How Local Businesses Should Capitalize on the Influx of Traffic from the National Political Conventions!

The Democratic National Convention came and went, and now its time for the Republicans to have their chance. So who where the losers and the winners? No I don’t mean in politics, this is a CityWaboo Blog. The local businesses in Denver and Saint Paul should have capitalized on the tens of thousands of visitors that were hungry, sleepy, and wanted to party. Well maybe not party.

Most of the delegates that are at the convention are from out of town, so to find a place to eat, sleep and even find a local cleaners will undoubtedly result in a search for restaurants, hotels and cleaners in Denver or Saint Paul.

Here is where local businesses need to capitalize on the large amount of traffic that major search engines like Google and Yahoo, and local city guides such as CitySearch.com and CityWaboo.com receive. Just thinking ahead for couple of months can result in great short term business; which can translate into a positive long term reputation.

There are influencers in any arena, as I was flipping through the channels, I caught a glimpse of one of the local political reporters doing a story on what and where the delegates are eating and they were showcasing a sandwich spot 5 miles from the convention. I thought wow national coverage for a local sandwich shop. You can not buy this kind of publicity.

So what can that sandwich shop do to have more of a lingering effect from the national converge and also capitalize on the thousands of people that will come through their doors in the next 5 days; given that these people might not ever come back to Denver or eat at that sandwich shop again?

Below I am outlining some of the steps any business can take to make sure that their online marketing efforts are positive, lingering and can capitalize on busy times to offset the time of the year when business is slow.

  1. Have an online presence. If I am ordering flowers or looking for a place to eat, at least I want to see what’s on the menu.
  2. Check your business profile on major search engines. Type in your business name in Google or Yahoo search and see where your business profile is populated. You will be surprised at what you see. It’s like a market research on your business in 10 seconds or less.
  3. Check the popular review sites such as Yelp, CitySearch, and CityWaboo to find out what your customers are saying about your business.
  4. Don’t be disheartened about bad reviews, it is a chance to see what you are doing right and wrong.
  5. Add your business to the above sites if you do not see them listed. Most sites will give you the opportunity to add a free profile. For an extra couple of bucks a day many site like CityWaboo.com will give you an enhanced profile, with all the bells and whistles like pictures, special comments, bold business name, multiple keywords and more.

Now that you have your profile created, it is time to put it into use.

  1. Identify key events or situations that you might want to capitalize. For florists, one of their busiest days is Valentines Day, for that sandwich shop the Democratic National Convention.
  2. Each customer should be treated as a potential ambassador for your business and should be used to spread the word about your business.
  3. Start directing your satisfied customers online to rate, review and recommend your business. This can be done in multiple ways.
  4. CityWaboo offers business card size postcards that have your business information on one side and an invitation for the card holder to go on CityWaboo and rate, review and recommend your business.
  5. Having a laptop or a computer in a corner, and having your customers rave about you right there and then.
  6. Collecting customer email addresses at time of check out, you will be surprised how many people will actually give you their personal email addresses. Sugarcoat it with a discount offer. Use those emails to direct them to the review sites. (contrary to popular belief of sending them straight to your company website: see # 12)
  7. Every business has heard of word of mouth advertising. Websites such as CityWaboo, Yelp and others have taken this concept to the next level. In particular CityWaboo brings back search results with local member recommendations and if you sign in, you can also see your friend recommendations. So the more people recommend your business, the more chances for your business to be shown. The best part of all— it’s free.Monitor your results; the best campaign is the one that is followed. So take advantage of busy times and convert those one time customers into ambassadors for your business.

For more information about Eduard Arakelyan and other business marketing information please visit www.citywaboo.com