How to get the most out of your RuralHQ profile

Make the most of RuralHQ to build your reputation and attract new business

I’ve also written a brief guide to educate you on particular actions you can take, both on and off your RuralHQ profile, which help you build even more value in your presence on the platform. In summary:

  • Share your RuralHQ profile via your existing marketing channels
  • Ask your existing customers to leave a review of your business on RuralHQ. What better advertisement than happy customers?
  • Share content from the RuralHQ site that is relevant and interesting to your customers
  • Contribute content to RuralHQ that helps your customers see that you are a true expert in your field.

RuralHQ gives you an opportunity to take your good reputation and amplify it online. With over 90% of consumers reading reviews online before visiting a business, and 84% of people trusting online reviews as much as a personal recommendation, having your reputation displayed online is more important than it ever has been.

Don’t get me wrong. There will always be neighbours talking about who is the best whatever nearby. But those word-of-mouth networks will only get you so far, and people are often going online as a first step. Does you current online presence truly showcase what people think of you? And if it does, are people finding you through that channel? RuralHQ will help you change this.

To start collecting reviews on your RuralHQ business profile, we need to get eyes on it. We do our bit to drive general traffic to the site, and this will help you start collecting reviews. However, your own customers are going to be your biggest fans, and you have direct access to them. So, the biggest driver for building your reputation on RuralHQ will be you encouraging your customers to go and leave a review. Here are some ideas on how you can get started:

  • Share your RuralHQ business profile on your social pages
  • Add a link to your RuralHQ profile on your website
  • Ask every customer to visit your RuralHQ profile
  • Add a note on your invoices with your RuralHQ profile link
  • Add your RuralHQ profile link to your business card
  • Send an email to your customer database asking for reviews on RuralHQ

And that’s just a few. We’ve got lots of ideas of how you can spread the word and encourage your existing customers to help you build your online reputation. You just need to get started. The time to start is now!

At its core, RuralHQ is a business directory specifically designed for rural businesses; however, it’s so much more than that. RuralHQ is also:

  • a media company producing interesting content for rural communities
  • a platform for rural communities to connect with like minded people and awesome businesses
  • a resource for business owners to upskill in marketing their businesses
  • an information portal for rural people to find the answers to their most burning questions

Where other business directories simply list your business and hope for the best, RuralHQ is actively driving traffic to the site and encouraging community engagement. By going above and beyond what a traditional business directory is, we become the ‘go to’ platform for rural people who are searching for answers, and thus give your business exposure to your target customers as and when they need you.

There are many parts that play into this strategy for driving traffic and engagement, many of which you are invited to contribute to. Here are some of the ways that you can get more attention for your business, and help grow the platform as a whole:

  • Share your RuralHQ business profile via your existing marketing channels
  • Ask your existing customers to leave a review of your business on RuralHQ. What better advertisement than happy customers?
  • Share content from the RuralHQ site that is relevant and interesting to your customers
  • Contribute content to RuralHQ that helps your customers see that you are a true expert in your field.
  • Add your events and promotions to RuralHQ to get increased exposure and attract attention

As well as listing your business and giving you opportunities to promote your business, RuralHQ regularly share their marketing expertise with you. Going forward, you’ll receive regular emails from us with tips, guides, articles, and tool reviews to help you up your game to attract new customers, retain existing ones, and grow your business.

More than likely, you started your business because there was something you were good at which you also enjoyed. Stuff you never thought about when you were starting out, likely takes up a decent chunk of your time. Maybe, you didn’t even realise how much other boring day-to-day stuff you’d have to do to keep your business running smoothly. Either that, or these things just aren’t getting the attention they deserve, even though you know they should. Is your business marketing one of those?

Don’t worry, we’re here to help you upskill and nail the marketing of your business.

Share your biggest challenges
We’re here to help you attract new customers and grow your business. Being listed on the RuralHQ platform will certainly help you do that, but it’s really only one piece of the puzzle. You need to ensure that all of your marketing is well thought through, and optimised to help you get the results you want.

We want to help you nail your marketing by providing relevant, timely, and  actionable content that will help you do a better job. To start the ball rolling with that, we need to know the biggest challenges you face in marketing your business and attracting new customers. Take a minute to reply to this email with your top 3 challenges in marketing your business.

That’s it, that’s your task for the day! Just reply to this email and tell us your top 3 challenges and we’ll do our best to give you some guidance and help you solve your challenges.

Until next time.

Beyond adding and optimising your business listing, there are many other ways to increase your businesses visibility on RuralHQ.

There are a number of other listing types current available so that your brand is popping up in front of the community more often, such as:

  • Promotions
Promotions listings are perfect for showcasing things like special offers, deals, discounts, competitions, giveaways, and freebies to attract attention and new customers.

 

As well as providing a platform for you to add your promotion listing, we can also work with you to build out some fun and different methods of making your offers such as referral campaigns, mailing list building campaigns, and user generated content promotions to increase engagement and brand awareness for your business. Send us an email and ask us how we can help you go big with your next promotion.

 

  • Events
Event listings are designed to showcase events such as shows, festivals, and community or industry events. They help you spread the word about your event throughout the RuralHQ community.

We have plans to add other listing types to RuralHQ in the future, including jobs and product listings. Let us know if you have any other ideas about listing types to add to the platform.

RuralHQ also includes features to help you get more eyes on your business profile.

  • Featured Listings
Featured listings appear above non-featured listings in search on RuralHQ and listing feeds on various pages throughout the platform. There are a few caveats to that e.g. when listings are sorted in alphabetical order. Featured listings are available by subscribing to our Premium plan.
  • Boosts
Boosted listings are similar to Featured listings, except that boosts last for a shorter period of time, and can be applied to listings on all levels (Basic through Premium). There are multiple tiers of boost available.
    • Bronze Boost – Your listing will appear near the top of the results, above the non-boosted listings, at the same level as a featured listing (Premium package)
    • Silver Boost – Your listing will appear above featured listings and Bronze boosted listings
    • Gold Boost – Your listing will appear at the top of search, above featured listings, and Gold/Silver boosted listings.
  • Partner Content
This refers to content created by our business profile owners (that’s you). Partner content helps build the RuralHQ platform, but it especially helps grow the visibility and awareness of the partner’s business profile as the content links back to it. I’ll give you more information about partner content in another email.

I hope that gives you some insight into some of the ways that you can increase the exposure your business can get using RuralHQ. We are constantly improving the platform, and adding new features and innovations, to help you connect with your target customers and grow your business.

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