Small, local businesses play a pivotal role in the community, but they naturally don’t ever get as much business as the big brand names, which is a real shame! If you want your little local business to bring in customers, you need to work extra hard.
Getting your name out there and creating brand awareness is a crucial step in growing your biz and climbing the ranks. Here, we’ll take a look at some simple but actionable steps that will help you boost your business in the community (and beyond).
Optimize Your Online Presence
First of all, understand the power of the Internet and use it to your advantage. Having a solid online presence – a website and social media accounts – will help you attract local customers.
When it comes to pulling your audience to your pages, SEO (and especially local SEO) is an essential tool. If you’re not clued up, working with a professional could be in your best interests. If you want to look for an SEO agency Manchester has some great companies that can transform your SEO efforts into actual results.
Engage with Your Community
When it comes to local businesses, getting active with the community is essential! Whenever possible, try to attend local events, like markets, fairs, and charity events, to help you get your name out there and connect with people face-to-face. You could consider sponsoring events or stands, showcase your products, and network.
Engaging with the community can also involve building partnerships and getting involved in collaborations with other local businesses. If you can find like-minded companies and business owners, you can approach them to run joint promotions, bundle your services, create new products together, or even create referral programmes.
Offer Exceptional Customer Service
When people choose small local businesses over a big brand, it’s often because they’re looking for a more personal touch and products handcrafted with more care than mass-produced items. It’s your responsibility to give them exactly that!
You can do this by making sure every product you make is done with care and attention to detail, and that every time you render a service its done with intentionality. You should also ensure that your customers are treated well and with personal recognition wherever possible, building relationships and brand loyalty. It’s these small details that can make all the difference.
Gather and Act on Customer Feedback
Finally, as a local business, it’s easier (and more important) for you to pay attention to what your customers are saying. In a local community, people talk! So having a good reputation is important.
Collect feedback from your customers through surveys and questionnaires, comment cards, and online reviews. Once you have feedback, make sure to actually do something with it – analyse trends, identify pain points, and see where exactly you might be able to improve. We all know that the customer is always right, so listening to what they have to say and using their opinions to help improve your business only makes sense.
