Ecommerce is growing at an eye-popping rate. Statistics suggest that many online selling platforms have more than doubled their number of users in the two years since the onset of the pandemic.
However, with great opportunity comes increased competition, as the explosion has brought with it a bevy of new online businesses. This creates challenges for hybrid and multi-location businesses looking to stand out in a crowded field. To help in this regard, the following breakdown looks at 5 ways how multi location businesses can improve their profits online.
1. Improve Website User Experience (UX)
Many business owners mistakenly believe that a strong UX means having a website that looks good. While this is an important component of UX, that definition is far too simplistic in 2022.
A strong UX describes the total experience the customer has when interacting with your company’s website. Some ways to improve UX include:
- Having a fast-loading website that does not keep shoppers waiting. Statistics show that customers will leave a website in as little as 15 seconds–even when things go smoothly
- Having a lead capture page to quickly put visitors in touch with helpful professionals and resources
- Implementing an elite wordpress store locator so that leads can quickly identify the nearest vendor
- Creating useful content that will keep customers engaged and clicking to your product and services page
2. Optimize Local SEO Efforts
Strong SEO is a boon for profits because it leads to organic, non-paid leads finding your business.
As competition increases and more and more businesses are trying to rank for SEO, savvy digital marketers are realizing that local SEO is far more powerful than general SEO. It makes the pool of competitors more shallow and speaks to leads that are more likely to be high-interest.
However, local SEO can be time-consuming and confusing for multi-location businesses. Many business owners try to create separate websites for each of their locations and without the time or resources to actively manage each, they simply end up cannibalizing leads from themselves.
Therefore, when leveraging local SEO for multi-location businesses, it is generally best practice to have one company website with a dedicated page for each location. To make each page local SEO friendly, use the following tips:
- Have correct addresses and contact information
- Include photos of streets, buildings, and surrounding landmarks
- Invite local authorities to post on your page
- Use geographic tags for featured social media posts
3. Have an Active and Engaging Social Media Presence
It is no secret that people live on social media in 2022. In fact, it is reported that people with internet access spend an average of 145 minutes each day on social media!
As a result, it is critical that multi-location businesses have an active and engaging social media presence to capture this demographic. Some ways to accomplish this include:
- Featuring social media posts on your website’s local pages
- Adding to comments and conversations of social media accounts in your industry
- Using geographic tags when your business is at community events
- Replying to customers and tagging them in posts
4. Refine Your Email Marketing Strategy to Retain Customers
According to HBR, it can be up to 25 times more expensive to cultivate a new customer than to keep an existing one. As a result, it is critical that existing customers be prioritized during marketing efforts.
An affordable way to accomplish this is through email marketing campaigns. Some of the best ideas for optimizing your email strategy with existing customers are:
- Sending exclusive offers and coupon codes to lapsed customers
- Auditing automated content to ensure that it arrives at the correct destination
- Segmenting messages based on customers’ most recent activity
- Keep customers’ hearts by reaching out on their birthdays and other special occasions
5. Have a Good Localized Digital Advertising Plan
It is important to understand the difference between “local marketing” and “localized marketing.” Although the terms are often used interchangeably, there are a couple of important points of distinction.
Local marketing is pretty self explanatory. It is basically marketing to customers within a certain geographic radius of your business. Local marketing can occur through any number of mediums including digital, print, or in-person.
Localized marketing is a phenomenon that arrived with the advent of the internet and will be directly applicable to multi-location businesses–especially those with a global reach. With digital marketing, your business has the ability to reach customers anywhere around the globe. However, your advertising campaign in one geographic region may not have the same impact somewhere else in the world.
As such, localization marketing is the practice of taking your business’ marketing campaign, translating it, updating it, and making it culturally relevant to a different region. While digital marketing platforms such as Google Ads or Facebook Ads can localize some of your marketing content, it may not be enough to rely on these platforms by themselves. Some ways that your marketing team can help improve profits through localized marketing are:
- Including geographic landmarks in localized content
- Scheduling advertisements around localized holidays or events
- Getting localized media or influencers to endorse your business or link to your website
Get Intentional With These 5 Ways for Boosting Online Profits
With more and more competitors popping up in the ecommerce landscape, many businesses may feel pressured to lower prices to win customers. If this is the case, they will need to get creative in other ways to keep profits moving in the right direction. To help in this regard, an improved UX with store locator software, optimal local SEO efforts, an active and engaging social media presence, refined email marketing strategy, and a strong localized digital advertising strategy are 5 ways multi location businesses can improve their profits online.