5 Reasons Why You Need to be on Awari

When our founder, Tannaz Bahnam, moved to Lagos in 2008 she was taken aback by how difficult it was to find businesses in Lagos that would make her move more comfortable. She searched for a place she could get her regular coffee, a place to get her hair and nails done and somewhere she could get in a good workout. All of which she didn't expect to be difficult to find. However, 16 years ago, businesses in Lagos were hidden, so unless you knew, you didn't know!

She quickly got a lay of the land and started discovering that there was a whole layer to Lagos that functioned only through word of mouth. There was no particular reason why these businesses were so hidden other than ease of doing business. A house behind a wall could be a restaurant, boutique, spa, or even a clinic. The focus of these businesses was operations, not visibility (literally!) They relied mostly on word of mouth, so their customers were limited. In 2010, when Lost in Lagos was born, there was a sudden awareness for the need for marketing. Business owners realised that in order for their business to grow they needed to reach more customers. Lost in Lagos gave them that awareness and they saw their customer base grow. Over the years, Lagos businesses became easier to find and the walls that hid them have since come down. Thanks to social media businesses have more of an online presence and are reaching more people. If you're not visible online you might as well not exist!

Although this has given businesses more exposure, it also means they are among thousands of other businesses trying to get the attention of potential customers online. Discoverability is still a problem. That means if you are looking on Instagram for a place to grab a coffee in Lagos, unless one was recommended by an influencer you follow, finding places is not so simple. The search function on Instagram requires you know the name of the business you are looking for.

With over 13 years of experience in the market, in 2022 Lost in Lagos evolved into the Awari App, a tech platform for lifestyle businesses. Awari compliments a business's social media presence. We looked at what what missing and how a business could be made more discoverable. What did a business need to reach more customers? And how could we help them retain their customers?

By simply listing your business on Awari you make yourself more discoverable. Awari allows you to add tags when registering that make your business more searchable. But then what? What your customer wants is information! Who are you? What do you do? Why should they patronise your business? Why should they keep coming back?

1. The business profile is the first point of contact your customers have with your business. That is what will make them want to interact with you, so you need to engage them from the first line of your business description. We added a single line, a sub heading, for you to highlight your Unique Selling Point (USP.) What makes you special? This is your hook. So what makes you special? What do people keep coming back for? What makes you different?
2. Making sure all contact details are updated and current is also essential. Do the images capture your business? Did you add your whats app line for quick and easy communication? This is your business profile, everything a customer or potential customer, needs to know about you. Getting your customers to write reviews, rate and bookmark your business will also help your visibility on the app. But that's the basic amount of effort you should put into creating more visibility.
3. Yes, marketing is a full time effort and requires a budget. To get more people seeing your business you have to spend money. Awari Premium is our way of making one aspect of your marketing efforts more affordable. It allows you to add unlimited images and videos of your business; if you have multiple locations you can add them all; if you are a restaurant you can accept reservations by enabling booking; you can add your menu whether you are a restaurant or spa.
4. The Awari Premium also gives you 4 credits to use in PERKS (to promote any special offers, sales or promos you have) and 4 credits to use in EVENTS (to promote any events or activations you may have.) These features give you more exposure, putting your business always in front of mind.
5. When you first upgrade you will be featured in the Discover Awari Guide in the Lost in Lagos Plus Magazine, on the Lost in Lagos or Abuja social media page, and a push notification will be sent on Awari about your business. All for less than N21k a month (N250k/year).

We understand that running a business has an endless number of challenges, but we want to help you elevate some of those challenges, and SIMPLIFY DISCOVERY!

Over the next 6 months we will launching more features to help businesses with sales and retention. As we learn user behaviour we will continue to adapt. As we learn and understand business needs we will continue to evolve. With little to no data on the tourism/hospitality market in emerging markets, we are collecting data. This data is also valuable to local business, to help them better understand their customers.

So don't waste any time, we need you to register your business on Awari to make sure that Awarians find you!