Even if you have a national or a global company, your customers all live in specific locations. Most of them work, shop, eat, study, and play within a few miles of home, which means your company (and product) needs to connect with them on that local level. What matters to them may not matter to someone who lives on the other side of the country. Your business needs to create a local presence to meet your customers where they are, even if your company is not physically located in the region. Here are three ways to do that:
Know what’s happening in the community
People feel pride in the communities in which they live, and you should know what’s happening in those communities. For example, if the city experiences a tragedy of some sort, you have an opportunity to help those who are struggling, give other people the resources they need to offer help, and be sensitive to their feelings and needs during the healing process.
If the community is celebrating a success—perhaps a victory for a local athletic team, a new park, school, or community centre, or someone who has done something remarkable—you are aware of that and can share the good news with fellow community members. TSB does a wonderful job of this: they regularly share positive news and good works from members of the community. This is the type of news that doesn’t usually make it into a typical newspaper or website, but it matters a great deal to local residents.
Community happenings clearly influence your social media marketing strategy, as well.
Create local social media pages or groups
You have your corporate social media page, but you may have customers all over the country; they have different habits, preferences, and lifestyles, so it may not be possible to reach them all in the same way. The material you post on your corporate page may be, by necessity, broad and generalised in your effort to connect with everybody.
The
number of people in the UK who are using the internet for general browsing, accessing social media, and online shopping has increased from last year. The more material that becomes available online, the more important it is to speak directly to your customers to cut through the competition. A specific page tied to a specific location allows your followers to feel closer to you. On this page, you can post information that is important to them: for example, perhaps your local office is closed today because of weather. The rest of the country doesn’t need to know that, so that would not be a good post on your corporate page. Locally, however, that information is relevant and useful, and it helps you build relationships with your customers.
Use a local phone number
People quickly recognise a local number; calling it feels safe and familiar, and your potential customers feel like your business is close to home. Since you can route the
01 or 02 number to any landline or mobile phone, it’s not even necessary for you to have a physical local presence. The number creates that presence for you.
You can choose your own memorable local number. Windsor Telecom offers the
widest range of memorable numbers in the country, so you can choose the one that best suits your business. It’s an inexpensive and effective way to expand your business reach as far as you’re ready to take it, as there are numbers available for every town and city in the UK. With reliable service, a world-class online portal, a mobile app to manage your number or numbers, and a dedicated account manager, Windsor Telecom can help you become known as the local expert in any geographical area—getting started takes just a few minutes.