Home 5 tips for growing your small business
Local

5 tips for growing your small business

Contributors
coffee shop
(© PRPicturesProduction – stock.adobe.com)

Scaling a small business is not easy with the ever increasing competition. It requires hard work and determination. From hiring, employee training, branding, and marketing, every aspect of your business requires attention. While there is no sure way to instant business success, the following tips will help to boost your small business’s growth.

1. Localize your marketing

Over 70% of consumer searches today are for local businesses, and you need to leverage this for better customer acquisition. As a small business, you need to determine your primary markets and focus on making your presence known to your target audience. This is best achieved by localizing your digital marketing services so you can capitalize on local traffic. To make the most out of your marketing efforts, you will need to:

  • Create and claim your Google My Business Listing
  • Have a presence in all popular local listings
  • Create local search ads
  • Use location-based keywords on your content
  • Tag your location on Google maps
  • Respond to all reviews on your listings

2. Strive to have a robust presence in social media

Most of your tech-savvy customers are on social media, and having a presence on these platforms will see you capture their attention. Used wisely, social media will not only increase your online visibility but help improve customer engagement and enhance brand loyalty. Go bold with your use of social media by:

  • Using it to connect to your customers’ lifestyles and addressing their inquiries
  • Creating compelling and informational posts
  • Running professionally tailored and geo-targeted ads.

Voice search is the future, and as a business that wants to acquire more customers, you need to join this trend. Today, more consumers are using voice assistants to find services near them, and if you do not optimize for these searches, you will lose to your competitors. To optimize for voice search, you need to:

  • Use conversational tones when creating your content
  • Answer commonly asked questions
  • Use long-tail keywords
  • Incorporate structured data
  • Make it easy for consumers to contact you by availing your business numbers and showing your work hours.

4. Build a customer-centric brand presence

You need to separate yourself from the competition to build a connection with your target audience. The best way to go about this is through proper branding, where you create a unique identity that will be your primary selling point. This identity needs to be hinged on consumer expectations by guaranteeing quality, expertise, and reliability to all customers.

5. Utilize your existing customers

The most potent weapons for growth are your existing customers, as they determine how valuable you will be to your target audience. You will quickly gain a competitive edge if your customers are satisfied enough to be engaged in word-of-mouth marketing, which is the quickest way to gain valuable clients. Customer reviews on your website and listings will also go a long way in influencing decision-making among potential clients.

Endnote

Growing your small business requires attention to these crucial tips for enhanced competitiveness and outstanding presence in your local market.

Contributors

Contributors

Have a guest column, letter to the editor, story idea or a news tip? Email editor Chris Graham at [email protected]. Subscribe to AFP podcasts on Apple PodcastsSpotifyPandora and YouTube.