You have to know your audience in order to be able to put your messaging in front of them. You need to remind them (existing customers) and invite them (new customers) to you. We have to do that on a continuous basis.
Some business owners think that marketing and advertising is an activity which happens occasionally. For serious business owners this is not true. They understand that they must have a budget for advertising at all times. As when you advertise, new customers come through the door and when you stop you will feel the lack of action.
Advertising can happen on different platforms depending where your customers are handing around. Sometimes the best results are achieved by combining advertising platforms. In order to be able to do this, your website needs to be equipped with tracking code from Google, Facebook, Bing, and others.
There are some challenges with local advertising and it maybe sometimes less and sometimes more effective depending on the season and number of competitors in your area. Some studies claim that costumers would drive between 10 and 17 minutes to reach a local business. That translates in 5-10 miles in distance.
Some other factors that will have impact on this are.
How frequently do consumers search for local businesses online?
- 90% of consumers used the internet to find a local business in the last year
- 33% of consumers look at local businesses online every day – up from 27% last year
- 75% of 18-55-year-olds search for businesses online each week – compared to 35% of people aged 55+
How many consumers read online reviews for local businesses?
- 82% of consumers read online reviews for local businesses
- A growing number of consumers ‘always’ read reviews for local businesses
- 52% of 18-54-year-olds ‘always’ read local business reviews, though 18-34s are less likely to read them than in 2018
What do consumers do after reading positive reviews?
- Visit the business’s website
- Search for more reviews
- Visit the business
- Continue searching for other businesses
- Contact the business
Do consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations?
- 76% trust online reviews as much as recommendations from family and friends
- 89% of 35-54-year-olds trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations
- 18-34-year-olds are less likely to trust reviews as much as recommendations than they were in 2018
When judging a local business on reviews, what do consumers pay attention to?
- How recent reviews are
- The business’s overall star rating
- How many reviews a business has
- How legitimate reviews appear to me
- The sentiment of the existing reviews
How many consumers write online reviews for local businesses?
- 66% of consumers have written an online review for local businesses – including 80% of 35-54-year-olds
- 60% have written reviews for positive experiences, while just 25% have written reviews for negative experiences
- 85% of consumers are willing to leave reviews
How do businesses ask customers for reviews?
- In person during the sale
- In an email
- Over the phone
- On a receipt
- In an SMS message
