A small business owner wants to generate revenue by increasing their online and foot traffic. However, they don’t wish to spend obnoxious amounts of money on billboards or other paid advertising strategies.
Does that sound like you?
If yes, then you need to kickstart your local marketing. Local marketing is a cost-effective, yet very helpful strategy to grow your business locally.
Read on to learn helpful tips on developing a local marketing strategy that drives results for your business.
What is Local Marketing?
Let’s begin with a simple example.
Imagine yourself on vacation with your family in a new place that you know nothing about. It is lunchtime, and all of you need to grab a bite, so what do you do?
In today’s digital world, you’re more likely to pull out your smartphone and do an online search rather than approach a stranger to get suggestions.
Your short search reveals a few local listings of restaurants, and you might even see a few sponsored results (ads). Now, that is local marketing. Whichever restaurant or any business you chose has gained revenue through their local marketing strategy.
In essence, local marketing involves strategies that promote your product or service to local customers and get them to engage.
So, why does it matter to your business? This brings us to the next part.
Why Is Local Marketing Important?
In our last example, imagine you were on vacation in Adelaide, Australia, but your online search showed you restaurants from Canberra, Australia. That would not be beneficial to you or the restaurants around you.
Local marketing helps connect businesses to communities and people in a better and more contextual manner.
Local online marketing typically works by anonymously acquiring the users’ location data to show them relevant organic results and targeted advertisements, improving their overall experience and generate more conversions for businesses.
4 Local Marketing Tactics That Gets You Ahead of the Competition
According to Statista, approximately one in three people use the internet to find local businesses every day. Hence, it’s high time you should implement a local marketing strategy for your business. Get started with these strategies:
1. Optimise website content for local
Your website serves as the foundation of your online presence. So, it is only right to start your local marketing by making sure your website content is catered to your local audience.
Did you know that 1 in 2 searches made on mobile has a local intent?
Advanced search engines like Google not just look for local search terms before displaying local search results, but their algorithms also attempt to deduce the intent behind the search queries based on several factors such as location data, past searches, and more.
You can optimise location-based terms like Melbourne dentist or divorce lawyer Sydney. Make sure you do the same across all your marketing platforms, such as social media and paid ads.
2. Set up Google My Business
Setting up Google My Business is a must-do for every local business. You can’t miss the chance of listing your business in the world’s most-visited search engine — Google. Because that would mean losing traffic volume, business credibility, customer engagement, and sales.
Creating your Google My Business profile will help you claim a spot on the top three local search results, also knowns as the Google 3-Pack. This gives your business more prominence, improving your visibility.
How to list your business on Google?
Step 1: Go to Google My Business.
Step 2: Sign in using your Google account. Make sure to use your business email.
Step 3: You can now claim your Google listing.
3. List your business on local directories
Online local listing directories like Yelp and Facebook have great authority among searchers as they provide objective information of local businesses. They serve as a platform for users to explore several businesses simultaneously and make an informed buying decision.
For the same reason, local directories also hold significant value for search engines. According to Chat Meter, search queries with phrases like “near me” and “where can I buy” have increased by about 10 times in just the last two years.
Thereby, listing your business on these directories will help with local SEO and increase the likelihood of your business showing up on search results during a local query.
To get started, you can get expert help to get your business listed on tens of directories without breaking a sweat.
4. Keep a mobile-first website
Having a mobile-friendly website accounts to 61% of mobile users contacting a local business.
Providing a great user experience has long been pressed among website owners to improve visibility and reduce bounce rate. But it matters significantly in building a successful local marketing strategy.
With this, ensure consistent business information across your online channels to maintain credibility.
READ: Why It’s Necessary to Have a Mobile-Friendly Website
Win with local marketing
There are several other local marketing tactics and strategies you can try out, like:
- Hosting or taking part in local events
- Reaching out to local newspapers and media outlets
- Hold social media contests to generate impressions
Since every business is different in its own way, you never know what works best for you. The best way to find out is to make educated guesses and try out different strategies until you find those that work best for your SME.
