An enormous 85% of business owners depend on word-of-mouth referrals, showing just how crucial it is to reach customers in your local area. Local marketing strategies are slightly different compared with the techniques and methods you’ll use for general marketing, as you will be working hard to find, reach, engage and appeal to local people specifically.
We have 17 proven local marketing ideas and strategies for a small business. But first let’s define exactly what we mean by local marketing.
What is Local Marketing?
Local marketing is defined as marketing strategies and tactics that target potential customers locally within a certain radius of a business — typically within 50 miles. Sometimes called neighborhood marketing or location-based marketing, it can consist of traditional offline marketing or online marketing that is geographically targeted. Frequently today, local marketing includes a combination of both strategies.
A subset of local area marketing includes local search marketing, also known as local SEO. Local search marketing specifically refers to techniques to ensure a business gets found in search results, location pages and online maps by potential local customers.
Local businesses may get 100% of their customers from within a few miles. You may have heard the phrase “main street business” (or “high street business” in some countries). This refers to the fact that small businesses depend literally on foot traffic or being seen on main thoroughfares. So even though a local business can find success marketing online, it takes strict geographical focus. Otherwise, you could end up wasting time and money to attract website visitors from across the country who have zero chance of ever visiting your shop or buying anything.
17 Local Marketing Strategies
Here are 17 of the best local marketing strategies to raise awareness, get more leads, and attract and keep local customers:
1. Engage with the community.
It may sound obvious, but getting involved with the local community is crucial to local marketing. Another great thing: community engagement costs little. Examples of this strategy include participating in community festivals, contests and seasonal events. Or your business could sponsor local events like high school music and drama performances, or sponsor sports teams. Another example involves small business owners volunteering time with charity and causes locally. You’ll meet plenty of people, establish goodwill by doing something good, and build brand awareness.
2. Maximize your local business listings.
More than half of small businesses still haven’t claimed their Google My Business listing according to one study. They are missing out on a valuable local marketing strategy. On your profile you can include your business name, phone number, address including zip code, directions, hours of operation, and a link to your website. Savvy small businesses also add content such as enticing photos. It’s free visibility in the world’s most powerful search engine.
The first step is to claim your Google My Business listing and then actively manage it. This also gets your location listed in Google maps. There are also other places online to get listed, including Bing Places and yellow page directories. Get started these top three:
- Google My Business
- Bing Places
- Apple Maps
3. Focus on local SEO.
Some of the most technically-advanced local marketing campaigns involve leveraging the web to get foot traffic to go to your store or physical location. You can also leverage the web for carryout or ecommerce orders. Potential customers are searching on the internet and on mobile devices for services and products in your local area. You want them to find your company easily.
Google My Business is a good start, but local search engine optimization (SEO) encompasses much more. Local search engine optimization also involves optimizing your website pages to appear prominently in search results. Go for search engine rankings for a keyword or keywords that consumers search on to find businesses like yours. Create good content and you may attract links and traffic to your website from local newspaper websites, blogs and even social media sites like Twitter.
If you are not sure how to improve search engine visibility or don’t have time, hire a local search professional. Local search is a specialty area. So when you screen SEO agencies and consultants, ask about their local search experience and results helping small local companies.
4. Make local business contacts.
Partnering with other businesses in complementary but noncompetitive industries is a great local marketing strategy to expand your network. Join the chamber of commerce or another local business association to make contacts and network with your peers. Other small businesses in your town or city may need your products or services. For example, if you run a local web design firm, you may find new clients needing website help. Or if you are starting a local bake shop, perhaps there are local cafes or restaurants interested in carrying your tasty confections.
You can also cooperate on referrals to bring in more customers than you could on your own. Perhaps you could combine marketing efforts with other small local businesses on media advertising buys. Or produce local events featuring food from local restaurants, bakeries and wineries where each participant promotes the event.
5. Create a loyalty program.
Customers love to feel valued! A customer loyalty program rewards people who buy or take other actions. An old school method is to print loyalty cards and hand them out to customers. Then use a unique-shaped hole punch to record the number of purchases. For example, a customer who buys 10 coffees at your cafe gets the 11th coffee free. Or someone visiting your barber shop a certain number of times gets a free trim. You can also go high tech and deploy a loyalty app for mobile devices for your store marketing. Customers gain rewards for activity through the app.
6. Increase customer referrals.
If you need a boost in word-of-mouth marketing, why not encourage your customers to do it for you with an irresistible referral program? It’s simple to start. All you need to do is offer a tempting freebie or special discount for the original customer and the person they refer. Referral programs can prove to be a very effective local marketing idea because it’s a force multiplier. It gets others helping you.
7. Make your staff your emissaries.
Make your employees the centerpiece of local marketing by involving them in your referral program. Offer a bonus to non-sales staff for referring new customers.
Encourage staff to be part of your content marketing tactics by creating a fun behind-the-scenes video of a day at work to post to the company YouTube channel or embed in blog posts. Ask employees if they would like to be featured in TV advertisements.
8. Put marketing collateral in public places.
Reach people in your community with marketing messages in public areas. Here again it can help to reach out to other businesses and organizations in the city or town where you operate. Will local restaurants, cafes and supermarkets let you put flyers or business cards in the entrance or tack them onto a community bulletin board? This works best if your business complements the other company. For example, if you own a graphic design or photography studio, perhaps a local art gallery or non-profit arts organization would let you leave marketing material in their establishment. Make sure to get permission.
9. Create local landing pages.
Creating location-specific webpages is an important step for local businesses looking to make an impact online. Doing this will not only benefit your overall website rankings and organic search visibility, but it can also help you gain traction in target markets that are within reach.
By creating location pages, you can take advantage of search engines’ local targeting and optimization capabilities to better leverage your specific services or products. This allows potential customers who are searching for a service or product in your location to find you easier and faster.
Setting up location-based landing pages then makes it easier for customers to find the information they need quickly, as well as contact information and directions that can help facilitate their connection with your business.
10. Use retargeting.
The click-through rate is 0.7% on retargeted ads compared to 0.07% on regular display ads.
Retargeting allows you to target customers who have already expressed some level of interest in your products or services. Retargeting displays relevant advertisements to them after they’ve been to your website or used your app.
It helps you nurture users who are interested in becoming customers and reduce conversion costs by providing more personalized customer experiences that increase customer loyalty. Because retargeting campaigns enable you to communicate with customers at specific points in their buying journey, this marketing method allows you to better engage with your audience and keep them updated on the progress of their purchase.
11. Get social proof.
88% of consumers trust online reviews.
Having local users talk about your business is the best way to get customers through the door and keep them coming back.
Connecting with local customers by displaying testimonials and stories of successful interactions on your website or through reviews can help local businesses spread their presence and gain a foothold in the local area. Social proof also allows local businesses to engage more deeply with their local customer base, as they can openly communicate their goals and successes while gaining real praise from their local fan base.
12. Get local citations.
Having local citations is an important way to bolster your local SEO and be found on local search engine results.
To start collecting local citations, the first thing you should do is create local listings. This would include local directories, business listings, and other related sites with local relevance. Make sure your profile is consistent across all of these accounts and includes your basic contact information like address, phone number, website URL, and other pertinent details.
Additionally, ensure accuracy with names and descriptions so potential customers can trust the information you’re providing them with.
13. Use email marketing.
77% of email marketers have noted an increase in engagement last year. Email marketing offers local businesses an amazing opportunity to build relationships with their customers and keep them engaged.
To get started, make sure you have a list of contacts or email leads of local customers that you can target with your campaigns. This includes gathering local customers’ contact information through sign-up forms on your website, in-store email collections, events, trade shows, and more.
Then it’s time to craft compelling content and design relevant messages personalized for local audiences. After the messages are set up and ready to go, it ultimately comes down to tracking the results of your campaigns: such as open rate, click-throughs, and conversion rate.
14. Incentivize reviews.
Reviews are a great way to attract customers and boost sales, especially for local store marketing campaigns.
To incentivize reviews, you can offer discounts or loyalty points for every positive review your customers leave. Furthermore, you can give away samples of your products or services when customers post reviews. Alternatively, you could ask customers to write about their experience with your store and enter them in a drawing for a prize.
15. Use media monitoring.
Media monitoring is a must for local businesses looking to make the most of their press coverage.
With regular monitoring of media websites, newspapers, and other outlets for mentions of your business, you can easily keep track of what is being said about you in the news. This gives you an opportunity to respond swiftly if there are any negative references to your business or adjust your policy or services based on positive feedback.
Media monitoring can also help inform marketing planning and tactics – seeing the types of stories that generate the most buzz in your local area can be invaluable for helping focus your message.
16. Work with local influencers.
Working with local influencers is one of many local marketing strategies worth considering.
Companies can engage their target audiences more effectively by partnering with a local sports team, following interesting content creators, or partnering up with a local charity. Establishing relationships through influential figures in the local community will help brands make an authentic connection with their potential customers and create positive brand awareness.
It’s always worthwhile to take the time to research potential influencers in your area who may be interested in promoting your business or product.
17. Become a local sponsor.
Becoming a local sponsor is an amazing way to help the community and show local businesses and organizations your support.
Local sponsors are vital to helping local events get the funding they need, so it’s important to understand what local sponsorships involve.
First, you’ll need to connect with local groups or organizations who may be interested in sponsorship of their events. You can reach out directly or use websites that offer ways for local groups and businesses to connect.
Once connected, local sponsors will then help provide needed resources such as materials, tools, volunteers, etc., depending on the event. Additionally, local sponsors offer financial support through various donors or by offering sponsorships themselves.
After becoming a local sponsor, continue to show your support by regularly attending local and community events where you have sponsored.
Wrap-up
With local business marketing campaigns, the sky’s the limit when it comes to clever and effective ways to engage with potential customers in your local area. Not only does local business marketing help you stand out from the competition and attract new customers – it also strengthens relationships with current customers, bringing brand loyalty and expansion opportunities.
