Mike Koberdanz

    Name: Mike Kloberdanz, Marketing and Resource Development Director, Sun City Lodge

    Have been in business 40 years, the first retirement community in Sun City.
    Q: What does your business do?
    A: We're a not-for-profit assisted living and retirement community.

    Q: How long have you been in business and what's your role?
    A: Sun City Lodge has been in business for 40 years. I've personally been with Sun Valley for three years. My specialty is not-for-profit work. I like to work closely with people who need help, and I wear a lot of hats.

    Q: What's the number one lesson you've learned in working in the health services industry?
    A: The key cornerstone is the personal touch. You have to spend time with people and not rush things. Especially with the community and customers that we serve, it's important to take that extra time.

    Q: What's some advice that you can give to other's in your industry?
    A: I always think of something a former colleague of mine invented, called a "say-do ratio". It's important to actually follow through and do the things you promise. You can't just say things without backing them up.

    Q: What marketing or business problems were you trying to solve when you contacted GannettLocal?
    A: We don't have a large Internet presence yet, so we wanted to improve that. While you can't do better than word of mouth, you also can't depend on that. Instead, I like to think about using the internet to supplement word of mouth. When someone finds us online, I can direct them to the satisfied customers to learn more about us, and when we get calls because of word of mouth, I want to direct them to our website to learn more about why we're the right choice.

    Q: What programs did you choose, and why?
    A: We're focusing on improving our SEO so that it's easier for interested people to find us online. It's so important to be able to be found online. Later we're going to look into the Google maps optimization and Pay-Per-Click advertising.

    Q: How important was GannettLocal's customer service in helping you make your decision and run your campaign?
    A: The proposal and plan were easy to understand, and my contact was available to answer any questions I had and got back to me very quickly.

  8. Q&A with customer – Remodeling Contractors

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    Remodeling Contractors“We help remodeling contractors like Chris Mellon”

    Name: Chris Mellon, Owner, Chris Mellon & Company Custom Home & Remodeling Center

    Founded: 1991
    Q: What’s your role in the business?
    A: I do everything from the bills to the actual remodeling.

    Q: What’s the number one lesson you’ve learned in running or managing your business?
    A: The biggest lesson I’ve learned is how to survive in this economy. You have to deal with people’s wishes and wants, and direct them to make the right choices.

    Q: What has been your experience with marketing your business?
    A: Marketing and advertising is so important now. I never really solicited much before. But due to the size of the business and this economy, we've gone out looking for advertising and marketing solutions. There are so many competitors out there with misleading gimmicks and advertising. I just don't have time for that. Consumers come in asking for something for free and that's just not the way it works. We want to be successful when we market, but we also want to have standards.

    Q: Why did you choose to work with GannettLocal?
    A: The price was very reasonable and that really sold me. The other local papers have much lower circulation and less reach. It's also a benefit to be able to get everything in one place. That's what we do and our margins are less as a result. There's value for the customer there.

    Q: How do you feel about GannettLocal's customer service?
    A: I'm very satisfied with the customer service and you were very willing to rectify any errors to be sure that I was happy. By way of contrast, Yellow Pages made a mistake and didn't bother to correct it or refund my money. I'm very happy with how it's been handled so far.

  9. Q&A with customer – Auto Services & Repair

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    Auto Repair
    “We help auto repair and service business owners like Mike Rowell”

    Name: Mike Rowell, Discount Emissions and Auto Services

    Location: Glendale, AZ

    Q: What's the number one lesson you've learned in running or managing your own business?
    A: You always have to try and cut cost.

    Q: What advice can you give to other small business owners?
    A: Our business is located in a neighborhood that is very competitive and difficult to be successful in. Targeting our local area is crucial. For that, the Google Maps optimization that GannettLocal offers has been useful.

    Q: What marketing were you doing prior to working with GannettLocal? How was it working?
    A: We posted our own ads on Craigslist and Backpage.com. The Craigslist ads would draw in some calls, but I thought we could do better if we tried some advertising in different places.

    Q: Why did you decide to work with GannettLocal?
    A: They offered programs that let us target our local neighborhood. We wanted to direct people who were searching "emissions" on Google in our area so they would see us come up high in the results.

    Q: What were the results of your Gannett Local campaigns?
    A: The Google Maps program has been successful in getting our business name out to people looking for the services we offer online. We get about 10 calls a day as a result, which I think is great.

  10. GLTips – Remodeling Contractors

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    Remodeling Contractors

    Remodeling Contractors

    • Get more referrals by featuring your satisfied customers in your community print ads.
    • Make it easy for customers to find your business by listing it in online business directories and on online maps services.