Often we see local businesses being crushed by their biggest enemy in the economy: chain corporations. Coming from a small town myself, I constantly saw inspired entrepreneurs open up a new shop, and a few months later, put out of business by new large brand manufacturers. Why does this happen? It is simple, small businesses can never compete with the low prices of chain restaurants and large corporations. However, there is are a few factors that can make local shops flourish: millennial interest, customer experience, and social media marketing.
Millennial’s Interest
If you are an entrepreneur looking to start a business but live in a small town, you should look into opening up a “hangout” place for the younger generation. As a millennial from the small town of Calexico, I often found myself bored and limited with only a few places to get together with my friends. The top places for my generation to get together in my small hometown was the movie theater, “Raspados (flavored-shaved ice) Cuchis” and now the newly opened “Hope Cafe.”
The reason for the popularity of these businesses is they give millennial a place to be able to meet with friends and have a few delicious snacks at the same time. Entrepreneurs should seek to provide millennial with additional services or restaurants and bring a cure to the boredom they face in a small town. Perhaps, entrepreneurs should bring more popular snack shops like a Tapioca tea cafe or literally anything that will cause youth to want to be a part of.
Customer Experience
As previously mentioned, one of the biggest factors that causes local business to go out of business is that they cannot compete with large retailers and corporations low prices. And this is a problem that affects every small business owner. It is tough to beat large corporations low prices; many create their products offshore for a cheaper cost or produce in mass quantities. It is impossible for a local shop owner to bring down their prices when it costs them a lot to make their low quantities. However, one advantage small business owners have over large corporation is that they can provide a personalized-customer experience. In many instances, what drives a customer to purchase goods from a specific store is not necessarily the price, but the great service and environment.
This is something large corporations cannot directly control, many times we have seen poor customer service at places like Walmart or Target. Local business owners on the other hand, have explicit interaction and management over their small store’s operations and service. Therefore, can ensure high-quality customer service and use it as a competitive edge over their large competitors with lower prices. They can provide a customer experience that can leave customers satisfied and willing to pay the slighter higher price on the local good.
Social Media Marketing
Often do local businesses overlook the importance of marketing using the many social media platforms available today. I constantly notice local businesses still invest their marketing capital on traditional forms of advertising, including radio-advertising and newspaper-ads. In today’s technological world, a large percentage of the population spends an incredible amount of time in social media networks, such as Facebook and Instagram. Local business owners should lean towards investing more of their capital into social media marketing; this will reach an immense number of active social network users.
It is as simple as for local entrepreneurs to create an account for their business on any social media platform. They can make posts about special promotions or information on their business to users in the platform. For example, “Raspados Cuchis” usually uploads images of their tasty snacks on Facebook, causing for viewers to crave their food and ultimately go into the local restaurant. In addition, social media marketing engages with millennials and as previously mentioned, this is who business owners want to attract. Social media marketing can be cheaper than traditional forms of marketing, however, if local business choose to hire a social media manager, it can bring in a salary expense.
Parting Thoughts
Large corporations may have cheaper prices, but that is not all that makes a business to become successful. Local shops in small towns should place an emphasis in attracting the younger customers into their business. Small business does have the capability of competing with big corporation and chains restaurants. All those is basic advice and does not involve all the complex factors involved in starting a local business, it is something to keep in mind. It is up entrepreneurs to take advantage of the opportunities out there, even in small towns.
