5 Ways to Promote Your Business This Summer

Summertime is finally here! Now that everyone is out and about in town, it's time to put your small business outside, as well. Here are 5 great ways to market your business this summer:

1. Get OUTSIDE

   The weather is nice and you're sitting inside; air conditioning is a luxury, but that's no reason to be stuck indoors. Grab a golf umbrella and set up shop outside your store. At the very least, get out some sidewalk chalk. If you're place is on a strip or a street with other businesses, collaborate with them and start a sidewalk sale! Events like this will support the community and draw in more visitors. Your can create your event on Save Local Now to help spread the word.
   

2. Parade in Style

   Does your community have a parade in the summer? Get involved! There are great marketing opportunities in local parades. You can give out special trinkets that relate to your business or brand, or just keep it simple with candy. Either way, you're guaranteed to get your name out there.
   

3. Go to Festivals

   If it's something you might enjoy, look into becoming a vendor. Sell products that people can use like water bottles, tote bags or towels with your name on it. It's a great way to get new customers and hey, you might enjoy some live music yourself!
   

4. Get Patriotic

   Start a 4th of July promotion through Save Local Now. Even if it's not a huge sale, getting festive is fun! Hand out small flags with purchase. Show your customer appreciation and your patriotism!
   

5. Support Local Sports

   
   Check your community calendar or show up in the recreational areas or on the 5k run sidelines. Show support for your local teams. Pair up with the local ice cream store and give discounts to the little league teams after a hot summer game. People will really appreciate and recognize your efforts.
   
   The goal here is to help out your community. The more your strive to achieve this, the more people will view your business as a significant part of the community. Set the bar high – it all starts with you! Now get out there and enjoy the summer!
   

First Published at Save Local Now

Top Three Reasons you Need Analytics (I am looking at you, small businesses owner)

The good news is that there are plenty of ways to dive into analytics as a small business owner. The hardest part is to decide where to start and how much time to spend on extrapolating data. My advice would be to start small and work your way into platforms with more advanced metrics (MailChimp). There are enough free sites out there (Facebook for one) that can help you understand your customer just a bit better. As far as time commitment goes, after you learn how to use the analytic tab in Facebook, you can check it once a week to see what trends are developing and what messages are working the best. Ah, but let’s get down to why you need to spend time, and possibly money, on all of this collected data.

1. Big box companies are kicking your butt.

Hell, baseball teams are using analytics to get better. Just ask Brad Pitt…er…Billy Beane from the Oakland A’s (Moneyball, a great movie). My point is that smart people with a ton of resources are killing it in the real world and you are quickly being left behind. You’re probably thinking to yourself that you are totally screwed. If you are lazy and hate technology, you are totally screwed. BUT – if you are an entrepreneur, and you need to get your marketing nerd on, then check out these 10 places to analyze web data. If you want to analyze a whole marketing campaign then try Save Local Now (cough, ahem, shameless plug).

2. Big data will grow by 44% over the next decade.

This report suggests that data will soar 44 times over the next decade. Cloud adoption is exploding and more and more data is available to be analyzed.

This represents both an opportunity and a challenge.

The Intuit 2020 report and many other sources support that “those who become proficient in collecting, managing and analyzing this information will gain competitive advantage.” INTUIT 2020

Of course by definition, those that don’t will be left behind. Someone once said “knowledge is power.” It’s at our fingertips, people. Go get it!

3. You can can save yourself a ton of time (eventually).

You must give a little to get a little. It takes money to make money. Okay, you get where I am coming from. In order to harness the power of analytics, you must take time to learn how to use platforms that track data (Facebook, Google, Constant contact, Save Local Now, Hoot suite, etc.) Then you must learn how to use that data to your advantage.

Think of your data as a report on your virtual storefront. You can now see which device people viewed your product or service on. Email analytics will let you know what time of day it was opened, from which device it was opened, and in some cases, it can tell you where they opened it (which town they opened in or the location of the IP address …but lets not get into that). With just a few pieces of data you can begin to paint a picture of your audience and the type of interaction they are having with your digital store front.
In short, analytics allow you to

• gain invaluable insights into your customer’s behavior;
• examine facts rather than assumptions or guesses;
• make educated decisions on how to improve to your website, App, Email marketing campaigns social media post, daily deals, events calendar, etc.

In the long term, this means more of the right traffic, sales and profit. And more time to enjoy your entrepreneurial success.

You’re welcome.

First Published at Save Local Now

 

About author

Cody Linck
 
Regional Sales Director

My passion is growing local communities, and empowering them with the tools to succeed. My mother and father each own small businesses and have been involved with chambers their whole life. I want to help people like my parents grow into the digital era with a platform that is easy, fast, and FREE to use!

Why Small Businesses Should Maintain a Digital Marketing Presence

Small business is a special niche of our society and economy. Offering the public local choices, local options and the chance to keep the flow of money within the community is growing in popularity as the global economy becomes more and more aware of it’s importance. Most small businesses have a small budget and base most of their reputation on word of mouth. It is for this reason that small businesses should be most concerned with digital marketing over print or more traditional forms of advertising.

Chances are, whether a business is concerned with digital marketing or not, it is more than likely some information already exists online about that business. A recent study by Dimensional Research shows that 2/3 of all people research small business marketing strategies and products online. So if a small business is not able to be found online, chances are they are missing out on 2/3 of their customers! With platforms such as Yelp, Angie’s List, and Urban Spoon among others, information about businesses can be found online whether they are correct or not. Looking into what information is on these sites, as well as reviews that might be published by customers, is crucial. If there is incorrect information on the web this could negatively impact a potential customers decision as to whether they will use that business or not.

Luckily, today there are many options for maintaining a presence in the digital world and controlling what information might be found online. A small business might create a basic website or even a blog, use social media platforms like Facebook or Google Plus, or use their free Save Local Now account. These platforms can be used to create up-to-date information which will then be picked up by other sites such as the previously mentioned Yelp, Angie’s List, etc. Better yet, they will create an opportunity for customers to interact with the business. Most customers are already using social media as a personal platform and can easily share the information on a businesses Facebook, Twitter, or Save Local Now account to recommend it to friends. Also, if a customer has a negative experience they might be more likely to leave a comment or message on a Facebook page or blog where a business can reply directly than to post a review on Yelp where it is less likely to be compensated for.

The best part about platforms, such as blogs, social media, and Save Local Now, is they are generally free and therefore put all businesses on an equal playing field. As previously stated, small businesses base their marketing on Low budgets and word of mouth so with both of those in mind, they really can’t afford to miss out on platforms that are free and easily sharable.

View Original article here.

About Alicia

Alicia is one of the member engagement managers for Save Local Now. She hails from Northeast Ohio but loves to travel and immerse herself in new cultures. Alicia is the free spirit of the $LN team. Her most important task is to keep the office lively and relaxed. alicia.busa@savelocalnow.com

Tips for Building a Seasonal Campaign Strategy

Now that the big consumer holidays are over you may be having some trouble deciding what to offer your customers. Have no fear, we’ve got some great tips on how to build a campaign strategy to get you through the year.

Seasonal campaigns drive consumer buying patterns. Developing a marketing strategy early in the year will make you prepared and allow you to develop meaningful, creative campaigns that can help drive revenue even during some of the slower months. Take a look at a calender and make a list of special holidays or events that are happening each month. The goal is to make sure your deals and events are relevant to what’s going on in the world so they create a universal connection to all your consumers. Here are a few tips to help you achieve success in your seasonal campaigns:

1. Encourage in store visits

It may be obvious but encouraging people to physically come into your store can develop a better, more personal experience for the customer than just focusing on online sales.

2. Choose Wisely

Check out your records and select the months or occasions where your customers are most likely to shop. Then cater your deals and events so that they relate to your business. For example, if you are a clothing store, do a special Valentines Deal on everything red or pink just for that day. Choosing wisely will make your deals thoughtful and relevant.

3. Get Personal

It’s not always about the sale. Sometimes your customers just want to know that you’re genuine and not a faceless corporation. Use social media to show your support for certain charities and fundraisers or to comment on current events. Show your support for national events like the Winter Olympics or the Super Bowl. It’s fun and it shows a personality that your customers will appreciate.

4. Sharing is Caring

Get your customers to share your deals and events on social media and make sure you share everything on your end too. Save Local Now gives you and your customers social media buttons on everything to make this easy and convenient, so take advantage of them!

5. Plan Ahead

Timing and planning is everything when it comes to developing your marketing strategy. Make sure you give your customers plenty of notice about upcoming sales. If you have some spare time, you can plan all your campaigns ahead of time on Save Local Now and publish them later.

6. Review

Make sure you are monitoring the results of your campaigns. Identify the things that were successful as well as the promotions that may need to be improved. Save Local Now conveniently provides all the statistics on your campaigns you need to help you review and reorganize.

Planning out your marketing strategy may take some time but if done right, it will bring in more revenue. If you make the time now to schedule your deals and events, then it will save you time when you need it the most. Save Local Now provides everything you need to create a profitable and meaningful marketing strategy for your business.

View original article here

About Grace

Grace is one of the Member Engagement Managers at $LN. She received her degree in video production and communications from Ohio University. Grace is a film connoisseur and loves to talk movies! grace.roulston@savelocalnow.com

How to Excite Your Community into Buying Local

Save Local Now is all about buying local. In fact, it’s our ultimate mission. We know how challenging it can be to try and get your community fired up about buying local. You might think you are just one business and nothing you do will have any impact, but I beg to differ. Here is a quick list of things you might want to try out this year that will really make a difference in your communities efforts to buy locally.

1. Meet your neighbors (and tell your customers about them) - From my own personal experiences with the communities I’ve lived in, as well as from the communities we work with, I’ve learned one thing. The more businesses promote their neighbors, the better and more thriving the community is as a whole. You should make friendly suggestions to your customers on other businesses they should check out. This will reassure them that you are a trustworthy business owner and not just out for your own profit, and it will also inspire people to keep checking out local businesses and keep returning to your town. Your neighboring businesses might return the favor and send people your way, and soon your whole community could become a giant web of local networking. I’ve seen this happen-there is nothing more powerful.

2. Join (or help out) local organizations - Aside from your local chamber of commerce, there are probably a multitude of other small organizations you could become involved in. Some might say they don’t have the funds or time to join all of these, however, that doesn’t mean you can’t get involved.

• You could reach out to organizations and tell them you would like to volunteer once a year for their big event.
• You could tell YPO’s they may host their next networking event in your business space.
• You could offer a discount to any member of the local book club.

However you want to do it, my bet is you will see some more business coming your way by word of mouth. Local organizations are usually just that: organized, and helping them out once in a while could mean extending your marketing efforts 3 fold!

3. No brainer: Buy Locally - Make it a point to frequent other businesses not just as a business owner but as a customer. Other business owners will appreciate it and will often return the favor. Use local suppliers, local farmers, and local services for all of your businesses needs as well as that of your personal life. It will show the rest of your community that you are standing behind them, so they can in turn, stand behind you!

4. Take local global - Register your community in national, or even world wide competitions or write into travel magazines to tell them about why they should check out your town. Sometimes there is only so much you can do locally and you need to let the rest of the world know why THEY should come to your town. Highlight the things that make your town unique and don’t underestimate how weird quirks can attract attention. I promise you there are people out there looking for just the kind of beautiful little town that is your community.

5. Create $LN awareness - In order for Save Local Now to have it’s affect on your community, you need to get people using it! I know I say this a lot but the bottom line is, being a free service to both consumers and businesses, we aren’t the ones who will benefit from people using $LN, YOU will. So tell your friends, family, community, organizations, newspapers, and schools. Tell them to try Save Local Now and stay up to date with everything local.

View original article here

About Alicia

Alicia is the Brand Curator and Marketing Manager for Save Local Now. Alicia hails from Northeastern Ohio, but spent a few years after college living like a gypsy and pursuing her diverse interests. She is part of the production team, which helps to make $LN "fun and cool".alicia.busa@savelocalnow.com