The list of challenges local businesses face is long; as a Singapore-based SaaS digital agency, we asked ourselves what three challenges, if fixed, could have a massive impact on the growth of any company regardless of your industry or size; we came down to three:
- Enhance your online Presence
- Improve Your Customer Acquisition
- Improve Customer Retention
Let’s explore how to take on these three challenges and turn your business around.
Before we jump onto these specific challenges, you can download our compiled list of the twenty-four most common challenges local businesses face and brief recommendations on overcoming them.
How To Enhance Your Online Presence:
We live in the digital era; thus, having a strong online presence is not just an option; it’s a necessity for local businesses. Your online presence is often the first interaction potential customers have with your brand. Here’s how you can enhance it:
1. A Beautiful Optimized Website:
Do you have a website? I hope so. If you do, is your website mobile-responsive? Because most users browse on smartphones.
Improve page loading speed to reduce bounce rates – meaning people will leave your website before it loads due to slow loading time. People have no patience nowadays.
Implement SEO best practices to boost your website’s visibility on search engines. Because where do we all go to search for any service or product nowadays? Search engines: Google, YouTube, Bings, Yandex, Baidu, etc.
2. Engage on Social Media:
Identify the social media platforms where your target audience is most active. Start with one or two platforms, find what resonates with your audience, and do more.
Regularly post high-quality content. Interact with your followers and respond to comments and messages promptly. Once you’ve understood your audience and these channels, learn how other platforms work and replicate there. Find what resonates with the audience and do more.
3. Content Marketing:
Create and share valuable, informative content that showcases your expertise, but most importantly, make content that would benefit your audience. Remember, it’s all about them and not about you.
Consistency is key; maintain a content calendar to keep your audience engaged.
Consider different content types, such as blog posts, videos, infographics, and podcasts. Again, do some trials and tests to see what resonates best with your audience and push more of that.
If you don’t know where to start, videos are currently the most consumed type of content, and the stats show that this will not change soon. If you don’t like to be in front of the camera, there are other ways to make videos without you being in them.
4. Online Advertising:
We laugh at this joke in our agency: “Running a business without advertising is like winking at a girl in the dark; only you know what you’re doing!”
Advertising is the fastest way to tell people about your brand, products, and services. Metaphorically, to compare advertising and organic reach, SEO is like farming our food, and advertising is like going to the supermarket and buying food supplies.
Therefore, although we highly recommend SEO, you run some paid advertising for several reasons. Platforms are highly optimized for huge reach and have millions and billions of internet visitors daily. Even more so with the prevalence of AI, these platforms allow you to specify your audience.
Monitor and adjust your campaigns based on performance data.
5. Local SEO:
Optimize your online presence for local search. Doing the following is a good start. Claim and verify your Google My Business listing. Do the same thing in other local directories such as Yelp, Yellowpages, etc. Register your business in every niche or general directory you can. Polish your description, have good photos and correct information to contact you.
Another crucial thing is that you should encourage customers to leave reviews and respond to them professionally.
Include location-specific keywords in your content and metadata.
Enhancing your online presence requires a multi-faceted approach. Consistency, quality, and engagement are key factors that can help your business gain visibility and credibility in the digital realm.
Next, let’s move on to the section about “How To Improve Your Customer Acquisition”:
How To Improve Your Customer Acquisition
Acquiring new customers is the lifeblood of any business. To thrive in 2024, local businesses must adapt and refine their customer acquisition strategies. Here’s how:
1. Define Your Ideal Customer:
Start by creating detailed customer personas to understand your target audience.
Identify their pain points and preferences to tailor your marketing efforts. Their geographical location is of crucial importance; what’s their age, gender, and social media platforms they’re likely to be found? Define the transformation they’re seeking. Once you have all these, you will have the ingredients to craft the perfect message to resonate with your audience.
Whoever communicates better in the market wins. Don’t let that be your competitors.
2. Data-Driven Marketing:
Leverage data analytics to gain insights into customer behavior.
Use these insights to personalize your marketing messages and campaigns. Again, use the tools these platforms offer. For the majority, the free tools will give you the necessary insight you need. Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, use a heatmap like hotjar on your website to track how your victors are engaged on your website, etc Install Facebook Pixel on your website, and track what the metrics tell you.
3. Content That Converts (Content is king is a fallacy):
The saying “Content is king” is not true. Yup, I said.
What I believe is that great strategic content is king.
Everywhere you go online is full of noise; the tone of content is bombarding everyone. That’s besides the lack of patience. Therefore, you must grab your audience’s attention in a split-second and ensure you keep them engaged throughout for them to take the action you want them to take.
Secret sauce? Address your customers’ needs and interests and keep them entertained. And ultimately, use clear and persuasive calls to action (CTAs) in your marketing materials.
4. Referral and Word-of-Mouth Marketing:
The easiest potential customer to sell to is someone referred to by a trusted friend or family member. Therefore, encourage satisfied customers to refer others to your business. Make it strategic, implement one or more referral systems in your business.
Reward loyal customers with discounts or incentives for referrals.
5. Online Advertising Strategies:
Do I need to say it is cold in the Antarctic? Well, it is important that I repeat how crucial it is to do advertising.
So, my friend, invest in paid advertising on search engine platforms, on social media, and if possible, local directories.
Optimize ad targeting to reach potential customers in your area.
6. Local Partnerships:
Collaborate with other local businesses to cross-promote each other’s services.
Ask yourself what else my potential customers would buy before, during, and after buying my products or services. Write them down, see all the businesses that are not direct competitors to you, and find a way to send each other business.
Attend local events and networking opportunities to build relationships.
This is one of the fastest ways any local business can attract new customers and foster long-term relationships.
Lastly, let’s explore the section on “How to Improve Customer Retention”:
How To Improve Customer Retention
While acquiring new customers is important, retaining existing ones is equally crucial. Loyal customers provide recurring revenue and can also advocate for your business. Here’s how to improve customer retention:
1. Deliver Great Product:
This sounds logical, but regardless of what you do after your first sale to anyone, if the product or the experience isn’t pleasing, chances are that person is not coming back. Therefore, make your product great. Make the deliverability and usage a wonderful experience.
2. Personalized Communication:
Big-size companies would have a tough time personalizing almost anything across their business. However, small and medium businesses could easily personalize many aspects of the interaction with their customers.
But again, with the sophistication of technology, you can easily send personalized messages and offers to your existing customers.
Use customer data to tailor your communication based on their preferences.
3. Loyalty Programs:
Implement a loyalty program that rewards repeat customers.
Offer exclusive discounts, early access to promotions, or free products/services.
Want more ideas? Google for some ideas. Search on YouTube and Pinterest.
4. Exceptional Customer Service:
So many businesses lack even the basics of great customer service, therefore, in all industries, if you have great customer service you already stand out. Institutionalize it, train, and make it mandatory for all your employees to know what great customer service is and provide it.
Remember to address customer inquiries and concerns promptly and courteously.
5. Regular Follow-Ups:
Stay in touch with your customers through email newsletters or social media.
Share valuable content, updates, and special offers. Not going to say more.
6. Request and Act on Feedback:
Nobody is perfect. Nor is any business. Although people sometimes may make us feel they expect perfection from us. It won’t be perfect. We recommend you cultivate a growth mindset, so that you can solicit feedback from customers and use it to make improvements.
Show customers that their opinions matter by implementing the suggested changes.
7. Surprises and Delights:
Occasionally surprise customers with unexpected perks or thank-you gifts.
These small gestures can create a positive and memorable experience.
Improving customer retention is cost-effective and can increase customer lifetime value and positive word-of-mouth referrals. By focusing on personalized service and building strong relationships, your business can thrive in the competitive landscape 2024.
