Tuesday Tip - Add Notes To Locations

Many locations are not as simple as an address. Maybe you are on the second floor or to the right of the elevators. Adding helpful notes to your location(s) is a great way to help people get to where your events and promotions are being held.

Your Location May Be More Complicated Than You Think

Many locations are not big buildings with huge signs on busy intersections that everyone knows about. Often times your location is more complicated. You may be in a crowded shopping center or around the corner. It is important to provide useful help and tips for people who have never been there before.

You location notes do not have to be about directions. They can also be helpful tips to make a customer's experience better. For instance, your building may have a small parking lot in the front, and plenty of parking in the back. Letting people know about the parking lot behind the building (which usually has more spaces) is a great tip to add to your location notes. It lets a first time visitor feel comfortable and more willing to come to your location.

Ask a First Time Visitor

A great way to find out anything bad or difficult about your location is to ask someone who is visiting for the first time. Getting this kind of feedback can be very helpful in determining what you need to let people know about. In many cases, you may learn something you never knew about your place. It may be difficult to see from the road, or the sign is only visible from one direction. There are a variety of situations that you would never think of on your own, since you go there all the time and are so familiar with it.

Getting to Your Location is What It is All About

Your location is what it is all about. Those coupon promotions you run and special weekly events are all about getting more people in the doors. Utilizing the location features in Squareberry can help drive more real world traffic. Isn't that what all this marketing stuff is about?

Announce Your Schedule Changes

Often times, your events social media messages and coupon promotions are planned and scheduled far in advance. In fact, that is one of the great things about using Squareberry. But, there are always uncontrollable circumstances and things that happen to break up your plan. It is important to communicate changes to your schedule to keep your followers, customers and community updated.

 

Why the need to say anything?

In the digital age, people store, track and organize their lives in a variety of ways. Some set reminders, others schedule in their personal calendars. Many keep updated through social media and other apps to know what is going on where and when. Your steady followers and customers may be accustomed to a certain schedule or plan. Others who have checked your web or Facebook calendar may have seen an event or promotion coming in the near future and planned to participate. If these people show up and find your location closed or not holding the special happening they thought was going on, it can cause confusion and dissatisfaction.

Canceling or Changing

With social media, you have the power to quickly and effectively communicate any changes to your schedule. You can blast a few messages out across your various social channels and quickly get everyone informed about your changes. Additionally, you can mark any events or promotions you have scheduled in Squareberry as "Canceled". The Canceled feature is a great alternative to simply deleting items. The happening appears crossed out on any calendar or widget view you have - easily identifying it as canceled to your viewers/followers. Instead of saying nothing, your automated reminders about the happening will say "Canceled" and clearly let everyone know that your event/promotion is no longer happening. Clear communications allow people to stay happy and up to date.

Offer an Alternative

If you start sending out messages about a canceled event it is important to offer an alternative or special to replace it. For instance, if "Live Music Night" is canceled you may want to send a message like this: "Live Music is CANCELED tonight. BUT we got you covered. Half off all drinks from 7-9 PM. COME ON IN!". This can help drive traffic that you may have lost due to the cancellation. You can also let people know your canceled event is rescheduled or coming soon. "Live Music will happen next week at the same time."

Make Your Mobile Website a Place to Come Back To

The key word in the title of this article is "back". Like your website, Facebook page and your actual business location, you want people to come BACK. One visit is good, but repeat visits is what you are looking for. Your mobile website needs to be an ever-updating hub of happenings, news and fresh content. Tell people to use it and keep them coming back.

Events and Promotions

For many businesses, special events and coupon promotions are what draw people in. Your mobile website should serve as the ideal location for people to find this information. Create calendar pages on your mobile site to show off your upcoming events and promotions. People, who are out and about, will be drawn in by your happenings.

Mobile News Source

News pages are a great way to keep your mobile website fresh. With Squareberry, you can feed in RSS (such as a blog) or publish your Twitter feed. These options give your mobile website fresh news content without the need to login and update the news page. Your mobile website keeps updated via your existing main news publishing tools.

Keep It Updated

The most important thing to do is keep your mobile website updated with fresh content. Squareberry's calendars will automatically hide past events/promotions, but page content needs to be maintained (if applicable). Don't leave a message about New Year's on your home page until March. Out of date content can turn off potential customers who will think nothing has changed at your business.

If you are a restaurant, keep your current menu updated/available on your mobile website. Squareberry offers an intuitive Menu/Catalog page type which allows you to easily create and update a full menu of items.

Tell People It Is the Place to Come Back To

Signs on your door and/or tables can go a long way. You are probably already featuring Facebook on your collateral, do the same with your mobile website. Tell people they can easily see what's going on, gets news and find promotions on your mobile site. Spreading the word helps get them on your mobile site. Fresh content, news and events/promotions keep them coming back.