Personalized print goods can really make your gifts and products stand out this holiday season. Labels, tags and cards can all add a special finishing touch that your clients, employees and customers will truly remember.

And creating these custom printed items doesn’t have to be difficult or expensive. Avery.com offers tons of online resources to help you design and print all the items your business needs this holiday season. Whether you need basic mailing labels, customized gift tags or full greeting cards, you can design your items right on the company’s website and then print them using Avery products that work with your office printer. Or you can customize designs online and order them directly from Avery. Visit Avery.com/holiday for tips and tools to help you. The company even offers tons of holiday templates and design elements that you can use to make your print goods stand out — even if you’re not a professional designer. Here’s more information about the company’s holiday offerings.

Holiday Labels

Any time you’re sending a package or envelope to someone, you need to include a mailing label. But why just print or write a generic label when you can add customized designs and holiday themes to them?

With Avery.com’s label options, you can choose the label style that works with the product and printer you have access to. Then choose one of Avery’s holiday themed templates and your address or message of choice.

For those who are wary of printer issues that can sometimes pop up when printing label sheets, Avery’s Sure Feed Technology makes their labels more reliable and helps them glide easily through printers, even older models that may be prone to malfunctions.

Holiday Cards

You can also print custom cards to accompany your business gifts or to send out to clients. Include photos of your team or customized messages that convey your appreciation and well wishes for the holiday season. This is your opportunity to share some longer sentiments, so be sure to create a heartfelt message and then back it up with stunning photos and visuals.

Product Tags

If you want to add a personalized touch to your business gifts, Avery also offers tags that you can tie directly onto products or gift bags. You can include a short message, a festive design or specify who each gift is to and from.

Avery has a variety of shapes and styles to choose from. So you can create a large label that really makes a statement or keep it simple and just add a quick message for each of your gift recipients.

Create Your Own Messages

Whether you’re looking to print cards, labels or tags, you can find a huge array of products from Avery and then print your customized messages onto them using your own home or office printer. This allows you to streamline the gifting process and save money on custom print goods.

However, if you’re in a rush or need a large amount of custom printed items, Avery also offers a mail order option. With Avery WePrint, you can upload your designs online and order specific tags, cards or labels without needing to print them yourself. Since the holiday season is often such a busy time for small business owners, this option can help you streamline the gifting process without sacrificing quality and personalization.

Images: Avery

This article, "Avery Offers Small Businesses a Variety of Labels, Cards and Tags for Holiday Needs" was first published on Small Business Trends

Marketing is a big, vague word that that can either make your head spin or give you heart emoji eyes. Every business has a different relationship with marketing –and that’s totally ok! Whether or not you enjoy working on and delegating marketing tasks, you should consider leveraging your local marketing channels. Local marketing creates a strong foundation so that your local prospects can easily find you. Also, local marketing is fun! It’s a way to connect with your neighboring communities and meet other local businesses and potential new customers.

Local Marketing – Online

Even though the internet is a vast, big place, local marketing still has its own little corner! A great place to start is creating a Google My Business profile (GMB) for your business. This profile is a free, (whoot!) and it allows you to provide all your business info — think name, address, phone number, hours, website, business description — as well as images. Your customers can also leave reviews, which is a great way to show prospects that you are well liked!

Reimagine your digital presence. – business.com

Geo-targeting, also known as local targeting, is an online tool that lets you target specific people based on their online location. If you want to find potential customers in a specific location, (ie – your local area) you can add this tool to your social media plan!

When using Facebook or Twitter, organic posts and paid ads can be targeted to your audience by:

• IP Address
• Recorded Address

You can also get more granular by adding in more details, such as:

• Country
• State/Province
• City
• ZIP Code

The best part about geo targeting is that it’s super easy to implement and you don’t have to be an expert to use this tool.

Another online marketing tool great for local businesses are directory listings. Sites like Yelp, YP, Yahoo Local, and Bing allow businesses to provide local-specific messages. Offering information that’s specific to a local search allows businesses to target the right audience.

At the bottom of the funnel, listings with rich local content like pictures, offers or biographies drive more than three times the traffic as those that just contain the bare geodata. – adage.com

Local Marketing – Community Events / Outlets

One of the best ways to find your local audience is at community events that allow businesses to have a table. There are tons of options throughout the year in many communities, including:

• Street Fairs
• Health/Wellness/Fitness events
• Shop Local days
• Charity Events

You can also donate some items or services to contribute to an event as a way to give the attendees a free look into your business!

A really nice way to combine your online and offline efforts is through local influencers and magazines. These outlets are geared specifically to certain local communities. Many magazines have online and offline content available, and influencers regularly partner with businesses to promote goods and services they trust and enjoy.

Local Marketing – Bring a Friend

It’s always better, together! Give your customers a reason to bring a friend next time they come in to visit. You can offer discounts such as buy-1-get-1 offers. Many businesses incentivize their customers to bring more people by offering them discounts on products or services they are already spending money on. Plus, bringing a friend is fun! People love sharing their favorite spots and being able to get offers and discounts from doing so.

Republished by permission. Original here.

Image: Depositphotos.com

This article, "How to Turn Your Local Marketing from Blah into Fantastic" was first published on Small Business Trends

One of the best ways to build rapport with local communities and potential customers is to develop a strategy to get noticed in your area’s markets. Getting your name out in nearby business circles can go a long way toward building rapport and opening up new opportunities. Yet, not all strategies are created equal, especially when talking about smaller markets. That’s why we asked entrepreneurs from Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) the following:

“What is the best way to make your business noticeable in a small, local market?”

Local Marketing Ideas

Here’s what they had to say:

1. Be Everywhere Online

“Create, claim and update all the local business listings and profiles. In addition to your website, be sure you maintain an updated and active Google local business listing, a Facebook page and any other site that offers local profiles for your industry. When a user searches for “my town” + “your service,” ensure that they see you everywhere. This builds trust and authenticity.” ~ Shawn Schulze, HomeArea.com

2. Put a Face to the Company

“In a small local market, your company can stand out by putting a face to the company or product. People have an easier time trusting a company when they know who’s behind the curtain. The more they trust you, the more likely they’ll be to buy. So, make sure to get out in the community, introduce yourself and interact with others. If you put up local ads, consider adding a photo of yourself as well.” ~ John Turner, SeedProd LLC

3. Give Away Samples

“In a small local market, I find that giving away free samples of your product (if that’s possible) can do wonders. There’s a local chocolate maker that we worked with that used this strategy effectively. They hired two students at minimum wage to give away chocolate samples along with a brochure in some of the busiest intersections of the city at rush hour. Rinse and repeat.” ~ Amine Rahal, Little Dragon Media

4. Volunteer for the Long Haul

“The best way to be noticed in a small community is to be a great community member. Be present, support causes that matter and make an impact over the long haul. It’s one thing to sponsor jerseys for a softball team, it’s another to spend time every week helping a local organization. When you make an impact, people will notice you, and in the process learn about your business.” ~ Aaron Schwartz, Passport

5. Encourage Reviews From Existing Customers

“What steps are you taking to gather feedback from your existing audience? If you aren’t leveraging them as part of your solution, then you’re missing out on an opportunity to be seen and heard in your local community. People love to search for reviews before trying out new products, services, businesses, you name it. If you don’t have many reviews to your name, it’s time to start encouraging them more.” ~ Chris Christoff, MonsterInsights

6. Focus on Voice Search SEO

“Voice search SEO is important when it comes to getting your small, local business noticed. Start thinking about the types of requests your customers might make when searching for your product or service with their smart home device or smartphone and shift your SEO strategy to focus on those new keywords. It’s also important that you add your business to places like Google My Business and Yelp.” ~ Blair Williams, MemberPress

7. Send Out Newsletters

“The best way I have found here in my local market is to be placed in a newsletter that is available to consumers in restaurants, vendors, coffee shops, etc. This professional ad will allow you some good credibility and visibility in the market.” ~ Julian Montoya, JM11 Investments

8. Use Direct Mail

“Millennials love direct mail and it works on a local level to target those specific customers and prospects. It does so in a way that covers a significant territory for relatively little money and high return.” ~ Peter Daisyme, Hostt

9. Attend Local Events

“Local events like conferences, trade fairs and markets provide a good way for a small business to get noticed in their community. They can personally interact with locals and start building trust.” ~ John Hall, Calendar.com

10. Distribute Flyers and Buy Local Ad Space

“It’s a good idea to make yourself known to the community. Using traditional marketing materials will allow you to accelerate the growth of your business and bring in the local traffic. Often these ad spaces are easy to work with and will give you a good boost. Google ads also help you cover the search intent traffic that is already looking for you.” ~ Nicole Munoz, Nicole Munoz Consulting, Inc.

11. Create Helpful Videos

“Through Facebook Ads, you can easily target people in a local community. Instead of creating a traditional ad that tries to make a sale, try creating helpful videos for your community that position you as someone of value. At the end of the video tell them what you do and where they can find you. Put these videos out weekly and spend $1 to $5 per day advertising them, and you will be a local celebrity.” ~ Greg Rollett, Ambitious Media Group

12. Embrace Branding

“In many cases, small local businesses are more likely to be relaxed and not focus as heavily on brand identity. If you want to stand out from everyone else, then you need to identify your brand identity and stick with it as your company evolves. Once you become known locally, it’s only a matter of time until you have a recognizable brand on your hands.” ~ Syed Balkhi, WPBeginner

Image: Depositphotos.com 

This article, "12 Methods for Getting Your Business Noticed in Local Markets" was first published on Small Business Trends

According to a study from Go-Globe, 18 percent of local searches lead to a sale within one day. And what do people normally use to search? That’s right — Google. So if you want people to find your local business in their searches, you need to make your business really easy to find on Google.

Google My Business is the search engine’s local business listing platform. You can create a profile that pops up right in the search page so people don’t even have to visit your website to get the information they need to visit you, including your address, phone number and hours of operation.

Google My Business Cheat Sheet

If you want to take advantage of this very important tool for your own local business, check out the Google My Business cheat sheet below.

Claim Your Google My Business Listing

Start by visiting the Google My Business website and signing in with a Google account. There, you can create a profile from scratch or choose a business that’s already on their list that you want to claim. Google will walk you through the process of updating your page and all of the relevant information from there. You’ll also need to verify your business — Google will send a code to your business address that you can add to your account.

Include All the Essential Info

Google will ask you to choose a category, name, address and all of the essential information throughout the signup process. Don’t gloss over this process. There are more than 2,000 different categories to choose from. And the one you choose will impact how you can edit the rest of your listing. For example, if you have a restaurant, it will let you link or upload a PDF menu. You can optimize the listing by adding a description with some relevant keywords and attributes designed to attract people to your business.

Upload Quality Images

People want to know what your business is like before they visit. Adding images of your storefront, menu items or team can help you build a rapport and entice people to actually visit. Just make sure these images are high quality and show your business in a positive light.

John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing adds, “Particularly on a mobile device, it’s a good trust building and content element. So, upload 8 or 10 photos of your products, of your business, of your people. It doesn’t really matter what it is, but make sure that you have some pretty good representative images that you upload.”

Attract Visitors to Your Page

Garner Positive Reviews

A study from Local SEO Guide found that Google My Business reviews that contained a relevant keyword were the second most influential factor in rankings for local searches. So reviews aren’t just about showing potential customers that you provide a great experience — they also affect your SEO.

To gain more positive reviews, the obvious answer is just to make sure and provide great customer service. However, you can also include signage in your store, add a link to review your company in your email signature or even share positive reviews on your social media pages. These can serve as simple reminders to people who have had great experiences with you, making it more likely that they’ll actually share their thoughts.

Respond to All Reviews

On an ongoing basis, it’s also a good idea to respond to all reviews on your Google My Business Listing. This shows people who find your page that you’re responsive and allows you to address any concerns publicly. In fact, if you provide a satisfactory response, some customers may even consider leaving a more favorable review than they did initially.

Post Content Continuously

In 2017, Google rolled out Google Posts, a way for businesses to share content on their pages on an ongoing basis. Use this feature to keep your listing fresh. You can add blog posts, special offers, events, and even photos and videos.

To do this, simply sign into your Google My Business account and find the “Create Post” button. Then you’ll see options for adding different types of posts, including photos, videos, events, offers and text. For example, a local restaurant could post about a live music event they’re hosting. Then when people search for local restaurants and see that, it could entice them to visit on that particular evening.

Image: Depositphotos.com

This article, "Cheat Sheet for Mastering Google My Business" was first published on Small Business Trends

Independent retailers are a huge economic engine in local communities. But in order to find out their role on the U.S. economy, SCORE researched the subject and compiled the latest 2019 retail statistics into an easy-to-understand infographic.

2019 Retail Statistics

Titled “Small Retailers Can Compete and Win,” it is a timely report because July is Independent Retailer Month. This is an annual “shop local” event which encourages consumers to support their local independent retailers.

Just how much are local retailers responsible for growing their local economy? The 2019 retail statistics and quotes throughout this article, which come from the Independent Retailer Month site, provide some insight.

“Each $100 spent at local independents generated $45 of secondary local spending, compared to $14 for a big-box chain.” — The Institute for Local Self-Reliance

Local Retailers

When it comes to numbers, small retailers with 50 or fewer employees make up 98.6% of all retail firms. And they hire 39.8% of all retail employees.

These retailers have an average monthly revenue of $22,341, with an average gross margin of 51%. And when they make money, they reinvest more than large chains locally.

“Local retailers reinvest 130 percent more of their revenues than chain retailers and 676 percent more of their revenues than Amazon.” — 2018 Home Sweet Home: Locals vs. Amazon study

Speaking of Amazon and online retailers, ecommerce only comprises 9.46% of retail sales. And according to SCORE, 55% of online shoppers prefer buying from retailers with a physical store presence vs. online only.

So, while online retailers are getting all the headlines, consumers still want the experience of shopping in physical stores.

Getting Consumers to Shop at Local Retailers

The experience of going out shopping can’t be duplicated on a computer. But small retailers have to make the experience more attractive because, at the end of the day, low prices are a huge incentive.

SCORE says “Retailtainment” events attract, engage and retain customers. In 2018 more than 4 in 5 (82%) of shoppers attended a retail event and 58% said they will go to one in the future.

Some of these events are: exclusive access to items or sale (87%); party (81%); product demonstration or tutorial (80%); game or competition (71%); and pop-up shops (69%).

By attending these events, not only will you enjoy the social experience, but your support will generate local economic activity.

“A study in New Orleans found that if residents and visitors were to shift 10 percent of their spending from chains to local businesses, it would generate an additional $235 million a year in local economic activity, creating many new opportunities and jobs.” — Civic Economics

How Can You Compete with Online Retailers?

When you talk about online retailers, Amazon is the first name which pops up. But it is important to remember, the company only accounts for about 5% of U.S. retail sales. So, there is a great opportunity out there.

“For every $10 million spent on Amazon it creates 14 jobs vs 57 jobs when $10 million is spent at independents!” — The Institute for Local Self Reliance

While price plays a big role, convenience is one of the biggest reasons online retailers are doing so well. If you start providing the same frictionless shopping experience and give it a more personalized touch, you will see more customers walking through your doors.

On a blog titled, “How Brick-And-Mortar Stores Can Compete with Amazon,” SCORE provides some great tips. In it, Natalie Berg, coauthor of “Amazon: How The World’s Most Relentless Retailer Will Continue to Revolutionize Commerce,” says brick-and-mortar retailers can exploit Amazon’s weaknesses.

Berg adds, “Put more personality into [your] store. Stores are transitioning from the transactional to the experiential. The store of the future will be a place [where] consumers can eat, play, work, learn, discover and borrow things.”

This means you should focus on areas where Amazon falls short. You can curate a selection of products, have unique items, and make the shopping experience enjoyable.

As Berg says, “Amazon is great for purchasing, but not for shopping. They’ve taken the touch and soul out of shopping and made it simply transactional and functional.”

At the same time, you should also provide some of the options online retailers offer such as click and collect and accepting more payment options. The key is to make the online experience of your retail store an added value for your customers.

More 2019 Retail Statistics

For more numbers, take a look at the SCORE infographic below.

Image: SCORE

This article, "Wow! Small Retail Businesses Hire Nearly 40% of All Retail Employees" was first published on Small Business Trends

FreshLime corrals data from a wide swath of sources into one simple platform. It brings the power of big budget data analytics to local small business so they can engage customers automatically.

A FreshLime Overview

Small Business Trends spoke with Jay Bean, the CEO of FreshLime. He told us about what they do and why small business needs to pay attention.

Helping Meet Small Business Needs

He started by talking about the small business data needs FreshLime addresses.

“Consumers are in charge today,” he said. “They use the messaging platforms they want. They interact with businesses the way they want. It can be a hard transition for an SMB.”

Small businesses can be overwhelmed with all of this information. That’s where this customer data platform comes in. The platform was built with local businesses in mind.

“We collect all of their data together,” Bean says.  “FreshLime brings it all together to build a single customer profile.”

Analyzing Information

He supplies an example:

“Think about a plumber that’s been in business for five years. He may have done 20,000 jobs. He can’t personally interact with all of those customers.”

FreshLime takes all that information and analyzes it. The platform uses important benchmarks like average purchase, last purchase, lifetime value and others. The idea is to send tailored automated messages out based on these groupings. To find new customers and keep old ones.

Segmenting

“By segmenting like this we have smaller buckets and can send the right type of message to the right customer.”

It’s the small business version of a big business strategy. Think Amazon. They know who you are and what you buy and send you messages tailored to your purchases and demographics. FreshLime does the same for small local businesses.

Using Playbooks

At the core is what Bean calls playbooks. This is how the platform categorizes customers. These are based on engagements, demographics and purchases. Some of these include single purchase customers, others that repeat occasionally and those that are the most loyal repeat clients.

People get categorized into different playbooks so small businesses can act accordingly. For example, one might be a “win back” type campaign. Another might be geared toward getting them to increase their purchases as a repeat customer.

“We assign these playbooks to people based on who they are and their past behavior,” Bean says. “We don’t know very much about people who haven’t converted.”

Categorizing Customers

Past purchases aren’t the only way FreshLime categorizes customers.

Bean supplies another example.

“One of our customers is a garage in Detroit,” he says.  “They might have someone who comes in a brand-new Corvette and another in a 1985 Honda Accord with 212,000 miles. The Honda needs a high mileage oil change versus the Corvette that needs a synthetic oil.”

The messages sent here take other factors like that into account. As another big advantage, FreshLime allows you to send out messages over different channels like Facebook and Twitter. Email and text messages are other options.

He stresses that FreshLime isn’t traditional marketing. It focuses on data driven customer retention.

Offering an AI Solution

“We call the playbooks the AI in the middle.”

Best of all, these automated messages get sent out around the clock. That means a small business owner is working on retaining customers 24/7.

Another aspect makes this platform special. FreshLime not only gathers transactional data for companies. It also gathers industry trends that get overlaid for a complete picture.

The result is a network effect for an affordable price catering to small business.

FreshLime targets SMB’s using software like QuickBooks but without the tools to do any analytics. Other target markets include small businesses using software as a big part of their business.

“Either way these aren’t big businesses with big marketing teams,” he says.

FreshLime interacts with your customer wherever they happen to be. In other words, if they find your company on Facebook the template message gets sent there.  The same holds true with Google or your website and other places.

Finally, Bean sums everything up.

“FreshLime was designed to help with that other side of marketing. Not necessarily finding the lead, but what to do to maximize transactions over and over again,” he says.

Image: Freshlime

This article, "FreshLime Offers an AI Solution Allowing Local Businesses to Maximize Customer Interaction" was first published on Small Business Trends

Good online reputation is a critical success factor for your business because your online reputation influences your customers’ minds.

A whopping 90% of online shoppers have chosen not to buy from a company because of its bad reputation, according to research conducted by Trustpilot.

Small business owners often struggle to build a large customer base as they don’t have a big marketing budget to sway customers. Being perceived as unreliable or unfair can make it more difficult for small business owners to grow their customer base.

Need for Good Online Reputation

It takes time to build a brand. At the initial stage, your small business might not be a popular name in your industry.

When prospects or customers don’t know about your business, they try to find information about you.

In fact, 60% of online shoppers perform a search for the company when they are unfamiliar with it. What’s more, over 93% of customers read reviews before buying online, confirms Trustpilot’s research.

It’s not like that only online shoppers perform a search. 42% of in-store customers conduct research online while in a store, says Google research.

Won’t a customer will hesitate to place an order if he/she finds negative reviews on the first page of search results?

90% of customers who don’t buy because of a bad online reputation of a company, as found in the research, don’t stop there. These customers also tell other customers not to buy from the same company.

So having just a few negative reviews can cost your business a good number of customers eventually.

Big companies have a large base of loyal customers. They can afford to lose a few customers. For a small business owner like you, each and every customer counts.

So keeping a clean online reputation to build trust with customers is no more a passive tactic.

What You Can Do to Avoid a Bad Business Reputation

Customers lose interest in brands when they find brands are silent, secretive and project outdated online presence, as stated in the research. Also, deleting negative reviews has been found to be the biggest trust breaker.

Here are factors that decrease the trust of buyers, according to the research:

What can you do to manage your business’ online reputation to build trust with your customers?

Here are some effective ways:

• Claim and optimize your profiles on reputed third-party business listing sites to build credibility
• Proactively monitor your business’s reputation
• Keep tabs on your business’s social media accounts
• Respond constructively to criticism and never delete negative reviews/ comments
• Keep your website secure and publish high-quality content that offers value

You should not wait for any negative review surfacing online to start online reputation management of your business.

As a small business owner, building a good online reputation should be your goal from day one because it is an important way to build trust with your customers.

About the Report

Zachary Pardes, Trustpilot’s advertising and communications director, says, “Small business owners continue to face the reality that larger companies are persistent in trying to take their customers. This report proves one of the most important ways to remain competitive and keep customer confidence high is by maintaining a good reputation. And a good reputation generates loyalty, which is priceless in an environment where consumers have many options.”

A good online reputation not only brings in more customers but also helps you compete with big companies. Customers choose to buy from an unfamiliar company over a reputed company known for a recent scandal. What’s more, customers find a strong brand reputation more important than price, the research confirms.

Online reputation management is a must-follow practice for small business owners in in today’s web-connected world.

What is your plan to manage your business’s online reputation?

Image: Depositphotos.com

This article, "Bad Business Reputation Proves Deal Breaker for 90% of Online Shoppers" was first published on Small Business Trends

What is scarcity marketing? Basically, it’s the tactic of increasing demand for a particular product or service based on the idea that the item is rare or difficult to obtain.

Why does this work? Customers tend to place a higher value on items that feel more exclusive or unique. A customer will probably pay more for an item that is one-of-a-kind than they will for something that everyone else already owns.

Scarcity Marketing Ideas

So how do you make the most of this concept? Here are some of the most powerful scarcity marketing techniques you can use to increase demand and make more sales for your small business.

Display Product Availability

Once your stock levels start getting a bit low, let your customers know by telling them exactly how many items are still available. If they see that there are only three left in stock, it will likely create a sense of urgency that they wouldn’t have otherwise.

Offer a Time Limit

You can also put an actual timer on sales online. Tell customers that they’ll get free shipping, an exclusive discount or another special offer if they complete their purchase within the next ten minutes.

Make a Sale Countdown

Alternatively, you can create a more general countdown for a sale. This tactic can work for both online and in-person sales. Simply display a countdown until the end of your sale on your website or in your store. This creates a visual representation that reminds customers they need to purchase their desired products right away if they want to take advantage of discounts.

Create Limited Edition Products

The actual products you offer can also create that sense of urgency and exclusivity. Is there something your business could produce outside of your normal product line that you could offer just for a limited time? For instance, if you run a small t-shirt shop, maybe you could make a line of hats with your exclusive designs printed on them.

This tactic can even be useful for businesses that are thinking about expanding their product lines and want to see how well different types of products might sell. With any of these products, just make sure customers know that there’s a limited number being produced. It will create a sense of urgency and exclusivity.

Offer Seasonal Items

Similarly, you can offer different types of products during each season. For example, a diner might offer pumpkin pancakes in the fall and gingerbread pancakes in the winter. In these cases, customers will instinctively know that products are only available for a limited time. So they’ll be sure to take advantage of the offer during each season.

Set Limited Introductory Prices

If you decide to introduce a new product that will be a permanent part of your line, create some exclusivity and a sense of urgency by setting a lower introductory price. You’ll get more people to buy right away if they know they’re getting a better deal than everyone else.

Offer Products for Pre-Sale

Pre-sales can help businesses gauge demand for new products and make sales even before production is complete. But it also makes products seem especially exclusive and in-demand among customers.

Let Customers Lock in a Price

For companies that sell memberships or products and services that customers buy on a recurring basis, you might allow people to lock in an introductory price so they’ll always pay that rate. This encourages people to sign up right away, because they never know when you’ll raise prices.

Number Products

For collectible items, manufacturers can number each product in a particular line. This is just a tactic for underlining the fact that only a select number of products are available. And it can increase value or demand for items that are already very popular.

Show Off High Demand

If you have a particularly popular product in your shop, show customers how popular it is by displaying reviews, customer photos and social posts about that item. This doesn’t necessarily make the product seem rare. But it can create some extra demand.

Send Low Stock Notices

If a customer has viewed a particular product on your site or even put it in their cart, let them know when the item is running out of stock. They may be more inclined to actually complete the sale when they know they might not get the chance again.

Let Customers Set Alerts for Out-of-Stock Items

You might also have some items that have run out of stock, but that you might get back again. Let customers favorite those items and set up alerts so they’ll know if and when you restock.

Include Real-Time Data

Letting customers see what’s going on behind the scenes can help them understand what type of demand there is for your products. For example, you might show them how many people are viewing a particular product or how many have the item in their carts.

Host a Flash Sale

Flash sales are usually only held for a very short time and with very limited notice. So it’s automatically a pretty exclusive event. You can host an online flash sale and just invite people who follow your company on social media or subscribe to your email list. Or if you run a physical store location, send out invites and let your best customers take advantage of the sale.

Offer Exclusive Discounts

You might also offer exclusive discounts that aren’t tied to a specifically timed sale. Send out coupon codes to your email list, social media followers or people who download your app. This rewards them for being a loyal customer and can lead to a higher value perception of your products.

Image: Depositphotos.com

This article, "15 Scarcity Marketing Tactics That Will Boost Your Sales" was first published on Small Business Trends

You know that online reviews of your retail business matter. But did you know the businesses that do best at managing their online reviews actually earn more money? That’s part of the findings of an in-depth study by Womply that analyzed more than 38,000 retail businesses nationwide.

How to Manage Reviews for Your Retail Business

Keep reading to find out how to use online reviews to increase sales for your retail business’s revenues.

Tip 1: Get More Listings

It’s easy and free to claim your listings on online review sites, so why not do it? Local businesses that claim their listings on three or more review sites earn 21% more revenue than the average business, Womply found. Conversely, retailers that don’t claim their listing on any review sites earn 22% less revenue than the average business. That’s a lot of money to lose for just skipping such a simple step.

Start by claiming your listings on Google, Yelp, and Facebook — the most important review sites. (If you do only one, start with Google, since these ratings show up in your Google search results.) Retailers who claim their listings on just those three sites average $56,000 more in sales per year than those who claim none of their listings.

Tip 2: Respond to Your Reviews

A whopping 75% of retailers never respond to their reviews. While this doesn’t negatively affect their profits too much (they earn 6% less than the average business), responding to reviews can have a more substantial positive effect. Retailers that respond to reviews –even just semi-regularly — earn 19% more in annual revenues.

Set up alerts when you get a new review so you can respond quickly. It’s especially important to respond to negative reviews fast, as it shows you’re paying attention to what your customers are saying. Be sure not to get defensive: Apologize for the issue and ask if you can contact the customer (offline) to discuss it. Once you’re rectified the problem, see if the reviewer is willing to update their review. This helps show other prospective customers that you’re providing good customer service.

Avoid posting a generic, template response to each positive review. Varying your wording a bit makes it sound like there’s a real person reading the reviews.

Tip 3: Get More Reviews

More reviews correlates to more revenue, Womply found. The average number of reviews for a local retailer is 43. Local retail businesses with more than 43 reviews bring in 26% more in annual revenue than the average retailer.

If you don’t have 43 reviews yet, focus on achieving that figure — and then keep going! Retailers with more than 200 reviews earn 46% more than the average, so there’s a lot of benefit in growing your review base. To get more reviews:

• Put signage in your store reminding customers to review you. You can download free window clings and other marketing tools on Yelp.
• Put links to your review listings on the home page of your website, along with language encouraging customers to write a review.
• Include requests to review your business in your marketing emails or other emails to customers.

Check out Google’s tips on how to get more Google reviews.

Tip 4: Keep Those Reviews Coming

Having 200 reviews won’t help you that much if they’re all from two years ago. “Fresh” reviews are essential to keep customers coming in to your store. Womply defines “fresh” reviews as those posted in the last 90 days; the average retail store has five fresh reviews at any given time.

Once again, being above average will get you above-average sales. Retailers with more than five fresh reviews earn 28% more in annual revenue than the average retailer, the study found, while retailers with 20 or more fresh reviews earn 40% more. In contrast, businesses that have no fresh reviews earn 13% less than average.

To keep those fresh reviews coming, keep doing what you’re doing in Tip 3 to get more reviews.

Tip 5: Aim for Realistic Reviews

You might be surprised, as I was, to learn that retailers with 5-star ratings actually have below-average sales. They even earn less than shops with a 1 to 1.5-star rating. Perhaps customers don’t believe the 5-star reviews can be honest? Whatever the reason, the sweet spot for reviews is 3.5 to 4.5 stars. Retail businesses whose ratings are in this range earn revenues 13% more than the average retailer.

You can’t control the star ratings you get, but if too many reviewers are raving about your business, working to get more reviews should help even things out.

Now that you know online reviews can actually make your store more money, are you more motivated to manage them?

Not a retailer? Check out Womply’s findings on how online reviews impact small businesses in all industries.

Image: Depositphotos.com

This article, "How to Manage Reviews for Better Small Business Profit" was first published on Small Business Trends

The debut of Surefire’s All-In-One Local Marketing Platform looks to make local businesses grow by letting them take control of their multi-channel marketing efforts.

A multi-channel approach is key in today’s digital ecosystem because small businesses now also operate online. Therefore, bringing the physical and digital worlds together is key to fully optimize ad spend. However, small businesses don’t always take advantage of the tools which are available to them when it comes to marketing.

Local marketing is especially important for small businesses because this is where they generate most of their revenue. But with eCommerce, this is changing rapidly. Finding the right balance, strengths and limitations in both online and physical stores is a good starting point when it comes to budgeting for marketing.

Surefire Local Marketing Platform

The Surefire All-In-One Local Marketing Platform gives small businesses advanced, affordable marketing capabilities, streamlined access and hundreds of available integrations. This is what Chris Marentis, founder and CEO of Surefire Local, says in the press release.

Marentis adds, “We are thrilled to deliver a platform that provides real-time, actionable insights, analytics and features to time-crunched small business owners enabling their voice to finally be heard in the market.”

Comprehensive View

The features Marentis mentions are a must in today’s business ecosystem. Surefire makes these features available on a platform where owners can see their marketing efforts on a single dashboard.

Whether you are doing the marketing or you hire an agency, you can target your audience with quality and consistent local marketing initiatives.

Surefire says this is going to allow your business to ensure continuous refinement, improvement and expansion of your local reach. It will also do the same for your digital reputation as more of your customers reach you online.

The Surefire Strategy

Surefire has a three-step strategy to take your small business to the next level with a comprehensive and easy to use digital marketing platform. The steps are to mend, modernize and magnify the presence of your company.

It starts by identifying and targeting the digital roadblocks which stop you from growing. It then makes sure your data is accurate and consistent across all of the online directories important to your business.

The next step is to manage your online reputation to increase ratings and reviews, and simplify responses. Last but not least, a secure system which provides control and access for all of your marketing materials and information.

If you have outdated technology and systems in place, Surefire Local is going to bring you up to speed. You are going to have real-time actionable insights, chat, lead managers, analytics, software integration and 24/7 access to expert support.

With these strategies in place, it’s time to magnify your business by refining, improving and expanding your reach and reputation. This is going to be accomplished with content marketing. You do this by creating and sharing photos, blogs and other content across all online and social media channels.

Search and display advertising is the last step in this strategy to drive new customers from sites where your audience looks for information.

Surefire All-In-One Local Marketing Platform is now available.

Image: Depositphotos.com

This article, "Surefire Local Debuts New Hyperlocal Marketing Platform for Small Businesses" was first published on Small Business Trends

Small Business Saturday is a pretty big deal in the United States.  And savvy small business people know that and leverage it. But how much do you know about this event?  Do you know its history, how it got started and why it struck a chord with the public? Get prepared for Small Business Saturday by testing your knowledge!

Small Business Saturday Quiz

Results

-

Congratulations!  You know a lot about Small Business Saturday – you passed.

#1 What year did Small Business Saturday start?

1962

1988

1997

2010

2017

The first Small Business Saturday was in November of 2010.

It started at a time when the United States was still recovering from the 2008 Wall Street financial crisis and economic recession that followed. The goal was to give local small businesses such as restaurants and retailers a boost by helping them sell more. Read more.

#2 When does Small Business Saturday take place?

During National Small Business Week, in May.

The first Saturday of each month.

It varies - whenever the President decrees it

The Saturday after Thanksgiving in the United States.

Small Business Saturday occurs once a year.  It’s always on the Saturday following Thanksgiving in the United States.  Dates for Small Business Saturday over the next 4 years will be:

• November 30, 2019
• November 28, 2020
• November 27, 2021
• November 26, 2022

Combined with Black Friday and Cyber Monday, the day is part of the reason that the entire week following Thanksgiving has become a non-stop, shopping extravaganza for consumers.

In fact, the rallying cry of “shop small” has turned it into a year-round movement. You can see consumers expressing their support for small businesses all year, not just during the Christmas holiday season.

#3 What percent of consumers say Small Business Saturday makes them want to shop at small businesses all year long?

51%

67%

80%

96%

A stunning 96% of people who shop on Small Business Saturday say it makes them want to shop at small businesses year round!  That’s according to a survey by American Express.

That lasting impact is what makes the #shopsmall movement special.  Unlike national taco day or Valentine’s Day, people feel like they are supporting a worthy cause bigger than shopping when they support Small Business Saturday.  Long after the day has passed they feel inspired to support small businesses.

#4 How much do consumers spend on Small Business Saturday at small establishments?

$1 billion

$10 billion

$17.8 billion

$30 billion

In 2018, consumers spent $17.8 billion at small retailers and restaurants on Small Business Saturday. For many small businesses, much of their revenue and profit comes during the last two months of each year.  And Small Business Saturday has helped.

According to the American Express website, this number is an estimate. It reflects “the average spend as reported by consumers in surveys commissioned by American Express reporting spend habits on Small Business Saturday of consumers who were aware of the day. It does not reflect actual receipts or sales.”  Read more.

#5 Small Business Saturday was founded by:

American Express Corporation

The Small Business Administration

President Barack Obama

Amazon.com

President George W. Bush

Small Business Saturday was conceived by American Express as a rallying cry around small businesses. A decade later, American Express continues to lend its support.

Small Business Saturday is not a government program. For instance, it is not part of the SBA and does not rely on Federal taxpayer funding.

Still, Small Business Saturday is one of the few things that gets almost universal support:

• The U.S. Senate unanimously passed a resolution supporting it in 2011.
• The President typically gives it out a shout out.
• The Small Business Administration encourages participation.
• State and local governments participate, galvanizing community support.
• Community organizations and chambers of commerce participate.
• Business organizations like SCORE and Small Business Development Centers encourage it.
• Virtually all large corporations support it in some way.
• Small business owners and consumers alike enthusiastically embrace the day.

#6 Which person drove implementation of the first Small Business Saturday?

First Lady Michelle Obama

Jeff Bezos

Adam Smith

Sheryl Sandberg

Susan Sobbott

If any one person could be identified as the main driver behind Small Business Saturday, it’s Susan Sobbott. At the time she was the President of American Express OPEN.  It was her vision, leadership and energy that got it off the ground and made it a rousing success from the first year.

The daughter of a small business owner herself, she recognized what small business owners needed. “More than anything else, they need more customers,” she said in an interview at the time.

She went on to add, “Small Business Saturday can be the first of many days when businesses and consumers consciously make the decision to consider shopping small. Even better is if they tell their friends, family, and colleagues about the initiative so that they, too, can think about shopping at small businesses.”   Read: Small Business Saturday, An Inside Look

#7 What is the tagline of Small Business Saturday?

Small business, big value

When you buy from a small business, you are helping a little girl get ballet lessons

Support a small business, save a job

Shop small

Every time you shop at a small business, an angel gets its wings

“Shop small” or its equivalent hashtag of #shopsmall has been used almost since the beginning.

Since 2011 it has become a slogan and insignia for the movement. In fact, the slogan has become so popular that some people use it as a rallying cry to support small businesses year round.  In fact, it’s called the Shop Small Movement.

“Shop small” is a registered service mark of American Express.

#8 Which social media giant was the first to partner with Small Business Saturday?

MySpace

Facebook

Instagram

Twitter

Pinterest

Facebook was the first social media company to support Small Business Saturday in a highly visible way.

In fact, Facebook’s early support helped drive popularity among consumers. To this day Small Business Saturday has a vibrant and thriving Facebook page.

Other social platforms show support for Small Business Saturday, but Facebook is the epicenter.

#9 What technique below is NOT a good way to promote your business for Small Business Saturday?

Sending out a marketing email announcing free cider and donuts to thank customers for their support.

Announcing on your Facebook Page that you have a special discount for followers that day.

Putting a temporary sign outside your shop or a badge on your website, highlighting your support of the event.

Threatening customers that you will go out of business if they don't shop with you on Small Business Saturday.

Threatening to go out of business is never a good marketing technique.

A better approach is to be positive. Take a few moments to highlight a special offer. Or make shopping a fun and special experience that day. Or simply thank customers for their support.

In other words, focus on the customer and the benefits he or she will get. Make the customer feel good about supporting your business.

 

#10 Is there a badge to show support for Small Business Saturday?

Yes

No

Yes. Small business owners, consumers and community organizations alike display materials with the Shop Small badge on them.

The Shop Small Studio on the official website has a lot of marketing materials, including marketing tips, badges, flyers, videos, email headers and other collateral. You can customize everything with your business name on it — and it’s all free.

The image at the top of this quiz was generated using the Shop Small Studio.  And took us less than 5 minutes.  It’s that’s easy.

finish

This article, "Small Business Saturday Quiz: Test Your Knowledge" was first published on Small Business Trends

There are thousands of thousands of chambers of commerce in communities throughout the U.S. There’s a good chance that your local community has one. And your state and/or industry almost certainly has one as well.

If you haven’t joined a chamber of commerce organization, you might not understand all of the different benefits that these groups offer. Here’s a rundown of exactly what chambers provide and what you should consider when joining one.

What Is a Local Chamber of Commerce?

A chamber of commerce is a network of local businesses or businesses within a particular niche or industry. The organization works to further the interests of businesses in the area or industry through advocacy, networking opportunities and various other member benefits.

Every individual chamber of commerce is completely different. There’s the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a nationwide group that provides resources and advocacy for businesses in a wide array of industries across the country. Then there are statewide organizations, very small groups in local communities and groups that are specific to industries in a particular area.

Tom Sullivan, Vice President of Small Business Policy and head of the Small Business Council for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said in a phone interview with Small Business Trends, “All of our local chamber of commerce organizations are so different. But they all provide tremendous value to their members and their communities.”

How Do Chambers Of Commerce Help?

For example, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce aims to help its members in a few different ways. First, they provide online resources aimed at educating members about various aspects of running a business, from finding office space to reaching customers online. Then, they host in-person events in cities throughout the country. Specifically, their Summit event is slated for October 16 and 17 in Washington D.C. The event features more than 25 expert speakers and educational programs designed specifically for small and growing businesses.

Finally, the group represents the interests of its members in front of Congress and the White House. They fight for businesses in terms of things like trade and access to affordable healthcare.

These functions often look a bit different on a local scale. Your hyper local group probably is not in front of Congress on a daily basis. But the general idea is the same. Many local chambers do represent the interest of their members in front of city councils or other local agencies. Many also host local networking events or promotions designed to spur business growth in the area. And members can often access helpful resources, expertise from other members and even discounts and exclusive opportunities from local vendors.

Should Your Small Business Join a Local Chamber of Commerce?

There are plenty of benefits of joining a chamber of commerce. But perhaps the biggest one is how it changes your business in the eyes of consumers.

A study by the Schapiro Group found that consumers were 49 percent more likely to have a favorable opinion of a business if they know that business is a member of the local chamber of commerce. Membership also impacted consumer awareness by 73 percent and increased the likelihood that consumers would choose those companies to do business with by 80 percent.

Basically, it all comes down to trust, according to Sullivan.

He says, “When someone is active in their local chamber of commerce, the impression that folks get is that they are trustworthy, they’re leaders in the community and they’re someone that consumers want to do business with.”

The idea is that your local chamber of commerce is a trusted entity within your community. So by becoming a member, you get to enjoy some of that trust among your target customers.

What Resources do Chambers Offer Members?

Additionally, many chambers of commerce host events and provide resources to help their members grow. For example, you might be able to network with other members to form valuable connections or take part in special promotions like local restaurant weeks.

Members also often get access to exclusive discounts, like those from shipping companies, printing centers or travel vendors. Some chambers have even banded together to increase buying power for health insurance plans for self-employed individuals and small business owners. This concept is currently making its way through the court system. But the U.S. Chamber and other advocacy groups are fighting for it so that chamber members can enjoy more affordable healthcare rates.

So what about the negatives?

Sullivan jokes, “If you’re running a criminal enterprise, you should not join your local chamber of commerce. Because everyone will find out about it very quickly.”

More realistically, most chamber of commerce organizations do charge a membership fee, though rates vary from group to group. But they often fall around a few hundred dollars per year.

It’s also important to find the right organizations to join. For example, a business that runs exclusively online and doesn’t target local customers might not get quite as much benefit from joining their local chamber that hosts a ton of local shopping events. However, it might be more worthwhile to join an organization based on a common quality or interest, like the U.S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce or the Chamber of E-Commerce.

Chamber of commerce organizations can help nearly any business grow and thrive in some way. If you’re deciding whether or not to join one, it mainly comes down to finding the groups in your state and area and learning the specific membership benefits they offer, then weighing them against the costs. If you can find the right organizations, you can access resources and build that very important trust factor between your business and target customers.

Image: Depositphotos.com

This article, "What is a Local Chamber of Commerce and Should Your Small Business Join One?" was first published on Small Business Trends

Klosebuy is a digital advertising app that geolocates your small business so consumers can find you as soon as you subscribe. It doesn’t matter whether they’re on the web or using a mobile app either.

It manages your digital marketing, consumer acquisition and customer loyalty needs too. Small Business Trends contacted Frank Fennell IV, President/CEO of Klosebuy to find out what small local businesses need to know about it.

“One subscription to Klosebuy delivers a comprehensive suite of solutions you might otherwise spend hundreds of dollars a month on,” he writes.

Simple and Friendly

It’s simple and user friendly too since there’s no hardware or integration IT professionals needed. Fennell says SMBs can get going quickly.

“A local small business can easily be up and running in a matter of minutes on Klosebuy.  Using the provided marketing collateral and materials, a small business owner can begin engaging and enrolling their customers right away.”

After that, it only takes a few days to see the benefits of re-marketing and retargeting ads, loyalty points, direct digital marketing and more.

The digital marketing aspect works with a customer loyalty angle.  Downloading the app provides prospects with promo codes and points they can exchange for rewards.

Features of the Klosebuy App

There is a digital advertising, loyalty program and an unlimited customer database to name just a few of the features. For small businesses, the real-time reports and analytics can help you make the necessary marketing tweaks. Klosebuy can also schedule emails and send offers and promotions directly to your customers smart phones.

This app has even taken on the age-old problem for small business owners, time. Through Klosebuy’s  Managed Services platform, a company professional can manage everything for you. These accounts leverage the expertise of marketing professionals from across the country.

Marketing Tools

SMBs should take note—it even helps you keep an eye on how well or poorly your marketing tools are doing.

“Klosebuy connects business owners to every person they come in contact with. Whether walk-ins within the business or on social media. It collects real-time data on your ads/promos/offers, and helps you fine tune your efforts.”

The Klosebuy app is like a lot of other good ideas that wind up being useful to small businesses. The concept started big and filtered down using tech to appeal to a wide business audience.

Fennell explains.

“Klosebuy was founded by people with years of experience in the loyalty and similar industries where the products and services were only affordable to large organizations.  Our goal since day one has been to create a service offering that is affordable to all business, in particular small businesses.”

They’ve put the work in to scale the product and make it affordable and reliable. It took 5 years and more than 13M lines of code to create Klosebuy.

So , who is it designed for? Fennell says the stable of businesses that can bump their ROI with this app is big.

B2C Business

“Klosebuy fits any B2C business that is interested in growing sales, creating and growing their customer database, and repeat business,” he says.  “The IT delivers real benefits to restaurants, retail, entertainment, big ticket, sports, music, grocery, … the list can go on and on.

There’s a 30 day free trial and a monthly and yearly subscription. Small businesses can get started with Klosebuy here.

Image: klosebuy.com

This article, "How Can the Klosebuy App Help Your Local Business?" was first published on Small Business Trends

Many small businesses are struggling as a result of closures and social distancing practices put in place because of the coronavirus pandemic. Here are 25 ways you can help small businesses right now.

How to Help Small Businesses

If you want to help local small businesses by supporting your favorite local shops, restaurants, and others stay afloat during this time, here are some ways you can do so.

Purchase Gift Certificates

If you can afford it, purchase gift cards from your favorite local businesses during this time. You’ll be supporting their operations when they need it most, and when businesses reopen, you’ll be able to enjoy your favorite goods and services that you’ve already paid for.

Order Takeout or Delivery

Restaurants in many states and cities are not open for dining in. However, you may still be able to get your favorite dishes delivered to your door. Or you could try picking up meals from those that offer it — just order ahead to avoid waiting in lines.

Purchase Products Online

For retail businesses where you’d normally shop in person, see if they’re offering online orders at this time. Even if their website isn’t set up to do so, they might offer flash sales on social media or other platforms.

Keep Memberships Going

Subscription or membership based businesses like gyms and fitness studios rely on steady sources of monthly income from members. Since many of these businesses have closed, customers are likely to get refunds or pauses on their memberships. However, if your income isn’t affected by shutdowns, consider keeping these memberships as-is.

Take Online Classes

Additionally, some gyms and similar businesses are finding ways to provide value through online classes. Even if you don’t belong to one already, spending extra time at home may be the perfect excuse to try something new while also supporting a local company.

Share Your Favorites on Social Media

You don’t need to have extra money to support small businesses during this time. If you’re concerned about your own finances but still want to help, shout out some of your favorite companies, products, or promotions on social media to let your friends know.

Connect with Companies Online

You can also help small businesses increase their online reach simply by interacting with their profiles. Follow a few more of your favorites, and then like and comment on their posts to improve their engagement. This will help more of their content show up in others’ feeds.

Leave Positive Reviews

Are there businesses in your area that you’ve always meant to leave a review for and just never got around to it? This period where you’re killing time at home is the perfect opportunity to help them gain some social proof and improve their online rankings. And it’s free!

Refer People Directly

Of course, you can also help simply by talking about your favorite small businesses to others via text, phone calls, or video calls.

Use Financing to Purchase Larger Items

Many small businesses offer financing or layaway options for larger purchases. Don’t purchase items you can’t afford, but if there’s something you were planning on buying anyway, now is the perfect time to get a good rate and keep your favorite shops afloat.

Contribute to Crowdfunding Campaigns

People around the country are starting crowdfunding campaigns to support small businesses and their employees that need financial assistance. Browse GoFundMe or social media to find causes you can contribute to.

Or Get a Campaign Started

If you can’t afford a donation or if there’s not a campaign started for your favorite local business, you could be the person who gets one off the ground. Consult with the company first to see what their needs are.

Create a Community Organization

If you want to support a variety of businesses in your area and get others involved, consider creating a community fund or support group. You can either collect money or come up with creative ideas to help local businesses. Use social media or local forums to facilitate conversations with others in your area.

Start a Local Business Directory

To help all the businesses in your area get more attention, create an online directory where people can easily find companies to support. You can even keep it going once foot traffic restores to facilitate a quicker recovery.

Tip Generously

If you can afford it, tip restaurant employees and delivery drivers a bit extra during this time. This helps them make up for some of their lost earnings and helps their employers feel a bit less strained.

Offer Support Services

A little break in the action is the perfect opportunity for many small business owners to focus on things like marketing, creating a new logo, or building a website. However, the loss of customers means they may not be able to afford these services. If you specialize in an area that could help small businesses, offer your services for free or trade.

Start New Home Projects

Being stuck at home is the perfect excuse to do some light remodeling or redecorating. Purchase supplies from a local hardware store or order from online decor shops to make your space feel cozy during this prolonged period.

Take Up a New Hobby

It’s also a great opportunity to learn or try new things, like painting, playing a musical instrument, or building model cars. Purchase the supplies you need from small retailers. And get your information from small business owners as well. For example, there might be a piano teacher in your area offering online lessons or sharing videos on YouTube.

Buy Quarantine Gifts for Friends

Want to do something nice for the people in your life who are having a hard time? Purchase gifts from your favorite small retailers and have them shipped directly to your favorite people.

Stock Up on Items You’ll Need Later

You might also purchase items that you don’t need immediately, like gifts for birthdays that are a few months off or summer gear for your family to use in the backyard.

Purchase Virtual Products

Lots of small businesses are getting creative during this time by offering virtual or downloadable versions of their products. You may even be able to buy these for a lower rate than the physical products.

Send a Kind Note

A little kindness goes a long way, especially during stressful seasons. If you can’t support small businesses financially, send them a quick note via email or social media to tell them how much you appreciate it. You could make the team’s day.

Have Patience

For those who are ordering products or services from businesses that have had to make adjustments during this time, be patient. They probably aren’t used to the new processes they’ve been forced to pick up very quickly. So if shipping takes longer than you thought or the delivery process isn’t seamless, stay calm and be kind throughout your interactions.

Ask Business Owners How You Can Help

Some business owners may need help in areas outside of the obvious ones. If you know any entrepreneurs in your area or online, reach out and ask if there’s anything specific they need. Even if there isn’t, they’ll probably appreciate the sentiment.

Opt for Local Stores Over Chains When Possible

The general idea is to purchase from small stores or businesses during this time whenever possible. Even if you don’t have extra money you spend, heading to the corner market for groceries over the big box store can make a major difference for that business owner. This is ultimately a positive practice all the time, but it’s especially important now that many small businesses are struggling to stay afloat.

Image: Depositphotos.com

This article, "25 Ways YOU Can Help Small Businesses Now" was first published on Small Business Trends

Despite the overwhelming preference for digital media among modern marketers, traditional advertising methods are still being implemented today and driving great results. Newspaper, TV and radio spots can offer tons of potential for businesses looking to reach a local market — if they’re used the right way.

Traditional Local Ad Campaign Tips

To help with your next traditional media campaign, we asked members of Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) the following question:

“What is an important thing to remember when planning a radio, TV or newspaper ad specifically for your local market? Why should business leaders keep this element in mind?”

Here’s what YEC community members had to say:

1. Know Your Audience

“First, know your audience and prepare a script by keeping in mind the kind of audience you are reaching. Knowing your audience is the most important because this will determine the kind of topics, themes and language you use in your script.” ~ Patrick Barnhill, Specialist ID, Inc.

2. Focus on One Key Message

“A common local business mistake is to advertise everything that the business offers. But that much information ends up confusing people and leaving viewers with no strong impression. If you’re advertising locally, pick one ‘tip of the spear’ message and hammer it home with repetition. Even if you do a variety of things, your campaign will work best when viewers receive only one key message.” ~ Peter Kozodoy, GEM Advertising

3. Highlight the Local Benefits

“Focus on what your local community needs and looks for from companies. Highlight those benefits that you know your local audience wants.” ~ Angela Ruth, Calendar

4. Track Your Performance

“Create a custom call-to-action, clippable coupons, trackable phone number or vanity URL so that you can find ways to directly attribute your ad to sales. It’s easy to throw good money at bad marketing when you don’t have a strong attribution model in place. But when you pay close attention to how to track your performance, then you know which campaigns to reinvest in or pause.” ~ Firas Kittaneh, Zoma Mattress

5. Leverage Local Events and Holidays

“Many places have local traditions and even holidays unique to that place. It’s very impactful to create your marketing communication to reflect local features. You’ll build a sense of community that creates a positive impression. In this way, you’ll help develop a great brand image in your area.” ~ Blair Williams, MemberPress

6. Keep It Short and To-the-Point

“Radio and TV ads are time-sensitive, and newspapers only have so much space per advertisement. Consider the length of your promotion to make sure it is short and to-the-point. You don’t want to end up in a position where you’re making edits right before your ad goes live.” ~ Chris Christoff, MonsterInsights

7. Set Up Google My Business Before Creating Ads

“Have you set up a Google My Business account yet? If not, you need to before creating ads for your local market. When people see those ads, a lot of them will use Google to learn more about your business, but if you fail to show up in search, you’ll lose potential leads and customers.” ~ Stephanie Wells, Formidable Forms

8. Create Locally-Focused Content

“If you want to target your local market, then you need to create locally-focused content. It’ll speak directly to your local audience, who’s now interested in this new business catering to its community. You’ll establish your business’s trust with consumers and encourage them to invest in a company in their own town.” ~ Jared Atchison, WPForms

9. Invest Time and Money in Your Creative

“In this era where consumers are constantly overloaded with information and bombarded with advertisements, try to generate something eye-catching that stands out from the rest of the ads you can find on TV or in the newspapers. Invest the time and money necessary for the final result to be effective and to justify your investment in that ad.” ~ Kevin Leyes, Leyes Media & Team Leyes, by Leyes Enterprises

10. Test Your Ad With Local Focus Groups

“Just because it’s your local market, don’t make assumptions on your audience’s preferences or needs. Before spending on a local ad buy, focus-group the ad with actual community members from your area. A focus group will provide you a real-time response for how the community will perceive the ad and allows you to make any necessary adjustments before airing.” ~ Jordan Conrad, Writing Explained

11. Collaborate With Local Businesses

“Look for other local businesses that have been around for a while and that also complement your business or product. You can collaborate with them to leverage their presence while promoting your own business. You’ll boost trust and a positive relationship quickly by collaborating with a local partner for any marketing activity.” ~ Syed Balkhi, WPBeginner

12. Give Your Ad a Broad Appeal

“A specific ad may be targeted based on the show, content or stats provided by the radio, newspaper or TV company, but there is really no assurance of the viewers’ or readers’ age, so it is a risk you have to take. The ad should be relatable to everyone, understandable and catch attention within 10 seconds. People should consider it a part of the whole entertainment, instead of an ad.” ~ Daisy Jing, Banish

13. Use Local Knowledge to Make it Memorable

“Advertising to a local audience should show local knowledge so it seems authentic to your audience. By hitting local trigger points, you make the ad personal to the viewer. Any ad needs to be memorable to get the most value out of it. A memorable ad stays in the mind, so essentially earns you more customer brain-space than a good but ultimately forgettable ad. Ads that are talked about reach even more ears.” ~ Yaniv Masjedi, Nextiva

14. Consider Better-Targeted Alternatives

“I’d suggest considering platforms where you can get a better ROI. Most TV, radio and print media ads aren’t well-targeted compared to modern platforms such as email and social media. If your message is truly local, find the medium where your audience is likely to see or hear your message. For example, promote a concert where customers are likely to listen to a certain radio station.” ~ Kalin Kassabov, ProTexting

15. Bring In Help

“No matter how creative you think you may be, understand that there are likely far more creative people than you just an email away. If you are going to invest resources into a localized ad, hire a professional who can bring new ideas to the table. Having that extra creative assistance will make your ad that much more effective.” ~ Zach Binder, Bell + Ivy

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• Advertising Ideas for Small Business

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This article, "15 Tips for Running a Successful ‘Traditional’ Ad Campaign for Your Local Market" was first published on Small Business Trends

Surveys can be an effective research tool for small businesses. You can use them to collect feedback from customers, learn about the needs and wants of your target audience, or even learn how your employees view your company’s operations.

However, it’s not as simple as just throwing a few basic questions at your customers or team members. Using survey best practices can help you ultimately gather more responses, more accurate results, and clearer data that point your business in the right direction.

Survey Best Practices

A carefully planned survey design can help you get better results from your market research initiatives. Most small businesses should complete surveys regularly, including sending out questions to customers after purchases, researching markets before introducing new products or services, and making sure employees are happy with their current working conditions. Before you start crafting your questions, here are some best practices to keep in mind.

1. Set Goals

Before you start designing your survey, you need to think about what you want it to accomplish. These goals will drive a lot of the decisions you will make as the survey is created, implemented, and the results analyzed. Keep your goal in mind to limit the number of questions and make sure everything is focused. You can always complete another survey later on for topics that don’t fit with your current objectives.

2. Choose Your Target Audience

For best results, you need your survey to go to those you actually want to hear from. If you’re considering a new product that appeals to your target customers of women in their 50’s, then a series of questions sent to millennials isn’t going to get the results you’re looking for. Clearly outline who you want to hear from and why before shaping your survey design.

3. Keep It Short

Respondents aren’t likely to actually complete lengthy surveys. You’ll get more results if you keep it under around five minutes. Anything longer than ten is likely to see a lot of abandonment, and thus make it harder for you to get a representative sample. You might even state upfront how long the survey is likely to take, or keep a running tally of how many questions are left so respondents can see their progress as they go.

4. Start with Easy Questions

People are also likely to abandon surveys if they think the questions are difficult or invasive right away. Ease them into it by asking simple questions with predetermined choices so they’re more likely to keep going. This means saving any open-ended or leading questions that deal with personal or demographic data until later on.

5. Provide Options

There’s a time and place for open-ended questions. But you’ll get more data that’s easily quantitative if you provide multiple options. These questions are also easier for people to answer, so try to keep the bulk of your questions to this style.

6. Avoid Double-Barreled Questions

If you ask two questions in one, it’s difficult for people to answer accurately. For example: Do you love pancakes and bacon for breakfast? Well, some people might love pancakes but not bacon — so how should they answer? Separate these types of questions or clarify the wording so they don’t confuse respondents.

7. Avoid Leading Questions

Asking something like “Wouldn’t you love to see a product like this on your store shelves?” is more likely to get positive responses than, “How likely would you be to purchase this product?” With this type of question, survey takers may be more likely to tell you what you want to hear. However, most small businesses should be looking for accuracy rather than reassurance, so keep it as neutral as possible to get people’s real feelings.

8. Keep Options Balanced

Another way to skew answers in one direction is to provide options that clearly lean that way. More specifically, don’t provide responses like: strongly agree, agree, somewhat agree, neutral, disagree. This clearly provides more opportunities for people to agree with your statement. Instead, keep everything balanced around one neutral option.

9. Use Open-Ended Questions Sparingly

There are instances where you may want people to provide open-ended feedback. Just try to keep it to one or two questions per survey, since they tend to take more time and tough to answer. Additionally, you should mainly include them toward the end of the questionnaire so people are more likely to keep going rather than quitting on a survey as soon as they reach a tough question early on. In these instances, explain what type of answer or length you’re looking for so respondents don’t feel like they need to write a novel just to answer a specific question.

10. Provide Mutually Exclusive Options

There should never be an instance where more than one answer to a single question may overlap. This commonly happens with numbers. For example, if you need to include a range, you might think that responses like: 0-10, 10-20, and 20-30 makes sense. However, if someone’s answer to that particular question is 20, they could realistically pick either of the last two options. Instead, clarify with options like: 0-10, 11-20, and 21-30.

11. Use Consistent Formatting

You’re likely to have some survey questions that offer similar options, like: strongly agree, agree, neutral, disagree, strongly disagree. When offering the same options, try to keep them in the same order and format so people don’t get confused. If people are used to clicking the option on the right when they agree with a statement, they may do so accidentally if you switch the options around.

12. Tailor Language to Your Target Audience

It can be easy for people in an industry to use jargon or insider terms when describing a product or concept without even realizing it. But if you’re surveying customers or potential customers, they may not understand these terms clearly. Always put yourself in the respondents’ shoes when explaining questions, or ask people who fit into your target audience for input when crafting questions.

13. Use Precise Language

You also want to be very specific when asking questions on surveys. Try to keep each question as short as possible, and use active voice to make points as clear as possible. Do your best to cut out redundancies or extra language that isn’t necessary for understanding each question.

14. Provide More Options for Increased Accuracy

If you’re looking for really specific data, include more options for respondents to choose from. If you only give people the opportunity to choose between one positive and one negative response, you might miss there are a ton of people in the middle who feel fairly neutral about the concept you’ve described. More options allow you to drill down more and get to people’s real feelings.

15. Delete Repetition

There’s more than one way to ask a question. But if you ask people very similar things more than once, they might get confused or frustrated, which can muddle your data. This also makes your survey unnecessarily longer, which means you’ll collect fewer responses overall.

16. Consider Including Images or Video for Clarification

Some survey platforms allow you to add photos or videos with questions. If it’s difficult to describe something with only words, these features may help you keep your survey easy and clarify points or ideas quickly. This may be especially relevant when introducing new products or comparing multiple options. Just make sure you have quality images or videos that fit with your exact needs.

17. Save Personal Questions for the End

Respondents are likely to exit a survey early on if they’re asked personal or invasive questions right away. Once you’ve built up some trust and explained the reason why you’re collecting their information, they may be more likely to stick around. Even details like the first name, last name, email address, and demographic information should be placed toward the end.

18. Seek Out a Representative Sample

If you’re looking to survey your customers, you’ll get more accurate information if your sample reflects your entire customer base. It’s unlikely that you’ll get responses from everyone, but your data isn’t going to be as reliable if you only question one type of customer. Instead, break your respondents down into groups based on things like demographics and location and try to get responses from people in all of those groups.

19. Have a Number in Mind

It’s also important to collect enough information that your survey data may be reliable. This number can vary depending on your goals. For example, a survey of your small team may only require 20 responses, while a survey about a new product for customers may require 1,000 or more.

20. Consider Incentives

If you want people to actually complete your survey, give them a reason to. It doesn’t need to be complicated or expensive. You might just send out a survey to your email list and enter those who complete it into a raffle for a free item.

21. Explain Your Goals

People are also more likely to complete surveys if they understand the purpose. If you’re surveying employees, you might tell them their responses will be used to create a better working environment. If you’re surveying customers, you could explain how you want to improve customer service or grow your product line and want to make sure the new products appeal to them.

22. Test Your Survey Before Sending

Even if you’ve kept all of these best practices in mind while constructing your questions, there may be simple mistakes or things that aren’t clear in your survey that you simply didn’t catch while writing it. Before actually sending it out, take the survey yourself or have someone else complete it to make sure each question makes sense and works toward your original objectives.

23. Visualize Feedback

Once you’ve collected responses, it’s time to actually break down your findings. It can be easier to do this with visuals like charts and graphs. Some survey tools do this for you, or you could use a design program to create these representations. This can be useful in presentations to team members or just help you more easily digest the data from all the questions survey takers answered.

24. Break Down Responses into Categories

You should also dig deeper into your findings to look for underlying trends. For example, your customer base as a whole might like your new product idea, but if you break it down into demographic groups, you might see that older consumers love it a lot more than younger consumers. This could help you shape who you market the new product to, ultimately giving you the best chance of success in your new initiatives.

25. Act on Your Findings

Your surveys won’t do much good if you don’t actually use what you find. Not every survey question necessarily requires immediate action, but you should dig into action items based on the overall trends and consider whether or not changes may be necessary, whether it’s improvements to your customer service strategy or a new marketing plan for specific customers.

How to Create a Survey

There are many ways to create a survey, both online and off. A few of the most popular include:

SurveyMonkey

SurveyMonkey offers a variety of survey solutions for businesses of various sizes. You can choose templates like customer satisfaction surveys, HR surveys, and opinion polls. You can also use their online platform to distribute surveys to relevant consumers, or use your own email list to distribute questions to current customers or employees.

Zoho Survey

Zoho Survey is a free online survey tool that includes a variety of question types and themes. You can distribute surveys via email address, website embed codes, Facebook, or even offline. There are also pre-made templates and paid plans available for those who want to create a more thorough survey strategy.

Survey Gizmo

Survey Gizmo is an enterprise tool for survey creation and distribution. You can use the tool to ask questions in simple polls, run A/B testing, or even create branded surveys that are specific to your company. There are a variety of paid plans to choose from, with customized enterprise options as well.

For more options, check out: 25 Survey Tools for Your Business

Conclusion

Whether you’re considering starting your very first market research strategy or struggling over a specific question for survey takers in your organization, make sure to always keep your survey design and strategy in mind. The best practices above can help you keep your company’s goals in mind and ultimately achieve more accurate results and better outcomes.

Image: Depositphotos.com

This article, "25 Best Practices for Surveys" was first published on Small Business Trends

A survey of small businesses by Uberall has found that 81% of local searches for small businesses are unbranded. This is compared with 19% of queries that feature a branded term.

According to the survey titled ‘Branded vs Unbranded Search’   it is important for local small businesses to fill out their online profiles with services like Google My Business, which typically drive local businesses to the top of “near me” searches.

Uberall Local Search Survey

Uberall examined 22 global brands, with 48,000 locations and more than 450,000 SMBs, between August 2018 and August 2019. The goal was to determine the relationship and frequency of branded and unbranded search.

The report says consumers discover global brands more often through unbranded queries (58%). This puts businesses in a highly competitive footing as they are lumped together with others not based on their unique offering but on their particular product or service offering. The search queries range from the extremely general to the very specific businesses that try to balance these two extremes so they can have more chances of being picked.

However, during the survey, the study’s one-year period found that branded search had increased by 136%, while unbranded searches grew 75%. This is in part Google prioritizing growing local search on its platform for the growth in visibility.

“Companies need to optimize for both types of search and especially unbranded queries. If you’re Bank of America, for example, you need to rank for your own terms but also for searches like ‘best 0% APR credit cards’ or ‘lowest mortgage rates,” said Greg Sterling, Uberall’s VP of Insights.

Navigating the Changing Consumer Journey

Consumers today find their information online using mobile phones to source what they need at the moment they need it. And in the report, 90% of these consumers are not sure which brand they want when they begin their search. A huge portion of these (88%) will go online to search for a location that sells the items they need. And when they’re ready to buy, almost three-quarters of the purchases (76%) take place within 24 hours of the query.

As such the survey points out the need to ensure businesses provide accurate information for their store locations.

Responsiveness to customer reviews is also important. In terms of average review reply rate, small businesses do reply more than their larger counterparts. Small businesses reply by an average of 25% compared to enterprises (12%) and global businesses (9%).

The study also found branded search rates vary considerably by industry. For example, 88% of searches in the business-to-business (B2B) segment were unbranded. This indicates buyers are higher in the funnel and potentially more open to discovery and persuasion.

Conversely, for the hospitality and travel industry more than half of the queries (62%) feature a brand term. The case for the industry stems from the high degree of brand familiarity and loyalty among those searching for travel.

Irrespective of the industry, businesses will need to gather insights on customers’ query processes. For example, they have to determine what queries consumers are fielding and tweak their descriptions to meet those queries. Furthermore, working with third-party providers can help businesses boost their ratings on both unbranded and branded queries.

Getting Your Brand Recognized, Even as a Small Business

Branding is an important component of your company’s image and competitiveness. Businesses of all sizes use branding to help them recommend their products over others by laying out the reasons why theirs’s is better. Branding is what makes a product or service stand out in a crowd of similar products and services. The right branding can easily get you noticed, remembered and purchased from.

Your brand whether it is a logo, name or acronym by the attributes you attach to it is making a promise to your customers both new and old. Because of the emotional, psychological or functionality of your brand’s promise, in essence, it makes pre-sales of your products and services.

Besides selling products and services through your brand you are creating trust, improving your recognition and adding value to your marketing mix. With your brand you allow people to refer you to others and help you generate more revenue.

Behind any great brand lies a great branding strategy. An effective branding strategy should always have the customer in mind. It should align itself with the customers’ needs and wants and importantly deliver on them.

Through its messaging, it should clearly underline why your businesses should matter to your customers. It should in essence answer why they should try your offerings. This will help you and your employees design ways where you can build a consistent and valuable experience for all your customers.

A successful branding effort can even lead one to transform your customers to be your very own brand ambassadors. This means you have succeeded in getting enough levels of buy-in from your clients that they have voluntarily opted to be your spokespersons.

Image: Depositphotos.com

This article, "81% of Local Searches for Small Businesses are Unbranded" was first published on Small Business Trends

Google My Business will begin allowing service businesses to book appointments soon. This includes allowing Google My Business merchants to add “online appointments,” “online classes,” or “online estimates” attributes to their Business Profiles.

The more information a business can provide online to its customers, the better they can serve them. And more than ever this is highlighting the importance of having a digital presence.

In the announcement, Jen Fitzpatrick, Senior Vice President, Google Maps, explains the goal is to “Help businesses get the support they need, adapt their operations, and quickly update customers about their latest changes.” And this includes implementing new features and helping businesses communicate their latest services, operating hours, options and promotions. And increasingly digital technology is making this information readily available to customers.

Not only is digital technology making this possible, but it is also ensuring small businesses stay operational during this time. A recent report by the Connected Commerce Council in partnership with Google reveals as much.

According to the report, close to a third or 31% said they would close all or part of their business without digital tools. Furthermore, 70% say these tools have been useful with another 74% adding they will return to normal in another six months. So, what are the new tools from Google?

Transitioning Online

The one thing the pandemic is doing is making small business owners aware of the importance of having an online presence. With that in mind, the new features from Google are going to make it easier for businesses to connect with their customers.

As a verified merchant on Google My Business, you can now offer more ways to serve your customers. You can take online appointments, hold online classes, and give estimates. For now, you can add these features using Google My Business, but in the coming weeks, it will be visible on your Business Profiles in Search and Maps.

Google is making this possible by expanding Reserve with Google to help merchants take appointment bookings online. Once a business is part of the platform, it will allow customers to take online bookings directly on Google. They can then share the details on how to pay and take part in the online event using a video platform.

Your Business Information

Access is another benefit of having an online presence. Your customers can quickly find out key operational information so they can come to your place of business or order online. However, you have to keep this information up to date to fully take advantage of it.

The new tools will help you inform your customers about how and when you are operating. You can mark “Temporarily Closed,” “Reopen,” and “Secondary Hours,” directly on Google Search and Maps.

If you are a small business in the restaurant industry, Google has added more third-party ordering providers. This now makes it possible for customers to order delivery and takeout from an additional 25,000 restaurants directly on Google. Additionally, Google will also add options for adding your preferred online ordering partners on your Business Profiles.

This particular feature comes as restaurants struggle with processing fees from third-party delivery services. By being able to specify the ordering platform you prefer, you can choose the most cost effecting company on your delivery for you and your customers.

To date, this is responsible for more than 3 million restaurants changing their dining features in order to adapt to the pandemic. This includes the ability to add support links to their business profile.

Support Links

Let’s face it, small businesses are hurting. And as part of the community they serve, there are many people in those communities who want to help.

Goggle is making this easier by allowing businesses to add support links directly to their Business Profiles on Google. If you chose to do so you can add, one or both, donation and gift card links on your profile. Using these links, your customers can donate directly or buy a gift card.

Goggle is partnering with PayPal and GoFundMe for the donations. For the gift cards, you can use the eligible partners from Google including Square, Toast, Clover and Vagaro.

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• Small Business News

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This article, "Google My Business Allowing Service Businesses to Book Appointments Online" was first published on Small Business Trends

Knowing which digital marketing levers to pull for a good Google ranking can be difficult for small businesses. But the Local Rank Factors Survey for 2020 can help. It defines what’s been working and what hasn’t over the last year.

Small Business Trends contacted Craig J. Mount, the founder of Classy Brain, to find out where SMBs can best spend their SEO dollars. Mount and Darren Shaw are members of a group of local marketers. They do a large survey yearly that highlights the do’s and don’ts of ranking with the search engine.

Small Business Local Search Trends 2021

He started with a primer if you’re still making the jump from a brick and mortar shop.

Higher Position

“Google rank is a concept people tie to positioning in the search engine results in Google,” he writes. “It is generally known a higher positioning in Google’s results leads to more visibility for a website.”

And that means more sales. Mount says the search engine even supplies a pathway to digital success.

“Google provides general direction on how to improve ranking in local search results in its support documents.”

Local Search Results

People shopping online who are looking for shops in their area focus on local search results. They look at Google organic results and Google map results most often. That’s why many small businesses focus on improving in these two areas.

Mount says if you look under the hood of what drives the rankings, you’ll see one common part.

“Local businesses should be investing time and/or money into search engine optimization (SEO),” he says. “SEO is the practice of optimizing the rank factors Google uses in its algorithm.”

Long story short is this. The more a small business invests in SEO, the higher your rankings for your goods and services. And that means customers looking for what you sell have a better chance of finding you.

What Works

And that’s where The Local Rank Factors Survey for 2020 comes into play. Mount explains how it gets put together.

“There are leading experts in the local SEO industry,” he writes. “Every year, Darren Shaw, founder of the company Whitespark, surveys them. The information gets compiled into the Local Search Ranking Factors Survey.”

That said, here’s the list of what works. According to the experts, the top Google My Business rank signals are:

The Primary Google My Business Category 

Putting your business into a category where clients will find your goods and services makes sense.  When you add in the SEO element, search phrases become important. You can start by looking at the ones your competition is using. 

Keywords in Google My Business Title 

A simple tip here will get you the best results. Make sure any keywords you use are relevant to your business. They need to flow too. Have someone read the title back to let you know if the keyword sounds spammy.

Proximity of Address to the Point of Search

Simply put, how close someone is to where you sell your goods and services when they search on Google  is important. That’s why this is become a critical ranking factor.

Mount explains something SMBs need to know about this.

“How close a local consumer is to a business cannot easily be optimized,” he says. That means there is no need to worry about things like keywords here.

Other Factors

The survey also pointed out a few things small businesses should avoid. The following don’t amp up your rankings although some businesses think they do.

Don’t worry too much about keywords in your Google My Business description. The same goes for keywords in Google My Business services. Having the Google My Business messaging feature enabled doesn’t really bump up your rankings either. Likewise for geo-tagging photos that you upload.

Think you can bypass the combined power of a Google listing and SEO?

“Google is responsible for a lot of transactions,” Mount says. “If a local business does not invest in SEO, the competition in the market will.”

Image: Depositphotos

This article, "New Data Shows What’s Working for Local Small Businesses on Google" was first published on Small Business Trends

As a new small business, engaging your community is crucial to getting your business off the ground. The goal is to nurture lasting relationships that will drive your revenue and increase brand awareness; however, forming genuine connections with members of your community requires strategy and patience.

To help you do this, 15 members of Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) answered the following question:

“What’s one effective and creative way small businesses can market to their local communities and bring in new customers?”

Follow their advice to become a staple of your community.

1. Reach Out to Other Local Businesses

“One of the best ways to market yourself to your local community is to reach out to other local businesses. You might be surprised how many are willing to partner up in some capacity. For example, a business might have heavy footfalls but a tiny email list, so you could offer to mention them in your newsletters in exchange for physical advertising on their premises. You can be as creative as you like.” ~ Ismael Wrixen, FE International

2. Get Involved in the Community

“We like to give back when and where we can. Over the years, we have met so many incredible people, some of which have become clients or referred us to friends. Volunteering is win-win. You get to help those in need while expanding your network and making people aware of your business.” ~ Zach Binder, Bell + Ivy

3. Host a Family-Friendly Event

“Even if the products or services your business offers aren’t targeted toward children, think of a fun event that your business can host that people would want to bring their children to. Parents are often looking for low-cost or free and local things to do with their kids, especially during school breaks. You will be serving the community and making real connections.” ~ Reuben Yonatan, SaasList

4. Partner With a Nonprofit Organization

“Small businesses can partner with local nonprofits on an event or support in another related way. Nonprofits develop strong relationships within the local community, and the best ones have a way of naturally bringing people together. Many people enjoy supporting their local businesses, especially ones that are doing good in the community — acts of kindness they can see firsthand.” ~ Charles Bogoian, Kenai Sports

5. Offer Local Discount Codes and Free Shipping

“Giving codes and free shipping to the community will lure and encourage more people to order in a breeze. Through word of mouth, the love of this local community will bring you to another level of status and earn loyalty within your community.” ~ Daisy Jing, Banish

6. Personalize Your Branding and Messaging

“Personalize the branding to the community. If you are selling physical products, provide a special edition unique to the community at hand. Consumers love to feel close to their purchases and there is no better way than providing them this unique offering. When it’s a special edition, you create a mindset that there is a greater value behind the product.” ~ Matthew Podolsky, Florida Law Advisers, P.A.

7. Sponsor a Community Project

“Sponsor or volunteer a community project that benefits a school, town or neighborhood. For example, if you host a public speaking seminar, then you will have interested students and adults looking to improve themselves and to see you as an authority figure. Find a cause that either aligns with your branding or personal interest. This creates exponential benefits for prospects and yourself.” ~ Duran Inci, Optimum7

8. Collaborate With Other Organizations

“One of the most effective and creative ways your small business can grow and support other businesses is through collaboration. Collaboration can offer opportunities to educate your customers and to become a go-to source of information. It can help you grow your network and reach an audience you never would have bumped into otherwise and it can also inspire you to try time- and money-saving tools.” ~ Blair Thomas, eMerchantBroker

9. Donate Your Services

“Give back. Join a charity or nonprofit and give away services. Often this will lead to more business from those charity members. They will share your values and want to help your business succeed, as it helps the charity succeed long term. Plus, you are giving back.” ~ Peter Boyd, PaperStreet Web Design

10. Sign Up for Local Business Listings

“For a small business to market to its local community, it’s important to take advantage of local listings. Putting your business on Google My Business indexes it so those nearby see your results when they search for relevant results. It helps customers make a decision when they’re able to see ratings, reviews, photos and more.” ~ Stephanie Wells, Formidable Forms

11. Sponsor a Local Sports Team

“Participate in a local event or sponsor a local team. For example, if you get signage at a local ballpark, that’s a great way to bring in new customers who might not even know your business exists. Making a donation to a charitable event would get you the same result.” ~ Andrew Schrage, Money Crashers Personal Finance

12. Add a Location Geotag to Your Social Media Content

“One effective way to get noticed locally is to create stories on social media and to add a location geotag to your story. It’ll show up for people looking for content in that area, and you have a great chance of getting noticed and drawing people to your business, especially from the younger generation who historically influence their family’s buying behavior.” ~ Blair Williams, MemberPress

13. Leverage Your Facebook Business Page

“An underestimated way to get visibility online is by creating a business page on Facebook. Facebook has specific page formats for local stores. You’ll be able to add information like location, timings and other details, and search engines do take such pages into account when showing results for local searches. Make sure your brand has profiles and pages on social media.” ~ Syed Balkhi, WPBeginner

14. Explore Traditional Outdoor Ads

“Traditional advertising such as billboards is still something that can be effective for a local community. You can do a lot with people on their phones, but there is still ad space out in the world that is very relevant.” ~ Nicole Munoz, Nicole Munoz Consulting, Inc.

15. Directly Engage Your Customers

“Direct-to-consumer brands have redefined how to engage with their customers by offering personal instruction or coaching. Orangetheory Fitness and gyms are a great example of this, offering on-demand classes. Recent global events have shifted people’s priorities and how they spend their money. The opportunity for small businesses is to design digital products and services that better engage customers.” ~ Ryan Stoner, Dendro

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This article, "15 Effective and Creative Ways to Market to Local Customers" was first published on Small Business Trends