Some Great Insights on Engaging Customers from Local Marketing News

Small, local businesses may have relatively constrained service areas but it doesn’t mean small business owners need not be smart about marketing. The competition is actually quite fierce and so, local businesses need to use effective techniques to draw in customers. The good thing is that local marketing news provide insights on how to do this.

The Five Touch Rule

Business 2 Community (@B2Community) discusses the Five Touch Rule in engaging customers. The strategy works on the concept that reaching out to customers too few or too many times over a certain period won’t be effective. In this context, each instance of reaching out is a “touch”. If a business makes too few touches, the prospect is unlikely to respond. In contrast, making too many touches triggers animosity in the prospect.

Studies show that the majority of consumers need to be touched at least three times before responding to a sales request. Then, if they don’t respond after the fifth touch, the chances of a response is too low. If a prospect responds and becomes a customer at this point, that’s great. Otherwise, a business should wait a few months before reaching out to that prospect again.

Local Marketing Ideas

Another article from Business 2 Community lists some ideas for local marketing, which would be useful in coming up with ways on how to make the “touches” to prospects and even existing customers.

Allot a budget. Passive presence is simply not enough but promotion needs money. Small businesses must base on ROI when choosing where to put that promotion budget.

Utilize free listings. It’s important for local businesses to be on all relevant local listings to be easily found online.

Use special offers. People are more likely to try a business if there are incentives.

Reward existing customers. Strengthening relationships with existing customers enhance loyalty.

Use photos. Google My Business allows businesses to enhance their profiles using photos. This way, they are more likely to attract and retain attention.

Augment with videos. Relevant and informative videos in an organized schedule highly increases customer retention.

Share wisdom. By sharing knowledge, businesses can become figures of authority in their respective industry.

Interact. Businesses can utilize social media and other online platforms to engage in personal interactions with customers.

The above provides great insights on how to engage customers. Do you want to learn more local marketing tips? Tune in to digital marketing resources, such as Marketing Digest.

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Megan Pearson

Community Manager at Marketing Digest

Megan Pearson is a hard-core online marketing consultant and evangelist. She is also passionate about design and fashion. Being part of Marketing Digest allows her to keep track of developments and innovation in the industry.