Starting a local business is a noble, yet daunting prospect. It could go wrong, yes, but it could go oh so right. I wonder if Starbucks thought they’d go global when they opened up the one small café in Seattle. What about or McDonalds, or KFC et al? While I’m not saying you’re going to become a multi-national billion pound company – because, come on – you may have a lot of success, but only if you do the right things now at the beginning of your venture.
Local SEO Support
Your business won’t survive without SEO support; this is a fact of modern business. If you’re a massive conglomerate then you can just hire some top London firm to handle everything for you, however, if you’re a smaller business that’s only operating in one town, then you need to think about focusing in on a local agency. Say you want to start a Beatles memorabilia shop in the Albert Dock area, then it makes sense to plump for a Liverpool SEO agency, although Beatles memorabilia is probably an over-saturated market in Liverpool, so you might want to consider something else…
Local Magazine
Every town has at least one of those glossy little magazines that drop through the letterbox once a month and are filled with a strange array of local school news, plumbers, and whatever the local church’s amateur dramatics society is murdering this month (it always seems to be West Side Story where I live … cause that’s really relatable). Although you might not think that in today’s world people bother to read those adverts and instead prefer to just stumble across random stuff on the internet, you’d be wrong. Those magazines are kept running by those ads and so the companies who post them must be recuperating their money and then some.
Be Edgy
Too many local businesses fail because, well, they look like local businesses. Local businesses seem to have a way of marketing themselves solely to sixty years olds from the sixties and don’t show an ounce of modernity. To succeed you need to target a wider range of people with a focus towards the younger spectrum of the ages. Get a silly, but cool brand name and try some different business practices that no one else is attempting. Make yourself different and edgy and you’ll become a source of local pride and you’ll ensure business continues for many years.
Be Active in the Community
You need to show your local city, town, or village that you genuinely care about the state of your community and that you’re not just there to make money. Attend the local fetes and sport games – maybe even provide food or one of the services you specialise in for free. Do charity work in the local community and help of the schools etc. Be a force for good and so when people see your brand name they instantly have warm, fuzzy feeling about you that is reserved for puppies and pubs.
