Use the summer holidays to create targeted marketing campaigns that bring more customers through the door
With the summer holidays in full swing and more people travelling to and through your area, it’s the ideal time to grow your customer base. But how do you reach people who don’t live in your vicinity or who don’t yet know about your business? The key is knowing which smartphone apps and websites your customers use and showing up on them.
Google business
Firstly, make sure you are listed on Google Search and Google Maps. This is key as they are the top two places customers go to find a business nearby. You don’t need to advertise – this can be expensive and the results are difficult for local businesses to track – instead make the most of your free Google business profile by keeping it fully optimised with weekly updates, photos and keywords so that when people search for “fish and chip shops near me”, your restaurant or takeaway shows up first.
Facebook and Instagram
After Google Search and Google Maps, the two most frequently used apps are Facebook and Instagram. Many customers, after googling a local business, visit its social media pages before deciding to visit in person. In fact, 60% of consumers use Facebook to verify a business’s hours and ensure a credible, authentic presence. Therefore, it is crucial to post regularly on these platforms – at least daily – with engaging copy and eye-catching images.
However, organic reach is limited, with only about 5% of followers seeing your content (for pages with 10,000 followers this drops to 2.6%). To reach people in your community who aren’t following your pages, you need to invest in targeted paid campaigns, which cost just a few pounds a day. The key is to configure your settings correctly to precisely target potential customers. For instance, you can choose for your ad to appear on websites your customers are most likely to visit, such as local news channels. You can also target by location to reach more affluent areas of your community, where customers are more likely to spend with you.
There are also competitor campaigns which target people who have recently visited your competitors, as well as visitor ads aimed at people who don’t live locally but are visiting, for example, on business or holiday. One of my favourites is running a birthday ad targeted at those with a birthday that week.
E-mail database
Don’t forget to utilise your e-mail database. This is a crucial aspect of your business because, unlike your Facebook or Instagram profiles, you own your e-mail list. It provides a consistent line of communication with your most loyal customers – the ones most likely to spend money with you. Additionally, conversion rates are much higher: 97% of people who subscribe to receiving text messages open them, and 21% of e-mail subscribers do the same.
