Small and local businesses face a unique dilemma. They have to compete with much larger, national and international businesses but don’t have the resources to do so.
With a sound local marketing strategy plan, and a few cost-effective marketing tactics, you can level the playing field a bit without going broke.
A change in mindset
One important thing to bear in mind is that it’s not all disadvantage. It may seem like the odds are heavily stacked against you in this David-versus-Goliath battle, but you have some important advantages.
Playing to these strengths will be key to winning this marketing battle.
Taking stock of your strengths
When surveyed on eight important metrics, a statistically representative sample of over 6,000 consumers ranked local businesses as being far superior to national chains in six of the eight categories:
- Personalized Service – 96% of those surveyed said that local businesses walloped the national chains when it comes to individual, personalized service.
- Trustworthiness – 91% felt that local businesses would deal with them more fairly than a big national chain.
- Overall Customer Service – 88% felt that they got better service from local businesses.
- Quality of Work – 86% said the quality of work they got from local service companies was superior to that of their larger competitors.
- Reliable Delivery – 79% felt that local businesses were far better at delivering goods on time and as promised.
- High-Quality, Professional Staff – 75% said that the people they dealt with at local businesses were better — more courteous, more knowledgeable, more caring, and just plain more professional.
The only two areas where the national chains outscored local businesses in this survey were:
- Stable Business – only 30% felt that local businesses were as likely to still be around in years to come as their bigger counterparts.
- Competitive Pricing – just 23% said the prices at local businesses were competitive with those at national chains.
What you can take away from this
Many local businesses can overcome the perception of their long-term stability by playing up how long they’ve been in business already. Of course, this only applies if you’ve been around for ten years or more. Newer businesses would do well to just avoid this topic and redirect their message elsewhere.
Also, unless you feel very confident that you can (and want to) compete on price, this is another topic that’s best avoided.
Instead, make all your marketing messages highlight various aspects of the first six metrics. These are the areas where local businesses shine.
Beyond the numbers
This survey was valuable for pointing the way to a broad strategy that will be very effective at tapping into what people already see as the key reasons for favoring local businesses.
Looking deeper, there’s the obvious: you’re local!
Some consumers may be altruistic in wanting to keep their shopping dollars in the local economy rather than shipping them off to some faraway corporate headquarters. A much larger percentage will value the more practical advantage of developing a personal relationship with you and your business.
Taking advantage of local
To that end, make your website mobile-friendly. When someone looks you up on their smartphone, it usually means they are out and about. This generally indicates high purchase intent; they are looking for someplace to buy something right now.
By having a mobile-friendly website that loads quickly and is easy to navigate, you stand to take maximum advantage of this and lure in such shoppers.
You can further this advantage by using what’s known as “geo-terms” in all your marketing and advertising. Of course include your town name. Or you can get even more specific and include the name of a neighborhood, or even a street, where your business is located.
Including geo-terms like this helps shoppers realize just how close you are. If they see that you’re right around the corner, so to speak, they’re far more likely to come visit.
Extend those geo-terms to every one of your social media posts. If your town or neighborhood has a campaign to use special hashtags, make sure you include them. If they don’t, perhaps you can get the chamber of commerce or a business group to start one.
Even if you can’t tap into the power of banding together with other local businesses, it’s still wise to do this yourself. Make sure anyone who finds you on social media has no doubts that you are a local business.
One more very important element to mention here is online directories and map listings. Google Maps is the most well-known of these, but there are dozens of others. Make sure that your business information is listed, and that it’s correct and consistent, across all directory services.
When people look you up online, you want them to be able to find you no matter what service they are using. (There are other benefits such as Google placing greater trust in you and giving you preferential list rankings as a result.)
Offline tactics to supplement all these efforts
Since essentially all of your customers are likely to be local, that means there is a high likelihood that they know each other. Neighbors talk.
Take advantage of that fact by creating a customer referral program. Reward customers for recommending you and sending their family and friends your way. Don’t keep it limited to just customers. Encourage your employees to participate in the program and offer them special incentives as well.
In all your marketing, communications, and even daily interactions with customers, tell your story every chance you get. Did you grow up in the neighborhood? Did you move there because of some particular feature? Whatever it is, make it part of your story and share it to bring out local pride!
If you have the space to do so, host an event. We’re not talking about a sale. An auto repair shop might host a workshop to teach basic car maintenance. A jeweler might have a wine and fashion show. A book store could invite a professor from the local college to give a lecture on 18th century literature. Get creative!
This kind of offering is likely to get you some free local marketing press. It will also go a long way toward delighting your best customers and introducing your business to new ones.
If you or someone on your staff enjoys the limelight, consider speaking in front of local marketing groups. This might be schools, church groups, civic organizations (e.g. Kiwanis), or local marketing business associations. Your presentation topic should be more educational than self-serving. The simple act of being up there will get your name out and generate both goodwill and new business.
Write or contribute to a column in a local newspaper or magazine. Again, aim to be informative and helpful more than self-serving. The publicity alone is worth it!
We’ve only scratched the surface of the local marketing strategies you can use to cost-effectively help your local business thrive. If you want a little help in this area, the experts at Your Local Mark are ready with dozens more ideas to make you wildly successful. Check us out and see what we can do for your business.