Webvantix

As our country’s economic base has morphed from one oriented toward production of actual goods, to a service  orientation (how many real estate agents and financial consultants and personal trainers are out there-whew), there is tremendous clamor for customer acquisition–ask anyone who worked in the 60’s and 70’s and they will tell you, they’ve never seen competition so fierce.  Customer acquisition is the core issue, period.

What that means is that those of us seeking the all-important customer must use every tool in our bag, or as I have loved to say for years, every arrow in our quiver.

That leads me to my Yelp story.

Back in early October I was in Connecticut for my 25th. year high school reunion–ouch (Wilton High School, 1984), that hurts to even type!  One of my closest friends and I were already in the vicinity of the venue, but found we had some extra time before the reunion began, and wanted to have a seat at a nice bar–we are both wine drinkers (he lives in San Francisco, and even makes his own, and it’s amazing).  Like a complete tech-head, I pulled out my iPhone and went straight to Yelp, punched in “Wine Bar” only to find the closest was over in New Canaan, about 30 minutes each way–too far.

We decided to run up to Ridgefield and see what we could find.  By chance we found a great place that had recently opened, the Bissell House Restaurant and Bar.  It’s a really nice place with a beautiful marble bar, and nice wines by the glass (nice, I did not say excellent).

The restaurant had recently opened, and we discussed this with the two bartenders, who, when we mentioned Yelp, had never heard of it, and seemed to dismiss it.  When we left we were chatting with the hostesses and again mentioned how we found the restaurant, and recommended they tell the owner to get onto Yelp–they seemed to roll their eyes and yes us as we left.  I thought nothing more about it and went on to one of the nicest and most wonderful evenings of my life!

When I started thinking about Yelp again, and checking it for restaurants up in my area (the middle of nowhere in Northeastern Pennsylvania), I wondered if I punched in “Wine Bars” in the Connecticut area if the Bissell House Restaurant and Bar would show up…guess what, it’s now on Yelp and even has a warm review.  Lesson:  if you have a brick and mortar shop, restaurant, bar, whatever, get onto Yelp, and begin to look at the other Social Media networks that can help you get exposure…why not?

Do you use any networks to promote your local business?  Let us know!

More ideas on exposure to come.

Preston Ehrler, Webvantix