Did you know small businesses comprise 99% of establishments in the US?
The competition can’t get any tighter than that, right?
Yes it can. There are more local businesses opening every month. If you want your business to become successful, you’ll need to start using local marketing strategies to edge out.
That’s why you need to cater to your local audience rather than targeting a larger, general one.
Are you ready to learn how to optimize your marketing campaign? Read on and find out more today:
Using Local Strategies
It’s important to remember that your marketing campaign and local SEO strategy isn’t only about tagging location-specific keywords on your products’ description page alone. Local marketing is all about taking a more targeted approach with your potential customers. It’s all about making it more personal and relatable.
This is the reason why brands can enjoy these marketing strategies. After all, both your consumers and major search engines like hyper-localized marketing strategies. With that, it’s high time to make it work for your business’s benefit.
Remember, Google holds about 92% of the entire search engine market. Make it work to your advantage. To make your business more visible to your potential customers, make sure to localize your marketing strategies.
Here are some tips:
1. Rethink Your Business Values
Consumers have different views on large corporations and small businesses. The good news is that consumers see the latter for the following qualities:
- Quality
- Personalization
- Trustworthiness
There are only two reasons why some people favor large corporations. It’s their stability and pricing.
That’s why you need to look at your branding as a starting point. Check your brand message and see whether it’s friendly, conversational, and relatable. Always aim to use a more personable approach for your marketing strategies regardless of what channel you use.
2. Get Involved with the Community
If you want an effective means of engaging with your local community, it’s time to start getting involved. If you do this, you’re likely to meet a lot of locals that can give you valuable connections. It’s easy enough to do since all you need is to attend local events or sponsor charity events.
Another good way to make people acknowledge your brand is to give your spare time to volunteer work. People always like it when local businesses offer their support to charity activities. It makes you look more reputable and trustworthy since they know that you care.
3. Get Your Google Local Listing
It’s a sad fact that more than 50% of local business owners aren’t claiming their listing on Google My Business. That means they won’t have the means of managing and updating critical information like your opening hours, your business address, and other contact details. If you claim your Google My Business listing, your customers can go to your business or contact you for inquiries.
Also, this is one of the easiest methods for your website to rank in the Google search engine. It complements your marketing strategies. After all, it helps other methods like social media marketing.
4. Run Your Local SEO Campaigns
SEO campaigns are always necessary for your marketing campaign strategies, regardless of whether you’re running at a local or national level. When done right, it will allow your local customers to find you first when they’re looking for businesses, services, and products in your locality. Doing this involves a lot of other strategies, so much that it will need its guide.
Regardless, the best way to improve your local SEO is to make good use of local-focused keywords. Aside from that, you’ll need to put out regular updates on your business blog. Make sure that you have fresh, engaging content that people will find useful.
5. Make Local Business Contacts and Use Loyalty Programs
To make the most out of your marketing campaign, you need to partner with other local businesses. It’s always best to coordinate when you share a common industry or complement each other. It’s a great method of expanding your local network, which will expand your audience.
A good starting point is to look for online professional groups on various platforms. If you want something popular, use LinkedIn. But as time goes by, make sure to start doing a lot of real-world networking as well.
As for your customers, you’ll need to reward their consistent patronage with a loyalty program. It’s an accepted fact that customers love the feeling of importance. That’s why you should make special offers and discounts exclusive to these people.
6. Start a Referral Program and Bring Your Staff into It
Your word-of-mouth marketing strategy will get a boost with this strategy. It’s cost-effective since customers will market your business for you. It’s a simple strategy since you only need to give them freebies or discount.
These offers will apply to both the original customer and their referred person. But to make the most of your referral system, get your employees into it. Offer your staff a bonus when they refer new clients to your business and you’ll see a considerable boost.
7. Engage People on Social Media
Platforms like Instagram and Facebook give lots of opportunities for small businesses to engage with both their existing and potential customers. Remember, these two platforms have 3 billion users combined.
Always ensure that your posts have your location tagged into it. Studies show that posts with geo-tags get more social media engagement.
Use These Local Marketing Strategies Today!
Local marketing strategies are easy to do, especially when you know what you’re doing. But if you’re not that savvy with marketing, you can always refer to these tips to get you started. Another good strategy is to get a marketing agency to work with you.
Do you need an expert to give you marketing and SEO help? If so, you can contact us today and we’ll gladly help you out with your marketing campaign.
