How to Get Your Business Back With Local Advertising
Local businesses continue to struggle against the tide of chain stores, the economies of scale those chains bring to bear on product pricing and massive, corporate advertising budgets. The slow bleed of customers might look inevitable, but customer dissatisfaction with a one-size-fits-all business model and reliance on the Internet could change the game. Local stores can recapture business by employing some traditional advertising techniques and taking advantage of online opportunities to promote the business and engage customers.
How to Get Your Business Back With Local Advertising with Local Ads
While the Internet plays a huge role in daily life, many people still look to local newspapers, radio stations and even local TV stations to provide them with relevant local content. Local businesses can capitalize on this tendency with local ads. A local grocery store might run an ad that evokes a sense of community, such as, “Remember when the person at the register remembered your name? We still do at Smith’s Grocery Mart.” Personal service represents one of the key benefits a local business provides, and it can prove a powerful motivator for customers tired of simply being the next person in line.
Leverage Local Searches
Upwards of 90 percent or more of customers now employ online searches when looking for businesses, according to media consulting firm BA/Kelsey. In addition to this, Google, Yahoo! and Bing have integrated local search into their basic functionality. This means the businesses that get listed with the online directories that help to inform the big search engines stand to vastly improve their chances of turning up in local searches. Also make sure that a local address and phone number appear on every page of your business’s website, because it also helps to ensure ranking in local searches.
Get Social
Hundreds of millions of users check in with social media sites on a daily basis. Two of the most powerful social media sites, Facebook and Twitter, provide businesses with an advertising platform that costs nothing, doesn’t require third parties to use and allows businesses to engage customers directly. One reason these sites provide so much benefit comes from the tendency of users to self-identify not only their interests, but their general locations, which allows businesses to direct information toward relevant parties. On the opposite side, by adding location information to their own profiles, businesses can help attract attention from local customers.
Loyalty Programs
Even with comparatively small benefits, loyalty programs can help to lock customers into a relationship with a local business. A loyalty program expresses to customers that the business values them and also provides an incentive to come again. Many businesses offer discounts for repeat customers, but providing access to exclusives on the website, if appropriate, can prove effective as well. Including small, bonus items in the customer’s bag can help to generate excellent word of mouth, as chain stores rarely give things away.
