If your business success relies on local customers, check out the helpful suggestions below.
Use local SEO to promote your business
Local search engine optimisation is all about ensuring that people in the vicinity of your business are aware of it and what it offers, and can easily locate it online. There is a range of techniques you can use when it comes to SEO, including publishing blogs and articles on your site that are optimized with keywords and phrases from your local area. You can also make sure that you claim and use your GBP or Google Business Profile. There are several advantages to doing this, including ranking higher in local searches and demonstrating how well customers in your area trust your business through Google Reviews.
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Local SEO even extends to making use of social media in a local context. Indeed, social media is a great platform for connecting with current and potential clients, as well as running ads targeted to the local area. The great thing about social media is that it allows you to make lasting positive connections with potential customers and build these over time. You can do this by fostering engagement with content that appeals specifically to the local demographic, rather than purely promoting sales content.
Maximize the number of local customers you can serve in a day
When you are working in a specific local area, it’s well worth making sure that you can serve the maximum number of customers in a day. After all, the more customers you can serve in a day, the happier they will be and the more revenue you will bring in.
Happily, there are quite a few things you can do to make sure that you serve as many people in a day as possible. The first is to ensure you are working in the most efficient way possible. You can do this by making sure each employee plans their day, so they know what needs to be done and when. It’s also a good idea to make sure that any work processes are creating efficiently, cutting out unnecessary or time-wasting steps. You can even use specialist online tools to help you save time. For example, this transfer station finder app is ideal for contractors, businesses or waste disposal companies. This is because it helps them locate the closest transfer stations to their current location, thereby saving time and fuel costs.
Make sure your business is positively involved in the local community
Another way to maxmize your business from the local community is to make sure that you get involved in it positively. This means going beyond just selling things or services to the people in the surrounding area, but also showing them that you care about the community as well.
To do this, you can do things like sponsoring a local sports team, getting involved in community groups, or even helping citizens fight for community causes. Although it’s best if you choose groups and causes that align with your business and vision, and that don’t land you in too much controversy. For example, litter picking programs are a good choice because they show that you care not only about the local community but the environment. However, it’s important that you demonstrate these values in the way you run your business as well, making sure you provide plenty of trash cans in and outside your shop, use recyclable and biodegradable packaging and encourage customers to bring their own bags and containers where possible. Otherwise, the community at large could see your actions as purely cynical, and this could end up putting them off instead of endearing them to you.
Make use of loyalty programs
You can also use loyalty programs to great effect when your aim is to secure more local customers. Usually, loyalty programs work on a card or points system, with a stamp or points being awarded for either a specific spend or a single purchase. A loyalty card system encourages customers to shop with you instead of other local alternatives because it provides them with an incentive, like a free product or discount, if they fill their card. A system that uses loyalty points works slightly differently, in that points are awarded based on the value of their purchase, then they can choose to save these points up, or spend them against their next purchase, once again incentivising them to come back to your establishment.
Collaborate with other local businesses
This can be a great one if you can find other businesses where your customer base is the same, but you are not in direct competition. For example, if you are a coffee shop and partner with the bakery next door by offering a discount for customers of both, it’s possible to encourage an increase in sales for both businesses. Another good collaboration could be a local garden centre working together with an equipment rental shop. Particularly if said shop offers lawn mowers and rotovators for rental.
The way this collaboration could work includes adding advertisements in each other’s stores, as well as offering a discount on the second store if you have bought something at the first.
Prioritize customer experience
Last of all, if you want to attract as many local customers as possible, you will need to make customer experience a top priority. What this means is going above and beyond for every customer, from the moment they walk into your store, call you up, or search for you online.
One example of sta store-based customer experience improvement is offering two different color baskets, which are labelled for those who want help and those who don’t. Ensuring you have a standard way of answering the phone so your customers immediately know they can call the right place, and that you are there to help them, can be useful too.
By doing this, you can connect with customers on a very personal level, which will not only ensure they keep coming back to you but also that they spread the good word about your business, and leave you positive reviews that will help convince other potential customers to shop with you as well.
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