Scoot Blog

Send Customers Straight To Your Door

It’s all well and good offering discounts and announcing sales to entice customers to your door, but if your online details are incorrect, just whose door will your customers end up at? The rise of online directories has unsurprisingly coincided with the decline in print directory usage, with more people choosing to hide their bulky paper directories at the back of cupboard in favour of a quick internet search for a local business. One thing that IS surprising is the number of UK businesses that have yet to realise just how important it is to make sure that their details are correct and up-to-date across the web, with a staggering 40% of all online business information either incorrect or incomplete.

Appearing in the local search results is an important goal for any business; however incorrect details could result in a loss of potential business. When listing your business on a directory site it is important to remember that the devil really is in the detail. Whether you have yet to list your business, or you are planning an online spring clean, make sure you follow our top tips.

CHECK YOUR OWN WEBSITE

If you’re about to add your details to a business directory the first thing to do is make a quick pit stop at your own business website. Note down the physical address, phone number, URL and even the full name of the business. Ensuring that all directory listings contain exactly the same data is incredibly important and helps promote a business within the search engines. It is easy to make a simple typo but if that typo leads customers to 10 High Street instead of 100 High Street, it could soon prove costly!

DOUBLE CHECK ALL THE ADVERTS YOU HAVE SET UP

The shift from print to online advertising has brought with it several benefits to business, one of which is the ability to press that all important edit button to rectify a mistake. Spending money on an paper based advert is all well and good but when you realise that your phone number is missing an all important digit there’s nothing that you can do. On the other hand, a mistake made on an online listing can be swiftly rectified as long as you take the time to check and double check your listing once it is live!

KEEP CHECKING BACK

Once your online directory listings are live it is important to keep on top of them, make a note of which directories you have submitted your information to and either check yourself or allocate the responsibility to a member of staff. It is rare that all business information will stay the same forever therefore if you do move premises or switch phone numbers, make sure you make the necessary changes as soon as you can. If you don’t have the time to keep track of all of your directory listings NetTrackz is a fantastic way to view and amend all of your listings in one place.

GET SOCIAL

The rise of social media is also playing an important role in making sure that your online directory presence is as strong as possible. If you spend a lot of time tweeting and sharing information on Facebook make sure you check to see if any of your online directory listings include a space to post your profile URL or username. Scoot offers a handy social tab that provides customers with an up-to-date Twitter feed and a Facebook profile view.

Online directories are already proving to be a valuable starting point for anyone looking to search the web for a local business, and are fast becoming a vital asset for small business owners wishing to increase their web presence. With 96% of business owners agreeing that 2012 will see print directory usage among under 50’s plummet to zero*, what better time to get a head start with its online counterpart?

For more information on how to get the most out of online directories why not follow Scoot on Twitter for daily news, hints and tips?

*Touch Local Business Poll 2011

Annual report Uncovers What Business Owners Really Thought About 2011!

Here at Scoot we work hard to make sure that we can give UK business owners exactly what they need, but we can’t do it alone. Over the last year our partner site Touch Local has been conducted surveys to find out what UK SME’s think about the issues that affect them. From the social media revolution to the relegation of print directories to the back of kitchen cupboards, the polls have provided us with an invaluable insight into the world of UK SME’s.

Did you know?

UK SME’s are one of the major driving forces of the British economy, employing around 14 million people and responsible for nearly half of the total private sector turnover.

Given the important role that the small business community plays, it is vital that business owners have the opportunity to voice their options and share their views on the UK economy. The weekly polls ensured that we were always on top of the major issues and developments in business and economy that affect UK SME’s. The poll results were recently published by Touch Local in their annual report 2011 Local Business Overview and the Road Ahead which provides an in depth summary of the information shared by thousands of small business owners throughout the year. Along with the poll findings, the report also covers the major events that played a significant part in the 2011 business year such as the VAT increase and Budget 2011.

One of the main features of the report is the advertising trends of 2011. The year saw print advertising take a sharp decline and social media rise up to become a valuable asset for businesses, allowing UK SME’s to connect with their customers in a way they never had before.

Did you know?

95% of UK business owners believe that usage of print directories amount people under 50 years of age will drop to zero in 2012

One of the highlights of the report is a survey that Touch Local conducted with over 1,000 UK businesses owners, asking them how they felt about the coming year including how they expect their business to grow in 2012.

Read the full Touch Local Annual Report here

Get involved now and receive a £50 voucher!

It’s safe to say that paper business directories are still proving their worth across the UK. Can’t reach the tops of those dusty kitchen shelves? Simply stand on top of a directory and hey presto, dust be gone! Can’t bring yourself to pick up that spider that’s been tormenting the household for a week? Your paper directory just became your number one weapon. There are countless other ways for people to really get the most out of these once invaluable marketing sources but unfortunately quickly searching for a local business just isn’t one of them.

The decline of print directory usage is in stark contrast to the rise of online directories. In today’s world people want instant information and with more people finding themselves attached to a monitor or mobile phone screen, the internet is the most popular place to find it. As well as being a quicker and more efficient way of searching for a local product or service, online directories provide businesses themselves with a clearer view of their return on investment. It’s almost impossible for a business to find out just how many people have viewed their advert in a magazine or newspaper however an internet campaign enables advertisers to track and measure the success of their ad.
Time and money aside, think about how many chunky directories you have had squeezed through your letterbox or left behind your plant pot over the years. Here is what the print of 75 million phonebooks in the UK costs:

• 680,000 barrels of oil (not including the wasted petrol used for their delivery)
• 2 billion litres of water
• Enough energy to power 112,000 3 bedroom houses for one year

If you have already spent part of your marketing budget on print media advertising do not despair! We’ve decided to make sure that businesses finally get something out of their print media advertising by holiday our first advert amnesty. Simply find your advert in a paper directory, newspaper or magazine, take a picture of it and send it to us via email, Facebook or Twitter. If you prefer you can even rip out your advert and post it to us! In return we will send you a voucher for £50 worth of Scoot advertising*, as one of the leading UK directories Scoot is the perfect platform to really make sure your business gets the attention it deserves!

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Email: Kathryn@scoot.co.uk

Post:
Scoot Marketing
Scoot House
19 Falcon Court
Preston Farm Industrial Estate
Stockton-On-Tees
Cleveland
TS18 3TU

*Voucher redemption is subject to a minimum spend of £100.

Data Management Scoot Survey Results

Maintaining an accurate and up-to-date online profile can often be an arduous task for businesses however if you are looking to attract new customers, it is also a vital one! In our latest poll we asked business owners;

Do you regularly update your latest information and check your data on the internet and business search websites?

The results show that 65% of business owners do keep their business details up-to-date whereas 35% don’t check their data on a regular basis. Those that do stay on top of their online business data were asked whether or not they did this themselves or if they allocated the responsibility to another employee or an agency. A massive 89% of business owners took responsibility for updating their profiles whilst just 11% let someone else manage their data.

Business owners who did not keep up-to-date with their online information were asked just what was stopping them from maintaining an accurate online profile. Over half admitted that they just did not have the time to post their latest updates or check that their data profiles are up-to-date. 30% of business owners believed that they did not need to put any work into their online data management as it is ‘fine as it is’ whilst just 14% believe that it is just not important!

Utilising platforms such as social media and directory services enables you to keep you customers up-to-date with your latest news and information whilst also increasing brand awareness and bringing new customers to your door. With more and more people turning to the internet to search for local businesses, there has never been a better time to take control of your online presence!

The new agency worker rules, is your business prepared?

The new shake up of agency worker rights and regulations will come into force from the 1st October, but are you clued up on the changes? With over 1.4 million agency workers in the UK alone, it is vital that business owners know exactly what they need to be doing to comply with these new rules.
Some of the changes include;

• After 12 weeks of service in comparable work, agency workers will gain similar rights to full time members of staff, this includes pay, shift allowances, holiday pay, overtime and any bonuses not connected to individual performance.
• From the first day of employment agency workers will be able to use some of the same facilities as staff. This includes canteens, transport and childcare facilities.
• Agency staff will be entitled to any information on internal job vacancies and can apply for them.

The new regulations have been introduced after a survey of agency workers found that they were unhappy about missing out on overtime payments and holiday pay. After long negotiations between the government and unions, the new rules will hopefully create better working conditions for agency workers.

For more information on the new regulations head to the Department for Business Innovation and Skills

Twitter Poll results

Since its launch in 2006, Twitter has taken the world by storm, providing users with a platform to post information, interact with others and keep up-to-date on the latest news.  With over 200 million users as of 2011, Twitter has established itself as a valuable marketing tool for any business. This week we asked local business owners;*

Do you use Twitter to reach more customers?

The poll showed that 62% of business owners did not use Twitter as a way to reach more customers, whilst 38% were taking advantage of the site as a way to attract new customers to their business.

Of the 38% of business owners that did use Twitter to reach their customer, 90% managed their Twitter accounts themselves, with the remaining 10% either allocating time to employees or using an outside agency. When asked about any challenges they face when using Twitter, it seems that many businesses have embraced the word of tweets and retweets with 41% of business owners finding no challenges what so ever. 15% admitted to understanding how the site works but find it hard to decide just how to make the most of the 140 character limit!

Finding time to Tweet

For many business owners, finding the time to start utilising social media can be one of the biggest reasons why many choose to ignore it. Of the 62% of business owners who did not use Twitter to reach their customers, 44% cited having no time as their biggest reason for not logging in whereas 56% of business owners admitted that they just don’t understand how to use it.  Out of the businesses that do use Twitter to reach their customers, 70% spend less than an hour a day updating their customers on their latest news, products and services whilst just 10% rely on a weekly check up.

From this survey it seems that although more businesses were yet to explore just how Twitter could benefit their business, those that do were able to reach their customers without facing any significant challenges and without it eating up too much of their time.

For the latest hints and tips on how to increase your business’ online exposure follow Scoot on Twitter! @Scoot_IT

*290 respondents. Data source- Touch Local

Tweet Tweet!

It seems like everyone is tweeting nowadays, celebrities, politicians, local authorities and most importantly your customers. If your business has yet to embrace the world of ‘hashtags’ and ‘retweets’ you are missing out on the millions of customers that are already finding local businesses and services through what is fast becoming one of the world’s largest social networks. The value of Twitter for a business of any size is immeasurable, the micro-blogging site enables businesses to interact and engage with customers whilst generating a buzz about the company through 140 character updates. Here at Scoot we absolutely love Twitter and our team are always on hand to help out with anything that you need plus all of the latest news and updates from the world of business.

Join the social media revolution

As a business it has become almost impossible to ignore the impact that social media has had on how we choose to reach our customers. With the whole word seemingly tweeting, liking and now +1(ing) everything from customer service to special offers, viewing social media as a fad is one of the biggest mistakes a business can make. If you have yet to even dip your toe into the world of social media, here are our three top tips to getting started!

1. Fail to prepare, prepare to fail!

Although it may be tempting to set up your profiles and dive headfirst into tweets and status updates, take the time to think about what you want to achieve from social media. If you are looking to increase brand awareness why not research some of the key issues in business and join the conversations about them on Twitter? If you are looking to attract new customers why not advertise an exclusive special offer on your Facebook page or Tweet out a promotional code to your followers. The most basic aspect of social media is sharing so make sure you take the time to share information that your customers will actually want to read. Blog posts, funny viral videos and or even pictures of new products will soon get the ball rolling and the followers pouring in.

2. Keep going!

If after a week or so you haven’t got the 1000’s of followers that you expected, try and resist the temptation to close the laptop and never speak of Twitter or Facebook again. In order to grow successful social media profiles you need to dedicate time and resources. Sharing out the responsibility is a great way to get more of your team interested in social media and will ensure that there is always a steady stream of information being posted.

3. Spread the love

Whether you are Team Twitter of a Facebook fan, one of the most important things to remember about social media is that you need to cover all of your bases. There are programs available that will send a post to all of your social media platforms however it is best to cater different posts for different sites. Utilise #hashtags when using Twitter to get the maximum effect and take advantage of the extended character limits on Facebook to give your customers all of the information that they need.

Effective marketing has always been considered as the growth engine of a business. But do UK SMEs also share the same opinion?

Touch Local carried out a poll amongst a sample of UK small business owners, to find out if they had set a marketing budget for 2011, and what forms of marketing do they consider to be the most effective.

The Survey

Does your business have a set Marketing budget for 2011?

The Results

*Total responses: 852

Summary

More than a third (38%) of business owners who took the survey, confirmed that they have a marketing budget for 2011. Many of them also specified that the budget was limited, due to the fact that they do not have any excess in their capital to dedicate to marketing.
Most of the respondents (62%) stated that they did not have a set marketing budget for 2011.

More information acquired from business owners who have a set marketing budget:

- In the current “challenging” economic climate, it’s not surprising that 65% of UK SMEs have an annual marketing budget of less than £5,000. Only 2% of the respondent stated that they are planning to spend more than £100,000 on marketing activities in 2011.
- Overall, it seems that there is a definite shift towards online advertising:
- 80% of business owners felt that investing in a website had a high priority when allocating their marketing budget
- One in 3 of the respondents placed high importance on advertising in online business directories, versus only 1 in 10 for print directories. What’s more, 60% of small business owners stated that they were not planning to spend any of their marketing budget on print directory advertising
- Nearly half of the survey respondents are placing high priority on search engine marketing and 1 in 3 on email marketing
- When it comes to advertising in newspapers and through leaflets, 23% consider it to be a high priority and 16% are not planning to spend any marketing budget on these in 2011.
- Other type of advertising, such as video, direct mail and telemarketing have predominantly low to medium priority

More information acquired from business owners who do not have a set marketing budget:

- Even though 62% of SMEs have no marketing budget for 2011 most of them could end up squeezing their budgets for marketing or advertising.
- However there is major shift in the approach of advertising with majority of the respondents willing to invest in their company website (61%), followed by SEO (27%), email (23%).
- When it comes to advertising on business directories, 18% of businesses would invest in online business directories compared to only 10% in print directories which is more or less as expected.
- Interestingly, 53% of the respondents will not advertise using Video, reasons being the high production and distribution costs.
- Only 1 in 8 of respondents would advertise through Social Media, citing lack of time and resource as a reason.
- Other types of advertising like direct mail pay per call services and telemarketing was low in priority.

Reviewing the entire survey, we realize that regardless of having a marketing budget or not, SMEs throughout UK share the same outlook and are investing in a more modern channel rather than the traditional method of marketing. They acknowledge that the difficulty to quantify the effectiveness has forced them to the shift away from the more traditional forms of marketing towards web based marketing mediums as it is seen to attain better returns.

Some of the comments from the respondents:

I’m a sole trader and I keep my overheads down to the absolute minimum. Word of mouth has also worked very well for me.

The ‘marketing industry’ has become so large, complex and full of spam that it is now impossible to quantify effects of many of these so-called marketing campaigns.

I have in 40 plus years of running my business & always spent around 3% to 4% of turnover on advertising. I would spend more on good leads that generate profitable business.

SEO has now been made a dominant factor in website success that many of us use our websites to direct our existing customers rather than seek out new ones.

Over the past 5 years of trading we know where we get the better results from our efforts and pursue those. Regular monitoring of incoming trade means we adjust our budgets accordingly.

From experience printed advertising is a dying medium. Our best returns have come from promoting our own website and SEO work.

Due to the current climate, we do not have any excess capital to spend on advertising of any kind.

Making marketing a priority and putting it on our wish list does not necessarily mean that funding will become available whilst high street sales are still struggling.

Due to very poor levels of business we don’t have much money to spare for this at the moment. The recession is still hitting us hard.

Paper advertising hardly works for me anymore, and is too expensive, our website is Key.

Over the years I have found most advertising to be a waste of money. I have tried everything from cards in supermarkets, directories, charity posters, but none even cover the cost of the advertising. Website and word of mouth are the only functional methods for my business.

I find the cost of advertising very high in most publications with little or no reward. I would welcome information on how to use email marketing.

Networking is another valuable marketing avenue. I am a member of a national networking group and I’m hoping this will be useful in 2011.

For more information about Touch Local, please contact anju.palleeri@touchlocal.com or call 020 7840 4313

The Royal Wedding is estimated to have boosted the UK economy by £2bn, but what was its impact on the small business industry? Touch Local carried out a poll amongst a sample of UK small business owners, to find out whether they benefited from the event, or on the contrary, did they actually suffer losses?

The Survey

What kind of an effect do you consider the Royal Wedding to have had on your business?

The Results

*Total responses:            956

Summary

Nearly half (48%) of the small business owners who participated in this survey claimed that the Royal Wedding had no effect on their business. On the whole, they stated to have not noticed any significant change in the output or revenue of their business.

On the other hand, 41% of respondents believe that their businesses have been affected negatively, with many stating that the extra long weekend had a noticeable impact on their revenue.

Only 11% believe the Royal Wedding to have had a positive impact on their business, many of them saying that the boost in customer and employee morale, resulting from the Royal Wedding, has influenced their revenue positively.

Some of the comments from the respondents:

The boost in employee and customer morale is bound to be good.

Courier service disruption has resulted in customer dissatisfaction.

The Prime Minister purchased my Anglesey Books as his personal gift to the Royal Couple and it has resulted in huge exposure and increased sales.

With clients closed for the day, there was no demand for support, which would in turn pay staff costs.

As the government had decided to declare the day to be a bank holiday and our contract terms state that staff are allowed 21 days plus bank holidays, this day cost us a considerable amount of money, which we are unable to recoup.

In the current economic climate, I believe this wedding to be a shameful waste of time and money.

The Royal Wedding and the resulting long weekend has had a significantly negative impact on our revenue.

Friday is normally a very busy day but it was quiet because people thought we were closed.

Delays in receipt of ordered supplies (also due to other holidays at Easter and May day)

It was not just the wedding, but the number of holidays meant that clients weren’t making decisions, starting projects, etc.

The Company had to virtually shut down, as either our employees took additional days holiday, or our customers did.