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The beginning of this tale starts like the rest of the gentrifying neighborhoods in NYC. In the late 1990s and the beginning of the 2000s, a large influx of new residents and businesses descended on Fort Greene. While the spectre of gentrification was raised, the outcome in Fort Green has been different.
As GQ puts it succinctly, “it's getting white-ified but isn't there yet”. The New York Times supports this point of view, in a broader context as a “prevailing sense of racial amity that intrigues sociologists and attracts middle-class residents from other parts of the city".
The Barclay center is testing this theory. They promised over 2,000 units of affordable housing and 10,000 jobs. Development, however, has been behind schedule, so only time will tell if the promise is kept.
There is an active community in Fort Green that is noticeable. Successful businesses would be wise to build a relationship with this community, supporting its efforts to keep the character of the neighborhood while raising the standard of living for all.
In a gentrifying neighborhood, your challenge isn’t so much in targeting as it is in standing out. A fast, beautifully designed web site can help you get your message out.
In other words, the small business has a clear understanding of their market segment, and they have a clear picture of how they can win. Strategic marketing is how you make this happen.
If there isn't a expected outcome and clear indication of your expected return, then find other help marketing your small business.
If the small business marketing agency you found to help raise your visibility in your market doesn't have a testing and learning plan, find someone else
Any small business digital marketing agency should have digital knowhow. But, you would be surprised that many don't. Before you accept marketing help for your small business, check their technical credentials. Do they offer email marketing? What does their own online marketing look like? How about social media marketing? What do their post look like?
This probably goes without saying, but you'll want to make sure that any marketing help you hire has significant small business experience. Large company solutions won't work.
Marketing is inherently risky. When seeking marketing help, see whether they will share the risk with your small business.
According to Best Designs, original graphics are the most successful.
“Original graphics make up 40% of all successful visual content that accomplishes marketing goals, but 43% of marketers struggle with the consistent production of captivating visuals.”
Since we are communicating one message, the artwork that supports it must work very hard to support the message. This is where local market know-how can really help. Original photos and images of your business in Fort Greene interacting with your neighborhood can add value.
It also helps with when your calls to action focus on local events in and around Fort Greene or at your business location.
Every email, no matter how trivial, should have a call to action. This is where all the hard work above pays off. If we omit one, we just wasted resources that could have been spent more cost effectively.
We cover email list building in great detail in our post on small business email marketing. Again, we will just hit the highlights here as it pertains to Fort Greene. Every neighborhood has summer fairs. While these were severely impacted by COVID, in our post COVID world they should roar back with a vengeance. It would be smart to see if you could piggy-back off one or more of them.
Incentives, deals, free trials, and samples are all great options when developing your calls to action. See if you can partner with your neighbors to create a shared promotion. This way one shopper in Fort Greene has two or more places to visit while out in the neighborhood.
In a gentrifying neighborhood, your challenge isn’t so much in targeting as it is in standing out. Local digital marketing can help you get your message out.
I wish it were otherwise, but it is like a law of nature. The size of your account is directly proportional to the time the agency will spend on it. It is also proportional to the quality and experience of the talent that we are assigned to your business. Luckily, you can solve this problem by finding an agency where your business and budget matters to their bottom line. This is why smaller firms are preferable for smaller businesses.
Location is equally important. Most small businesses are local businesses, where the target audience is within a few blocks to mile radius from your location. Each place is unique. It has its own quirks. It takes someone who knows the area to understand those nuances. This is important because you want your ads to be perceived as authentic. Customers are easily turned off by cookie-cutter responses or creative.
Marketing is not an exact science, where you say X and your target always does Y. This doesn't mean that marketing does not work or that it is a waste of time. It simply acknowledges the fact upfront that marketing contains some risk. It is true that there are best practices that can reduce this risk to optimize your return.
However, you never have complete information so sometimes even the best plans take time or need tweaking. This is why you should seek a partner who is upfront about the risk and is willing to share it with you. You also have to be willing to invest the time in following best practices. If you are dictating all the terms, then it is only reasonable that you accept that risk.
If you need help with marketing your business, please do not hesitate to contact us.
If you're thinking about finding help in Fort Greene for your small business, here are the things to keep in mind.
See more about Small Business Marketing in Fort Greene. If you are more interest in the borough, you can see our Small Business Marketing in Brooklyn. If you want the full city, you can see our Small Business Marketing in NYC.
