Connecting with your neighborhood has always been one of the main concerns for business owners - it’s a way to support your community, create a reputation, and find regular customers. With the current shape of the economy, business owners are forced to stretch their reach from their neighbors to neighboring cities, counties, and even states! So what I’d like to is explore what else business owners can do while to find local customers.

Let’s face it, sometimes you gotta’ do what you gotta’ do to find business; however, business owners interested in finding local customers should consider a few things before driving across the county or state line for work.

So without further ado, let’s explore a few ideas business owners can consider when searching for local customers.

1. Create a web presence & advertise to local customers

The first part of this method: Businesses without a web presence tend to have a harder time connecting with customers due to the lack of accessibility. Customers want to learn more about you, your company, and your services or products the moment they meet you – without a web presence, which can consist of either a website, blog, or profile on any of the various social media sites, customers are forced to call or visit your store. While some prefer this technique, I’ve always avoided it as a customer – the last thing you want to do when finding local customers is risk losing them right from the start.

The second part of this method: Once you have a web presence, consider creating a small advertising budget for each month. Advertising online can be kind on the pocket and mind because (depending on the arrangement) you only pay for the visitors who actually click on your ad and stop by your web presence. For example, if you were to Google the phrase “ways to find customers,” you’ll notice a few sponsored links on the screen (placed at the top and to the right of the search results) – these are essentially free advertisements until you click on them. If you do venture into this arena of advertising, be sure to set a cap on your monthly budget – or else you might just experience a happy, but bankrupt surprise regarding how many people are interested in what you offer. On top of all that, you can focus your ads target to specific areas, which can make all the difference when finding local customers.

2. Twennect with local customers

Twitter is an excellent tool not only for finding customers, but for finding local customers interested in your services or products. One way to wield the powerful network is to make use of the search feature once you have an account. To do so, simply enter a few search phrases in the search bar along with your preferred city, county, or state. For example, if you’re a plumber in Los Angeles you might enter the following three phrases:

• Recommend plumber in Los Angeles
• Plumbing problem
• Toilet

Remember, the more specific you get, the more specific the search results will become. To improve the amount of results, simply shorten your phrases or leave out your city – this will bring up all the tweets related to your phrases and allow you to see everything posted.

By searching for phrases relevant to your service / product and area, you’ll be able to find customers right down the street who are interested in what you have to offer – if you’re lucky. It all depends on what the twitter users are tweeting about.

3. Local Business Directories

Adding your business to local business directories is one of the easiest things business owners can do to reach out to local customers. Not only are most directories free, they’re also optimized for search – in other words, they do all the search engine optimization for you in attempt to place your listing at the top of search result pages.

Other business directories offer incentives to the business owners – for example, Dapeem.com bumps business listings up to the top of the featured section when business owners create a profile. See how cool the featured listing for Garage doors in Crestwood is at Dapeem.

The best thing about directories is the organization – your business listing will be organized by city, and even placed in the listings of surrounding cities for your convenience.

Add your business to the Dapeem.com business directory here.

4. Create Local Groups

Another way to that might make finding local customers easier is the Facebook group avenue. Creating a group, or groups, focused on your topic, such as plumbing or DIY tips, in your city will naturally attract both customers and other professionals in your field, which might be good if you’re hoping to partner up and collaborate some day.

One of the best things about Facebook groups is the fact that their hosted on a very popular site that people trust and the fact that it’s public. Unlike a membership site, members of your site will be able to talk amongst themselves regarding the various topics of interest surrounding plumbers in your city. The more you actively contribute during the building of a community like this, the more you will benefit in the long run.

Connecting with the interested community is a crucial aspect for any business owner – why not do it in a place your potential customers trust? Furthermore, unlike a common email list, groups allow business owners to build lists using the group and contact them with one email whenever they want to share news, discounts, or other communication.

Want to see a group in action? Check out CREATE and CONNECT.

5. Experiment

One of the most important things to remember when actively marketing online and executing a social media campaign is that nothing is set in stone — there is no formula to what you’re attempting. The ideas are still new and so it requires exoperimentation on your part as the business owner.

It’s also just as important that you track your progress with each experiment. If something doesn’t work, move on to the next idea. If it does work, however, then build upon it where possible.

Further reading: 38 Ways to Find Customers

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