Brand Identity

The importance of local and personal

There is so much speculation around where technology can take us. I watched a clip recently on TikTok (incidentally fantastic technology) a marketing authority challenged the question on technology’s future – what won’t change though?

A local and personal service is hard to beat particularly for smaller businesses. Don’t neglect this if it is part of your core brand identity, embrace it. Having a professional presence on Google is vital part of building that credibility, customers love knowing that you are local hence the popularity of the search term of (insert something) ‘near me’. I’ve seen how having, a small spend on Google ads provide an uplift on monthly revenue or generate leads in a very short space of time.

Certain human behaviours are here to stay. Knowing the name of the person at the other end of the phone or a named email address helping your customer experience can be a rare joy. I have seen this first hand with clients and referrals, which is the best acquisition channel (zero cost) and a brilliant reflection in your product or service. Most SME’s are very good at this. One tendency is to use a generic (info) email box, which I would steer away from and instead encourage business staff to use the best version of themselves and be human too. At a minimum sign off with their name. However, using your database effectively can really expedite progress here with email being an effective purchasing channel, having high quality professional looking comms is a worthwhile investment. The next step would be around tailored messaging. The list does go on..

All businesses provide a solution for their customer, in the majority of instances it requires a human to help facilitate that solution. People value speaking to another human, even better if that person is just down the road. Customers could even drop in to meet in person. I see this regularly with our clients – being near is advantageous.

I acknowledge the intentions are always good with innovation, we can always improve and work smarter, but sometimes this attention can lose focus from the profitable operation and have a detrimental longer term brand impact.

Of course, being an SME is different to a corporate giant. Redirected time investment in making significant change can detract from what is really working in driving profitable business. Make small adjustments rather than major wholesale changes.

If tech industry crash has taught us anything, we should not crave novel and new, but celebrate consistent and profitable business using the right amount of technology along the way.