Today’s customers have a lot of places they can spend their money. Online websites, local stores, big box stores…there an overwhelming number of places for consumers to spend their money.
Why should they choose your business?
The question itself is incredibly common among business owners. The answer is different for every business; however, if analyzed and used correctly, can yield incredible marketing and sales results.
Connect online.
Every business should strive to start a conversation with customers. Create and maintain a complete online presence with an optimized website, blog, and social media sites. Establish a stellar website with content optimized for search engines and created for the target audience (both written and images).
Produce premium content with the same audience in mind and choose the social media sites that are frequented by those users (use this social media demographic chart as a reference). Regularly update the social media sites with relevant content (i.e. videos, images, written content) that the target audience wants to see—and wants to engage with. In essence, use an online presence to create a connection that converts visitors to customers.
Choose a unique tone.
Snarky, smart, fun, professional, silly. Every business should have a tone that sets them apart and makes them unique. Decide on the tone and use it in every marketing effort (i.e. social media, printed materials, e-mails). A distinctive tone paired with properly branded materials makes a business easily identifiable—even among the industry crowd.
Invest in effective local marketing tactics
Be selective about choosing marketing efforts. The most effective tactics are delivered in ways that the target audience communicates, such as sending printed materials to a more experienced demographic. For a local business, tactics with the highest return-on-investment target a local audience, such as local website optimization and content produced with a local focus. Local website optimization is technology that targets customers around a business location and delivers top organic search results during local searches.
Highlight your local community involvement
As a local business, extra care should be taken to not only identify a target gender and demographic, but also a local audience. This is a distinct difference from a national online retailer’s marketing efforts. Make a concerted effort when marketing to showcase community involvement. Share information about local community events, event sponsorships, and relevant local information.
Answer their questions
Customer conversation should be a two-way discussion. Respond to their comments. Deliver exemplary customer service that goes above and beyond their expectations. Answer inquiries promptly, or let the customer know when to expect a response. When replying, ditch the canned responses; engage with responses that sound human and resolve the customer’s issue.
Showcase your “hook”
Every business has a “hook” that makes it different. Showcase it. Fast customer service, unique products or services, a high level of expertise…determine why customers should spend their hard-earned dollars and communicate with them accordingly. Be open and honest. It’s refreshing—and incredibly effective.
