Where do you operate your small business? Maybe you work from home and have no physical storefront? Maybe you have a professional office, situated in a downtown area with local links to everything you could possibly need? It doesn’t really matter – wherever you work, the location of your business will have an impact.
Indeed, we all have a local area we can reach out to and rely on, even if our only goal right now is to expand outwards and conquer the market on the global stage. But depending on where you’re located, you can come across benefits and drawbacks, with some outweighing the others. After all, location is everything, or so they used to say. But is the same still true of the modern world? Let’s find out.
It Ensures You Have Your Pick of Talent
Wherever you’re working right now, you’re going to be entirely dependent on the people nearby to staff your company with you. Now, if you’re living and working in a capital or a major city, this isn’t usually a problem. However, if you’re somewhere more rural, it’s going to be hard to draw in the kind of talent you’re looking for.
People are often held back by geographical constraints, and that’s something a small business tends to lean into. After all, you can’t put on national recruitment drives at your level – you’ve only got what you can afford to work with. However, with the ever growing popularity of remote working, this location factor is becoming less and less of an issue.
The more you can work with people in their own homes, the easier it’s going to be to attract and retain talent. Someone who can build the entire back end of your website and/or perform long term IT support for you is going to stick around for a cozy job they can perform from their own sofa!
It Can Improve Your SEO
Your SEO strategy might be thin on the ground right now, or it might be non-existent entirely. Either way, your location is going to inform what kind of keywords you’ll be targeting. You want to bring in both global and local custom, after all, and any Digital marketing company worth their salt would find it effective to target both sides of this coin.
After all, there are customers all around you, and they need to know if there’s a business nearby that can accommodate their needs. Make this easy for them; you want to be able to rely on the accessibility of the internet at large, but there’s always some value in addressing more immediate customers as well!
And your SEO impact can be strengthened by targeting these far more specific (and more niche) keywords. It’s easier to break into a field that only one or two businesses already operate in, but there’s still a lot of profit to be made there.
It Impacts Effective Networking
How easy is it for a company like yours to get out there and network in person? Once again, if you work in a metropolitan area, it’s probably very easy. But if you’re in a small town outside of nowhere, it’s going to take a lot more time and money to meet people face to face.
But without networking, it’s going to be hard to get other businesses/investors interested in you. It’s going to be next to impossible to make a good impression; even just handing over a business card with a smile on your face can be ten times more effective than sending out a random email!
Of course, networking websites are in abundance these days, but there’s nothing quite like being able to shake someone’s hand and look them in the eye. Effective networking is most often done in person, and your location is going to affect how much you can pull this off.
It Informs Your Brand Image
Finally, your brand’s image can be immediately upheld or dismissed by your physical location. For example, if you’re from a small town, your business can be seen as small-time and insignificant.
On the other hand, if you’re from a major city, your company can be seen as far more important. It’s a form of bias that exists in the current working world, and it can go a long way to making it harder for you to market.
As a small business, remember that location isn’t everything. However, it can inform everything you do as a company.
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