AppId is over the quota
by Caron_Beesley, Community Moderator
Created: March 21, 2013, 7:25 amUpdated: March 21, 2013, 2:37 pmBusinesses move for all sorts of reasons. Existing rents may be too high; neighboring anchor tenants may have left; or perhaps you just need a bigger premise for your growing business!
But how can you ensure your existing customers move with you and how can you go about attracting new customers to your new location? Here are six tips:
1. Communicate Pre-Move and Post-Move
First, be sure to use every available touch point to communicate with existing customers about your impending move—and well in advance. Utilize e-mail lists, your website, direct mail, flyers, blog, social media, advertising, press releases, in-store signage—the works. Be sure to include directions, information about what else is going on in that neighborhood and, if your move is for positive reasons, be bold and share those details. For example, if you are expanding, include a message that thanks your customers for their patronage and stresses your commitment to providing top notch service.
If you haven’t been keeping a record of your customer emails and mailing addresses, use the news media and other avenues (see below) to spread the word about your move.
Don’t forget to leave flyers with your neighbors after you’ve moved and request that they display them in their windows or at the point of sale.
2. Update Your Online Listings
Search engines are increasingly locally-centric in their search results. For example, if you enter “Italian restaurant” into a Google search, it will automatically display local businesses in your area first. So update (or create if you don’t have them) your online listings, whether they are on Google+ Local, Yelp, Yellow Pages, Facebook, Trip Advisor or others. And, of course, don’t forget to update your own website “Contact Us”, “About Us” or “Find Us” page.
3. Use Location-Based Services to Attract Passersby
Don’t forget to take advantage of mobile technology. Promoting your small business to passersby using mobile apps that target consumers in the vicinity of your business isn’t that difficult. Groupon, Living Social, FourSquare and ThinkNear, among others, let you post information about your latest offers and limited-time deals to consumers within a certain distance of your business. You can also schedule deals to get delivered during key hours—for example, if you’re looking to boost foot traffic during off-peak times.
4. Give Existing Customers an Incentive to Visit You at Your New Location
Your customers are your livelihood, treat them that way. Offer them incentives to stop by your new location. Make sure the offer is time-bound so they have a reason to check out your new digs soon!
5. Host an Event to Attract New and Existing Customers
Give customers a reason to fall in love with your store—not just for its products, but as a place to get together. Retail stores, bars, restaurants and other food service businesses, in particular, can benefit from hosting events. These can be educational in nature (bring in a guest speaker from a vendor or supplier if you don’t have much to say yourself) or appreciation events (offer a sneak preview of your new location to your top customers). Events can also be tied to themes (date night or wine night) or holidays.
6. Don’t Forget Customers That May Not Have Checked You Out for a While
Your new location might be more convenient to some of your older customers. So consider running a campaign that targets not only your active customer base, but those who may not have purchased from you in a while. Special offers or other incentives specifically targeted at that group and paired with a, “we’d love to see you again,” message may just do the trick.
For more tips about attracting customers to your new business location read: 7 Ways to Increase Foot Traffic to your Small Business.
Useful Resources
SBA SizeUp Tool – Want to know how your business stacks up against the competition? Where your potential competitors are located? Where the best places are to advertise your business? Use SBA’s SizeUp tool to help you crunch millions of data points and get customizable reports and statistics about your business and its competition. Just enter your industry, city, state and other details. SizeUp then runs various reports and provides maps and data related to your competition, suppliers and customers. It also highlights potential advertising opportunities.Related Articles
Caron Beesley is a small business owner, a writer, and marketing communications consultant. Caron works with the SBA.gov team to promote essential government resources that help entrepreneurs and small business owners start-up, grow and succeed. Follow Caron on Twitter: @caronbeesleyTags: Community Blogs, Small Business Matters, Managing, Marketing 