Archive - Local Advertising

Supporting Local Business for Dummies: 4 Simple Ways to Support Local Business

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While reading an article from Black Enterprise entitled 4 Ways to Support Black Business I thought how can I apply this to businesses in general. When it comes to emerging and local businesses it can be hard to get customers to support you, below are 4 simple tips to help support the local business in your community based off of the aforementioned article.

1. Finding Local Businesses You are surrounded by great local businesses that you may not even notice in your neighborhood. Find out by asking friends, contact the local block or merchants association, going online and checking your local business directory such as TalkisCheep.com (hint, hint, lol) or take a casual walk and explore your neighborhood.

 

2. Make supporting local businesses a priority Local businesses are the backbone of our neighborhoods. The 3/50 project created back in March of 2009 brought attention to the importance of supporting local brick and mortars and it only takes about $50 each month, The 3/50 Project states that “If half of of the employed population spent $50 each month at locally owned independent businesses, it would generate for than $42 billion dollars in revenue and if for every $100 spent at a locally-owned business, $68 stays in the local community through taxes, payroll, and other expenditures compared to only $43 if spent at a national chain”

 

3. Share information with your network, family and friends. Once you identify the local businesses you enjoy in your community, encourage others to support them too. Word of mouth is still one of the best and most trusted forms of referrals, we tend to listen to the suggestions of our family and friends over any publication. And with the help of social networks the referrals are endless.

 

4. Don’t be put off by a bad experience* “Someone can go to a place and have a bad experience and make a sweeping statement like, ‘That’s why I don’t support small businesses.’ I think that’s the wrong attitude,” says Thomas. Instead, she suggests responding to poor service by cordially asking to speak with the management and making a decision based on the outcome.

*Step 4 is taken directly from the article with a small tweak I thought the advice was right on point

Beyond Local: Have You Taken Control of Your Online Reputation Yet?

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Over the past year there has been an increased interest placed on local search and location based advertising. Sites like Yelp, Google Places and Citysearch, just to name a few, have continuously made strides in the local search market and local businesses have jumped on the wave. But no one ever talks about what happens once you have joined these directories, You’ve added your business but now what? Are you going back to check on the progress of your business? How are you measuring success?

Many business owners have a “set it and forget it” mentality when joining directories thinking that the directory will carry all of the weight of advertising and bringing more visibility to the business. But whose responsibility is it to manage the online reputation of your company once the directory does the job of bringing exposure. Who is monitoring the users who are viewing the listing, who is tracking how many individuals are contacting the business after viewing, those who write reviews, complain etc. Consumers are relying more on the opinions of friends and other consumers and online directories have played a huge part on the decisions that consumers are now making on where to shop, eat, live etc.

Usually companies experience an increase in traffic to their business due to suggestions from website reviews. It’s an excellent chance to receive a customer’s opinions about the total efficiency of your business. If you have received positive reviews by trusted individuals, you will begin to see your business excelling to a higher level. But in most cases, when it comes to reviews individuals tend to complain about a business more than praise them and when a customer is unhappy, they often complain to friends, on the Web and even sometimes to you. The great thing about reviews is that it gives the customer a voice, the bad thing is that customers can use that same voice to tarnish you and your brand. Giving the customer the opportunity to voice their opinion is what allows you the business owner to learn more about how your business is perceived by its audience and if you have multiple opinions with the same feedback you know that you may need to fix some issues or continue down the path that you are headed.

Most directories do not work in the favor of the business owner when it comes to managing their interaction with their audience. At TalkisCheep.com our goal is to empower the business and teach them how to manage their online reputation by providing them with the proper tools to handle the feedback they receive and help them utilize customer service, word of mouth and social networking to help maintain the integrity of the brand. In the situation where there is a negative review the hardest thing for a business to do is to admit that they are at fault, but acknowledging the issue and showing the customer that you are handling it and find their opinion important is key to customer loyalty.

How you manage your reputation and handle issues with customers has a huge effect on customer loyalty and long term customer value. Though a customer may have a negative experience if rectified and proven that their voice matters there is a significant chance that they will continue to support the brand and would rather salvage the relationship. With the increased popularity of local based advertising it is important to think beyond local and concentrate on a holistic strategy that will incorporate how word of mouth and social media will effect your local presence. As a business owner make sure that you research all of the directories that your business is listed in, claim the listing and take control of your online reputation today.