Along with your logo, promotional materials, and website, your building and location strategy are considered part of your marketing mix and how you reach your target audience. When starting to search for the perfect site for positioning your business, put on your marketing hat and consider how the location will help you to fulfill your product, place, price and promotion. It makes sense that your location and building are part of your branding and marketing, so considering the following could help you with your decision.
The best site will be a balance of:
Product
If you are a manufacturing company and you can produce your products quicker or less expensively by being near a certain material supplier or labor force, then that will help you make your choice easier. Or environmental conditions could play a role in producing your product and dictate where you should locate.
Place
Your business may succeed best by being near certain clientele such as college students, other businesses, or shopping districts. Some healthcare practitioners prefer to be near residential neighborhoods to be close to their patients. Additionally, hotels desire to be close to community attractions. Or you may be moving and want to stay in the same vicinity as your current location, so your clients can easily find you. Transportation services may also be critical to the timing of your business, so having easy access to highways or other shipping services is important.
Price
If you are just starting out and don’t have much capital yet, leasing an existing building or a mall unit may fit better in your budget and help you set a lower price point for your product or service. If you are already established and growing with spending capital and/or are interested in owning your building and leasing it from yourself (ask for more details), then buying an existing building or designing and building a new building could be better for the efficiency of your business. Finally, your budget may require that you choose a site that already has roads/driveways leading to it and existing utilities over one that needs these features to be installed at your expense.
Promotion
Your business may benefit most from foot traffic or from signage seen from automotive traffic. Or you are a destination business, and a little seclusion is what you’re seeking. Or none of it really matters because you will communicate with your clients through other means, so you can save money by choosing otherwise populated areas.
It isn’t such a revelation that these marketing elements play a factor in your site selection and may already be part of your decision without thinking about it, but considering the mix of these marketing themes will help you find the right location or competitive advantage to work for your business. Once you do your assessment, you should involve a Commercial Realtor and your Design-Build contractor to make sure that a potential site or location is suitable for your building ideas and needs.
