If you run a locality based business then local advertising is clearly vital to your growth and survival. If you offer services that are not restricted to your local community then the idea of targeting marketing campaigns locally is often overlooked. Local advertising doesn’t need to be complicated and if you want great results then nor should it be overly simple. Your aim is to reach out to your potential clients and buyers, so you need to be sure that you are visible in the places that they are going to be looking for your services. Some of the more traditional methods such as cards in windows, fliers through doors and ads in local papers still work to a degree, but if you’re looking for some rapid business growth then it’s time to find some new tricks.
Here’s your top 10 local marketing tips:
1. Google Local – If you’re anything like me, it’s hard to remember life without Google. You could easily spend your whole life trying to figure out their algorithms for top search engine rankings or you can just get on with putting your business out there the best you can and offering good honest services and products. Google actually created a great tool for local businesses called Google Local. It’s a free listing service and allows you to list a surprisingly large amount of information about your business for potential clients. If you’re not listed already then you’re missing out. It really doesn’t take long to enter all your business details, you don’t pay a penny for it and when people are searching for your products or services it brings up a map and a pin for your location which stands out way more than anything else in the listing page. Whether you operate from a business premises or from home, you simply MUST get your business listed here.
2. Sort your website out - Have a search for something like local restaurants. You may find that some of them have web listings and yet surprisingly few of them have websites. Your business may be in a similar position. Please, please, please get a website and if you have a little money to get someone to do it for you, make sure you can see some of their work upfront, give them a clear brief as to what you want and if your product or service allows, give your customers a way to order online or book appointments. People are looking for ease of service and since nearly everyone (except me and a few others) seems to have an iphone, there’s very little doubt that the place most people look for things now is online. You don’t need all singing and all dancing websites, clean and functional with a clear branding works very well.
3. Get listed - Think about where your customers and clients are likely to be searching for you. Local listings are important and with technology being what it is, a lot of people are far more likely to look for you online than in a directory. I’m in no way saying ditch the directory, I still like to have a flick through the yellow pages sometimes and people do still use them but you can’t deny the information super highway of the internet. The more online local listing directory sites you can register your company details with, the more people will find you. YELL.com is a good one, City Local, Qwype and many others. Take a look around and register with as many as possible. Just be ready in advance that many of them will try to ‘up sell’ you to their premium services. It’s up to you whether or not you want to spend marketing budget on such things.
4. Have a chat – Speak to the business owners around you. If you have a shop, then speak to other shopkeepers. A High Street or parade shop may seem to advertise itself but why wait for passing consumers. Have them come looking for you instead. I recently had an experience of trying to find printer cartridges in my local area and wanted to find somewhere that would refill or at least recycle my old cartridges. I have to say, it was not an easy task and I did not appreciate driving around half of Berkshire to find somewhere. When I did finally find a shop they were not in clear view of potential customers and they were some way from the main shopping area. The shop looked pretty dead, the assistant spent 5 minutes on the phone before even acknowledging me and she got very embarrassed when I asked her if they had a website. It really was one of those times when I had to wonder if they even wanted any customers or would prefer just to be left alone until they go under. Don’t let this be you. Even if you don’t have a shop or business premises there are many ways to be visible to your customers. Find out what people in your industry are doing, they’re generally more than happy to talk about it and be willing to share things that you have been doing that are working for you too. If we create a win-win situation then everybody benefits.
5. Have a clear brand – Unless you are pretty handy with design work and have the time to spare, invest a few ‘s on a company logo. It looks much more professional on business cards, headed paper, websites and in your premises. Even if you already have a logo, consider what it says about you and your business and whether it’s the best one for you to be using. Make sure you are happy with it. That’s not all there is to branding though. If you have a family business or your main clients/customers are families then you should ensure you are appealing and speaking to them directly. Whoever your main client base is, you should direct your marketing and your brand towards them, not exclusively but certainly for the ain part. Have images and information on your website that will appeal to your clients and create rapport, such as a picture of you with your family looking happy or whatever is going to speak to your clients to let them know that you are the person they want to do business with. People will still try and choose to do business with people they like rather than people who offer the cheapest service and if you have a likeability and connection with your customers then you will soon develop greater loyalty. They are the people who make your business, so appeal to their wants and needs, speak to them as a peer and most of all, value them highly
6. Business is about relationships – Which leads nicely on from the last point. Your clients/customers will feel valued if you create a relationship with them. If you do start speaking to other business owners and your own business peers, you will start creating relationships with them that you can both benefit from. I’m sure you’ve heard the expression ‘It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.’ Well… it’s true, we all know it is, so get yourself out there and get to know people who can help you and you can help too. Join your local chamber of commerce, go to networking meetings and get involved but don’t go with the attitude of what can they do for you in business or how they MUST have your product or service, go with the mind set of making friends and what you offer them. Ask the usual ice breaker questions and also ask questions like ‘What’s your biggest problem in business right now and how are you overcoming it?’ Also, be honest about yourself and your own business. Liars get found out pretty quick and a lot of business people have an uncanny knack for sniffing out bullshit. If you can look to create win-win situations then all parties involved get the opportunity to learn and grow. If you’re on the brink of going under and you come across someone who might just have exactly what it takes to get you out of a hole, don’t be desperate, don’t plead and don’t lie. Be honest about where you are, people respect it and accept that we are currently in tough times business wise. Honesty about where you genuinely are in business and asking for exactly what you need can yield amazing results and create great relationships. There’s no need to worry about it being one sided, business owners make business decisions. If you get what you need from someone then it’s going to
be because they too are getting something they need in return. My best advice there is to not go swimming with the sharks and instead build relationships with people more like you. It doesn’t mean you should not still protect your business and your assets but you are reducing the likelihood of getting screwed over. Isn’t that a nicer way to do business when everybody wins?
7. Examine the competition – What are your best competitors doing? Take a good look, ask them if you can. What are they doing well and what is not so good? Are they spotting opportunities you are not? Are they catching points of sale that you are not? Do they have special offers that are driving traffic to them? There are huge amounts of information to consider and that means that you have a heck of a lot you can learn from them. You don’t need to do industrial espionage, just model the good stuff and ditch the bad stuff. Make sure that what you use is not direct plagiarism or anything that is going to land you in trouble.
8. Where will I find you? – We’ve already had a consideration of some of the places where your customers and clients may look for you and it’s worth taking a little extra time to have a think about any additional places you may be missing out on. Let’s say for example you have an independent coffee shop in a local shopping centre. Possibly the majority of people are going to one of the big chain coffee houses but that’s not necessarily because they prefer it, it’s often because they recognise the brand and they notice it first. Can you imagine if that coffee shop had a few people out on the street with invites or vouchers to their coffee house, and not just limp handed, sallow mouthed dishing out of fliers as you will often see, but people who at least look like they work in the shop and are friendly and welcoming.
People want great service and I often hear from people how far ahead America is on the UK in terms of that. I don’t believe it for a minute. When we give great customer service in the UK I believe we’re pretty unbeatable. The tip motivated service culture in the USA is often insincere and formulaic. The tips generally form part of the employees wages and they are taxed on them as such, which is why you often get told of minimum service charges. I know that getting out on the street is not everyone’s favourite activity but it’s highly effective for that kind of business. Personal carding and direct customer contact is amazingly powerful in comparison to many other forms of advertising, it’s mainly that people don’t like doing it as to why it doesn’t happen that much.
Finding those untapped marketing methods that do still work can mean new lifeblood to your business. Sticking things on windscreens generally just pisses people off, as do door to door sellers, so give it the personal and friendly touch and if you can spare a few hours yourself to do it, you can show anyone you employ how you want it done and also possibly learn from what they do well. If you have employees, I would look at offering the friendliest and best of them some good incentives to go out and invite customers in.
Create some systems for what works well with it and what doesn’t. As with any marketing strategy you need to test it. This is not the only generally untapped marketing technique, there are many others, and whilst everyone else is focussing only on web presence, you are creating a well rounded and highly effective customer traffic system. Where else would people be looking for you and where else could you be looking for them? Local magazines, parish directories, post office notice boards etc…
9. Be visible in your community – Let people know you care about your community. Get involved with local events, charities and local organisations. Contribution is important and one of the most precious things you can donate as a business person is your time. We said before that business is really about creating relationships and this is one of the best ways to do that and also gain community respect and personal standing. Contact local media sources such as radio stations and local papers. It’s a story for them, it gets more people involved in whatever the charity or organisation is and it’s some free publicity for you and your business, pretty much a win-win all the way around. Get involved with things you care about if you can, rather than just getting involved for the sake of it. The main difference will be that you will gain much more from what you give when you really care about the outcome.
10. Generate a little excitement – Or a lot if you’re so inclined. If your business will allow, run a competition. You could offer a chance to win a prize for filling out a survey, giving you valuable information in return for a prize. You could offer a prize based on customer loyalty etc… The chances are that you will know far better than anyone else what is most likely to work in your business. Get it out there and promote it like crazy. It’s a simple and highly effective way to draw in business and as with so many businesses; very few people are doing it.
Discount vouchers are all good and well if they’re done right but I can tell you they can also annoy people when done wrong. I had the misfortune to go to a restaurant somewhere in Surrey that offered me and my friends a 10% discount while we were in the area on a training course. What the owner actually did was not include a 10% service charge on the bill, he smilingly informed us. I asked if it was his intention that we not leave a tip then, which he informed us was entirely our choice. VERY BAD BUSINESS! I have since discovered that he doesn’t add that 10% in anyway. We’re very used to tipping in restaurants, so he would probably get that money he claimed to be discounting, especially as most of us do not like to create a fuss or complain, as I am sure he had already figured. Well… being the not so stupid customers, we declined to leave a tip, as otherwise we did not see how we were getting any discount. We were NOT getting any discount. What a bad way to do business. I will never go and eat there again purely because the owner tried to fool us and make us think we were getting a discount when we were not. And what a great example of how not to do it.
Your customers and clients are far more likely to talk about you to their friends if they’ve had a bad experience with you. That negative word of mouth can seriously damage your business, as people will pass that on. Gossip is a reality but it doesn’t need to work against you. Do all you can to ensure that your clients and customers have a positive experience with you and they’ll be raving fans. Word of mouth is the most powerful form of marketing there is. Personal recommendation wins every time. The better you make it for your customers and clients, the more of them you will get. Simple, isn’t it.
I should really add this as number 11 because it’s important to you and your business for so many other reasons; get a business coach. Think how easy it is to implement what you’ve read here and consider that this is only a fraction of what you could achieve from regular meetings with a top business coach and mentor. Warren Buffett says he only works with people he likes, trusts and admires, if that’s a good strategy for him, it’s good enough for you and I also, and a great way to stop yourself from swimming with the sharks. Make sure your coach has the best interests of you and your business at heart and is willing to kick your butt when you need it and celebrate with you when you deserve it. I’ve come across many coaches who are very soft and wooly with their coaching, and that wont do in business and generally wont do in life. Both life and business move fast and require action for success. Tell your coach how you want to be coached, give them permission to kick your butt when needed and hold you highly accountable, as well as encouraging you to great success, and if aft
er several sessions you’re not getting what you want or need from your coach, be honest about it and find someone who can deliver what you do want and need.
I wish you great success and happiness,
John Alexander Ball – sales and marketing consulting & business leadership training
Director and Lead Business Coach/Corporate Trainer @
http://www.coachyourbusiness.co.uk
0800 242 5338
Author: John Ball
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