I’ve been chatting with a lot of people coming out of lockdowns about their want to go hard and fast to drive new business and recover some of the substantial losses that many businesses have faced these past couple of years. It’s been interesting to listen to points of view about how far and wide they feel they need to drive their marketing to do this.
For many businesses, driving traffic to your business from further afield is a necessity but it’s something that you also need to be cautious about and considerate in your planning. One of the key sacrifices that you need to ensure that you don’t do is limiting or ignoring your local market and marketing to do this. Although bringing new business can certainly help with short term gains, your local market is one that will always be there and, it’s important that they don’t feel neglected, or rejected.
When considering your marketing, retaining an always on local activity along side external acquisition activity will help to maintain a sustainable growth strategy. What I mean by this is, your local market will always be there and you can rely on them to want to support you. One of the key benefits that has come out of numerous lockdowns is the focus on “Supporting local”. When needing support, customers only had the ability to look within their local market and many found some wonderful little treasures in doing so. Whether a new coffee shop, gift store, tradesman, gardener, people were looking at how they could get things within the restrictions and this also drove an emotional style want to support their many local small businesses, often run by people within their community.
Now, not everyone shifted their focus and were still searching the internet jungle to find the best price or fastest service, but if a lockdown doesn’t change their view, then it’s unlikely a message from their local trader is going to neither. These aren’t the people that you are wanting to nurture, its the ones who really want to keep their local community and businesses thriving and making things easier for themselves by sticking local. Time is the greatest gift that many can have and fulfilling needs locally helps fulfil this as well as the want to feel good about what you are doing.
So, when developing your marketing, don’t lose sight of the ones who can add the greatest value to your business and these are the customers who will come to you first above all others. They are also the ones who can support you more regularly, not just a short visit here or there. Quick wins aren’t ever going to drive a stable business but certainly help to maintain growth. Whilst we are still in uncertain times, and as much as many of us don’t want to think about the potentials, we still don’t know what the future holds and it’s important that your business focus is on the future, not just immediate. This will help to ensure that, should we face another time where we are confined, lets make sure that your local customers know how you can continue to support and provide for them, as much as they can for you.
Good Luck and take care.
The Marketing Elf
©December 2021
The Marketing Elf 