In business, you need to be able to use every resource to your advantage if you don’t want to be one of the many businesses that fail each year. And while the right general strategy will go a long way, the minute factors that come from where you live, where you are based, and the local demographics and interests will make all the difference as to whether your business succeeds or fails.
Whether this means getting a better online presence, being able to understand and know other local businesses better, or get a better idea as to the demands of the local market, leveraging local resources is an important project too many entrepreneurs ignore.
With that in mind, here are some key strategies and tips to take away:
With SEO and Marketing, Focused Efforts Are Better Than Broad Ones
Something we want to talk about first is SEO efforts should be trying to reach your potential customers, not every person in the world (where unless you have a dedicated team and a relatively large budget, you won’t be able to be a world leader in a broad field).
For example, a company providing internet-focused services near Denver wouldn’t care about how things are in LA or even want to advertise there unless they have a perfect remote setup, and even then the competition would be steep.
Instead, if you have local products are services, you want to primarily focus on local keywords and SEO methods that emphasize their ranking. People may not believe your business is the best dog groomer in the country, but people certainly might believe you’re the best in your county. Build your local reputation in this way for your industry, perhaps using localized marketing efforts from specialists who know your area, and then further results will follow.
The Importance of a Local Setup
Even if you own a mostly online business, that doesn’t mean you can ignore local factors. This is especially the case if you are running a retail business or another business that relies on walk-in traffic. It doesn’t matter in most cases if you know about what the world wants if you don’t know what your town wants. Additionally, local events and participating in the community are great ways to build your brand and get your business’ name out there.
That means you need to focus on how people locally find out about businesses and services in their area, regardless of national trends and averages, which might be more effective statistics for national corporations with a presence everywhere in the country. Also, to get local resources, first you will need to invest resources locally, whether that means your time, your money, or something else.
It Is All About Building Connections
Some of the most important resources in the digital age are knowledge and specialized skills, and it’s not easy to simply recruit talent as you would buy equipment. Instead, you have to get to know people, find ways to meet new connections, and find opportunities to share and receive valuable knowledge in your industry. And while the pool of people might be smaller, in person introductions will always make a more impactful impression than clicking a few buttons on LinkedIn, and you’ll be able to have longer and more meaningful conversations.
Similarly, local groups of business experts, entrepreneurs, and others might be able to provide you with further connections and ideas you would have had great difficulty obtaining yourself, and most of those gather either locally or semi-locally. A quick search can often yield business-changing results.
What Does Your Area Provide?
Remember that even online businesses are staff members, chief among them you. How are you able to develop and improve yourself, as well as your staff members, using local resources? While we don’t necessarily think you should buy your entire team a gym membership (however novel and perhaps effective of an idea that is), you can see what investments you can make and truly find the local advantages in every aspect of life.
Even the ability to enjoy time outdoors in nature because of your local proximity to an excellent park and trail systems might allow you to recharge and focus better than most other business owners, giving you an edge you wouldn’t have if you didn’t consider your area.
Conclusion
This can be an extremely broad topic, so the resources your business needs will be quite different from what other entrepreneurs and business owners will consider. However, all the above principles remain true in one form or another for all businesses. You will also need to consider local relationships to some degree, and every town or base has its advantages and disadvantages, even if it’s just low office rent.
