Competition between businesses gets fierce during the holiday season. This means your marketing game needs to be on point if you want to steal the spotlight from your competitors and attract more customers during this busy time of year — especially if you’re a small- and medium-sized business operating on a limited budget. To help get you started, 12 professionals from Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) answered the following question: “What’s one local marketing tactic small businesses can use to attract more customers during the holiday season? Why is this an effective approach?” Here are a f ..read more

A lot of small biz owners think that you can only get a review after the customer has purchased their product or service. But what if you could get a review at other times in the buying process to increase your chances of landing a great one? On The Small Business Radio Show this week, I talk with Shawn Hill who is the Community Director and Fun Delivery Specialist for NiceJob Inc, a reputation marketing software company. Interview with Shawn Hill of NiceJob Inc. Shawn says that at any point in the process “you can get a review. But it’s also important for your company to know how you are doi ..read more

Getting involved in your local community is an easy way to build relationships and find loyal customers for your business. Hosting a community event can help you kick-start these relationships, but events can be expensive, and a new small business may not have the resources necessary to host one. To help small businesses find some effective yet budget-friendly event solutions, a panel of Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) members answered the following question: “Getting active in the community is a great marketing technique for local small businesses. What’s one budget-friendly event idea any ..read more

A new Shopify merchant/consumer research reveals local retailers are fighting more than ever to compete with online marketplaces. This as the economy starts opening after what seems like a never-ending pandemic. Competing With Online Marketplaces According to Shopify research, two in five local retailers are struggling to compete. And 59% say they may need to close their doors in the next two years. However, almost two-thirds of small business owners (65%) are implementing different tactics to compete with major online marketplaces. Local retailers are improving store atmosphere (50%), offeri ..read more

As a new small business, engaging your community is crucial to getting your business off the ground. The goal is to nurture lasting relationships that will drive your revenue and increase brand awareness; however, forming genuine connections with members of your community requires strategy and patience. To help you do this, 15 members of Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) answered the following question: “What’s one effective and creative way small businesses can market to their local communities and bring in new customers?” Follow their advice to become a staple of your community. 1. Reach Out ..read more

Google My Business will begin allowing service businesses to book appointments soon. This includes allowing Google My Business merchants to add “online appointments,” “online classes,” or “online estimates” attributes to their Business Profiles. The more information a business can provide online to its customers, the better they can serve them. And more than ever this is highlighting the importance of having a digital presence. In the announcement, Jen Fitzpatrick, Senior Vice President, Google Maps, explains the goal is to “Help businesses get the support they need, adapt their operations, a ..read more

Knowing which digital marketing levers to pull for a good Google ranking can be difficult for small businesses. But the Local Rank Factors Survey for 2020 can help. It defines what’s been working and what hasn’t over the last year. Small Business Trends contacted Craig J. Mount, the founder of Classy Brain, to find out where SMBs can best spend their SEO dollars. Mount and Darren Shaw are members of a group of local marketers. They do a large survey yearly that highlights the do’s and don’ts of ranking with the search engine. Small Business Local Search Trends 2021 He started with a primer if ..read more

Digital marketing is a pivotal part of most modern business success. While it may be a powerful marketing tool, creating an effective digital marketing strategy can feel overwhelming. Here are a few ideas to help you pull together an effective strategy for your online marketing activities. 1. Assess and Strategize First Before you start spending money, you need to slow down and consider what your marketing strategy is in the first place. For many SMBs (small- and medium-sized businesses), their marketing is a patchwork effort to tap into as many digital marketing services as possible — and th ..read more

A survey of small businesses by Uberall has found that 81% of local searches for small businesses are unbranded. This is compared with 19% of queries that feature a branded term. According to the survey titled ‘Branded vs Unbranded Search’   it is important for local small businesses to fill out their online profiles with services like Google My Business, which typically drive local businesses to the top of “near me” searches. Uberall Local Search Survey Uberall examined 22 global brands, with 48,000 locations and more than 450,000 SMBs, between August 2018 and August 2019. The goal ..read more

Surveys can be an effective research tool for small businesses. You can use them to collect feedback from customers, learn about the needs and wants of your target audience, or even learn how your employees view your company’s operations. However, it’s not as simple as just throwing a few basic questions at your customers or team members. Using survey best practices can help you ultimately gather more responses, more accurate results, and clearer data that point your business in the right direction. Survey Best Practices A carefully planned survey design can help you get better results from y ..read more