Gone are the days were we would look up a business in the yellow pages or a local directory.
Our first point of call is the internet for all out research.
On a recent holiday I took to Cairns I asked a work colleague for advice on what to do and see while there. This was the reply I got. It struck me overwhelmingly just how much of our decisions are now made through the internet, and just how disadvantaged businesses who do not have an online presence have become.
Here is the email that was sent to me:
I used a lot of these companies on my trip to Cairns so you could argue that work of mouth was the source of business as it was a work college that pointed me to the businesses. This is true and word of mouth will always be important in business, but it was the additional research that I could do online that led to my final decision.
As slightly comical look at how far people will go for research on the internet. Below is a screenshot of Google’s auto complete function, here the most popular search terms are populated for you automatically as you type. A scary insight at just how dependant Australian’s are for their pregnancy and parenting advice.
What can you do to make sure you are the first choice for someone when they are searching for your industry on the net?
It’s true, the internet is my first port of call for almost any information. It is a knowledge sharing machine that actively filters knowledge for the best bits and floats them to the top.
Thanks, you are 100% correct.
On top of this, I saw a talk the other day that went on to say that because the internet is such a vital part of the research process now, if you don’t have an online presence, any company that spends money offline promoting their goods and services are just providing their competitors with extra customers!