How To Get Your Local Business Noticed By Its Customers
Hyperlocal businesses such as beauty salons are modernising sales and marketing tools
Small businesses struggle to find the time for sales and marketing activity that attracts new customers. New research from freelancer platform Fiverr suggests that 70% of small businesses spend less than five hours each week on such activity, even though they recognise its importance. Fiverr's research was based on a survey of 6,000 small businesses in 25 countries – this is an international challenge, in other words.
Why are small business owners and managers falling short in this area? 'Most simply don't have the time or resources to give it the attention it needs,' explains Rivi Bloch, general manager of catalog at Fiverr. 'This survey underscores a growing reliance on freelancers and AI tools to bridge that gap.'
Technology certainly has a huge role to play – and is already having a huge impact. One recent survey found the global market revenues of AI usage in marketing are set to reach $47 billion this year, and that sales of such tools will exceed $107 billion by 2028.
Arizona-based Zoca offers one such tool. The start-up focuses on local businesses aiming to attract customers in their neighbourhoods – particularly health and beauty salons, fitness studios and pet care providers. These are small and independent businesses which often struggle with challenges such as search engine optimisation; for example, they need to maximise their reach to customers searching for businesses in the local area but have no interest in appearing in search results for customers based on the other side of the country.
Ashish Verma, the founder and CEO of Zoca, says the key to supporting these 'hyperlocal' businesses is to help them 'get discovered, booked and rebooked'. Zoca, which is today announcing a $6 million fundraising, offers a platform that creates online content for businesses so they appear prominently in local search results. But its AI-powered platform also integrates with the business's calendar to book clients in.
'These entrepreneurs are selling their time rather than a product, and every empty chair is missed revenue they'll never recover,' says Verma. 'Their real challenge now goes well past visibility – it's also to convert leads, fill schedules and ensure that customers keep coming back.' To that end, Zoca says it has helped more than 1,000 local businesses book more than 120,000 appointments generating more than $10 million in revenues since its launch in 2021.
Zoca doesn't get paid unless it generates bookings for the local business. But its results are encouraging. Gail Aungst, owner of Phoenix-based beauty company Ohana Sun Tanning, is one entrepreneur who has tried the platform. 'Google search is really important and so keywords are critical for us,' she says of Zoca's support with search results.
More broadly, Zoca is part of a growing wave of adoption of AI tools by small businesses. Fiverr's research suggests that three-quarters of small business owners have now started to experiment with generative AI – just 17% have no plans to incorporate such tools into their workplace over the next year.
There's no shortage of choice. From automated SEO analysis tools such as SEMrush and Ahrefs to bookings apps such as Fresha, Booksy and BookingPress, small business owners increasingly have affordable AI tools at their disposal. They may not have the time themselves available to devote to sales and marketing activity, but modern technologies can now take on the work on their behalf.
It's a trend that Zoca's investors – the company's funding round is led by Accel with participation from GTMfund, Elevation Capital and Better Capital – believe the best technologists will capitalise on. Accel partner Manasi Shah says the local services market is worth $750 billion. 'Growth AI agents are just the beginning,' he says. GTMfund partner Paul Irving adds: 'These businesses are the cornerstones of their communities, but most are being left behind in a digital and AI-first world.'
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