Local Hero: How Lockdown Reminds Us Of Local Customers
During this ordeal with COVID-19, we have seen an 80% rise in online shopping. We have also seen how much love and affection customers have for their local enterprises. They would rather shop with a smaller, independent shop owner, than travel farther to shop with a large multinational brand. That says something powerful about how the world has changed. Now, that the pandemic seems to be heading into a final stage, whereby life is slowly returning to normal, how can you make sure you don’t lose those local customers? Remind yourself of what you and others did to keep going!
Make a local fleet
Maybe you are now ready to build a delivery fleet that can be a city-wide service. Maybe you can only deliver in your area code or the surrounding area codes. Okay, for that you need to start adding a 3/4 rental truck to your fleet. This is a versatile and flexible truck that can be used to deliver small packages or parcels, to local customers. It can haul a lot of stuff, such as a trailer weighing 13,000 – 17,500lbs. So if you have a large trailer full of packages, you won’t have any problem shifting it with this. No matter if you sell washing machines, or electronics, this little truck can serve your business in so many ways. And of course, you don’t need to take extra lessons to drive it, so that’s a bonus on its own.
Local SEO
Local SEO strategies are front and center now, as more and more locks should be told about who you are and what you do. So, encourage customers who have bought something online, to leave you a Google Review. Ask them to go onto Google Maps and leave a review or work with companies like Feefo that have review services that affect your local SEO score on SERPs. Make sure to invest in content that serves the ‘near me’ searches. So if you are a restaurant business in Denver, Colorado, make content for local clients that live in your area such as blog posts titled, “Top 5 places to eat in Denver” or “Why Denver is the best place for risotto”, etc. utilize voice searches including the ‘open now’ keywords. Again if you’re a restaurant, you should be using keywords such as ‘open until 10 pm’ and updating our opening and closing times to fit the locals’ lifestyle patterns.
Local marketing
A simple matter of caring about local marketing is going to take you a long way. Make your store look alive, interesting, hip, and pretty. Go all out on your decorations and consider hiring a mascot to bring people into your business. Contrary to popular belief, people do want to go shopping, but they don’t want to travel far. They want to go with who they know and trust, so you’re competing with other local businesses. You can’t hand out fliers in the pandemic but you can hold up signs for discounts, sales, and promotions you’re doing.
Be the local hero, supplement the lifestyles of the customers within your area and build up a fleet of local delivery heroes too. This allows you to service all customers in your neighborhood and surrounding boroughs.
Image by Paul Brennan from Pixabay
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