Small businesses provide a number of benefits to communities. They can help boost local economies by offering a wide range of services, including accounting, legal, supply and maintenance, that large corporations can’t.
They also create mutual support among community members, which can be useful during hard times. This support can be particularly helpful to small businesses if they’re faced with layoffs or financial challenges.
Location
Location is a critical component of a local business. It determines how customers discover, choose and connect with your business.
Your business’ location data includes the name, address, phone number, website URL, hours of operation and other key pieces of information that help customers find you, decide on your services and connect with your business.
To optimize your business’ location data for local search, it’s important to ensure all of your locations are properly listed on Google and other local business listing platforms.
To make it easier to manage your locations, Yext recommends creating a single page for each brick-and-mortar location. This page should have a local phone number, API to Google maps for easy searching and unique content related to the location.
Reputation
Reputation is the sum of how people perceive you, whether it be an individual or a brand. It affects everything from everyday life to business relationships.
It’s a widely studied field in social, management, and technological sciences. It’s a dynamic phenomenon, and it’s influenced by all manner of events and actions, from corruption to error.
In the case of local businesses, reputation can be even more significant. If a potential customer Googles your name and sees negative reviews on the first page, they’re more likely to move on to another business.
The process of repairing a damaged local business reputation takes time and requires a steady and sequential roll-out of review improvement activities. But it’s worth the effort, because it will significantly improve your search engine results and your customer base.
Customer Service
Small businesses often rely on local customers to keep the business running. These businesses appreciate the relationships they have with local consumers, so they strive to provide good customer service to meet their needs.
The most effective way to meet a customer’s expectations is by providing prompt, efficient and pleasant service. Depending on your product or service, this may involve answering customer questions quickly by phone and email.
Regardless of your company size, it is important to have a comprehensive business plan in place to manage customer service needs effectively. A solid plan identifies your goals, determines the appropriate support solutions and sets staffing priorities. It also outlines your procedures for handling customer complaints.
Community
When you shop locally, you support small businesses, which are a vital component of local economies. They employ local people, pay taxes that wind up back in the community and reflect a unified image of your town or region.
If you want to make your business more successful, you need to be involved with the local community. This is a proven strategy for business success, and it’s also an excellent way to build a loyal customer base.
For example, many local business owners donate to their chamber of commerce and participate in charitable events in their area. They may even sponsor a sports team or a local event.
Getting involved in your local community can be as simple as writing a guest article for a local newspaper or volunteering for a radio show. It’s a great way to get your name out there and establish yourself as an authority on a topic. It can also help you boost your website’s search ranking.
