A Bugged Life

Local Businesses are usually small and may not have big budgets to allocate towards marketing and promotion. However, there are certain tools that can be freely employed and results can be just as good without causing any gaping holes in your pockets. Here are some quick tips to help achieve success for the small local businesses in 2014.

Know about your competition
In order to succeed in business, however big or small, one needs to equip themselves with as much knowledge as possible. In order to attract customers who frequent other stores is to know what they are doing different. As and when you gain more information, your business gets collective insight about the industry best practices that can be incorporated in your own business to get serve your customers better.

Add value to the customer experience
With so much competition these days, it is only a matter of time when your customers move on to some other service provider or brand if they do not have a good experience. Give your customers an exceptional experience by going the extra mile. They may not remember your product but sure enough they will remember your good service. To attract more customers and retain the old ones, create events and reward and recognition for your loyal ones to stay and new ones to come. You can also plan co-marketing an event with other local business owners to attract more people and cover wider customer base.

Have promotional activities
Do plan consistent promotional activities in the closer areas so that more people can be made aware about your product and services. For example, if you are computer protection service provider, you can immitate the models of other companies like Trend Micro who offer free month internet security to get more people to try their product. Use the power of social marketing to connect with your potential customers if you are running a business online.

Spread the word
Increase the traffic to your stores or website by running small time events and promotions. This will create a buzz for your business before you get started. Start at least 45 days in advance with the promotion of your business. Make aggressive approach one week before the event when you start posting links on Facebook and other social networking websites. Also re-post reminders just one day before the actual event to remind people.

Encourage other local business owners to share your activities
This is one of the best ways to gain attention on the social media pages. You can share the activities of the other local businesses through your page which will get you more followers and traffic. This will also ensure that the other businesses are also promoting you so you enjoy double attention from different set of users. You can end up being a valuable resource for many customers who rely on your page for information. Post other interesting stories related to your industry to make up for an interesting read. These are some quick and ingenious ways to get started and gain market intelligence and expertise in your domain.

Small businesses are using the power of PayPal every day for their important transactions and are always under the threat of being attacked by a cyber thief if they are not adequately protected. Here are some top tips to protect your account from being hacked.