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In this 7-minute read:\n21 free listing sites for your retail business\nManage your listings with reputation management software\nOne of the most important things you can do for your retail business is to increase its online visibility. This allows you to get reviews online, helps your business to get found by more customers, and increases cash flow.  \nA great way to help improve that visibility is to claim all of your free online directory listings, commonly referred to as citations. Research shows that when businesses claim multiple free listings, they earn 78% more money than businesses that don’t claim any. \nLet us help you get started with these free listing sites for your retail business. \n1. Google My Business is essential for retailers\nGoogle My Business is always the first place that you want to start. This is how you get into the Google maps and show up on the first online source people use when looking for a new store. \nList your retail business on Google with our guide: \nHow to claim your Google Business listing\n2. \nFacebook is a must for your retail shop\nFacebook is another huge one that consumers are using more and more to contact businesses. When someone has a question about your store and they can’t find the answer on your website, they’ll often ask a question through Facebook’s messenger app before coming into the store. \nThis is also one that tends to show up on the first page of Google when someone searches for your business (if you have a business page, of course). \n3. Don’t forget Bing Places \nBing is a popular search engine as the default for Microsoft's web browser. Don’t miss out on valuable opportunities by missing this one. The best part is, if you have your Google listing claimed, you can just sign in to your Google account on \nBing Places\n and import your store’s listing. \n4. Retail on Yelp? Yes!\nMillions of people are on Yelp every day searching for new places to shop and take their business to. As the third most popular review platform, this is definitely a place you want your store to be. \nCheck out our guide: \nHow to claim your Yelp business listing\n5. \nTripAdvisor is good for retail also\nMany people use TripAdvisor when they are traveling, and whether you have a souvenir shop or simply a grocery store that someone will need during their travels, it’s a good idea to list your retail business here. \nCheck out our guide: \nHow to claim your listing on TripAdvisor\n6. \nFoursquare is helpful\nWith 55 million users every month, Foursquare is a pretty popular listing site. On their platform, your store visitors can “check-in” to your store and leave helpful tips for other visitors. Get more feedback for your retail business by listing it on this site. \n7. \nBetter Business Bureau (BBB): a no-brainer\nHaving your store listed on and rated by the Better Business Bureau sends huge trust signals to customers and potential employees. This is important for any business. So get your store listed on BBB.org today with \nthis form\n. \n8. \nYellowbook: specialized local digital marketing \nYellowbook is another “yellow pages” directory site. They are run by a digital marketing company called Hibu. Hibu specializes in local digital marketing and they know what it takes to help retail businesses like yours show up better on Google and other search engines. \nList your store on Yellowbook with its simple-to-use \nform\n. \n9. YP.com (remember the Yellow Pages?)\nThe traditional “Yellow Pages” has digitized its platform to bring us YP.com, a huge online directory service that gets more than 60 million visitors every month. They know the importance of improving your online presence. \nYou can go to \nYP.com\n to claim your free YellowPages business listing. \n10. MerchantCircle for local retailers\nMerchantCircle is all about directing users to the best local merchants—that’s you! They separate merchants by category to help their visitors easily find the service or products that they are looking for. \nGet started in claiming your MerchantCircle listing with \nthis form\n. \n11. People still use \nMapQuest\nAnother popular one for travelers, MapQuest is still a widely used directory site. Their support team is awesome and will help you get your store added to their database quickly. \nJust \nsubmit a support ticket\n to MapQuest and see your store’s listing in days. \n12. Manta for cross-platform listings\nManta is a little different from these other sites in the extra features that it offers you. When you put your business information into Manta, they will scan other business listing sites to make sure your information is consistent across multiple platforms. \nThis consistency is super important to the search engines in order to provide customers the most accurate information for your store. \nManta makes it simple to sign your store up for a free listing \nhere\n. \n13. Citysearch: essential for local retail\nCitysearch wants to provide users with the best experience in finding great businesses in their neighborhoods. Customers shouldn’t have to travel far to find what they are looking for. \nCitysearch prioritizes fun with cool features like voting for your favorite places, special deals, and award badges. \nAdd your store to Citysearch by adding it to the \nCityGrid\n database. \n14. Hotfrog: the “freshest” local business directory\nHotfrog boasts itself as the freshest local business directory in the United States, and for good reason. Its directory is constantly growing with more businesses each day to help users find the best local places to be. \nGet your store listed\n on Hotfrog for free today. \n15. Local.com\nLocal.com wants to help customers find the hottest local happenings in their cities. Make sure your store is one of them!\nLocal.com will provide driving directions, reviews, and contact information for each listing on its site to help give customers the best information available. List your store on local.com by signing up for an account \nhere\n. \n16. Verify your retail shop with ExpressUpdate\nExpressUpdate is a big one that you want to make sure your store is listed on. They are what’s known as an “aggregator,” meaning once your store’s information is verified on their site, they’ll pass it along to other partner sites. So you just got multiple free listings from one site. Pretty neat, right?\nExpressUpdate does require a little more on the verification side of things than some of these listing sites. Once you’ve added all of your store’s information, they’ll do a phone call verification to confirm that your info is accurate. Then, the listing is all yours and ready to go. \nGet started by \nsearching your business\n on ExpressUpdate. \n17. Solo profile\nWith a free Solo profile, even the smallest local retailer or pop-up can have a helpful, functional SEO-friendly online presence for free. Building and maintaining a traditional website is simply too much for many small retailers to deal with. This is one reason a Solo profile can be such an amazing benefit. \nYour customizable Solo profile can list your business’s location, relevant contact information, links to your social pages, and any business details you want included. Sign up at\n \nSolo.co\n.\n18. Brownbook: comprehensive retail listings\nBrownbook.net is a fun one because it allows you to add so much more information than several of these listing sites. You can add tons of images, videos, history, business accommodations, and so much more. \nJust make sure you get your business name spelled correctly the first time, because they don’t allow you to change it (without contacting their support team anyway). \nList your store on Brownbook.net with \nthis form\n. \n19. Instagram is huge for retail\nInstagram is super popular among younger demographics, so if the target audience for your store falls in that category, make sure you are active where they are! \nIf you are going to get into Instagram, just be sure to have lots of awesome photos and “heart-worthy” content that will get you tons of followers. \n20. YouTube? Yes tube!\nYouTube is another great social media channel to take advantage of. Create a channel for your store where you can show off new products, give fun tutorials, and share advice about the different ways your products can be used. \n21. Local chamber of commerce\nYour local chamber of commerce is all about helping its community succeed—and that includes helping small businesses like your store get found. Most chambers have an online directory in their community, as well as free resources to help businesses market themselves better, so take advantage. \nManaging all of these listings sites and then trying to get new reviews to these sites on top of that can seem like a lot of work. But online reviews and engagement is super-important, even for the smallest retail business types, so make sure you develop a plan to stay on top of it.

21 free online listing sites you should add your retail business to

In this article:\nClaim your Google My Business listing\nGet customer reviews and respond to them\nAdd your restaurant to other online directories\nSteps to improve local SEO\nUse Google Ads\nThink about the last time you needed a new service or wanted to try a new restaurant. Where did you go to find it? If you said Google, then you’re right there with about 90% of your customer base. \nConsumers often ask Google first when they are searching for a cool new place to dine out. That’s why it’s so important that you know what you can do to promote your restaurant on Google and improve your search rankings. \nWe have some great tips to help you do just that. \nClaim your restaurant’s Google My Business Listing\nThe first thing you need to do to help your restaurant show up in what we call the local search results (also known as Google’s map pack) is to create and claim your Google My Business listing. \nGoogle My Business is a free platform that allows your business to show up better on Google, get customer reviews, and help guide customers to your restaurant. Most people’s phones are connected to Google Maps to get from place to place, so in order to help them get directions to your restaurant, you need to be on Google My Business. \nHere’s a quick guide to help: \nHow to claim your Google Business listing\nOnce you’ve created your restaurant’s Google My Business listing, be sure to include all of the following information on it to best support your customers:\nBusiness name\nBusiness address\nBusiness phone number\nCategory (what type of restaurant?)\nOpen hours (including any special holiday hours)\nWebsite\nRestaurant description\nPrice range\nPhotos of your restaurant, branding, and food\nGet more Google reviews and respond to them\nOnce your Google My Business listing is out there, it’s time to get some customer reviews for your restaurant. \nThe problem with online reviews is that happy customers don’t always think to leave you a review and unhappy customers are all too willing to go online and share their distaste. We have a few solutions to help with this. \n Simply let customers know you appreciate their feedback. Find the opportune moments to ask your customers to leave you a review on Google. \n Post “Rate us on Google” signage strategically throughout your restaurant. This can be in menus, in the lobby, or on the door on the way out. Just give a little reminder that you’d love your customers’ feedback on Google. \n Consider reputation management software. Solutions like this will help you streamline the process of getting your customers directly to your Google listing to leave you a review. \nOnce you have reviews coming in, it’s important to respond to them promptly. It’s also crucial to respond to all reviews–good or bad. Give those good reviews a personalized thank you message. Respond to the negative reviews with a sincere apology and ask the customer to reach out so you can resolve the issue. \nCheck out our guide on \nresponding to Google reviews\n for some deeper insights. \nAdd your restaurant to other online business directories\nGoogle My Business is not the only online directory that you should add your business to. One way to help improve your online visibility and increase your restaurant’s local rankings on Google is, ironically, to add your restaurant to other online directories. \nGoogle uses other references to your restaurant across multiple sites to help verify that your information on their platform is correct. The more reputable online directories that list your restaurant’s information accurately, the better chance you have to rank higher on Google. \nHere are a few directories and guides you can use to get started:\nHow to claim your Yelp business listing\nHow to create and claim your Facebook business page\n\nHow to add your restaurant to OpenTable\n\nGet even more listings for your restaurant with this article: \n24 free listing sites every restaurant should be on\nBoost your restaurant’s Google rankings with SEO\nBeyond adding your restaurant to other online directories, there are several things that you can do to boost your Google rankings through search engine optimization. Here are a couple suggestions to get you started. \nProvide well-written and relevant content on your website\nContent is king. In order to rank well organically on Google, your website needs to have good content that is valuable for your users and optimized well for the phrases that you want customers to find you with. \nMake sure your contact information is listed on your website\nProvide valuable information about your menu and prices with lots of photos\nStart a blog that offers free tips for people whether or not they choose to visit your restaurant\nGet other websites to link to yours\nA huge factor in ranking higher on Google is getting other websites to link to your website. When another website links to yours, it sends trust signals to Google that help them to know your website can be trusted by their users. \nTry out some of these ways to get links to your website:\nGet involved in your community. Host local events, sponsor community sports teams, get involved with non-profit organizations. This kind of involvement will likely result in mentions on the websites of these organizations. \nGet into the local news. When local news organizations do a story on your restaurant, be sure to ask them to link to your restaurant in their online article. \nGuest post on other blogs in the food industry. Within the bio for your guest article, link back to your website. \nGo deeper: \n15 free tips for better search rankings\nTry advertising your restaurant on Google\nGoogle has some powerful advertising capabilities that you should definitely take advantage of for your restaurant. \nWhile traditional SEO takes a lot of time and effort to show up at the top of the search results, Google Ads can place your listing near the top—if you pay for it. \nGoogle Ads have great targeting capabilities, so you can select the target audience for your restaurant—location, age, interests, other demographics—to show your ads to the customers who will most likely visit your restaurant. \nGoogle Ads are pay-per-click, which means that you pay a specific cost each time a user clicks on your ad. So it’s important to make sure that the cost you are paying will result in profits. \nLet’s say it costs $1.50 for each click your ad gets and you only get a new customer for every 20 clicks that your ad receives. That’s $30 to convert one customer with your ad campaign. If you have a higher-end restaurant where customers pay this much or more for a meal, it may well be worth it, especially if they turn into a repeat customer. \nJust do the math as you determine the costs and decide if the investment is worth the return. \nUltimately, you’ll get a better return on your investment with organic SEO because the efforts you take with this strategy compound over time and stick with you even if you stop doing SEO. With Google Ads, you might see immediate results, but as soon as you stop paying for those ads, your restaurant will no longer be showing up well in Google search results. \nThis is why Google Ads are a great supplemental strategy to help you show up on Google while you’re starting up your SEO efforts.\nRead more: \nGoogle Maps advertising for local business\n

5 ways to promote your restaurant on Google

In this article:\nWhich types of reviews can be removed from Yelp\nHow to flag Yelp reviews for removal\nWhy you shouldn’t be paralyzed by a bad Yelp review\nHow to improve your online reputation\nA bad Yelp review of your business can leave you feeling powerless—and for good reason. You’ve worked hard to build a good business and serve your customers. But since 9 out of 10 people report that they trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation from family or friends, online reviews can have a real effect on small business revenue. \nWhen business owners receive a bad Yelp review, they often ask: “How do I remove Yelp reviews?” or “Can I turn off Yelp reviews for my business?” Think about it: if someone walked around in front of your business with a huge sign saying “Don’t shop here!” you’d probably try to have them arrested.\nUnfortunately in our new digital marketspace, anyone and everyone can say pretty much whatever they want about your business, with a few exceptions (which we’ll discuss later). \nSo, is it possible to remove Yelp reviews?\nIn some cases, yes, but the issue is a complicated one.\nYelp will remove reviews if you can definitely prove that they violate \nYelp’s review policies\n, and the onus is on you to do so. We’ll elaborate those policies in a moment, but first let’s clarify what types of reviews you \ncan’t\n remove from Yelp.  \nYou can’t ask Yelp to remove reviews simply because you feel they are negative, “mean,” unfair, or even if you feel the customer totally misrepresented their experience.\nIf Yelpers actually patronize your business and simply share their experiences, then it’s a good bet those reviews aren’t going anywhere. In fact, Yelp’s policies specifically state, “We don’t take sides when it comes to factual disputes.”\nIf the majority of your negative reviews would likely be described as “factual,” the most effective approach is to assume the review is legitimate, engage the customer in good faith, and attempt to resolve any issues you can.\nYou might also like: \nHow to respond to negative reviews\n\nWhat types of Yelp reviews can be removed?\nWhile you can’t remove Yelp reviews just because they’re negative, Yelp may remove reviews they determine have violated their content guidelines.\nLet’s take a look at the 7 main types of reviews that Yelp prohibits:\nInappropriate content: Threats, harassment, lewdness, hate speech, and other displays of bigotry.\n\nConflicts of interest: Reviews of your own, your friends’, or your relatives’ business, or reviews of your peers or competitors in your industry, or of businesses in your networking group. \nPromotional content: Yelp generally frowns upon promotional content in reviews.\nIrrelevant content: Rants about a business’s employment practices, political ideologies, or other matters that don’t discuss the consumer experience. \n(Ostensibly, fake Yelp reviews would fall under this category, but we can find nothing in Yelp’s official documentation that says they will remove “fake reviews.” However, there is some reference to reporting “questionable” reviews and they will ostensibly be removed if Yelp deems them fake.)\nViolations of privacy: Other people’s private information, or close-up photos or videos of other patrons posted without their permission are prohibited, as well as posting other people’s full names (unless the business is known by or commonly shares their full name).\nIntellectual property: Content stolen from other sites or users. \nDemands for payment: Yelpers may ask for a refund, but may not not use removing or posting your review as a way to extract payment from a business, regardless of whether they’ve been a customer.\nObviously anything else that is illegal to post online in general should also be flagged if you find it in a Yelp review. \nHow to remove Yelp reviews that violate the content guidelines\nIf you’re sure that a review of your business violates Yelp’s content guidelines, you should definitely report it. You can read our “\nhow to remove Yelp reviews\n” article for details, but the TL;DR version is click the “flag” icon next to a desktop review, or click the three dots to the right of a mobile review and select “report review.”\n\nIt can take several days for Yelp to evaluate the review, so you’ll need to be patient. And you may not receive a response at all. But you will likely eventually receive a response from Yelp about the status of the reported review and a decision about whether or not they will remove it. If you disagree with the decision, you can contact them and resubmit the review for reevaluation.\nWhy a bad Yelp review may actually be a good thing\nStudies have revealed that negative reviews aren’t nearly damaging as business owners might fear.\nIn one study, businesses whose reviews were only 0% to 5% negative actually earn 21% LESS in annual revenue than the average business, while those whose reviews were 10% to 25% negative earned the most revenue.\nThere are several probable reasons for this, but one likely reason is that when people are searching for local businesses online, they may be used to seeing a certain amount of negative reviews in order to feel confident in patronizing a new business. \nBusinesses should use a bad review as an opportunity to not only improve their products and services, but to show potential customers their good character by posting a thoughtful, helpful response to a bad review.\nSurprisingly, data shows that even businesses whose reviews were \nup to 50% negative\n earn nearly the same as the average overall business. Additionally, of all the major review sites in the study, a low rating on Yelp correlated with the smallest drop in average revenue, which suggests that people may be more accustomed to seeing negative reviews and lower ratings on Yelp than on other review sites.\nneon yelp sign for remove reviews\nDon\n’\nt be paralyzed by a bad Yelp review, but take it seriously\nIt’s helpful to know that Yelp does have guidelines in place to help guard your business against the worst types of online behavior. But remember that it’s not likely that you’ll be able to remove Yelp reviews from your listing most of the time.\nNo matter how harsh a review might be, we always recommend that you treat your Yelp reviews like you would an in-person complaint. Take such reviews seriously, take the high road, and follow our guidelines for \nhow to respond to bad reviews\n, and you can often turn the conversation around and come out looking even more credible and reputable than before.

7 types of Yelp reviews that can be removed (and why bad reviews might be a good thing)

In this article:\n9 local events that Houston small businesses should take advantage of this year\nAttending events, business conferences, and expos is a great way to take your business to the next level. You can gain new skills for you and your employees, and grow your network. Community-based events can help increase your local brand awareness, gain new customers, and even sell products and services. \nNot sure where to start? These Houston, TX area events are the perfect opportunities to add to your business calendar. \nPLEASE NOTE: We have made every attempt to be accurate in our information but as you things may change due to unforeseen circumstances. Please consult the websites for the individual events and confirm the status of the events you wish to attend.\nHouston Crawfish Festival in the Heights\nWhen: March 5, 2022\nThe Greater Heights Area Chamber of Commerce Crawfish Festival is Saturday, March 5th. Come out and support your community and shop local. Vendor booths, Kids World, live music by Lucid Illusions, Idol of the Heights contest, cold beer and the best Crawfish in the Heights! To become a vendor please email Donna at crawfishvendor@gmail.com. To become a sponsor please email Liz at elizabeth.perez@caliberhomeloans.com. Tickets and more info \nhere\n. \nFOCUS Business Conference\nWhen: March 12, 2022\nAt this conference, business owners, entrepreneurs, and investors gather together to discuss the best ways to increase revenue and grow your company. The events of this conference are focused for the modern entrepreneur. \nThroughout the day you’ll hear insightful TED Talks, participate in workshops, attend panels, and enjoy the fun of cocktails, food, and booths in between sessions. \nSign up now at \nfocusbusinessconference.com\n.\nEnergy Marketing Conference Houston\nWhen: March 28-29, 2022\nEnergy Marketing Conferences EMC brings together over 600+ industry professionals from energy companies, utilities, marketers, vendors and suppliers in the retail energy industry to network and learn. EMC is the largest gathering of retail energy executives in North America. Info \nhere\n.\nDigiMarCon South\nWhen: May 26-27, 2022\nDigiMarCon is one of the largest digital marketing conferences that you won’t want to miss. From improving lead generation and sales to increasing customer loyalty, the agenda at DigiMarCon will help you enhance your marketing efforts. \nSome featured topics at the conference:\nWeb experience management\nUsability and design\nVideo marketing\nSocial media marketing\nEmail marketing\nGeo-targeting\nConversion rate optimization\nGrowth hacking\nSEO \nPaid search marketing\nAnd more!\nBuy tickets for this conference at \ndigimarconsouth.com\n.\nFreedom Over Texas\nWhen: July 4, 2021\nFreedom Over Texas is Houston’s annual Independence Day celebration. Music and fireworks take place at Buffalo Bayou with famous country artists as the headliners for the shows. \nYour business can take part in the festivities by sponsoring the events, setting up a vendor booth, or taking your team to enjoy the fun! Throughout the week leading up to the festival, create 4th of July themed discounts and offerings that will get your customers excited. \nContact the City of Houston to learn more about becoming a sponsor or vendor. Or check here for updates: \nhttps://www.houstontx.gov/july4/\n. \nhouston fireworks freedom events \n\nHouston Home and Garden Show\nWhen: September 16-18, 2022\nThe all-new Houston Home and Garden Show is a great opportunity for businesses to connect with homeowners. Share your services and products that consumers can use to help their home. \nPast exhibitors have found this show to be one of the best advertising opportunities they engage in. The best part is you get to benefit from all of the marketing efforts of this large event. All you need to do is sign your business up for the show and attend. \nWant to learn more about attending or becoming an exhibitor? Visit \nhttps://www.houstonfallhomeandgardenshow.com/\n\nOktoberfest Houston\nWhen: TBD (September or October 2022)\nDon’t miss out on Houston’s annual Oktoberfest. Get the best of German and Texan culture throughout the festivities. Dress up in your finest Lederhosen and enjoy the polka music as festival-goers try the best craft beer Houston has to offer. \nHouston Oktoberfest small business events\nYour business can get involved by becoming a vendor or sponsor at the festival or by creating Oktoberfest-themed offerings throughout the festival. \nLearn more about how to get involved and confirm the 2022 dates at \noktoberfesthouston.com\n.\nTexas Renaissance Festival\nWhen: October 8-November 28, 2022 (ending date TBD)\nThe Texas Renaissance Festival takes place over the weekends throughout October and November as the nation’s largest one of its kind. Each weekend has a fun theme to keep the events exciting and unique. The themes include:\nOktoberfest\n1001 Dreams\nRoman Bacchanal\nPirate Adventure\nAll Hallows Eve\nHeroes and Villains\nBarbarian Invasion\nHighland Fling\nCeltic Christmas\nThere is tons of fun to be had as festival-goers explore the cobblestone paths of the recreated 16th-century village. \nYour business can become a vendor for the festival or take part in the fun by coordinating your offers with the different themes each week. \nLearn more at \ntexrenfest.com\n.\n\nSmall Business Expo\nWhen: November 15, 2022\nThe Small Business Expo is Houston’s largest networking and education event for business professionals. Learn how to increase your company’s revenue and grow your business with the various workshops, presentations, and breakout sessions. \nYou can get inspired by other local entrepreneurs and small business owners, connect with mentors in the business world, and even spread awareness for your own business by becoming an exhibitor at the event. \nAttend the event for free by registering at \nthesmallbusinessexpo.com\n.\nEnhance your marketing strategy with review management\nAs you get involved in various events throughout the year, be sure to include a strategy that helps you maximize the benefits of your new customers. New customers bring new opportunities to leave your business online reviews, which in turn helps bring even more customers—and the cycle continues. 


9 events that every Houston, TX area small business should know about in 2022

If your restaurant is doing well, it is easy to overlook the need for a small business marketing plan and a dedicated marketing budget. Traditional thinking leads a lot of local restaurant owners to believe that serving good food is all it takes to succeed.\nThat may have worked in years past, but in today’s volatile marketplace, restaurants need to do more than provide a quality product and write something clever on the sandwich board out front.\nWhen today’s customers talk about where they should eat, overwhelmingly that conversation takes place online. 97% of people read online reviews for local businesses, and most consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations from friends and family. \nWhat’s more, the power of online word of mouth can work against you. One bad review can cost you 30 new customers, and a one-star drop in your online rating may result in a nearly 20% drop in revenue. Ouch.\nThe good news is, the right marketing strategy can help your restaurant bring in more customers, save you time, increase loyalty, and help you weather the storms that come with changing consumer trends, internet whims, or other unpredictable factors that influence your restaurant’s bottom line. \nTo maximize the effectiveness of your restaurant’s marketing budget, we recommend you follow the following steps in order, and don’t skip steps:\nTake control of your “online presence”\nEngage your existing customers online and get involved locally to build loyalty\nSpend appropriately for targeted advertising in relevant media\nSave time and do more with small business marketing software\nLet’s go over these four steps in a little more detail.\nFirst: Take control of your restaurant’s online presence\nYour online footprint matters… almost more than your food.\nData shows a half-star boost in your Yelp rating makes it 30 to 49 percent more likely that you will fill every seat during your busiest hours. It’s vital that you show up in local search results, and show up well.\nAs the first step in your marketing plan, you need to make sure you’ve taken control of your online presence because 1) it’s the way most customers will find your restaurant, and 2) it boosts the effectiveness of all your other marketing efforts.\nHere are the most important elements of getting control of your online presence:\nClaim your restaurant’s business listing on all the major online review sites (click the links for helpful how-to articles on how to claim your profile on \nYelp\n, \nGoogle\n, and \nTripAdvisor\n. You should also claim/monitor Facebook, Foursquare, OpenTable, Zagat (if applicable to your area), Gayot, and GrubHub—even if you don’t intend to formally interact with one or more of these sites (or if, like Gayot, they don’t allow restaurant owners’ direct involvement)\nEnsure your restaurant’s profile (including hours of operation, location, contact info, etc.) is accurate on these review sites, fill in as much information as possible, and review your pages regularly \nRead all your reviews and implement a strategy to get more reviews \nYou might also like: \n3 easy ways to get customer feedback for your restaurant\nSecond, build loyalty by engaging your existing customers and getting involved locally\nOnline reviews matter. Take them seriously\nOnce you’ve claimed your pages, it’s very important to read and respond courteously to every customer review (yes, even the negative ones… and you will get them). \nWhen you show appreciation for positive reviews and genuine concern and commitment to fix any problems reported, it shows you take your customers and quality control seriously. \nThis alone will start attracting more customers to your restaurant and building a strong online reputation. (For our tips on \nhow to respond to negative reviews\n, click the link.)\nGet involved in your community and capitalize on the “eat local” movement\nSmall, local restaurants are gaining traction, and not just with trendy food bloggers. The biggest advantages you have over cookie-cutter, industrial cuisine is you can provide the unique ambiance, positive customer experience, and personal attention to detail that big corporate restaurants can’t hope to match.\nYou can develop passionate fans who will be your strongest online advocates (and do a huge portion of your marketing for free), if they feel a personal connection with you and your food. \nSo, get involved in your community. Host local events. Participate in local pub crawls, wine walks, tastes of the city, street eats, food festivals—whatever is available in your area (63% of customers say they want invitations to more local events, but only 12% get them). \nIf there are no programs like this in your area, start one! \nVolunteer for or sponsor the local symphony, or the baseball, football, bowling, or underwater basketweaving team—whatever your customers are proud of and support. Build a creative float for the local parade. Think outside the box.\nThe main point is your restaurant should be inseparably linked with your town, and local customers should feel a personal connection with you. Small efforts in this area can have a huge impact.\nThird, spend appropriately for targeted advertising in relevant media\nNow you’re finally ready to start spending some money. But what should your marketing budget look like? \nWe recommend that local restaurants dedicate approximately 7-8% of gross revenue toward marketing, and the U.S. Small Business Administration agrees. \nYou can dump money into a local ad agency to manage your campaigns for you, but the cost/benefit ratio for these efforts is almost always unimpressive.\nFor small businesses, email marketing is hands-down the most powerful, efficient, and effective marketing tool, with an unsurpassed ROI (return on investment) of up to 44 to 1. (Read more in our detailed \nemail marketing\n article.)\n86% of your customers actually want promotional emails from businesses they like. A simple email receipt with a “thanks for your visit,” happy birthday wishes, or promotional offers delivered to their inbox can go a long way.\nConsider Instagram\nYou might look into spending some of your budget on an advertising plan with Instagram, targeting IG users in your specific area and desired demographic. \nYou can also offer specials for people who post on their IG accounts and tag your restaurant. If you can beg or borrow a food stylist/photog to shoot nice photos for you to post regularly, it can go a long way toward spreading “online word-of-mouth.”\nFourth, save time and maximize your efforts with small business marketing software\nRestaurant owners are among the world’s busiest people, so if the above seems a little overwhelming, the right software can really be a lifesaver.\nDedicated loyalty program software can help, but be careful with this one: restaurants often gravitate to the “punch card” model, but this may not be the most effective place to spend your time and money. Studies show the average U.S. household is enrolled in 29 loyalty programs but only uses 12. Focus on building the relationship first, or your loyalty efforts will go unnoticed.\nSources:\n
\nhttps://zuberance.com/zuberrants/blog/one-negative-review-can-cost-you-30-customers\n
\nhttps://www.accenture.com/us-en/insights/strategy/brand-purpose\n
\nhttps://searchengineland.com/88-consumers-trust-online-reviews-much-personal-recommendations-195803\n
\nhttps://www.brightlocal.com/research/local-consumer-review-survey/\n

Small business marketing: 4 key elements of an effective strategy for your restaurant

In this article:\n5 2022 events in Orlando, FL that your business needs to know about\nWhich events may be moved online or canceled \nAttending local events can have a significant impact on your business, from increasing brand awareness in your community, to networking with other business owners and leaders, to improving sales. Business events and fun community events alike have the capacity to further your growth. \nCheck out these Orlando area events that your small business should to add to your calendar. \nPLEASE NOTE: We have made every attempt to be accurate in our information but as you can imagine during the continuing impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, everything may still be in flux. Please consult the websites for the individual events and confirm the status of the events you wish to attend.\nAnnual Central Florida Fair\nWhen: March 3-13, 2022\nAttend the Annual Central Florida Fair with your team to help increase brand awareness in your community. Set a date in your calendar to start looking into becoming a vendor for next year’s fair. \nBoth product- and service-based businesses alike can benefit from becoming exhibitors at the fair. Sell your goods or bring awareness to your services as fair-goers cool off in the exhibition halls. \nLearn more about becoming a vendor at \ncentralfloridafair.com\n.\nFlorida fairgoers for small business events\nSmall Business Expo\nWhen: March 16, 2022\nThe Small Business Expo is one of the nation’s largest business conferences. This conference is held in several major cities across the U.S. for business owners and entrepreneurs to connect with one another and learn from the keynote speakers. \nIndustry experts will guide you and your team through workshops, you’ll have the opportunity to see what other local businesses can offer, and you can market your own business. \nThis event is free to attend or you can pay to sign up as an exhibitor at the conference. Learn more at \nthesmallbusinessexpo.com\n.\nBlack Business Summit and Expo\nApril 2, 2022\nThe Black Business Summit & Expo is the greatest annual gathering of black business owners, black professionals, and supporters of black business in the Orlando area.
Each local black business owners come together to network, educate, advocate, and advance through culture and creativity. Join hundreds of others for a weekend that will upgrade your business in key areas! More info and tickets at \ntheblackbizsummit.com\n.\nSpooktacular\nWhen: Halloween weekend, 2022\nAttend Spooktacular the weekend of Halloween. People come from all over Orlando to attend this spooky night of fun at Downtown Avalon Park. \nAttractions include live performances, food trucks, bounce houses, vendors, and more. People of all ages can enjoy the event. \nBecome a vendor or sponsor of the event to increase your company’s awareness in the community or simply take the night off and attend it with your team to boost morale and foster team bonding.  \nContact info@avalonparkgroup.com or visit the \nSpooktacular’s Facebook page\n or \navalonparkorlando.com\n to learn more about how your business can get involved. \nElectronic Daisy Carnival (EDC)\nWhen: November 11-13, 2022\nEDC at Tinker Field is an annual music festival that brings thousands of people from all over. This 3-day event incorporates music, travel, acrobatics, pyrotechnics, and more to create an experience you’ll never forget. \nBecome a sponsor or vendor at the event to get more awareness for your brand. Can’t attend? Then take advantage of the thousands of people new customers that will be flooding central Florida for three days. Offer deals for carnival attendees or themed discounts surrounding the event to draw people in. \nLearn more about the carnival at \nelectricdaisycarnival.com\n.

127 articles found in “Online presence”

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9 events that every Houston, TX area small business should know about in 2022

Small business marketing: 4 key elements of an effective strategy for your restaurant

5 Orlando area events in 2022 your small business should take advantage of

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