Module 2 of 2 · 40 minutes
Channels, honest measurement and the local search box
By the end of this module you will be able to
- Choose channels from where the trigger happens, not from fashion
- Set up local search properly, which for most small businesses is the whole game
- Measure what caused an enquiry rather than what got attention
- Stay within the CAP Code and review rules
Work through it
1 interactive for this module, built on the WAJD Teach engine. Nothing moves until you ask it to, and every one has a written version if you would rather read it.
Amara Which platform should I be on? Everybody says video.
Nadia Everybody says whatever is fashionable, and the question is wrong. The question is: where is your customer at the moment the trigger happens?
Amara Meaning?
Nadia Somebody whose boiler has died is not browsing, they are searching, right now, with wet feet. Somebody planning a wedding browses for months. Somebody choosing a care home asks people they trust and reads reviews. Three completely different channels.
Amara How do I find out where mine are?
Nadia Ask ten recent customers one question. What did you do first when you realised you needed this? Their answers are your channel strategy, and I promise they will surprise you.
Amara I am a local trade. Where does that usually land?
Nadia Search, overwhelmingly. Which means the map listing for your area is your shop window whether you tend it or not. And it is free, which is why it is scandalous how few small businesses complete it.
Amara What does complete look like?
Nadia Every field. Categories chosen precisely. Real photographs of real work. And the opening hours accurate, because wrong hours are the fastest one star review there is.
Amara Reviews. How do I get them?
Nadia Ask, every satisfied customer, at the moment the work finishes, with a direct link. Not a week later, at the moment they are standing there pleased.
Amara Can I offer a discount for reviews?
Nadia No. Incentivised reviews breach the platform rules, and fake reviews breach the Consumer Protection Regulations, and enforcement on that has real teeth now. Ask honestly, and respond to every review you get.
Amara Even the unfair ones?
Nadia Especially those, briefly and without arguing. The response is not for the reviewer. It is for the hundred people who read it afterwards deciding whether you are safe to hire. A calm, factual reply to an unfair review wins you more work than ten five star ratings.
Amara What should I measure? I get likes.
Nadia Likes measure attention, and attention does not pay invoices. The number that matters is enquiries, and specifically what caused each one.
Amara My analytics cannot tell me that.
Nadia No analytics can see a recommendation over a garden fence. But you have a measurement tool that can. Ask. How did you hear about us, on every enquiry, written in a spreadsheet with a date.
Amara That seems too simple.
Nadia Three months of it beats any dashboard a small business will ever buy, because it measures the whole journey. Then spend more on what produced enquiries, and stop doing what produced applause.
Amara Any rules I should know before I spend?
Nadia The CAP Code. Legal, decent, honest and truthful. Substantiate every claim. Mark paid promotion as advertising. And never claim a membership or a badge you do not hold, which you will recognise as the same honesty rule this whole catalogue runs on.
The written material
The channel follows the trigger
The channel question is not which platform is fashionable, it is where your customer is at the moment the trigger happens.
Somebody whose boiler has failed searches. Somebody planning a wedding browses and saves ideas for months. Somebody choosing a care home asks people they trust and reads reviews. Those are three different channels, and spending on the wrong one is why most small business marketing produces nothing.
For a trade or a local service, the moment of trigger is overwhelmingly a search, which means the search results page for your area is your shop window, whether you tend it or not.
Local search is the whole game for most small businesses
The free profile on the search engine's map listing decides more enquiries for a local business than everything else combined. Claim it, complete every field, choose categories precisely, add real photographs, and keep the hours accurate, because wrong opening hours are the fastest way to a one star review.
Reviews are the ranking and the conversion at once. Ask every satisfied customer, at the moment the work finishes, with a direct link. Do not incentivise reviews and never write fake ones: both breach the platform rules and the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations, and enforcement against fake reviews has teeth now.
Respond to every review, including the bad ones, briefly and without arguing. The response is not for the reviewer, it is for the hundred people who read it afterwards deciding whether you are safe to hire.
On the website itself: one page per service per area you serve, with the words people actually type, a phone number that works on a mobile, and the trigger language from your positioning work in the headline.
Measure causes, not attention
Likes, impressions and followers measure attention, and attention does not pay invoices. The number that matters is enquiries, and specifically what caused each one.
The cheapest measurement tool in existence is asking. How did you hear about us, on every enquiry, recorded in a spreadsheet with a date. Three months of that beats any analytics dashboard for a small business, because it measures the whole journey including the recommendation that no tracker can see.
Give each channel its own trackable route where you can: a different phone number on the website and the van, a booking link only used on one platform. Then spend more on what produced enquiries and stop what produced applause.
And know the rules. The CAP Code requires marketing to be legal, decent, honest and truthful; substantiate every claim you make; mark paid promotion as advertising; and never claim membership of schemes you do not hold, which circles back to the accreditation honesty this whole catalogue is built on.
Knowledge check
The knowledge check and your certificate need a free account, so that your progress and results can be saved as evidence.
The learning itself stays free and open. You are reading all of it right now without an account.