Successful small businesses work hard to reach new prospects, draw them in, and convert them into lifelong customers. Also called “neighborhood marketing,” local marketing targets consumers in your immediate area. Local marketing for small businesses leads to higher traffic, more conversions, improved brand awareness, and higher profits.
What is local marketing?
Local marketing for small businesses conveys your brand’s name and message to potential local customers. This includes both online and in-person strategies to reach your target audience based on physical proximity to your store, making them more likely to visit, make a purchase, and recommend your business.
Local marketing for small businesses begins with understanding your target customer’s demographic and psychographic profile, including their geographic location. This will help pinpoint exactly where to focus your local marketing efforts, making your marketing budget go further. Local marketing is cost-effective, with many techniques completely free, like claiming your Google Business Profile and local listings or participating in local volunteer events.
With so many search engine users looking online to find local businesses, local marketing for small businesses helps you capture those searchers and convert them into customers. Implementing local marketing strategies for small businesses boosts your search engine results ranking, reaching more possible customers who only look at the first page of results.
Local marketing for small businesses improves your company’s reach. Targeted local ads and social media allow you to reach potential customers who might not know about your business. Social media helps put your audience into focus, letting you adapt your customer service to fit their needs. Excellent customer service leads to loyal customers, who are often happy to promote your business by word-of-mouth.
Who benefits from local marketing?
If your business relies heavily on walk-ins or in-person consultations, you will benefit from local marketing. Small businesses with brick-and-mortar locations like retail stores, restaurants, and professional services like accountants, lawyers, or medical professionals, can reap the benefits of local marketing for small businesses.
Local marketing tips for small businesses
Here’s a handy list of local marketing tips to help you reach local customers and grow your business:
1. Local social media
The sky’s the limit on how much you can optimize local social media marketing. For starters, keep up-to-date location, hours, and contact information on your social media pages. One of the best local marketing tips for social media is maximizing your exposure- including posting information on merchandise sales, events, daily specials, photos, and videos. The more you post, the greater your chance of being noticed by a prospective customer.
2. Leverage local media
Leverage local media to efficiently broadcast your message to your local community. This local marketing tip includes local small business advertising, such as direct mail campaigns, or print advertising in local newspapers, with a message tailored to your local audience.
3. Digital advertising with targeting (Localized paid advertising)
Localized paid advertising, or digital advertising, is a local marketing tip for targeting local customers through paid content on social media and search engines. While this is a more costly local marketing tip, it can lead to big payoffs, reaching local customers seeking exactly what your business offers. It also gives you access to customer data, providing insights into your customers’ buying habits, which will help you optimize your marketing strategy going forward.
4. Claim your Google Business Profile (GBP) listing
One of the most important and easiest local marketing strategies is to set up your Google Business Profile (GBP). This provides search engine users with your location, hours, directions, and contact information including your phone number when they search for your name, industry, or product/service offering. Make sure this critical information is up to date, including temporary changes like holiday closings, and takeout and delivery availability. Optimize your GBP by adding a description of your business, photos, and videos, all for free.
Encourage reviews and engagement
Potential customers pay attention to reviews posted about your business- swaying them to visit or avoid your business. Positive reviews are free advertising. Thank your customers for their business and encourage them to leave reviews, which build credibility and trust for your business.
Another low-cost local marketing tip is to reward customers for their loyalty. Loyalty programs, contests on social media, and in-store giveaways foster engagement, increasing customer conversion, while boosting brand awareness.
5. Claim local listings
Another local marketing tip is to make sure you claim local listings on third-party sites, which many consumers use to find what they need. It’s important to make sure your online listings are accurate and consistent across all major sites like Yelp, Facebook, Yahoo, Bing, and Google Business. Consistent business listings will increase your ranking on searches that include “near me” and can put you on maps, boosting digital and foot traffic.
6. Local Sponsorships & Community Engagement
If your goal is promoting your business locally, then getting involved with community events and sponsorships is a great local way to market yourself. Local charities, events, and volunteer opportunities give you a chance not only to do good but to increase the visibility of your business. Think about sponsoring a local youth sports team, a town parade, a charity run, a holiday toy drive, or a community clean-up day. Sitting on a board or donating goods or services shows your willingness to give back.
Book a FREE consultation with our marketing experts
Book a free consultation with the marketing experts at Engage Media today by clicking here: https://engagemedia.com/free-consultation/. We’re ready to help you grow your business with a smart local marketing strategy tailored to your specific needs and budget. Call, email, or visit us online today to find out how we can help your business succeed.
