Local Businesses Vs. National Businesses

I haven't done any research on this, but it appears that local businesses and national businesses both have the same amount of advantages and disadvantages to consider. I would say that both types are worth pursuing, once you determine which is best for you.

For clarification:

Local Business = a business that serves customers and clients within the city or state that the company operates in. For instance, a company that offers the following services would likely be a local business: carpet cleaning, plumbing, auto detailing, tax preparation, hair care, etc.

National Business = a business that serves customers and clients across the country, and may even have offices in several states. For instance, a company that offers the following services would likely be a national business: advertising, public relations, consulting, merchandise distribution, book publishing, etc.

Concerning both, here are a couple of things to consider:

1) Many believe that a national business is best to pursue because there are more people and thus more potential clients nationally, opposed to locally. This may be true, but it's much easier and cheaper for a local business to recruit clients. Recruiting clients nationally is much harder and more costly to do.

2) Many believe that a local business is best to pursue because it will keep your company smaller, and thus more stable to weather an economic storm. This may be true, but if the economic challenges are specific to your local area - you will wish you had clients elsewhere.

3) Many believe that a national business is better because you can grow into an empire, and one day expand globally. This may be true, but sometimes keeping it simple and small is smart - plus less stressful.

4) Many believe that a local business is better because it's easier to establish a word-of-mouth marketing campaign. This may be true, but if a customer has a bad experience with your company - this too will circulate very fast.

So, local or national - one is not necessarily better than the other. Consider the advantages and disadvantages, and decide which is best for you. Many entrepreneurs have decided to do both. Nothing wrong with that either!