Engaging with customers and spreading awareness is vital for any business. While large businesses have needed to adapt quickly to keep up with the changing landscape of marketing, traditional businesses, especially locally owned and operated businesses, are often the ones that can benefit the most from advancing their marketing practices. Below are five types of traditional businesses that can benefit from modern marketing practices.
Bookstores
In recent years, bookstores are perhaps the hardest hit among all traditional businesses, and have struggled to stay afloat during the internet revolution. Electronic books and tablets have driven both large chains and small businesses under. Some bookstores, however, have managed to stay afloat by focusing on the authenticity of paper books, while embracing modern marketing practices.
Pet Businesses
Other examples of local businesses that could benefit from more customer engagement includes pet stores, adoption centers, and veterinary clinics. Many local pet-related businesses have websites and online marketing strategies to engage their customers and show animals up for adoption. Experts at PetMarketing.net advocate that veterinary clinics engage locally through postcards and direct mailing campaigns.
Restaurants and Bars
On the surface, the restaurant industry may not seem to need much modern marketing. After all, they just provide food and beverage service. But local restaurants and bars that have, for instance, websites, gain an edge with customers that find them through the internet, they can offer online ordering, and they can engage with the local community through social media.
Entertainment Venues
In the same way, entertainment venues also use modern marketing practices to engage their customers more effectively. Print advertising and an online presence can help live venues stay in the spotlight. Many music venues continue to reach out to their audience through print advertising in free weekly newspapers, and say that same-day promotion, through social media and posters around town, brings in 75% of ticket sales.
Home and Garden
For gardeners and plant aficionados, a content marketing approach can spread awareness and keep an audience of plant lovers engaged. In addition to local community involvement, through classes, appearances at farmers' markets, and so forth, a business can follow in the footsteps of the other businesses listed here to interact with wider audiences.
Whatever a traditional business's core focus, a modernized approach to marketing can only help it stay afloat in this fast-paced world. Advertising in both print and digital formats helps businesses maintain a presence with their audience, grow awareness, and stay engaged with their customers.