Local Shops And Businesses On The Internet

Whenever an online sales project involving a manufacturer and its sales network is faced, the main objection is that selling online would take away space and profits from traditional sales.

Online sales are seen as an enemy by the distribution network and the manufacturer tends to mask his intentions because he doesn't really know what to do.

It is often the result of a general lack of preparation: online sales are thought of as the last resort of a situation in which sales are languishing and it is thought that selling online will improve the fortunes of businesses.

Or it is believed that there may be avenues of escape forward, such as making sure that each store in a chain has its own independent e-commerce, without the brand, defining a common commercial and marketing policy.

Stores Will Never Die

Already written, said several times and repeated. If 90% of purchase intentions start with an online search and 90% of sales take place in traditional distribution, what should stores be afraid of and how should they gear up?

● Local businesses just getting started with online marketing often don't know the web strategies they need, even if they know what their business goals are.

● Local businesses that have experience in online marketing need to keep up with new web tactics and decide which ones are most effective for their goals.

● The companies that govern retail chains, affiliated stores, franchises, must give the most appropriate tools to their retailers to be able to sell better in their channel, using all the opportunities available online.

It doesn't matter where the local stores and businesses are compared to online marketing and various possible tactics. All companies want to make more traffic, more sales, more or fewer phone calls (do you know how much you always sell with the phone?), Fewer dissatisfied customers, more customers who pay with electronic money. They want to know how customers find them and they want to know which channels give the best return on investment.

Make Key Decisions

The first part of any successful strategy is deciding the purpose of what you do. This also applies to online marketing.

● Define business goals: Providing information, collecting leads, receiving phone calls, selling products, selling services.

● Target the right customers: What do they need, why do they need it, where, when, and how will they get to the content?

● Decide on technical resources and platforms: What device or devices will customers use to access information - desktop, tablet, smartphone, or all three? Do you need a website on purpose? How is this site created? Can a fan page on Facebook be used as a website?

● Determine the content of the website: What are the contents, what contents do you need? Content must meet the needs of your customers and prospects and help achieve business goals.

● Develop a plan: How do you plan to spread your content so that you can attract traffic?

● Determine how success is measured: To get ROI (Return on Investment) insights for future you need to find a way to measure it?

Building an e-commerce site might not even be necessary for a street shop. Always pay attention to the numbers, because if the goal is to make 10% of my current turnover, the necessary effort may not be worth it. While an increase in traffic at the point of sale, also managed online, with adequate tactics and strategies, would prove to be much more productive and effective (as well as less expensive).

Crucial Tactics For A Local Business

The next stage requires the implementation of strategies and tactics, not all of which are necessary. It depends on the goals of your business, resources, people, and the ability to effectively execute the tactic. This is a non-exhaustive list.

● Integrate your online and offline marketing efforts and coordinate a strategy for how you intend to do it.

● Use of web analytic tools to measure the data, goals, conversions, and ultimately segmentation, behavior, and attribution. It also applies to Facebook Insights and data from the correct management of mail marketing campaigns.

● Create relevant, quality content, in line with customer needs, and with intentions that are the focus of specific keywords (those with which people search for your products). Such content might include images, videos, text, infographics, blog posts, press releases, etc.

● List contact information on your sites such as your address and phone number so people will know where your business is. Also applies to Facebook: if you are a business, put your phone number !!

● Update profiles on local search directories.

● Go to local sites and fill out your profile by putting accurate information. In many cases, you can reply to comments, add images, and event announcements.

● Always verify that your business name, address, and phone number are consistent across all the platforms.

● To get started you should be listed on Google Places for Business, Bing Business Portal, Foursquare, Yelp

● Build your presence on social media sites and interact with those who follow you - Twitter, Facebook, Google, YouTube Channel, and Pinterest.

● Create short videos, useful videos, optimize them for YouTube, and use them wherever possible.

● Short videos are watched more than long videos unless the content is very engaging.

● If you have long videos, use a short version to get attention. Promote videos on social networks and even put a call to action on them.

● Create a mobile-friendly site.

● Use mail marketing services with MailChimp, eCircle, Mailup, MagNews… The important thing is to use them wisely and wisely.

● Use pay-per-click even with budget limits for keywords, but use and experiment

● Review the tactics above to determine their effectiveness and improvement and then modify and repeat.

It is true that the network abolishes borders, but a local approach can be smarter and more efficient. For local businesses, for street shops, it is much easier to sell to local customers, win new local customers, and aim for repeat sales than trying to sell online across borders, especially since local search, thanks to the smartphone, it exploded.

Nearly one in two people use their mobile phones to search for local information, and that's just the beginning, more is yet to come.

Guest Post by Raunak Pandey

Raunak is a Mechanical Engineer by qualification & Marketer by passion. He is the founder of Maiden Stride, a leading digital marketing company that provides world-class search engine marketing services and website & application development. You can also find us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.