Local IS Community

As Sitewire’s head of “Local,” I think a lot about what “local” really means.  Sure, there are the local-specific search tactics like geo-targeting and Google Places.  There are mobile and social integrations with apps/sites like Foursquare and Yelp.  But what does it really mean for a business to compete locally?  A recent (albeit boneheaded) experience brought home for me the true meaning of Christmas…errr…local.

The true meaning of “local” is community.  It sounds simple, but it’s true.  Merriam Webster defines “community” as, “people with common interests living in a particular area.” So when we think of big box retailers like Walmart or Target — are they part of the community?  Many would say no.  But I bet you that your neighbors working at a particular location would say yes.    Many companies, Target and Walmart included, do quite a bit to foster community in their locations — things like grants, social services and education, as well as local classifieds at a regional level.  One client of mine, a local grocery chain, Fry’s Food Stores, even does local phone outreach during re-calls and individually calls each customer for whom they have contact info, who purchased a re-called product or food item.  To me, that shows true dedication to the community.  I’d call a friend if I discovered they had something potentially dangerous in their pantry — wouldn’t you?

It’s that kind of mentality — looking out for your neighbor — that truly means community to me.  Case in point (and addressing my boneheaded reference above), for the first time in my ten years of owning a mobile phone – I left it in a cab.  And not only was it left in a cab, I left it inside the vehicle as I exited at the airport and proceeded to rush through check-in and security in a mad dash for the departure gate to fly out of town for a client meeting.  Awesome.

I didn’t even realize that my phone was not on me until I’d passed through security and heard my name on the airport’s paging system.  I was asked to pick up the white courtesy phone!  Fortunately for me, the cab driver found my phone, called my mom (yes, dear old mom was the last number in my call history), found out who I was and had me paged at the airport.  Long story short, the phone was safely delivered back into my clutches and I am forever indebted to Discount Cab Company for their true, customer-first approach.

The fact is, I use Discount Cab Company all the time for business and personal travel.  The company boasts a progressive fleet of green vehicles (not just the paint job, but the hybrid engines to boot), and offers an outstanding SMS communication system.  Every interaction with a Discount Cab employee has been top-notch and this last encounter solidifies their community-centric priority.  This company oozes “community” at all levels and herein lies the real value in competing at a local level – your entire company, from stem to stern, CEO to janitorial staff must be focused on the customer.  It’s not just the corporate message that your PR team pushes to the media, rather your entire company’s actions.  That is how you build community, local equity and a base of loyal, repeat business.

I’ll leave you with some prepositional directives before ending this post:

• For the customer first.  Always.
• Throughout the entire company.
• Look inward before you look outward.

Now I know many of you don’t like to “blow your own horn,” but tell me how your company puts the client first and share some success stories with us!

Tagged as: brand loyalty, Business, community, customer service, fry's food stores, Google, Local, Mobile phone, target, walmart