Many companies have developed their online marketing strategies around the assumption that by placing their business in a directory, they will be seen by targeted consumers.

What companies have not been taking into consideration is one of the key location factors that determine a brick and mortar business in scouting a location.  Most anchor stores will not allow a direct competitor to be in the same complex. 

Take for example Pacific Fair on the Gold Coast, one of the largest open air shopping centers in the Southern Hemisphere.  A major supermarket Coles was already in the mall when its chief rival Woolworths wanted to enter as a player.  Coles threatened to leave the complex if Woolworths was allowed to trade in the same mall and even sweetened the pot by agreeing to undergo a major renovation at their own expense.  Consequently, Woolworths was denied entry as a tenant in a highly competitive and sought after shopping venue.

With these aggressive tactics and positioning for market share in the traditional business world, why would companies choose to place themselves in direct competition with every other competitor as their only form of online positioning? 

Here is a good analogy that may clarify the point.  Imagine that you were looking to open a new store and your primary product was mobile phones.  By placing yourself in a directory as your primary advertising to attract Clients would be the same as choosing a 3000 store mall where every other shop sold mobile phones.  How are your customers going to distinguish you from every other shop in the shopping mall that sells the same thing?  What is going to differentiate you from the pack.  There may be advertising on television, radio, billboards and pay per click ads that are driving customers to shop at the mall, but once they get in the parking lot-how do they find you?

As a business, you need to build your brand independently of a directory-they are building their own brand to justify their inflated fees year after year-not to promote your own company’s brand.  By separating from the masses and developing an independent strategy to drive traffic and convert consumers-your company will realize an incredible ROI with all the surrounding benefits of building brand awareness.

Companies with aware marketing departments have embraced the technology that Search Engine Marketing or Website Promotion delivers to their bottom line and reduces their dependency on an external source to drive business.  By taking back control of their own brand-the company can concentrate on building their own business and not that of a directory.