Category Archives: Local Marketing

Where Small Businesses Should Spend, and Save, Marketing Money

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Where Small Businesses Should Spend, and Save, Marketing Money

Owners of small businesses are generally strapped for time and money. They have to pick and choose carefully where to spend both. Setting marketing priorities is the key to making the most of small business budgets and time management. Here is a look at some small business marketing tactics to embrace or avoid:

Do: Include your company in online directories. The more legitimate sites you have linking back to your company, the better. This will improve your search engine rankings and also ensure that potential customers are able to find you, both physically and digitally. There are plenty of free directories, but you may also find that you get better results with directories that charge a reasonable fee.

Don’t: Spend a lot on outbound marketing. The pre-internet traditional marketing tactics like mailing out coupons or taking out print ads simply do not have the same impact they once did. There is no way to measure their effectiveness either. You may find that certain traditional ad campaigns do help improve business, especially if you are a local establishment. Definitely stick with these initiatives, but avoid others that have unknown results.

Do: Have a company blog. A website is simply not enough. If you want to attract the attention of people with a vested interest in your industry, you need to have a blog with quality content. Clearly label the blog as part of your business but avoid “selling” things on it. Instead, provide expert content for free and build credibility that will lead to future sales.

Don’t: Rely on social media. Yes, social media is a great place to foster relationships with your current and future customers, but it is not enough. You want to put your small business information in as many places as possible and social media sites like Facebook and Twitter represent just a small portion of what is available out there for digital marketing.

Do: Partner with others. A great way to stretch your marketing budget is to collaborate and co-market with other small businesses. Look for inexpensive, or even free, ways to promote your business that is mutually beneficial to another one. The simplest example would be allowing each other to leave business cards in the lobby of each other’s offices. A more advanced partnership could include link building through each other’s sites or allowing free advertising on each other’s websites.

Don’t: Discount the power of word-of-mouth advertising. You can have the most advanced, strategically relevant marketing plan in place but without actual customers recommending you, it will not work. Obviously you want to avoid bad reviews, especially online, but you also want to encourage happy customers to take the time to praise you in cyberspace. Consider giving incentives to customers and clients that are willing to write a positive, genuine review for you. Let potential customers know a little bit about you before they email you, call you or show up at your location.

Every small business will have to customize a marketing plan that best fits its needs and target audience. Remember that just because a tactic works for others or is all the rage, it may not be a good choice for you. Keep your own business goals in mind and spend your money and time on the most effective marketing for your company needs.

(Photo Source)

Megan Totka is the Chief Editor for ChamberofCommerce.com. She specializes on the topic of small business tips and resources. ChamberofCommerce.com helps small businesses grow their business on the web and facilitates connectivity between local businesses and more than 7,000 Chambers of Commerce worldwide.

 

Introducing the Yext Quarterly

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Local discovery is broken. Local data is bad because businesses aren’t in control, so customers can’t get the information they need to make local purchasing decisions.

We created the Yext Quarterly to serve as a resource for the changing local landscape – to stay up-to-date on shifting customer behavior, evolving technology and emerging trends. It’s full of charts, surveys, and interviews – so even whether you are a business owner or a publisher, you’ll learn something new.

In making the Yext Quarterly, we were lucky enough to work with industry experts, Greg Sterling and Andrew Shotland. And since they are journalists, after all, we gave them full control of the editorial.

This first issue addresses ‘The State of Location’, and is intended as a primer for location and local marketing. And we’re excited to bring you exclusive content including:

  • One of the last interviews with Groupon’s Andrew Mason
  • How missing listings are costings businesses $10.3 billion annually
  • The most common location information issues (and how to fix them)
  • Predictions on what’s next to keep you ahead of the trends

The Yext Quarterly is for you. So we want to hear your thoughts, seriously. Send us an email at YQ@yext.com because we need your feedback to make the Yext Quarterly even more useful.

We hope you enjoy the first issue of the Yext Quarterly. Download it here.

Onward!

Infographic: The Cost of Bad Location Data

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Every day, people look online for locations of businesses that they are ready to visit – only to be failed by their local search experience.  The address is wrong, the phone number’s not there, or they can’t find the business at all.  For businesses, this disconnect not only means lost foot traffic, but a lost opportunity for new customers to discover their location for the future.

In order to find the scope of the problem, industry analysts, Andrew Shotland and Greg Sterling, looked at local listings from more than 40,000 business listings.  The data is from companies using location information software from Yext.  The full impact of their findings is published in the Yext Quarterly, but the Cost of Bad Location Data infographic summarizes both the problem and the dollars being lost.

The team found missing and incorrect information across industries – from Retail and Restaurants to Insurance and Banking.  Some of the findings were:

  • 18% of listings of listings have a missing or incorrect phone number.  For Insurance companies and agents, it’s even worse – with 30% of listings not having the correct number available when customers are looking for a new policy.
  • 43% had missing or incorrect addresses.  As people get more mobile with their devices, the impact of this problem – spanning from maps and navigation to local search engines – will only get worse.
  • A full 14% of listings of businesses were missing across industries.  Although there are many ways that inaccurate information are preventing visits, the team looked deeply at the cost of missing listings (where it is sure that customers will not find them digitally) to calculate just a part of the problem.
  • Just for missing listings, the cost is $10.3B a year for the businesses who are not present.  This number was calculated looking at how much more choice consumers now have as they purchase offline and how digital is changing the game for local businesses.

The problem of fragmented and hard-to-manage location data has been created by the new digital world, and at Yext, we know that technology is also bringing the solution – both for businesses and for the people who visit them.

The full report is available in the Yext Quarterly, or for the infographic, please download it here. For the full Yext Quarterly, download here.

$10.3B Is Lost By Businesses With Missing Listings

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With the rise of mobile, digital location information is an increasingly powerful driver in why and how people purchase offline today, and it significantly impacts how businesses stay in the flow of consumer decision-making. For locations with missing and incorrect digital information there is significant missed opportunity – to the tune of $10.3B for US businesses.

In today’s Financial Times, Emily Steel notes:

“While the internet has emerged as the go-to source for finding location information and details about businesses ranging from hair salons and veterinary clinics to gyms and restaurants, it is rife with errors. As a result, companies are missing out on customers at their bricks-and-mortar stores, and driving them to competitors, say analysts.”

The full article appears in the Yext Quarterly with original research by Greg Sterling, Andrew Shotland, and Yext that illustrates impact of missing listings:

  • The internet is the most popular source for finding location information, but it’s full or errors and outdated information.  These errors are often duplicated across other networks and sites, creating a multiplier effect.  Even worse, essential data is missing online, preventing customers from even visiting a business
  • Looking at 40,000+ business listings on 50+ local directory sites, the study showed 43% of listings—almost half – had at least one incorrect or missing address
  • When customers find incorrect information, 15.1% of people would “look for another merchant”
  • When listings are missing, customers choose another merchant, which costs retailers and local merchants $10.3 billion annually

For businesses, digital has actually fueled the problem of fragmentation, and in 2013, this is an issue that technology can and should fix very easily.  As customers, we should be demanding correct location information, and as businesses, we should be taking advantage of the traffic and the sales correct data enables.

For more background and to download the Yext Quarterly article on the $10.3B in missing listings here.

The Future of Local Commerce That Could Have Been [INTERVIEW]

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No one knows local better then Groupon. Since its launch in 2008, it’s been one of the most adaptive platforms on the web in the very challenging local and small business market. Led by Andrew Mason, Groupon built the industry of local when no one else was paying attention.

We recently sat down with Groupon’s co-founder, Andrew Mason, for his thoughts and insight into the digital challenges small businesses face, what it takes to succeed as an entrepreneur in local, and what local marketing will look like in five years.

The full article will appear in the Yext Quarterly, being published on Monday March 4th. Yext Quarterly is resource that addresses topics on the changing landscape of location, and the first issue covers ‘The State of Location’. Download just the interview, ‘Cracking the Local Code with Andrew Mason’, here.

Here are highlights from the vision for the future of local commerce that could have been:

  • When asked what’s changed in local since Groupon’s founding, Mason said, “I think for sure, mobile, that’s no surprise. Our business just in the last year has gone from 22% mobile, which was already doubling from the year period, to 39-40% mobile this year.”
  • Mason even offered advice to other entrepreneurs starting companies about avoiding the “chicken-and-egg” problem. He said Groupon “actually had the opposite issue; it worked very well at small scale and, as we grew, we ran into issues bringing businesses too many customers. And we’ve had to innovate out of that problem.”
  • He went on to say “you don’t have to be that smart to do well in business, you just have to have the courage to follow you intuition… And being convicted about those principles and being uniting to stray from them in the difference between success and failure.”

Download the interview here.

 

Three Local Marketing Mistakes

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When it comes to local marketing there are no set rules. Each community is different and each individual business has to adjust to its target customer base within that community. Still, there are some basics to marketing successfully to a local audience that cannot be overlooked. If you feel like the return on your local promotional initiatives is hit or miss, you may be neglecting some basics that can bolster your business and reputation in your community.

Here is a look at three common mistakes businesses make when it comes to reaching local customers:

No Web Presence. Even owners of longtime mom and pop establishments can benefit from a simple website or inclusion in an online directory. It is not often that a local business owner says he or she has “too many” customers. In addition to regulars, a web presence brings in new clientele that happen upon sites when looking for a product or service. Many websites cost very little to create and maintain, and results-driven online directories are affordable too. If you are truly at a loss on where to begin in building an online following, hire someone to help you. The money you invest will pay off over time and many companies offer a flat fee to maintain the site for you.

Remember that it is not enough to rely on word-of-mouth or traditional marketing techniques to bring in new local customers. Hanging your digital shingle in cyberspace is also vital and easier than ever to accomplish. Give potential customers the answers to their questions in an immediate way in order to win their business and not lose them to more visible competitors.

Difficulty to Find. This point is similar to having a lack of web presence but applies beyond the digital realm. If people do not know where you are located, they cannot give you their business. This means promoting your web location in addition to your physical address. Unfortunately, people are so programmed to find the answers to all questions immediately that they will not take the time to track you down if a competitor offers ease of information. Do whatever it takes to let people know where you exist, from web presence optimization to the signage outside your location to inclusion in web listings for your industry.

There is really no financial advantage to being an industry “best kept secret.” Ask customers how they found you and how you can improve your physical visibility. Those that are most loyal to your business will want to help and will be honest with you. Do not lose customers to frustration or impatience at having to track you down, instead make it easy to find you and even easier to buy your products or enlist your services.

Lack of Community Outreach. There is a reason that people say “the more you give, the more you get.” Find simple ways to give back to the community of your loyal clients and build your reputation for future local clients. Simple ways to get involved include sponsoring a local event, donating a product or service to a fundraising auction or volunteering at a local non-profit organization. Align your name with a cause that you believe benefits your client base and one that represents your business ideals.

Not only does outreach earn you the respect of the community, but it also creates a culture of social consciousness in your business, encouraging employees to reach out when they are off the clock too. You can feel satisfied knowing that you went beyond the call of duty to help the community and build a strong image of beneficence in the process.

Focus on local marketing does not have to be overwhelming. Find simple ways to reach out to your local audience through an online presence, easy-to-find location and outreach programs. By participating in just a few initiatives, you’re taking down some of the barriers that may be holding your business back.  This then allows you to increase your business and root yourself in your community.

Megan Totka is the Chief Editor for ChamberofCommerce.com, one of the largest business directories on the web.

Take Advantage of Featured Messages

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Customers are searching for your business right now, so make sure it stands out from the competition with Featured Messages.

Featured Messages are 50-character freeform fields to advertise special opportunities for your business. They are the first and only advertising field to be embedded within organic search results, so your customers will see it when they search and on your business listing.

Featured Messages help your business stand out on the web and on mobile:


You can even make your Featured Messages clickable, to link to hosted PDFs, web pages or coupons, sign-up’s or more information.

Use Featured Messages for:

  • Circulars  — Show off your full range of deals
  • Coupons and seasonal offers  — Offer specific coupons for promoted items
  • Updates  — Share new information about your business team or location
  • Loyalty programs  — Connect national goals and priorities to store experiences

This exclusive feature is highlighted both on the search result and the business listing to drive your customers’ interest. And you can update it on-the-go in seconds with our app.

Most importantly, Featured Messages drive results. To get the best results:

  • Use strong calls to action
  • Update at least once a month
  • Provide real incentives like discounts
  • Personalize your message
  • Share timely updates from your mobile phone

It’s easy to get started and easy to update. Click here for more information about Yext Featured Messages.

4 Must-Make Small Business Goals for the New Year

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With a fresh, new year in front of you, the time is right for some goal-setting. Many people make personal resolutions for self-improvement, but neglect to do the same for their small businesses. Goal setting or resolutions for your small business are not just about financial achievement; it should address a small business as an entire entity – much as an individual setting personal goals will likely look into physical, emotional and spiritual areas for improvement.

Here are four specific goals small business owners should strive for in the coming year:

Find yourself. Visit all of the popular search engines and do a search for your business name and any other keywords that you hope lead potential customers to you. How quickly do you find your business in each search? Aside from your official site and blog, what other online locations mention you? From this base information, develop a plan for further saturation across the web. Sign up for social media accounts that you are not currently utilizing, add a secondary blog domain and add your business to online directories that make sense for your location and industry. When potential customers search for you, they should be able to find you in more than one place.

Delegate social media tasks. While the traditional view of business-related social media has been to only allow a select group of public relations employees or company leaders to update statuses and Tweet, this dynamic is shifting. To reach the largest number of clients and consumers, hand over some of that control to other employees too. Start with a company policy regarding what is accepted and what is not allowed when it comes to company-related social media. If you plan to include employees in the initiative that may not be as familiar with social media endeavors, provide some guidance on how to use the most popular platforms and give examples of good ways to use each format.

Consider a mobile app. Development of mobile applications is no longer just for large businesses. Since January 2011, mobile apps have grown from around 100 billion to 1,000 billion worldwide. This has inspired a host of companies that specialize in small business app development at affordable prices. If you have no idea where to even begin with developing a mobile app, seek some guidance from experts. The process is actually much simpler than most small business owners believe and provides a valuable service to customers and clients.

Take breaks – all of them. The amount of hours that you work does not directly increase bottom line, especially if you work too much. Small business owners do not have mandated vacation time but that does not mean it is not needed. Taking a break from work-related tasks, even for one day, leads to higher motivation and rejuvenation. In general, Americans appear to have a fear of taking too much time off work; Expedia reports that 38 percent of U.S. residents take all of the vacation time they earn each year. Don’t fall into the 62 percent category, contact your local travel agency and plan a trip.  Your employees and your body will thank you.  Try to remember that work is a byproduct of the rest of your life – not the other way around.

Megan Totka is the Chief Editor for ChamberofCommerce.com.  ChamberofCommerce.com helps business owners grow their business on the web and can help locate your local Chamber of Commerce

Localization of the Enterprise

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Some business are big, some are small. Some have strong national brands, others are local favorites. But every business needs to have its own personality and stake within its community to succeed. What we’re seeing is a shift in marketing: the localization of the enterprise.

Localization will mean local content matched to local media and searches; localized marketing strategies will have to be able to leverage local experts to be as fast and flexible as the market.

Let’s say, for example, Walmart has fresh locally grown strawberries in stock. Since strawberries have a very short shelf life, that store needs to make sure people know that those strawberries are there right now.

There simply isn’t time to create rich local content, route it through a centralized marketing team, and then send it back to local sources for print, display and more.

What if, instead, the local store manager or regional director could make marketing decisions?

Our CEO, Howard Lerman, recently discussed this very issue in a column on Street Fight. Check out the full article and join the conversation.

How to Capture Holiday Search Traffic for Your Business

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We all know people’s searches change with the season – and when they want to buy now, those searches are local.  In the summer they are looking for for beach chairs and swimwear; then around the holidays they are looking for gifts and decorations. Even though their interests and behaviors adapt to the weather, search remains the tool of choice.

Usually, customers making local searches often don’t have a specific store in mind and are instead looking for categories of businesses in the results.  37% of apparel buyers search for categories rather than specific terms, brands, or retailers.

Consumers make the bulk of their annual purchases around the holidays, so we we used ComScore to see what exactly customers are searching for:

  • “Holiday” and “Holidays” queries peak in December, with almost 580,000 searches, dropping to just 92,000 in January.
  • “Holiday Gifts” only receives a surge in search traffic starting in October and drops off in January annually. “Gifts” queries double from November to December.
  • “Deal” spikes in December as consumers look for gifts for family and friends. Search volume remains high into January after the holidays when customers are purchasing gifts for themselves.
  • “Gift Card” or “Gift Cards” are searched 3x as much in December as in September. The combined search volume is significantly higher than “Gifts” and “Holiday Gifts”.
  • “Holiday Decorations” is only searched from September to January.
  • The average person searches for “Shipping” 3.22 times in January, compared to 1.34 times in December. Is your business prepared for gift returns?

The best way for your customers to find your business in local search is to use categories with your listings to capture the search traffic. Only 43% of business owners associate their listings with a range of related categories, so it’s a competitive advantage for your business.

Based on the search volume from ComScore, more specific terms are more effective. So be sure to choose targeted categories or groups for your listings. For example, try “Hanukkah Decorations” instead of “Decorations”. To capture the larger audience, instead select more than one specific category.

As search terms change throughout the year, so should your listing categories. So update your listing categories for the holidays to capture the most local search traffic and generate sales before the season ends.