Read time: 4 mins
In this week’s issue, I want to talk about how to help a local small business take advantage of the most undervalued and underutilized asset a local business has as a Local Small Business Consultant or Digital Marketing Agency Owner…
The “asset” I speak of is the local small business’ reviews and testimonials.
Unfortunately, there are a lot of local businesses who have a lot of these, but they’re not using them to their full potential.
With that being said…
Let’s dive in!
Why Reviews And Testimonials Are Such A Powerful Asset For A Local Small Business
In this day and age, with so many options for consumers…
Consumers typically will choose a local small business based on their reputation…
And that reputation is based on the reviews (or testimonials) they get from their customers or clients.
Reviews are usually given a rating or score…
And of course the higher the rating or score…
The more likely to get you to become a customer or client of theirs.
So it’s imperative that a local small business get as many reviews as they can in order to have a higher average rating or score.
When a local small business doesn’t have any reviews…
Most people will shy away from that business and choose another… (given that there are multiple options with reason)
It’s also fair to say that the same can be said for not having enough reviews compared to the local small business’ competitors.
Where Reviews And Testimonials About A Local Small Business Typically Are Found
Most reviews are found on social media websites and search engines like…
- Yelp
- Etc.
And if people are searching for a specific type of local small business in a specific geographic area…
Then they usually go to Google to find what they’re looking for.
So that’s probably the number one place for a local small business to have their customer or client reviews posted.
However, they should also have them in Yelp and Facebook as well…
Because both of those also get a lot of traffic and searched too.
Although the terms “reviews” and “testimonials” are interchangeable…
I usually reserve the term “reviews” for 3rd party websites like Google, Facebook, Yelp, etc.
And the term “testimonials” for 1st party websites like the local small business’ own website.
So when looking for reviews for a local small business…
I would start with Google, then look at Yelp, and finally Facebook.
What A Local Small Business Can Do To Get More Reviews And Testimonials From Their Customers/Clients
In order for a local small business to get more reviews from their customers or clients…
They simply need to *ask* for them!
Of course it’s always easier said than done…
But all too often a local small business doesn’t do a good job of *asking*.
They usually neglect their reviews altogether.
Meaning, they don’t put any effort into trying to get their customers or clients to leave a review.
Sadly, there are far too many local small businesses out there who undervalue the importance of reviews for their business.
Which is why more often than not…
A local small business desperately needs your help to implement a “review getting” campaign.
At the very least a local small business should have a sign up somewhere in their business that makes it obvious to their customers or clients that they would appreciate it if they would leave a review.
Even better if the local small business tells them exactly where they should leave a review (i.e. Google, Yelp, Facebook, etc.).
Of course they could and should take it a step further and ask them to fill out a short questionnaire on the local small business’ website to pre-qualify them about how they liked the product or service they received…
That way if the customer or client is unhappy with the local small business’ product or service…
Those unhappy campers can be directed to leave their review or complaints with a staff member…
So that the local small business can help them resolve their problem to hopefully turn a negative review into a positive one.
And of course if the customer or client is happy with the local small business’ product or service they received…
They would be directed to leave their positive review directly on a 3rd party site (i.e. Google, Yelp, Facebook, etc.),
How You Can Help Local Small Businesses Leverage Their Customer’s or Client’s Reviews and Testimonials
Most (about 99%) of all local small businesses have at least a few reviews posted somewhere…
That somewhere could be any of the locations I’ve previously mentioned.
With that being said…
It’s highly unlikely that new potential customers or clients who are checking out a local small business for the first time…
Will *always* look at the same location (i.e. Google, Yelp, Facebook, etc.).
So if a local small business only has reviews, say on Facebook, but not on Google or Yelp for that matter…
And a potential new customer or client checks them out on Google and doesn’t see any reviews…
The potential new customer or client may move on to the next local small business…
I think you can see how this can be a major problem for a lot of local small businesses…
Especially the ones who are not proactively working on gathering reviews from their customers or clients.
So there is a huge opportunity for you as a Local Small Business Consultant and/or Digital Marketing Agency Owner for you to help local small businesses *repurpose* their reviews…
So that they can be showcased in more locations such as their own…
- Website
- Google Business Profile
- Facebook Business Page
- Yelp Listing
- Etc.
I actually love to prospect for new local small business clients by mocking up a couple of the local small business’ reviews as nice templated graphics…
Then I’ll reach out to a local small business owner to explain how they should be taking advantage of their customer or client reviews…
And then I show them what I’ve done for them…
This is a great way to provide value first before asking for the sale of your service.
If the local small business owner isn’t interested for whatever reason…
I simply explain that they can use the reviews I’ve created for them as my way of saying thank you for your time.
BTW, I call this the “Repurpose Reviews Method.”
Give it a try…
And let me know how it works for you!
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