Place

Where you offer your product or service will influence how many customers you attract and who those customers are. Of course, it’s pretty clear that it would be hard to build a successful business if you market snowplowing in Florida. But you have to make a number of decisions that, while they aren’t as obvious, can have a major impact.

If your business depends on clients coming to you, where it’s located sends a message to the market segment you’re trying to reach even if you don’t emphasize location in your marketing materials. An address can provide a message of its own.

Place matters

What’s more, you have to be in a place where customers can find you — or better yet a place that they pass all the time. If your flower shop is in a side street off a pedestrian mall, you are likely to have less walk-in traffic than if the shop were located next to a popular bakery or right across the street from the local hospital.

Similarly, if customers drive to reach you, you’ll want to ensure that there is enough parking. And if you’re in a city, you’ll want to think about where the nearest public transportation is, unless your goal is serving the immediate neighborhood.

If you deliver your product or have it delivered, or if your service involves making house calls, place plays a different role. If you’re in the construction business, for example, your clients probably don’t care where you park your trucks. But having an area code that matches the code of the clients you’re trying to reach suggests you’re accessible. It may be worth the extra cost of a second line or an 800 number if you’re located in the next county or across a state line.