Erin Baker started selling her diet cookies to the fitness freaks of 1994. As soon as she discovered that one cookie was worth two Weight Watchers points, she knew she had a solid business idea in her hands.
Her business grew from two to hundreds of employees, selling Wholesome Baked Goods at Quality Food centers. So, let’s know how we can Increase Online Business Sales.
When Weight Watchers learned of this, they immediately changed their rewards program and Erin’s business lost 60 per cent distribution. She recovered by moving away from the diet crowd and catering to the local community who enjoyed her baked goods.
7 Ways To Increase Online Business Sales
Small business success and local marketing have a deep relationship. If you have originated from the same community, you know the pain points and the advantages of selling there.
There are many things local businesses can do to promote themselves in their community and secure more leads. Let’s look at some unique ideas:
#1. Digital Marketing
Digital marketing is your go-to way of building a local presence. Social networks aren’t the first thing on the minds of business owners when they start building local strategies.
However, once you start paying attention to these platforms, you will learn that they have a lot to offer in terms of local marketing.
Facebook targeting is an inexpensive way to promote your product or service to the local audience. Google’s local business listings are also one of the best ways to promote your business on the biggest search engine of the world.
SEO and other ways of geo-tagging can amplify your presence and users of location-based services can be redirected to your business as strong leads.
On the other hand, your local customer research must be top-notch. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is the best way to stay updated about the local audience and their demographics.
This will enable you to build a user persona to cater to. CRM Pipeline Management can be easily managed with the use of a tool which helps you keep an updated record of current customer status in the local area.
Almost 81% of CRM users access their CRM from various devices and you can improve your digital marketing game by gaining key insights from your preferred CRM portal.
#2. Giveaways
Freebies and giveaways always win the hearts of customers. You have to send out free gifts to leads and potential customers to familiarize them with your products.
SaaS businesses can start free trials of their service for the local community. Usually, when people hear of a free giveaway, they automatically want to strive and attain that giveaway because of that ‘free’ feeling. However, you need to ensure that it’s a no-strings-attached giveaway.
If you are serving B2B clients, a free giveaway is considered as a positive promotional gesture and nothing else. You don’t want to show desperation or force the other person to interact with your business without wanting.
“Loyalty starts with targeting a consumer group that is not just looking for a deal but has a need for your business or service, and of course, they must live near the business.
The perfect example of the ‘right’ customer includes someone who recently moved into a new neighborhood or a couple that just became parents.” Says Brian Mattingly, founder and CEO of a marketing services and technology franchise.
#3. Rebranding
Ever thought of rebranding? Most business owners find it an intricate procedure which costs a fortune. That is not always the case. Rebranding does not have to be on a huge level.
Any act of improving the logo, changing color theme or updating your slogan can help you rebrand your local business. It has to be something slightly different than what you already do and if it takes inspiration from the local culture or heritage, the impact will be much greater.
#4. Local events
Local events and tradeshows should always be on your list. Local businesses must put an appearance at local shows because it is necessary to show the community that you are a well-known business in the area.
It can be any local event a school fair where your CEO can arrange a training session, a festival where you can provide a service or a trade show where you can set up a stall and network with other businesses and customers.
It ends up improving your local reputation and secures relevant leads. When you plan a business event, send out brochures and fliers to relevant people as a promotion.
Brochures are very effective in the promotion of your business and this mode of offline advertising must never be ignored. You can add a QR code in the brochure too which can be used to connect people to your social media profiles.
#5. Cross-promotions
You and other local retailers know very well that you should run the business in the local setting and it can’t be managed alone. Cross promotion is the best way to coexist in the local area in a healthy way.
It provides immense value to your business, the other business and to people around you. Step out of your comfort zone and build each other’s presence as strong local business entities.
If you are a jewelry brand, you can cross promote with a wedding planning business. If you are a SaaS business, you can cross-promote with a restaurant business.
Both of you will have value to offer each other and you will also end up securing more leads this way.
#6. Sponsor local events
If you want to amplify your reach in the local community, sponsor a popular event. It’s effective and works the cause of promoting your business. You will end up bagging more leads from the local setting.
You can sponsor an event in many ways, by supporting a charitable cause, by arranging the event or even by providing a product or service. Your name will be out there and people will recognize you from your presence.
It is one of the best ways to advertise your business and make the whole affair look natural, rather than forced.
If it is a charitable cause, you will be projected as a business which loves its local issues and wants to contribute to local causes in some way.
#7. Referral network
Your customers love you as a local network, so are you utilizing their full power? The harsh reality in local business setting is that there has to be a system of bringing in new leads while keeping the old ones together.
If you don’t have a system, you can go out of business soon. If you are a local business, you know the importance of this fact but you are not doing much about it.
You can start this process by creating a referral network in your business setting. Not a single business became huge all by itself – you need a dedicated team, an army of passionate salespeople and a solid referral network.
You can use the power of this network to establish your presence as a credible business locally. People love relating to their local area and a business which caters to this feeling will be popular.
Last word
It may seem daunting to shift the focus from running the business to catering to the local audience, but your efforts in this regard will pay off soon.
Local businesses have an edge over huge organizations because they have a special relationship with the local community, something larger businesses usually can’t address.
You should build your marketing and sales strategy around this simple fact to win more leads. The internet has already made it easy for you to reach your local audience.
Now, it is time to mobilize this audience and make them your loyal customers and Increase Online Business Sales.
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Erica Silva is a blogger by choice. She loves to discover the world around her. She likes to share her discoveries, experiences and express herself through her blogs. Currently, she is associated with Airg Team for development work. Check out her firm’s performance reviews.
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