Making repairs and improvements to your business can increase its appeal and attract new customers while increasing the loyalty of existing customers. For example, you might repair the concrete sidewalks in front of your business, or you could repave the parking lot to eliminate the cracks and potholes.
In any case, the regular customers visiting your business before and after the repairs will likely notice a difference. But if you want to get the most visibility (and therefore the most value) from your repairs, you’ll need to take extra steps to publicize them.
Announce the Coming Changes
If you haven’t already made the repairs, make a concentrated effort to let your customers know about the upcoming changes before they happen. This will serve a number of benefits:
- Maximizing the number of people you reach. Let’s assume your business sees about 100 people per day in foot traffic, and your social channels get approximately 1,000 impressions per day. Advertising your change starting a week before it happens will help you get a collective 7,700 impressions more than if you only announce the improvement when it’s already done.
- Making up for inferior structures. If your business is suffering from a cracked sidewalk, a broken window, or another kind of structural deficiency, it can leave people with a bad impression. Customers visiting your business for the first time may walk away with a negative view of your company. Addressing the problem and informing them that you’re going to change it can make up for this.
- Encouraging future visits. Advertising a coming change is also a good way to encourage repeat visits in the future. A customer who learns that you’re physically expanding the building, or that you’re completely overhauling the dining area, may be inclined to come back to see how those changes play out.
Take Before and After Photos
Visual content is much more effective than written content. Merely announcing that you’ve remodeled your entranceway isn’t nearly as impressive as showing your customers a photo. Plus, customers who haven’t visited your storefront in a while, or those who aren’t planning on visiting you again soon, won’t have a clear idea of how your business’s structure has changed for the better without some kind of visual.
The best approach here is to take “before” and “after” photos. What did your business look like before you instituted this change? What does it look like now?
Write and Submit a Press Release
If your change is significant enough, you can write and submit a press release about your efforts. Press releases are a powerful way to spread your message across multiple news outlets at the same time; you’ll get brand visibility in local markets, and in niches relevant to your company. If you do this, make sure you write about the motivations for your change, and what customers can expect from your business in the future.
Host an Event
If your remodeling efforts have established your business in a new light, or if you’re offering different types of products and services in the wake of your improvements, you may want to host an event to celebrate. The possibilities are practically unlimited here; you can host a massive sale to bring people in, you can reward your existing customers with free food and drinks, or you can host a mini festival with outdoor music and games or activities to keep people engaged.
Of course, if you decide to host an event, you’ll need to market and publicize that event separately, as well. To do this, make sure you announce the event in plenty of time (so people can plan to attend), and use a variety of platforms, including social media and email, to spread word of its existence.
Collect Customer Feedback
Finally, take the time to collect customer feedback about your repairs and improvements. Submit surveys to your loyal customers via email, or just ask your customers to share their thoughts with you when they visit your store in person. Did they notice that you made repairs? How do they feel about the repairs? Are they inclined to see your business in a more positive light? Also, are there other repairs or improvements they’d like to see?
The better you understand your customers’ perspectives, the better you can allocate funding to future repair and improvement projects. This is also a good opportunity to gauge the effectiveness of how you marketed your improvements.
Overall, repairs and improvements to a business are almost always a good thing. But if you want to maximize those benefits, you have to spend effort marketing and publicizing your efforts. Otherwise, your customers may not realize how your business has changed—or why you made these changes in the first place.
Interesting related article: “What is Marketing?“