3 Restaurant Marketing Trends and Takeaways

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If these three major restaurant marketing trends don’t get your attention and find themselves reflected in your restaurant marketing strategies, you may find your restaurant getting served – by the competition.

Three Trends Impacting Restaurant Success Right Now

Once upon a time restaurant marketing was simple and straightforward. A yellow page listing and occasional newspaper ad or coupon was all that it took to bring new restaurant customers in the door, along with personal referrals from your most loyal restaurant patrons, of course. Restaurant marketing isn’t so simple anymore!

Now, a restaurant marketing strategy must include significant investment of time and resources in digital marketing including development and constant updating of a restaurant’s:

  • Website (search and user friendly, regardless of device)
  • Distribution of digital ads, coupons and offers
  • Social networks
  • Email marketing
  • Review and rating sites

In addition, your restaurant marketing strategy still needs to include offline restaurant marketing activities including networking, community involvement, customer relations and reputation management. We want to draw your attention to three important restaurant marketing trends, in particular, as noted in a BrightLocal.com consumer review survey.

3 Restaurant Marketing Trends and Strategic Takeaways

1. A 100% year-over-year increase in the number of people who used the internet to search for local businesses every day

27% of consumers looked online daily for a local business in 2018 – more than double the proportion in 2017. And if your ideal customer type is younger, this becomes even more important. 54% of shoppers aged 18-34 used the internet to search for a local business every day, and 81% of younger consumers did so at least once a week.

  • Your restaurant marketing strategy must feature at its core an omni-device-friendly website optimized for local search. Older consumers largely use bigger devices (PC/MAC) to search for local businesses online while younger shoppers tend to search on mobile devices.
Restaurant marketing trends - omni-device websites

Source: BrightLocal

  • Your website can’t just be a place-holder. Get ahead by adopting a content marketing strategy that incorporates best practices for SEO (search engine optimization) as well as publishing quality content for site visitors on a regular basis – at least weekly.

2.  86% of consumers read online reviews for local businesses and 40% ONLY consider reviews written within the past 2 weeks

One great write up or review can bring new customers in, but the effectiveness of a great review diminishes over time. Consumers know that over time, standards can slip, menus can grow stale, management can become complacent, and so on. Especially in the restaurant industry, where many shoppers are looking for something new to try.

  • Restaurants must monitor online review and rating sites or risk inaccurate or dishonest reviews living a long life – and impacting their ability to attract new customers – on online review and rating cites (like Google, Facebook and yelp).
  • Restaurants should solicit and post customer reviews and ratings on their own websites, social networks, blog and use them in email marketing.
  • You can’t rest on your laurels. Getting testimonials, reviews and ratings must be an on-going initiative for restaurateurs.

3. Year-over-year increase in the number of consumers who read online reviews for restaurants

This goes beyond reviews and ratings, although it includes them. Year over year, more and more consumers rely on restaurant reviews when choosing which local eateries to favor. In fact, it’s not even close! For no other industry do consumers read more reviews than restaurants.

do restaurant reviews matter - restaurant marketing trends

Source: BrightLocal

  • Add reputation management to your restaurant marketing strategy – immediately! Although your restaurant’s reputation is certainly affected by reviews and ratings, it goes far beyond the quality of the food you serve or how fast you get it to the table.
  • Today’s consumers expect businesses to respond to concerns and complaints within 24 hours or less, regardless of channel. 30% expect a response on social media within 30 minutes! Make sure you are continually monitoring not only review sites but your restaurant’s social media channels as well.

The reputation of your restaurant could also be affected by any number of other factors:

  • Whether your staff members are pleasant or likeable, and their ability to deliver good service, consistently
  • The cleanliness of your restaurant
  • Your décor and the type of atmosphere and ambiance in your restaurant (and whether it resonates with members of your target markets)
  • How your staff responds to the occasional problem or unusual patron requests
  • Community involvement and charitable contributions
  • Press coverage and PR

It may sound like a lot of work – and in truth, it is – but in a day and age when one bad customer review can be recorded and go viral immediately, the stakes have never been higher! Make sure that your restaurant marketing strategies are in line with what consumers say is most influential for them – or you risk getting served by the competition!

You might also like: How to Respond to a Bad Restaurant Review without Biting Back

 

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Brand Loyalty Factors – A Generational Breakdown of Why We Buy

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What makes customers buy and what makes them brand-loyal might not be all that far apart. A new Trendera study reveals the top 10 brand loyalty factors with US consumers ranging in age from 13-50.

Top 10 Brand Loyalty Factors with U.S. Consumers

Quality and price top the list of factors that U.S. consumers say makes them loyal to a brand, according to research by Trendera. At the risk of pointing out the obvious, it’s still interesting to note that these are generally the reasons people buy in the first place – but this isn’t the only takeaway for brand marketers.

Loyalty programs barely make the top five list of reasons people say they become loyal to brands, despite the money and resources that have been poured into loyalty programs over the past decade, indicating that there is room for improvement. A business that successfully manages to re-think their loyalty program and makes it truly meaningful to buyers could create a serious competitive advantage for itself.

The biggest generational divides are the importance of creative marketing and whether and how brands respond to customers on social media when it comes to the youngest U.S. consumers surveyed, known as Generation V aged 13-20. In fact, creative marketing was even more important to Gen V than strong brand ethics and responding to customers on social media was almost as important.

Celebrity affiliation was nearly as influential with Gen V as company culture; although to be fair, this generation has not had first-hand experience with the complexities of company culture as of yet! As these younger consumers begin to gain more purchasing power and ultimately enter the workforce themselves, it will be important for brand marketers to discover whether these factors continue to weigh more heavily with this generation.

Top 10 Brand Loyalty Factors with Generation X from Most to Least Important

  • Quality
  • Price
  • Great customer service
  • Past interactions
  • Loyalty program or rewards
  • Strong ethics
  • Creative marketing
  • Company culture; tied with,
  • Responding to customers on social networks
  • Celebrity affiliation

Top 10 Brand Loyalty Factors with Generation Y from Most to Least Important

  • Quality
  • Price
  • Great customer service
  • Past interactions
  • Loyalty program or rewards
  • Strong ethics
  • Creative marketing
  • Company culture
  • Responding to customers on social networks
  • Celebrity affiliation

Top 10 Brand Loyalty Factors with Generation V from Most to Least Important

  • Quality
  • Price
  • Past interactions
  • Great customer service
  • Loyalty program or rewards
  • Creative marketing
  • Strong ethics
  • Responding to customers on social networks
  • Company culture
  • Celebrity affiliation

generational breakdown of why we buy - trendera research

The Best Place to Compete for Brand Loyalty

Given that quality is not a concern and that pricing is competitive, while consumers say these factors top the list of brand loyalty drivers, they aren’t where a business can create competitive advantages and increase brand loyalty with all three generations of U.S. consumers. Customer service and past interactions come in at number 3 and 4 on these lists with all consumers which leads us to believe that customer experience is the best place to compete for brand loyalty.

A remarkable customer experience becomes the “past purchasing interactions” that consumers point to as the reasons they return to a business and feel loyalty to its brand. Customer service that stands out from the service they can receive in other businesses is what makes it great.

The way consumers feel about doing business with a brand outweighs the monetary and other tangible rewards that a brand offers in return for loyalty. Customer experiences become the stories that patrons repeat to friends, loved ones and colleagues. They are the driving force behind social media shout outs and recommendations. They are the reasons that followers open a brand’s emails and follow them online.

Instead of thinking about the customer experience at your business as a whole, and using words that describe your brand experience and values in general terms, try breaking it down into customer experience touch points, instead. Every customer touch point contributes to their experience, and so each represents an opportunity for you to generate the positive emotions that make them feel satisfied, happy, and proud of doing business with you, time and again.

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Hotel Trends – Renovations that Generate New Hotel Revenues

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Coffee shops aren’t the only third spaces. Find out how hotel renovations — from low cost to large scale — are helping to boost hotel revenues and attract more guests.

Hotel Trends – Hospitality Spaces Working Hard to Become the Next Big Thing

With a little ‘third space thinking,’ you can make simple renovations in your hotel, motel or bed and breakfast in order to bring in new guests and increase profits and sales in your hospitality establishment.

Although only recently made part of the lexicon of the US consumer, third spaces existed long before the popularity of Starbucks® as a business or social flex space brought the term to the forefront. With a little ‘third space thinking,’ you can make simple renovations in your hotel, motel or bed and breakfast in order to bring in new guests and increase profits and sales in your hospitality establishment.

The third space (also called the third place) is a term which refers to social spaces separate from home (the first space) and work (the second space). These third spaces become gathering places and accommodate a variety of community building activities, from purely social affairs to business and networking groups, gatherings for people with common interests or hobbies, extended offices and more.

While modern US coffee shops like Starbucks® have adopted the phrase, third spaces existed decades before coffee houses monopolized the term. For years, the barber shop and salon served as an unofficial neighborhood meeting place; also, gathering places like country clubs and civic clubs (like Eagles and Elks organizations) and sometimes even neighborhood restaurants and bars have served as third spaces in US communities for hundreds of years.

Generally, third spaces share some or all of these characteristics:

  • Admittance is free or inexpensive
  • Though not essential, food and drink are often important
  • Highly accessible, often within walking distance
  • Patronized by “regulars” but also a place where new as well as old ‘friends’ can be found
  • Welcoming and comfortable

Hotels, motels and bed and breakfast type hospitality businesses that engage in third space thinking are boosting revenues by redesigning common areas to keep hotel guests from wandering outside for meals, meetings and entertainment, and using these same spaces to help bring in new hotel guests, too. It’s a great example of hotel trends that are helping hoteliers re-imagine the role of their facilities.

Here are a few of examples of hotels that created third spaces – and boosted bottom line revenues:

  • Marriott International© remodeled lobbies as “great rooms” with free Wi-Fi, comfortable seating and menus featuring small dishes and local craft beers.
  • Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide© revamped its Sheraton brand by remodeling Sheraton lobbies with communal areas, modern furnishings and décor, improved lighting, and upscale wine lists and flat screen TVs at the bar. Afterward, the Chicago Sheraton sold 24 percent more wine during the first six months than it did the previous year.
  • Sheraton© lobbies were first remodeled with guest amenities in mind way back in 2006, when, in partnership with Microsoft, it provided free computers for guests; soon after they found themselves also selling coffee and snacks. While 5.8 million Sheraton hotel guests use the gym, more than 15 million use the computers every year.

“As people spent more time in the lobby, they were more willing to purchase food and beverages.”—Hoyt Harper, Senior Vice President – Sheraton

Hyatt Regency hotels in Chicago, New York, Atlanta and San Francisco have added clusters of chairs and couches as well as a grab-and-go marketplace and restaurant that over flows into its lobbies.

Hotel Trends - Renovations that Generate New Hotel Revenues

“The lobby establishes the pricing of the hotel.” —Bjorn Hanson, dean of New York University’s hospitality school

It stands to reason that guests will pay more to stay at a hotel that offers better guest amenities – amenities that go beyond the hotel room into the common areas of the hotel itself. Not only will they pay more to receive more, but they will also be more likely to return as a loyal hotel patron, refer friends, family and colleagues to the hotel and leave positive reviews and ratings for the hotel online.

Hotel Trends - Renovations that Generate New Hotel Revenues

“People want to go where people are… If [people] are more comfortable in the space and surrounded by others, they will stay and spend more money.” —Michael Slosser, Destination Hotels and Resorts

Obviously when it comes to these hotel trends, hotel renovation and remodeling projects can be expensive – but they don’t have to be!

Here are four low-cost ways to quickly renovate your hotel lobby and common areas in order to attract new guests, garner repeat hotel stays and hotel guest loyalty and generate positive word of mouth, referrals and online reviews for your hotel:

Hotel Trends in Marketing: Generate New Revenues by Rethinking the Hotel Business

1. Create multi-purpose micro-lounges

Remodeling an entire room – or even an entire floor – within a hotel can be costly; creating conversation areas within a lobby can be done for a fraction of the price! Create conversation areas or mini-seating areas conducive to families, business meetings or computer use.

In the evening, turn these micro-lounges into a space where guests can enjoy a cocktail, wine or beer before going to your restaurant (or going out) for dinner, or where they can relax with a beverage prior to returning to their room for the night.

2. Provide for one meal a day – or more

Adding a grab-and-go marketplace, coffee or wine bar to your hotel can be done in a much smaller space – and for a smaller price tag – than trying to add or remodel a large hotel restaurant. Think about your guests in terms of segments (families, business travelers, etc.) and plan for a small buffet or grab-and-go type options that would be perfect for business breakfasts or lunches.

3. Accentuate local crafts, artists and artistry

Cities – and even neighborhoods – often have their own unique “flavor” in terms of local food and beverage favorites, art and music. Why not infuse some of the local ambiance into your hotel lobby in order to leave a lasting impression with guests? Feature the work of local artists, offer tastings of local craft beers and wines and feature live music – right in your lobby.

4. Think convenience

If you have a smartphone or tablet, you have the technology at your fingertips (literally) to make the one constant of every hotel much more convenient for your guests: The hotel check in process. Make it as easy as possible for guests to check in and offer up digital coupons for use in your hotel’s restaurants, bars and other guest amenities during their stay.

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From hotel merchant services and credit card processing to hotel financing, we have great resources for growing a hotel business through renovations and revenue-boosting third space ideas.

Get a free, no-risk quote for hotel payment processing or a hotel cash advance: 

 

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Restaurant Marketing – 5 Ways to Promote New Menu Items Without Discounting

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Want customers to try the newest items on your restaurant menu? Here are five ways to promote new menu items without cutting profits.

Is it time to add new menu items or introduce a whole new line up?

No matter how delicious, getting people to try new restaurant menu items can be challenging. Many restaurant patrons would like to try something new but fear straying from the familiar. Here are five restaurant marketing ideas that will help you create demand for new restaurant menu items without discounting.

Restaurant marketing poses many inherent challenges, from turning occasional diners into loyal customers to attracting more members of their target audience to creating demand for items newly added to a restaurant’s menu.

There are many reasons why a restaurant may need to add or drop items from its menu, even items regularly ordered by diners. For instance, your restaurant menu may need to have items added (or dropped) when:

  • Demand simply doesn’t match minimum levels of demand needed for profitability
  • Ingredients become more costly or scarce
  • Some type of nutritional regulation or another type of ordinance renders it necessary
  • Your restaurant is evolving into a more targeted model or re-branding itself

But let’s face it: some people don’t like change, and that may include members of your staff as well as some of your restaurant customers. One of the reasons that some restaurant patrons will routinely order only one or two things from your menu is that they found one or two things they like, and they don’t want to risk trying other menu items they may not like as well.

If it’s time to change your restaurant menu and add new items, here are five ways to create demand for your new restaurant options without discounting.

Promoting New Menu Items – 5 Ways to Create Demand without Destroying Profits

•   Hold a free tasting for your wait staff, and pay them for attending.

Who has more ability to do some suggestive selling to undecided restaurant patrons than their server? Since your staff will be routinely asked “what’s good,” or what they would choose, why wouldn’t you ensure they have firsthand knowledge about new (if not all) your restaurant’s menu items?

By the way, this is also a good way test new menu items, get feedback, and make any changes or improvements needed prior to launch in your restaurant!

•   Provide a free mini version or sample to restaurant patrons.

This could be a great value-add to happy hours or a way to thank restaurant patrons in an unexpected way. Create miniature or tasting-size versions of new menu items and provide an offer or incentive for restaurant customers that order full-size versions at a future visit, provided that it occurs within a set period of time.

By the way, these types of offers can also be an inducement that brings customers in more frequently – base your offer expiration dates on the average time between customer visits.

•   Incentivize suggestive selling.

Provide incentives for staff who up-sell customers on trying the new menu items during your launch period.

•   Publicize the launch and popularity of new menu items using reviews.

All of the people who try your new restaurant menu items during their introductory period (including your employees) should be asked to complete a short satisfaction survey about the new item that includes how many stars they would award the item (up to 5) and an open-ended question that lets them describe the new item. Use your ratings and reviews to publicize during the launch period on your website and in your email, social media, SMS text message and other marketing.

•   Hold an exclusive open house or tasting event for influencers or your best customers.

People like to feel important and special. Close the doors of your restaurant or close a room off from the general public and invite community influencers (such as the people in your business networking groups, civic or city organizations, etc.) or a collection of your most loyal customers to a V.I.P. tasting event featuring your new restaurant menu items.

Get their feedback including restaurant menu reviews and comments and use them to market the new items on your restaurant’s menu on your website, email newsletter, social media updates and text message marketing. Create tent cards for your tables or inserts for your menu which include early feedback, 5-star reviews and comments from those who loved the new menu item.

You might also like: 3 Ways to Get Restaurant Word of Mouth Marketing

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Revamping your restaurant point of sale with a custom restaurant credit card processing solution could be another way to improve the customer experience and your restaurant’s efficiency. Don’t hesitate to reach out to us for a free assessment of your current restaurant card processor – we’ll be happy to make recommendations and let you know whether you could be saving money with lower credit card processing rates or better equipment.

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9 Promotion Ideas for an Auto Service, Repair or Parts Business

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The new car sales boom of the mid 2010’s means a lot of car owners have vehicles that might be needing service and repairs right now. Here are nine promotion ideas for automotive businesses.

New promotion ideas for auto service, repair and parts stores.

New car sales rose to pre-recession levels in August 2013, even ahead of the job-creating economic recovery that took hold after the 2016 election. That new car sales boom means a lot of people have 5 and 6 year old vehicles, automobiles that tend to need more service and repairs than newer models.

Now is the perfect time to come up with new promotion ideas to position your auto service, repair, parts or auto accessory store to be able to take advantage of demand for auto services. Here are nine marketing ideas that can put your auto service, auto repair, or auto parts and accessory business into growth mode.

9 Promotion Ideas to Grow an Auto Service, Repair or Parts Business

1. Network like crazy – even with competitors! Establishing even one strategic partnership with a dealership or by getting word of mouth referrals from salespeople at a new car dealership can put your auto service or repair business into position to gain scores of customer vehicles for regular maintenance, repairs or recalls.

2. Let local dealerships know you’re willing to take on overflow business or perform services or repairs when they are not profitable for them (and your business could be).

3. Do the work necessary to become officially-sanctioned by insurance companies for auto repairs, services or recall work.

4. Don’t wait for customers in need to come to you! Establish and maintain educational communications if you want to “be there” when customers need you. Focus time and resources on your website, email newsletters and social networks as well as periodic direct mail and traditional ad placements.

5. US consumers will accessorize and personalize just about anything! Cater to the enthusiasm of new car owners by selling and promoting innovative add-ons and personalized or unique car accessories.

6. Create a pre-paid or bundled package of services tailored just for new car owners (or owners of aging vehicles).

7. Provide free spot-checks of vehicle systems, especially for the owners of older cars or the owners of the vehicles your auto service business is best-suited to serve.

8. Live in a state with emissions or other vehicle compliance regulations? Offer a free spot-test or emission-prep service to vehicle owners before they go to the state testing facility.

9. Optimize your website, blog and other digital real estate. Consumers research local business options – including auto service, auto repair, and auto parts and accessory stores online before calling for an appointment or going to a brick and mortar location. It is vital that your website is properly optimized with the right keywords and phrases – the phrases your ideal buyer types would be using to find a business like yours online. And it is equally important that you have a website optimized for mobile search, especially if your business is one that someone would be searching for on – or off to the side of – the road!

You might also like: 6 Marketing Ideas for Auto Repair and Service Businesses

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3 Ways to Improve Customer Experience at the Point of Sale

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Forbes list of customer experience predictions for 2019 starts off with the customer’s expectation of convenience and speed. From the beginning of the customer experience to the end, including at the point of sale.

You can win over a new customer only to lose them at the point of sale.

Consider this: A customer visits your brick and mortar or online store, and you manage to surprise and even delight them with a high level of customer service and product satisfaction… right up until they try to reward you by paying. Up until the last moment in the buying journey, your business got it right. But at the point of sale, something goes wrong, something is down, something is slow, something is clunky and cumbersome.

Given that this is the last moment in the customer experience for this transaction, doesn’t it stand to reason that a bad experience at the point of sale due to a problem with payment processing or poorly chosen merchant services equipment and software could negate or even replace all of the good brand impressions your business made up until the end?

Customizing your point of sale solution can create a competitive advantage.

Even if your point of sale payment processor and merchant services have performed well or adequately in the past, as technology continuously improves, the capabilities your point of sale equipment and software provide might be outdated now. If your competitors have new and improved merchant services tools and your tools don’t measure up, you’ve handed them a competitive advantage.

Working with a local payment processing company like 253 Payment Pros can put the competitive advantage back on the side of your business. Our goal isn’t just to sell you a point of sale solution or merchant services package and move on to the next customer, we want to make sure you get the most appropriate payment processing solution in place, and we are happy to customize an equipment and software package that serves your business well. What’s more, we want to work with you for the long haul. We can educate you on the latest technology and tools to make sure you are getting the most out of your point of sale solution.

Use marketing automation to improve customer satisfaction beyond the point of sale.

The second prognostication in Forbes’ customer service predictions for 2019 also argues for taking a fresh look at your payment processing solution: The triumph of digital over traditional communications. This is where your merchant services software can really shine, in generating automated email marketing that can:

  • reinforce positive customer perceptions about your brand
  • drive referrals via rewards, email and social media
  • increase positive online reviews and ratings
  • encourage feedback for customer support and satisfaction
  • increase customer visit frequency
  • communicate loyalty rewards totals and opportunities
  • increase revenues through special offers, add-ons and upgrades

Gift cards, loyalty and rewards programs facilitated through your payment processing solution can increase customer satisfaction, retention, referrals and much, much more. It’s also probably one of the most under-utilized tools; many businesses fail to take full advantage of the loyalty marketing options available to them in their merchant services software. We would be happy to help you set up post-sale marketing automation so that you can see an increase in revenues from sales of gift cards, return visits from loyal customers and referrals earned through high customer satisfaction.

Simple, seamless point of sale experiences satisfy consumer’s desire for self-service.

Number three on the Forbes 2019 customer satisfaction predictions especially reinforces the need to re-evaluate your merchant services solution overall, and payment processing in particular. Today’s customers want you to be available to them when they need you, but they also want to be able to serve themselves.

More than 8 out of 10 customers across all industries try to complete their own customer journey independently before reaching out to a brand representative (Gartner research). The extent to which a customer can research your products and services, find what they want from your business and complete payment to you without needing the help of someone on your team can create a competitive advantage for your business.

Upgrading and updating your point of sale software and equipment could be the key to satisfying customers who want to self-serve. And when paired with loyalty marketing software, these customers can still feel like they did business with a high level of personalized customer care, even if they never spoke directly with one of your employees.

Digital point of sale is not nice-to-have, it’s a must-have.

Another of Forbes’ predictions is something that shouldn’t surprise: The need to be a digital business. Once again, if you’re working with aging point of sale equipment and software or part of the customer transaction is still performed manually, now is a great time to reach out to us. We can help you with a customized point of sale solution that suits your business’s needs and packs a punch when it comes to return on investment.

When was the last time you upgraded your payment processing and other merchant services? When was the last time you even evaluated whether you have the best point of sale equipment and software in place? Get a no-stress, cost or obligation quote:

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11 Businesses that Should Optimize for Local Search Right Now

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If your business depends on attracting and serving customers within a local area geographically, it’s never been more important to properly optimize your website, social profiles and internet marketing.

If you own a business that depends on attracting customers from the local area, it’s never been more important that you have an internet presence that is mobile friendly and optimized for local search. Forty percent of US consumers reportedly search for a local business once a day, and 66% of consumers use local search at least 3-4 times each week. In a local search research study by Immr and Street Fight, success hinges on local search for eleven types of businesses, in particular.

Here’s what the report found in two important categories, people who searched for those business types during a specific time period and people who purchased from the same types of businesses during that same period of time.

Eleven business types for which consumers searched online over the 12-month period:

  • Local entertainment (87%)
  • Local restaurants (84%)
  • Transportation (80%)
  • Local contractors (79%)
  • Local retail stores (77%)
  • Local automotive businesses (72%)
  • Local professional service providers (70%)
  • Local personal and fitness facilities or professionals (70%)
  • Local financial services (70%)
  • Local health care providers or facilities (67%)
  • Local grocery stores (61%)

And while local grocery store owners may be disappointed that only 6 of 10 consumers search for them locally, they should be heartened to realize that they top the second category of consideration. A whopping 96% of consumers reporting they had purchased from a local grocery store during the past year.

Business types from which consumers purchased during the 12-month period:

  • Local grocery stores (96%)
  • Local restaurants (94%)
  • Local retail stores (90%)
  • Local entertainment (82%)
  • Local automobile related retailers or service professionals (76%)
  • Local healthcare facilities or providers (75%)
  • Local personal and fitness facilities (65%)
  • Local financial services (63%)
  • Local transportation (41%)
  • Local contractors (36%)
  • Local professional services (31%)

Optimize your website for local search and maximize your small business marketing ROI

When it comes to what consumers were looking for on websites, trends vary from industry to industry. For instance, restaurant goers typically viewed more than one online menu before choosing a restaurant and were often looking for maps, directions and distance from their current location, whereas those searching for grocery stores were more typically looking for listings and hours of operation. The year also saw sales of mobile devices top those of PC sales, and mobile traffic now accounts for more than half of all internet traffic, and more than half of all online searches.

This small business internet marketing recipe can optimize your business’ presence online so that your business gets found in local search more often by members of your target audience:

  • Keyword research to identify the phrases local consumers use most frequently to find businesses like yours
  • Inclusion of the best keywords/phrases identified in your research on your website’s meta title, description and keyword fields
  • Inclusion of the best keywords/phrases identified in on-page content on your website (and don’t forget alt- tags for images, search engines can’t see pictures!)
  • Incorporation of keywords/phrases to optimize your social networks/status updates and email marketing
  • Enhancing your backlinks and content marketing strategies by publishing optimized blog articles on a regular basis
  • Development of a website that is both desktop and mobile-friendly, and whose content focuses on engaging consumers by optimizing the site visitor experience itself
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