Using location-based mobile marketing services to reach a local audience

If you have ever turned to your smartphone to help you find a good restaurant in an unfamiliar neighborhood, then you have used location-based services. This kind of mobile marketing allows business owners to target local consumers with hopes of welcoming them into nearby establishments—and the system is less complicated than you might think.

While large companies with mobile apps have the most options at their disposal, every small business owner has the opportunity to reach a bigger audience with location services. Here are some ways you can get more local business by managing your company's online content.

Target local customers

As soon as people perform Google or Yelp searches for local restaurants or bars, the information battle begins. Companies with informative websites and positive reviews immediately catch consumers' eyes. Before worrying about sophisticated marketing efforts, make sure the basic Web content related to your establishment is in order on search engines as well as on your company's website.

Posting hours of operation, nearby parking options, public transportation directions, fast-loading menus, and mobile-friendly pages will make you stand out from the crowd. Consumers standing on a corner looking at their phones are not the pickiest individuals you might encounter in a day of business. To give your operation the best possible shot, make it easy on them with a user-friendly website and social content. Test your efforts by placing yourself in the shoes of a passing consumer to understand the impression people get. The basics do not require large marketing budgets.

Encouraging reviews and returns

The simplest mobile marketing you can do is ask satisfied customers for a review of your business on Yelp—and offer an incentive for those who follow through. Establishments with overwhelmingly positive reviews on Yelp and other mobile sites are proven to field more business than those with few reviews or (worst of all) bad reviews. Offering a coupon for customers who leave reviews gives you the opportunity for repeat business and a better reputation online. Be careful not to ask customers specifically for positive reviews as that is against Yelp policy.

More advanced marketing campaigns involve the use of "beacons," or sensors that detect a customer who has downloaded a company's mobile app upon entering the store. When the beacon senses the consumer in the vicinity, it will offer a special deal in the store via a push notification on the spot. Clearly, there is no better time or place for a company to make its move. However, most businesses will have to rely on less sophisticated means to draw in crowds looking to spend money in the neighborhood.

Better mobile marketing

on your company's website using a smartphone. Any content you post on social pages and your company site should be ready for consumption on these smaller devices. Web content recognized by Google's search engine will put your location on the map. Click-to-call functions enable mobile users to talk to employees immediately. The benefits are available to dining and drinking establishments as well as retail shops.

From this perspective, everything you put online to inform the public about your business should be considered mobile marketing. Restaurant and food stand (or food truck) owners should time text and e-mail offers to coincide with meal times, while bar owners should think about happy hour and late-night offers. Facebook and Foursquare check-ins have become less popular in recent years, so consider alternative ways to find your customers on their mobile devices. In most cases, a good reputation will close the deal for a consumer who is on the fence.

Small business owners should consider the impact that successful mobile marketing strategies can have on sales and brand recognition. For a mobile-friendly website, turn to Two Minute Mobile for help. You can find deals on these mobile services now at The UPS Store.

Is your Company's Logo Ready for a Redesign?

Even the most successful brands have to continually reevaluate their company logos. Pepsi, for example, has had four different looks on its soda packaging since 1990 alone. (Meanwhile, Coca-Cola's has remained virtually unchanged for 100 years.) Whether you are entering a growth stage for your business or getting ready to launch a new website, do not underestimate the power of your company logo. Here is advice on determining the ideal image for your brand.

Assessing what you have

Few companies can maintain the successful longevity with an image the way Coke, Apple, and Facebook have with their respective company logos. However, there are characteristics they all share when it comes to the design aspects of their marketing. Each company has a simple, memorable image that is appropriate for the brand while delivering staying power. Start by asking yourself if your design strategy fits the bill on these counts.

The tricky part is when consumers have little idea what your company represents and what your mission may be—after all, cleverness in design can only get you so far. A helpful exercise is to see if you can describe your brand in a single word. Once you boil down the essence of a company to a word or two, you should know if your company logo conjures up that word.

Deciding what works

As is often the case with general business strategy, you can learn what works by looking at successes in your industry. Since you have to both create associations with your brand and get your name into the minds of consumers, having a logo with an image (as opposed to strictly letters, as IBM does) is the best route for small business owners. Images could be simple, playing off letters in your business's name, or exist on their own outside it.

When considering the greatest business logos of all time, it is important to understand that abstract designs such as Nike's and Apple's are out of most entrepreneurs' leagues (at least for the time being). You would need millions of dollars to build a marketing machine that allows people to recognize the swoosh symbol as the ultimate in athletic performance channeled through a sneaker. Therefore, small business owners are better off thinking in figurative images.

Best practices for logo design

While there is no one right way to approach graphic design for your brand, there are certainly best practices to consider when evaluating the reach of logos in the marketplace. Here are five:

Stand out. The most obvious (and hardest) goal is to stand out from the pack. Companies that try to follow trends can lose on timelessness, so think carefully to ensure your logo stands the test of time. Being unique and being trendy are different things.

Make the image matter. Whether your industry involves the arts, sports, recycling, or fashion, your company's branding should reflect that through an image. Amazon.com has one of the best examples to illustrate the point: The "A" points to the "z" with an arrow, signifying that people can find everything on the e-commerce site.

Allow for use across platforms. Brands such as McDonald's and Twitter have logos that may be used on business cards, letterheads, or clickable buttons on Web pages. Versatility is key to your graphic design. Once you have an image that works, it can be used everywhere.

Think 10 years ahead. There is no way to predict future tastes, but you can strive for timelessness when deciding on potential logos. Look beyond trends and ask yourself if the image would have worked 10 years earlier. If so, it may work 10 years from now.

Use color with care. Google's logo is an excellent example of how to use color in a business's graphic design. However, small companies might have problems paying for so many different inks when developing marketing materials. Try to stick with two or three colors at the maximum—and make sure it looks good in black and white, too.

Images and business branding go hand in hand. Wise Business Designs can help when you need assistance with company graphics. Take advantage of discounts available in The UPS Store to build a company logo or revise existing marketing materials.