Local business growth is built upon 3 elements, made up of 3 parts each: The 3 Pillar Strategies, The 3 Components of Accelerated Growth and 3 Main Drivers of Change.
The 3 Pillar Business Growth Strategies For Local Business . . .
1. Most businesses focus on the first pillar of making more money, getting more customers.
2. Due to current inflation, many have been forced to add the second pillar of making more money, increasing the dollar amount of each transaction by raising prices (though this happens to simply negate their higher costs). Since very few small businesses have a systematic approach to marketing, most cannot increase the amount each customer purchases. This requires communication and the ability to segment customers based upon their purchase history (something the Customer Revivification Method can help you achieve).
3. It’s rare for a local business to focus on the third pillar of making more money, reactivating dormant customers and enticing existing customers to purchase from you more frequently and at higher dollar amounts.
Accelerate The Growth Of Your Business By 25% In 12 Months
This isn’t a short-lived, “get-rich-quick” growth scheme. It’s sustainable and long-lasting. This is something you can incorporate into your business immediately and continue to reap the rewards from over the long haul.
90% of the businesses we’ve worked with over the years are missing all 3 components for accelerated growth. Most focus solely on generating new customers. They place themselves on a hamster wheel where they’re forced to spend their margin on new customer acquisition to keep new customers coming in. They take the margin that’s left and do it all over again, week after week, month after month.
They’ll typically run painfully expensive ads offering steep discounts to attract new customers. (It’s painfully expensive because, according to” American Express, it’s 6 to 7 times more expensive to acquire a new customer than it is to keep an existing one).
Contrary to most small business owners’ beliefs, it’s not these discounts that’s killing their margins and stifling their growth . . . it’s the missing back-end, the ongoing customer communication that’s the real culprit, the real cash-killer and profit drain.
Rather than being able to reinvest in growth and focus on business growth strategies for local business, these local businesses just churn cash.
And the business that leverage all 3 components for accelerated growth, what about them?
They’re growing! Fast!
The 3 Components For Accelerated Growth
The component business growth strategies for local business aren’t gimmicky, revolutionary or impossible to implement. They don’t require you to turn your business model upside down or become something you’re not.
We incorporate these components into your business through proven templated communication and automation. This results in a much greater frequency of communication between you and your customers. Communication in your voice, customized with offers and content specific to you.
Since so few of your competitors are optimizing these components, there’s a huge opportunity to gain market share at their expense.
CUSTOMER REVIVIFICATION METHOD
99% of local businesses do not follow up or communicate with their customers on a regular basis. That’s what Customer Revivification Method does. It’s a done-for-you service that includes the creation and distribution of email, sms and optional voicemail campaigns that bring existing customers back and revive dormant customers. Campaigns deliver a mix of entertainment, information and offers throughout the month .
Component 1
CUSTOMER REVIVIFICATION CORE METHOD
Reactivating dormant customers and enticing existing customers to purchase from you more frequently.
Component 2
CUSTOMER REVIVIFICATION PLUS METHOD
Adds a platform to consistently generate 4 and 5 star reviews, respond to reviews and market reviews effectively.
Component 3
CUSTOMER REVIVIFICATION PLUS SOCIAL METHOD
Adds the creation and posting of “bite-sized” social content that transforms “browsers” into “customers”.
The 3 Main Drivers Of Dramatic Marketplace Change
COMMUNICATION
REVIEWS & VISIBILITY
SOCIAL
1. Communication
These are challenging times for consumers.
The war in Ukraine is creating new fears and global uncertainty. The economic recovery is a sluggish one. Inflation is eating into people’s pockets. People are still worrying about losing their jobs. Rapidly rising housing prices are causing people to reconsider where they live and work. Despite the dramatic rise in home prices, millions of homeowners owe more on their mortgage loans than what their homes are worth. Credit card debt continues to weigh down U.S. households.
The last thing you want to do in these difficult times is make it more difficult for people to do business with you. You want to make it as easy as possible for your customers to find you, interact with you and purchase from you.
We’ve Become A Mobile First Economy
One of best business growth strategies for local business owners is to just look around. Take notice of what people are doing. Old or young, male or female, everyone’s on their smartphone or tablet.
And this trend’s hardly slowing.
Today, 96% percent of Americans own a mobile phone of some kind.
Smartphones Have Become A Full Communications Platform
Finding ways to get your business onto people’s smartphones is one of the most important business growth strategies for local business owners to master. The future of the web and communication is tied to smartphones and tablets. More and more, people who visit your website and engage with you will do so from a small-screen device.
Today, people can simultaneously communicate across multiple channels (yes, all at the same time), all on a single device, their smartphone.
Every hour of every day, people are juggling phone calls, text messages, social posting, emailing and direct message chats, all at the same time.
That doesn’t include the entertainment capabilities on the same phone. There’s Youtube videos (which have replaced network and cable television for many younger Americans), apps, gaming and movies.
It’s no wonder that it’s become so difficult to get and keep someone’s attention.
What does that mean to you, the local business owner?
Many small business owners fail to take advantage of timely business growth strategies for local business. Finding ways to for your business to be part of your customers communication network is significant problem local business owners face. There’s an unprecedented number of things competing for your customer’s attention.
That’s why our customer communication management component is so important. You need frequent, ongoing communication with your customers. The communication needs to follow up with them via email and SMS text. It needs to include a mix of education, information, entertainment and offers.
The more frequent and relevant your communication, the more business you’ll do.
Less than 5% of independently owned small businesses maintain an ongoing dialog with their customers.
Being the 1 in 20 that does, can accelerate the growth of your business by 25% or more.
Get the help you need with the . . .
CUSTOMER REVIVIFICATION CORE METHOD
2. Online Reviews and Visibility
Google search represents 92% of all online search activity. You need to be visible on Google to be found.
Google Search Visibility
Consumers search for local businesses online (97% of consumers, according to Google). If your business isn’t on the first page, you’re pretty much invisible online. The top 10 organic (non-paid) search results get 95 percent of the clicks, with the first result grabbing one-third.(Source: https://backlinko.com/google-ctr-stats)
According to a GlobalWebIndex survey of internet users aged 16-64, 81% of customers searched for a product or service online, with 90% visiting an online retail site or store in just one month’s time.
Top positioning in Google typically results in increased website traffic, more customers and more sales. It’s one of the most impactful business growth strategies for local business. For business owners in hyper-competitive markets, google visibility can mean the difference between failure and success.
46% of all Google searches are local (source: GoGulf) and according to Google, “near me” and “where to buy” searches have grown two-fold in recent years.
Media Post says that over 50% of “near me” searches resulted in a physical store visit”.
Visibility & Reviews
Visibility is a double-edged sword. Customer reviews of your business are visible too.
What if some of these reviews are negative? What if they’re scathing?
Well, the bad news is they can haunt your business for years and have a crushing impact on your bottom line.
On the flip side, good reviews can become a valuable asset by fueling positive word of mouth and generating referral traffic like you’ve never seen!
According to Inc.com, 91% of customers read online reviews, and it doesn’t take long for potential customers to make up their minds about whether to do business with a given company. In fact, 68% form an opinion after reading between one and six online reviews.
More and more businesses are beginning to realize that, while they can’t control what people say online, they can (and should) monitor and contribute to the conversation in an effort to influence the overall tone. It’s one of several business growth strategies for local business that help improve sales conversions.
They’re realizing that having a proactive online presence that’s focused on adding value to the customer experience is the surest way to grow and preserve their brand reputation—and protect themselves from the stray musings of a few unhappy souls.
Responding to reviews in a timely and appropriate manner has become one of strongest business growth strategies for local business.
Get the help you need with the . . .
CUSTOMER REVIVIFICATION PLUS METHOD
3. Social
While social media continues to grow and adapt, social media is here to stay. Maintaining an active social presence is of the key business growth strategies for local business. Your business needs to keep pace and participate or risk being left behind.
Demographics
A common misunderstanding among small business owners is that Facebook, Instagram and other social networks are just for kids. Many feel their target market isn’t represented demographically.
That’s simply not true.
Let’s look at Facebook. Recent Pew Center research revealed that, in the U.S., users 65 years and older are replacing teenagers. They’re the fastest-growing group on Facebook as teenage users have dropped by more than 20%.
According to Digital 2020, Instagram is another commonly-used social media platform by adults, with those aged 25-64 making up over 63% of January 2020’s users. (Source: Hootsuite)
Engagement
People aren’t just ON social networks. They’re GLUED to them.
The average U.S. Facebook user spends a whopping 67 hours per month on the platform. (Source: techjury.net).That’s a full 2 hours and 24 minutes every single day!
YOUR CUSTOMERS are on Facebook.
They spend a LOT of time there. They’re sharing, commenting, liking, friending, following, posting, hash tagging and uploading . . . you name it.
Not just Facebook either!
Did you know that there are dozens of local influencers in cities and towns throughout the world that have engaged followers on Instagram, Tiktok and Youtube? Reaching them can drive business in ways that were impossible just a few short years ago.
So if you want to reach them, capture their attention and make a pitch for your services before your competitors do … you’ve got to at least meet them halfway . . . you need to consistently post content and engage them.
Customers Sharing experiences, reviews . . . and frustrations
People are taking to social platforms to share their experiences with brands and what they’re sharing with their friends and family members isn’t always flattering . . .
According to Sprout Social, 36% of people have used social media to shame a company for poor customer service, and 30% will go to a competitor if a brand’s customer service does not respond to their complaints. This isn’t just happening on Facebook, but on sites like Angie’s List, Yelp, Google+ Local, and others.
Staying Relevant
Another big reason to be active on social media is that you have to do it to stay relevant. Fortunately, maintaining relevancy on social media is one of the business growth strategies for local business that can be automated.
Your buyers expect it and if you fall short of their expectations, they’ll be more likely to spend their money with the guy down the street.
Being responsive to customers on social media builds brand loyalty. According to a survey conducted back in 2017, 86% of respondents said that they’d be more likely to be loyal to a brand that engaged them on social media. What’s more, when customers receive a timely and positive response to their complaints, 70% say that they are more likely to use a brand’s product or service. (Source: Sprout Social)
That figure has only grown as the social media era has matured.
You can either join the conversation or let your competitors do all the talking.
It’s up to you!
Get the help you need with the . . .
