Time to Reclaim our High Streets

During the lockdown period, more and more of us have been discovering that long queues outside supermarkets can be avoided by shopping at smaller retailers on the high street. Butchers, bakers and greengrocers have all seen an increase in customers during the last three months. But what happens after ‘Lockdown?’ Will we all go back to buying from the big national chains or will we remain loyal to the retailers who continued to offer exceptional service when the going got tough?

At Local Pages, we believe it is time to reclaim our local High Streets and carry on spending locally. This is why:

10 Great Reasons for Shopping Locally

1 – Your money stays in the local community.

According to research by the Centre for Local Economic Strategies, for every £1 spent in local businesses 63p is invested back into the local economy, where only 5p is reinvested when money is spent shopping out of town or online. Research by American Express also found that house prices close to thriving town centres are likely to rise faster than similar houses in areas where there are few local shops. 

2 – It’s quirky and fun

It’s much more fun searching around little streets full of quirky little independent stores than visiting the national chains that all sell a variation of the same thing. Small independent retailers know the local market and stock items that appeal to local people rather than the masses. This means they are more likely to take risks and stock a more diverse range of products; items that you may not be able to find anywhere else. Local shops also support local artists and designers, so you could end up buying something truly unique.

3 – It helps create local jobs

Last year it was reported that independent businesses accounted for 60% of employment and 52% of turnover in the UK. Independent businesses tend to pay more as a proportion in local taxes than their larger counterparts which means more local investment leading to more local services, more jobs and a better quality of life. 

4 – It’s good for our health

Buying locally improves our well-being. By encouraging us out of our homes and places of work, we interact with others, breath fresh air, gain new experiences, give ourselves a sense of purpose and see life from a different perspective. Shopping locally is also a valuable form of physical exercise. Walking to and from the shops combined with carrying our purchases increases our heart rate and muscular development. Research in America by the Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, found that there were lower rates of mortality, obesity, and diabetes in areas where there was a high volume of thriving local businesses . 

5 – It’s the ethical choice

Local butchers, greengrocers and other suppliers of fresh produce often supply a high percentage of food that is produced locally. Not only does this reduce the amount of fuel required to get the food from the farm to your table, but it also decreases the amount of plastic packaging necessary to transport food over large distances. As well as being fresher, locally produced food is also often tastier and contains more nutrients and less preservatives.

 

6 – It encourages entrepreneurs

By shopping locally you are encouraging the success of local businesses. This inspires other entrepreneurial types with a passion for growth and local communities to do the same. As new businesses are created they look to fulfill the continually changing needs of consumers.  This leads to an increase in innovation and a constant turnover of new products and services.

 

7 – It helps build communities

Many high street stores including bookshops, cafes and craft shops host events to entice customers into their premises. If the businesses are not supported, the local groups that use them tend to disappear too.

 

8 – Great for advice

Local shops know their products inside out and want to share that knowledge by helping you whenever they can. Not only can they advise on how something is made or used, but they can make other recommendations based on your needs and budget. It’s a more personalised shopping experience than can be offered by a national chain with the emphasis on helping you buy, rather than selling you something you don’t need or ignoring you altogether.

 

9 – Great for Price

Most local shops are just as competitive as large retailers with the added advantage that you can normally haggle on price; something you cannot do online or in a chain store. Many local retailers also offer loyalty schemes offering extra discounts and free merchandise to those that shop with them regularly.

 

10 – Try before you buy

It sounds obvious, but by trying clothes on in a store you can see how they fit and feel before you buy them. When buying furniture you can check how comfortable the sofa is or inspect the quality of the materials and construction. Looking at pictures online can never take the place of the tactile experience. What’s more, in most cases you can take away your purchases there and then for instant gratification without the added worry of possibly having to organise returns, exchanges or asking for your money back.

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A Really BIG Thank You

Local Pages Goes from Strength to Strength

 

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all our clients who have advertised in our 24 Little Blue Books over the last 12 months along with the people that use and rely on them to find products and services within their locality.

The Local Pages financial year has just ended and we can report that we have had our most successful year in our 41 years of trading. Remarkably, despite the lockdown, revenues this April were our biggest ever as forward thinking businesses looked to ensure a steady flow of leads once the current restrictions are lifted.

The increase in revenue has allowed us to expand our team by 30% and create a number of initiatives to help improve the lead generating services we offer our clients.

  • We have increased the number of directories delivered by Royal Mail to the local communities we serve by 8% (Around 40,000 extra households)
  • We have created a marketing team to raise the profile of our Little Blue Books and online search facilities to drive even more leads
  • We have expanded our digital services team to provide more low cost websites and online lead generation to businesses targeting their local communities.

Despite the current business difficulties, we remain confident and optimistic about the future and believe that local economies will be rebuilt by independent businesses fulfilling the needs of the local communities they serve.

At Local Pages it is our objective to support those businesses and communities in whatever we can.

Local Pages – Local leads for local businesses

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Invest in Your Business Now for Future Success.

To succeed in the future… you have to act NOW!

Like many of the businesses that advertise in our Little Blue Book and online directory, Local Pages is a small family business. During this time of economic uncertainty we have been looking to learn lessons from the past to shape and determine our future. This is what we have learned:

  • It will be those that continue to market their businesses who will reap the benefits later.
  • Business goes where it is invited. 
  • If you don’t advertise and engage with your customers, you will be forgotten.
  • If you don’t advertise and engage with your customers, they will assume you have gone out of business
  • If you don’t engage with your customers, your competitors will.
  • Marketing = leads = sales = food on the table
  • Control the things you can control and adapt to the things you cannot change.
  • The way things have been done in the past are not the ways that things will be done in the future.
  • We need imagine future working practices and alter the way we work to meet them.

Therefore, at Local Pages we are embracing this period of uncertainty by increasing our marketing activity and adapting our working practises in order to better support our customers, staff and suppliers.

Our business has grown in the past few years due to us keeping our promises and generating low-cost, affordable leads for our customers through our online and printed media. By continuing to invest in our marketing now, we are determined to build on that past success and come through this economic downturn stronger than ever.

We encourage all businesses to do the same. Which brings us to…

 

10 reasons why you should invest in our Little Blue Book

1 – The current situation will not last forever and when it does end our little blue books will be in even greater demand as people look to buy goods and services from local people they know and trust.

2 – By booking now you are investing in the long term as each book generates leads for 12 months. 

3 – One of the reasons the Little Blue Books are so successful is that we can prove they work by offering all our customers unique, trackable phone numbers.

4 – Local Pages is one of the cheapest and most cost effective advertising media available as it generates high quality leads from less than £3 per week. 

5 – Every booking during the current lockdown (minimum 30th June, 2020 comes with a free enhanced listing on www.localpages.co.uk where over 200 people each day search for businesses like yours.

6 – Where possible we are offering a range of flexible payment terms allowing you to spread the cost and protect your cash flow.

7 – Free graphic design to create eye catching adverts that engage and entice new prospects.

8 – People like to buy from local people. Your advert will be seen by people local to you who want your products and services with very little wastage.

9 – Every customer is offered a free digital consultation to ensure their online activity is optimised to generate leads..

10 – For over 40 years Local Pages has been a tried and trusted source of leads for local businesses. Due to public demand, we are printing and distributing more Local Pages directories than ever before and promoting their use through increased marketing and highly targeted advertising campaigns. This means your business gets even more awareness for every £1 invested.

 

For more details email info@localpages.co.uk or call 0117 923 1122

 

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20 Top Tips for Creating Engaging & Informative Content

Everyone in business knows that we should be engaging with our customers on a daily basis with rich, informative content. It sounds great until you actually sit down, switch on your computer… and then stare at it for an hour because you don’t know where to start.

So to help get your creative juices going, here are our top 20 ways of engaging with your customers online.

1 – Infographics – Create some visual representations of ideas and information found on your website. Infographics are so much more interesting (and often more informative) than large passages of text.

2 – Memes – Those little videos and images with witty comments are often the messages that go viral.

3 – Videos – Create videos (short & sweet) giving information regarding your products and services. Don’t worry about how you sound or look like, non-professionally produced videos appear much more authentic.

4 – Product Reviews – Got a new product? Put together a product review to allow customers an insight into what you really think.

5 – User Generated Content – Get customers to produce content for you. Share stories and content from third party websites you find interesting or promote good practice.

6 – How to Guides – Put together a range of helpful guides aimed at people that use your products and services.

7 – Lists – People love lists and they improve talkability. Even a list like this one!

8 – Photo Galleries – A picture paints a thousand words. Create galleries of products and theme them to make them more interesting.

9 – Case Studies – Use these to show the breadth and depth of what you have to offer your customers and underline how great you are. Make sure they’re up-to-date and are heavy on pictures and light on text.

10 – Client Testimonials – Testimonials build trust and loyalty. So when a customer says what you did was great, ask for it in writing. Better still, ask if you can film them saying it.

11 – Newsletters – Keep in touch with your email subscribers with a monthly update featuring new products and the highlights of any articles, blogs, videos and social media posts you’ve put out that month.

12 – GIFS – Use clips from videos embedded with text to demonstrate a point.

13 – Events – Create online events like Zoom webinars to engage with your customers , record them and share with others that couldn’t attend.

14 – Images – Use, wherever possible, original images to demonstrate and reinforce written messages.

15 – Podcasts – To convey ideas that don’t necessarily require visuals, put together some podcasts on various themes that may interest your customers.

16 – Slideshares – Get innovative with Powerpoint or Keynote and create decks of slides to inform and engage with your customers and share them online.

17 – Blog Posts – If no one was interested in opinions, they wouldn’t buy newspapers. Get your thoughts down in order and publish them. Try to ensure they are not time sensitive and can be read anytime.

18 – Newsjacking – Take a news story and use it to create content that will attract positive exposure for your brand.

19 – Press Releases – Directly target the media with industry news that may be of interest to their readers.

20 – Polls – Create polls to get your customers voting and seek out their preferences and their dislikes.

 
 

If you need help with any of the above, contact the Local Pages team on 0117 923 1122 or drop us a line at info@localpages.co.uk

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