Are you running a local business? You’ll understand first-hand how significant growth is. The more people who know about your small business, your brand will be better off. However, you’ll need to focus on improving several aspects of your business to get to that point first.
We put together this guide on five ways to improve and grow your local business this year. You’ll want to keep reading to learn more about getting your brand’s name out there. Let’s begin!
1. Work on Email Lists
Every business should have an email list. So, if you don’t have one in place for your business yet, you’ll need to work on it. You can create a page where potential customers can sign up on your website.
Then, emails will go out to those on the list occasionally. It’s an automatic process, making it much more convenient for local businesses.
Your email list will help keep you in contact with customers, so use it to send out announcements and newsletters. Plus, they’re great for telling your customers about new products or services you have to offer.
Emails can feel very personal to people, so you’ll want to consider using them in your marketing strategy. They also allow you to reach a broad audience simultaneously, making them excellent for growth.
There are multiple ways to build a strong email list online. No matter what you decide, you must have plenty of written content to capture people’s interest in your company.
2. Improve Your Customer Retention
Once you’ve reached customers, you want to keep them interested in your local business. To grow, you must also ensure your company can hold onto the customers it already has. Otherwise, you’d get plenty of new customers, which wouldn’t matter since you’d lose them just as fast. There’s no growth in that situation.
So, you also need to focus on improving your business’s customer retention. Here are a few ways you can do that:
- Respond to customers quickly when they send you questions or concerns.
- Offer customers multiple ways to reach you. Social media, support chats, and email information should be accessible.
- Offer loyalty programs, discount codes, and special deals. More benefits can make customers stick around much longer.
- Set up a referral program and offer credits or free products for rewards.
- Listen to customer feedback.
- Create an online community for customers to take part in.
Doing all of this can drastically increase your customer retention, which is crucial for small businesses to be successful. Since satisfied customers will talk positively about your brand, it also helps to boost growth through word-of-mouth.
Returning customers are also willing to spend more on new products than first-time shoppers. So, if you plan on dropping new items in your store soon, you’ll want to ensure that you have a solid returning customer base first.
3. Advertise With Your Local Newspaper
Next, you’ll want to set up advertising with your local newspaper. As a local business, those living in your area must know about you. Publishing an article in the newspaper can help you reach an audience of people interested in your business.
Newspaper ads can also be very affordable for local businesses. You’ll pay an advertising rate depending on your ad’s size and placement. So, you can adjust your ad accordingly if you have a small budget. It’s pretty easy to work with, but you should contact the paper well ahead of time to figure out your options.
Those who read newspapers tend to be the most engaged audience since they subscribe to learn more about what’s happening in their community. So, reaching them is often much more beneficial for your local business. You’ll experience growth if you can create ads that are the most interesting to them.
Overall, you shouldn’t forget about advertising in your local newspaper! While most marketing is done online today, you can still reach a large audience through this method.
4. Consider Automating Certain Processes
There are plenty of ways to automate processes within your business today. Getting some of the more mundane and repetitive tasks out of the way allows you to work on more important things that help you grow your business more efficiently.
You can automate social media posts, supply chain management, and customer relationship management (CRM) systems. CRM automation, in particular, can give you insights into what your customers want, helping you to make better business decisions.
You should also automate some parts of your customer service. That way, if a customer needs to reach your team outside of business hours, they can still receive a response.
There are plenty of different AI systems, chatbots, and other types of software that you can use to improve automation within your business.
5. Enhance Your Google Business Profile
You’ll want to work on your Google Business Profile next. Doing so can get you listed on Google and Google Maps, which makes it much easier for people in your area to find your brand.
When you’re trying to grow a small business, you need to compete on a local level. Most people will search “businesses near me” to find a product or service so they don’t have to travel far. If you’re listed on Google, your business will show up at the top, along with your location and essential contact information.
If more interested people can find you, you’ll grow a much larger audience quickly. The more effort you put into your business profile, the more Google will recommend you.
Be a Reliable Local Business
More people will trust your business if you can establish credibility locally. The more people trust you, the more they’ll shop with you, and you’ll have improved customer retention. Local companies must be an active part of their communities for those reasons. You can build your credibility either by having some certifications or licenses just like Mayfield Environmental did or by having great customer reviews.
To summarize, working on your email lists, advertising in your local paper, and automating some processes can also help you improve your business. The more you work on building your brand, the faster it’ll grow.