Make Your Business Appeal Locally
Small and medium sized local businesses play a vital part in the economy, especially in their immediate area. The provision of jobs is a big factor here, but each community based business provides goods or services that are used by other businesses as well as consumers. Take a look at any high street and you'll see that each business is a link in a chain of transactions that serve the community.A butchers shop, for example, might buy ingredients from the grocer, stationery from the Post Office shop, get change from the bank and provide food to a local cafe.
There is an element of self-sustainability to this model, but every business needs new customers. With an increase in people moving from large cities to more rural areas and smaller towns following lockdowns there is now an influx of potential customers to market to, but how do your get their attention?
The trick is to craft a slogan, or a marketing message which really speaks to the needs of your ideal customers. To do this we need to shift our mindset from that of a business owner to that of a customer. What are those customers looking for?Once you know this, you can tailor a message to those needs and wants which will make your customers say “yes, this business is for me”. There are some key factors that drive consumer decision making, so your message should address at least two of them. The factors are:
- Quality (what sets your products and services above the rest?)
- Uniqueness (do you have a feature, location or something else you can't get anywhere else?)
- Availability (what is your product range?Do you meet a number of needs?)
- Authority (are you the experts?)
- Affinity (what values do you share with your customers?)
- Convenience (what can you offer to make shopping with you easy?)
We'll take the example of a farm shop and cafe. This business offers products (food and perhaps some lifestyle products) and a catering service (for eating in, and takeaway). A slogan, or marketing message for this business could look like this:
“Adamson's Farm Shop and Cafe – local produce for local people”
This is a weak slogan; it doesn't tell us why we would patronise this business over a similar local offering. If the slogan told us more we'd be able to tell immediately that it was a business we'd like to visit:
“Adamson's Farm Shop and Cafe – produce grown in the heart of the community with stunning views from our award-winning garden cafe”
This tells us much more, and invites us to see the views for ourselves, while indulging in some food that we know will be good while also supporting alocal, community-focused business. This slogan appeals to quality, uniqueness, authority and affinity and makes the business an attractive proposition to every potential customer.
When you have a strong slogan, feature it everywhere you can – on your till receipts, bags, signs, website, social media, email signatures and all your advertising. This reinforces the message and keeps your name out there for everyone to see.
