Marketing plays a huge role in the business world. As such, marketing trends are constantly evolving, so keeping a close eye on them may prove to be a bit challenging. That being said, it will all heavily depend on who you are trying to promote your business to.
Businesses that are looking to focus their marketing efforts on local customers will have an easier time getting things right. Since local marketing strategies are different than general marketing ones, you’ll need to get familiar with them before you proceed.
With that in mind, let’s see how you can promote your brand to local customers.
What is local marketing?
Simply put, local marketing refers to all marketing efforts that are focusing on attracting a specific audience – in this case, local customers. This usually includes any potential customers that fall within a 50-mile radius of a business. Here, both online and offline marketing efforts play a huge role.
When trying to target local customers, businesses need to keep in mind that not all of those people use the internet. So, aside from well-organized online campaigns, they also need to focus on the traditional, offline marketing methods.
List your brand on Google
With any type of online marketing, Google is your best friend. According to research, as much as 97% of customers tend to either search the internet for local businesses or research those businesses online. That’s why you need to ensure that your brand is listed on Google.
Here, you can easily list your brand for free on Google My Business. This will allow you to promote your business on Google Search and Google Maps. It will also enable you to see how the audience is interacting with your brand online.
Additionally, this will also make all of your business information visible to your potential customers, which will enable them to find and interact with your business more easily.
Invest in local SEO
Search Engine Optimization, or SEO for short, allows your business to appear on the top of the page of Google Search results. Now, in order for your business to fit the criteria, you’ll need to optimize your website.
Look into search engine rankings to find the most suitable keyword or keywords consumers use to find businesses that are similar to yours. Once you do that, create content that will bring more traffic to your website and, thus, your business. This content can and should range from blog posts and online reviews to social media posts and social media mentions.
Of course, if doing SEO all by yourself seems daunting, you can always look for reliable SEO agencies to take care of this part for you. Even though it may sound easy, this is something that’s better left to professionals if you want to ensure that you do it right.
Start blogging
Even though this may sound a bit outdated, blogging is still a great way to attract new customers your way. As mentioned earlier, to boost your SEO, you’ll need to start creating unique and high-quality content. And what better way to do so than with your own blog?
However, when blogging, don’t just focus on promoting your business. Instead, offer your audience interesting and useful information as well. Additionally, by publishing new blogs regularly, your website will be more frequently updated. This will be of great help when trying to rank higher on search results pages.
Needless to say, your blogs are also the perfect place where you can insert your chosen keywords. This will also have a positive effect on your SEO efforts.
Create a strong brand identity
Not surprisingly, consumers are far more likely to develop a relationship with a brand rather than just a business. That’s why creating a strong brand is of the utmost importance. Not only that, but putting your brand identity front and center will enable you to promote your values, message and personality as well.
Of course, this is also something that requires caution if you want to do it right. Luckily, you can easily find a reputable brand identity agency to help you out. Creating a strong bond with your audiences will significantly improve the odds of them becoming your loyal customers. And loyal customers – and particularly their positive experiences with your brand – will only promote your business even further.
Spread word of mouth
As you probably already know, word-of-mouth marketing is still considered to be one of the best forms of marketing. When people are happy with a service or a product, they usually choose to voice their satisfaction to others.
On top of that, potential consumers are far more likely to trust other consumers than trust businesses. That’s why using word-of-mouth marketing can help you greatly in trying to attract local customers.
Online reviews and testimonials are a great way to spread word-of-mouth about your business. On top of that, social media mentions and posts can also help spread awareness about your business to your local audience. Also you could visit from time to time a coworking office in your town and build some new partnerships.
Use social media
One of the easiest ways to promote a business nowadays is through social media. With so many people being present online, particularly on social media, this makes it the perfect place to bring more exposure to your business.
Keep in mind that trying to market your business to just anyone can really stretch your efforts. That’s why you first need to determine your target audience and create an ideal buyer persona. This will allow you to determine which social media platforms are the most relevant for your business, in particular.
Of course, this doesn’t mean that you should steer clear of all other social media platforms. Instead, it simply means that not all of them will require the same level of engagement on your part.
Local listing and local searches
New platforms such as Yelp and Nextdoor offer the chance to list your business locally. These platforms offer businesses and brands the opportunity to determine the exact area they wish to focus on their marketing efforts.
Some of these platforms go as far as enabling you to choose a specific neighborhood you wish to target. This, of course, makes marketing your business to your local audience easier than ever.
These platforms are a particularly good choice for small local businesses that can’t really venture outside their current market. So, if possible, find a similar platform that will work for your business and niche in particular and use it to attract potential local customers.
Join your local Chamber of Commerce
Becoming a true part of the local community doesn’t just revolve around being able to sell your products and services to consumers. Instead, it will also include you getting close to other local businesses.
By joining your local Chamber of Commerce, you’ll get in touch with other local businesses that can help you attract more consumers. On top of that, find a way to become a part of local charities.
Research suggests that as much as 91% of customers don’t mind abandoning a brand if they find another brand that offers similar services but is also associated with a charitable cause.
So, in order to attract more local consumers, inspect various charities in your area and see which could potentially benefit the most from your business.
Give back to the community
Aside from finding various charitable causes to support, you can also do so much more to give back to your community.
Oftentimes businesses choose to support local sports events and various school programs as a way to give back to the people that support them. Needless to say, this is also a great way to attract more audience your way.
However, businesses that are doing these types of things solely for exposure are usually frowned upon. So, make sure you genuinely believe in what and who you’re choosing to support.
Use traditional marketing
In the end, as we have already mentioned earlier, traditional marketing is still quite relevant, especially when trying to attract local customers.
As mentioned in previous paragraphs, your local audience won’t always consist solely of people who use the internet. For that reason, you’ll need to find a way to raise awareness among people who live in the offline world as well.
Newspaper ads, pamphlets, billboards and direct mail are just some of the most commonly used traditional marketing means to this day. That’s why you should also include them in your business promotion to ensure that you bring more exposure to your business, both in the online and offline realm.
These are just some of the most effective ways you can promote your business and brand to your local audience. The most important thing to keep in mind is the fact that not all of your local audience will be present online. So, what this means is that you’ll need to make sure you cater to both the online and the offline part of your local target base in order to secure the best possible results.