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.

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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.

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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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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.”

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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

Image: Depositphotos

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

A new Shopify merchant/consumer research reveals local retailers are fighting more than ever to compete with online marketplaces. This as the economy starts opening after what seems like a never-ending pandemic.

Competing With Online Marketplaces

According to Shopify research, two in five local retailers are struggling to compete. And 59% say they may need to close their doors in the next two years. However, almost two-thirds of small business owners (65%) are implementing different tactics to compete with major online marketplaces.

Local retailers are improving store atmosphere (50%), offering more product variety (47%), providing better customer service (45%), increasing store hours (43%), and much more.

Local brick-and-mortar retailers are also selling online to compete, but the report says they are underestimating things that stop consumers from buying. According to Shopify, they can solve this problem with omnichannel selling and technology.

Shopify says local retailers need to view offline retail as one sales channel and not the entirety of their business. And by highlighting key differentiators they can start driving customers through their front door as well as an online presence. This includes customer service, convenience, and price.

Shopify Solutions

Along with the report, Shopify is making a new capability in its app. This new feature enables local retail discovery. This means customers can discover retail merchants nearby based on proximity, sort by local delivery and pickup, see trending shops close by, and more.

• Local filters – Users can locate merchants that are nearby so they can support local businesses. The app identifies businesses that are offering shipping, and pick-up while highlighting return policies.
• Seamless payment and checkout – Using Shop Pay customers can access fast and easy checkout across all brands on the app.
• Transparent tracking – All order and tracking information is stored in one convenient place with Arrive. Tracking provides real-time updates and shows the status of each package.
• Customized recommendations – Personalized recommendations make sure customers consistently rediscover the storefronts of their favorite brands.

The Future of Retail is Flexible

Flexibility is essential for local small retailers to stay alive. As the Shopify report wisely points out, “The idea of selling in only one way is outdated.” This the company says is because commerce is changing too fast to sell only one way. And this also includes physical retail space.

The key is technology because it allows small businesses to stay nimble. With the right solutions, they can optimize their entire operations. From staff to space to sales channels, retailers need to use the available technology, get comfortable with it, and stay nimble.

Image: Depositphotos

This article, "Local Retailers Fight to Compete with Online Marketplaces" was first published on Small Business Trends

Getting involved in your local community is an easy way to build relationships and find loyal customers for your business. Hosting a community event can help you kick-start these relationships, but events can be expensive, and a new small business may not have the resources necessary to host one.

To help small businesses find some effective yet budget-friendly event solutions, a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) members answered the following question:

“Getting active in the community is a great marketing technique for local small businesses. What’s one budget-friendly event idea any small business could host, and how does it attract new customers?”

Try out one of these event ideas to build better relationships with your community.

1. Value-Aligned Events

“Education, fun and philanthropy — one or all of those can be packed into a fun local event. Start simple, provide worth and fun and show off your company’s values. Live events are coming back strong and people want to get out and socialize again in a safe environment. Take advantage of that desire.” ~ Jeff Cayley, Worldwide Cyclery

2. Contests

“Host a fun contest where local neighbors and customers can participate. You can tie in the theme to your brand, and invite people to submit entries and show off their spirit. For example, some libraries host an Edible Book Festival and invite patrons to create displays based on their favorite stories. Scavenger hunts are a low-cost option and may allow you to partner with other stores in the area.” ~ Duran Inci, Optimum7

3. Shredding Events

“On-site shred events are an amazing way to connect and help the local community. People always have stacks of papers to shred in their homes. You could also add a charitable aspect to this and raise money for a local charity to further help your local community. These are fun events and really help people in a huge way. My business does at least one of these events a year for our local community.” ~ Kyle Clayton, Team Clayton of RE/MAX Professionals

4. Workshops

“One way to get active in the local community is to host a free workshop in your business’s space. This will prompt local people to come out and learn about the courses, workshops or services you offer.” ~ Andy Pandharikar, Commerce.AI

5. Volunteering

“Small businesses have a responsibility to be good stewards of the local community and environment. Organizing an old-fashioned beach cleanup or garbage pickup along local hiking trails is a great way to bring people together to do something positive. These events can be a chance to connect with people who want to make a positive impact in the community while doing something helpful.” ~ Matt Wilson, Under30Experiences

6. Product or Service Sampling

“Sponsor small community parties and sample your service or products. Give out flyers and have a good connection with the people in the community. Make sure the niche is right and the timing is perfect!” ~ Daisy Jing, Banish

7. Hobby-Based Events

“One easy but impactful way to get involved with a community is to build a Facebook group around an activity. For example, a craft store could create and moderate a group for specific hobbies in a location. It’s a way to help people learn new things and share information, and you can leverage such a group activity to build your brand image. Over time, this will increase web traffic among your customer base.” ~ Syed Balkhi, WPBeginner

8. Industry-Specific Events

“I’d suggest doing something related to your business that your customers will enjoy. If you’re in a health- or fitness-related field, you could organize a 5K or another type of sporting event. Food-related businesses could put together a food or wine tasting event. You could make the event larger and share the work by partnering with other local businesses in your industry.” ~ Kalin Kassabov, ProTexting

9. Speaking Engagements

“A small business could host a speaking engagement utilizing their own staff members as the product experts. You could offer a discount code as an incentive for attending. After the presentation, you could have a live product demo where customers can get a hands-on feel and chat further with experts. New customers would be attracted by the discount incentive and one-on-one time with industry experts.” ~ Peter Boyd, PaperStreet Web Design

10. Giveaways

“Hosting a contest or giveaway is a great way to build excitement for your brand and attract new customers. Everyone loves winning prizes, and this gives your audience an incentive to participate and tell their friends so they have a chance at winning too.” ~ Stephanie Wells, Formidable Forms

11. Sporting Events

“Try sponsoring a local sporting event, such as a high school or college baseball or football team. This is a great way to get your name out there, and it gives you an excuse to take a day off to watch some sports!” ~ Bryce Welker, Beat The CPA

12. Philanthropic Events

“Small businesses can host philanthropic events to help the community, raise awareness for a cause and build brand awareness. If your product is relevant to a good cause, you can use that to promote it and encourage others to participate as well.” ~ Jared Atchison, WPForms

13. Webinars

“Conducting a webinar can be one of the easiest and most budget-friendly event ideas for small businesses. You can host these webinars in the form of an online session to train your attendees on a specific topic. It’s a good way to generate more leads and establish yourself as a thought leader.” ~ Josh Kohlbach, Wholesale Suite

Image: Depositphotos

This article, "13 Budget-Friendly Events to Draw New Customers to Your Small Business" was first published on Small Business Trends

A lot of small biz owners think that you can only get a review after the customer has purchased their product or service. But what if you could get a review at other times in the buying process to increase your chances of landing a great one?

On The Small Business Radio Show this week, I talk with Shawn Hill who is the Community Director and Fun Delivery Specialist for NiceJob Inc, a reputation marketing software company.

Interview with Shawn Hill of NiceJob Inc.

Shawn says that at any point in the process “you can get a review. But it’s also important for your company to know how you are doing at each stage of the sales process and “cultivate final reviews”. This is critical since at each stage ”word of mouth and reputation can change”. You want feedback at every stage especially if they never became a customer.

Shawn adds that it’s critical to understand all the touchpoints in the customer journey. Reviews at each stage can “give the prospect or customer their social proof” at each point not just after the sale. He believes that it can also mitigate any bad reviews and “reset their expectations especially if they are unrealistic. It is important that the customer feels comfortable at that moment to bring up any issues.”

Shawn says there needs to be at least 20 reviews on your company to be a true competitor in your market; “at that point, it also gets a customer comfortable to leave the reviews on their own.” According to Shawn, you can never have too many reviews but make sure they come in consistently or at least a few times a month.

With bad reviews, prospects want to know how your business will react when things go wrong. Shawn suggests that you “respond by apologizing. Tell them that your company failed to meet their standards and we can work with you to do better.”

Listen to the entire interview on The Small Business Radio Show this week.

Image: Shawny Hill

This article, "How to Get a Review at Every Stage of the Customer Journey" was first published on Small Business Trends

Competition between businesses gets fierce during the holiday season. This means your marketing game needs to be on point if you want to steal the spotlight from your competitors and attract more customers during this busy time of year — especially if you’re a small- and medium-sized business operating on a limited budget.

To help get you started, 12 professionals from Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) answered the following question:

“What’s one local marketing tactic small businesses can use to attract more customers during the holiday season? Why is this an effective approach?”

Here are a few of the methods they think can propel your holiday marketing to new heights.

1. Share Content From Your GMB Listing

“A commonly overlooked local marketing tactic that small- and medium-sized businesses can use to attract more customers is sharing content (special offers, videos, images, etc.) from their Google My Business (GMB) listing. Google posts can increase your visibility in Google searches, show up in Google Discover (over 800 million users) and are now also prominently displayed in the Google Maps app ‘Explore’ tab.” ~ Kevin Getch, Webfor

2. Reach Out to Local Influencers

“Reach out to local influencers for campaigns. Meet with people who host events and run small organizations like charities, mom groups, hobbyist groups and more around your community. Of course, what you sell has to be of value to these influencers and, in extension, to those you want to reach. If they like your product, others will buy too. Results can be pleasantly surprising if done well.” ~ Samuel Thimothy, OneIMS

3. Get a Booth at a Local Christmas Market

“Depending on the business, some companies can do well by getting a booth at one of the local Christmas markets. Many towns will do one or even several of these and it’s a great time to meet with the community face-to-face while selling your products.” ~ Andy Karuza, Base64.ai

4. Send Out Email Newsletters

“You can use email newsletters to connect with your local audience and boost your conversions and sales during the holiday season. Email marketing is an effective way to reach your customers so you can sell products, promote deals and more.” ~ Stephanie Wells, Formidable Forms

5. Give Away Free ‘Pieces’ of Your Product or Service

“One local marketing tactic is to give out ‘pieces’ of your product or service for free. Let people try a piece of it at no charge. The ‘free’ will attract them and, after they use it, they will want to move forward with finding out more information. From there, you can connect and sell.” ~ Lisa Collum, Top Score Writing

6. Create a Holiday Party Approach

“Businesses should create a holiday party approach during the holiday season. That should reflect in their marketing but should also be amplified in their physical and online stores. That means going beyond holiday decor. It also means music, party favors, hot apple cider and goodies for all customers walking in.” ~ Baruch Labunski, Rank Secure

7. Offer Interactive Photo Ops

“Try offering photo ops. Holographic Santa anyone? In-person experiences have declined since 2020, but they are not dead. They offer a way for people to interact in person, in passing, which is great for brand awareness. Follow the hashtags and brand interactions with offers or provide exclusive content for those who interact at an in-person level. It is effective because you are not asking for anything.” ~ Matthew Capala, Alphametic

8. Collaborate With Other Local Businesses

“You can try collaborating with local businesses to cross-promote each other’s brands. Suppose you have a clothing store and you collaborate with a coffee shop. You can give away a free coffee coupon from that store to your customers every time they buy from you. The coffee shop can also do the same by giving a discount coupon to their customers for your clothing store. It helps you attract leads.” ~ Thomas Griffin, OptinMonster

9. Leverage a Word-of-Mouth Strategy

“No marketing strategy can work better than word-of-mouth. So, try leveraging it to maximize your profit. To do that, you have to focus on quality. This is not just for your products, but for customer service as well. If people are satisfied with your business, they will definitely tell others about it.” ~ Josh Kohlbach, Wholesale Suite

10. Use Geolocation Ads on Social Media

“Geolocation advertisements on social media are an excellent way to reach more local customers during the holiday season. When you set geolocation parameters, you can choose who sees your ad based on their location and preferences. This strategy gives you the freedom to create unique offers for the people who live close to your business, which could certainly drive more sales.” ~ Chris Christoff, MonsterInsights

11. Get Involved With Community Events

“An important way for small and local businesses to get more customers is to get involved with the community. People value group events and familial gatherings during the holidays. By being part of a local charity event or some other attraction, you will win the goodwill of your audience. This will lead to greater loyalty and bring more customers to your door.” ~ Syed Balkhi, WPBeginner

12. Use Google’s Local Inventory Ads Feature

“One local marketing tactic I recommend is Google’s new local inventory ads feature. When people search for a product, Google displays ads with the top three businesses offering that product and their exact location. Often, people search for the product they’re looking for, including the phrase ‘near me,’ so when using this feature, you can generate more walk-ins to your store.” ~ Benjamin Rojas, All in One SEO

Image: Depositphotos

This article, "12 Local Marketing Tactics to Attract More Customers This Holiday Season" was first published on Small Business Trends