As a small business owner, you want to relate with local consumers, be part of the community, and stand out from your competitors. But knowing how to promote your business locally requires some smart marketing tactics. Because there are a finite number of customers in your area, local marketing initiatives are a top priority—not to mention your competitors are vying for the same customers you are.
To set yourself apart from the competition and find ways to capture the attention of local customers, follow this guide that offers 10 different marketing strategies.
How to Promote Your Business Locally
There isn’t one definitive marketing effort that will win over local customers. Connecting with potential customers requires a combination of digital marketing tactics and in-person marketing initiatives.
1. Write a blog
Blogging is a free and effective marketing tool to drive traffic to your site. It can bring in visitors from all over the world, and more importantly, you can use it to promote your business locally, whether you’re selling products via e-commerce or in-store only.
Effective blogging is more than just writing about topics you think people are searching for. You must have a search engine optimization (SEO) strategy supported by a thoroughly researched keyword strategy to see measurable results from your blog.
For example, a law firm in Austin, Texas, might wonder how it can get more clients who have had workplace injuries. By researching locally searched terms, it determines that many people in Austin have questions about “work injury laws in Austin.” This becomes a blog topic and, with SEO optimization, helps the business’s website see an uptick in local SEO performance.
Use free keyword research tools to plan out your strategy and choose the most relevant and popular search terms in your area. Knowing what your audience is searching for is the first step in creating content that will drive traffic and results.
2. Master social media marketing
Social media marketing channels like Facebook and LinkedIn are popular ways to interact with customers and other local business owners.
Consumers often use social media platforms to research local businesses and interact with them. As such, you should be active on your channels and ready to respond to any comments or questions they have.
You can use your Facebook page for promoting sales events, seasonal offers, or contests. Part of knowing how to promote your business locally means keeping your posts relevant to your local market—tap into what makes your community unique and use messaging that is relatable to your local audience.
LinkedIn is a platform you can use to network with other small business owners and entrepreneurs. Doing so can open doors to potential partnerships, collaborations, or events with other local businesses.
3. Sign up for a local directory or local listings
You can submit your business profile and contact details to industry-specific local listings—usually run by professional organizations—or to your local Chamber of Commerce. Review sites and local directories like Yelp put your business on the radar of local consumers and let potential customers research your company before deciding to make a purchase.
For instance, your Yelp Business Page is a one-stop-shop where you can upload photos of your business, write a business description, add your address and phone number, respond to online reviews, and more. Adding or claiming your Yelp Business Page is free and only takes a few moments.
4. Use locally targeted ads
Including local digital ads in your marketing campaign gives you access to an audience you might not otherwise reach. The power of online ads lies in the ability to target specific local audiences.
Your first option is search engine marketing (SEM). These are the advertisements that show up at the top of local search engine results. You can choose a target audience and specific terms for your ads so your business shows up at the top of the list when locals search for your goods or services.
Let’s say you run a salon in Detroit, Michigan. You might want to pay for ads that show up every time someone searches “best salon in Detroit.” This way, you appear at the top of the page before all your competitors.
You can also consider cost-per-click (CPC) or pay-per-click (PPC) ads on popular platforms like Yelp. For example, Yelp Ads work to promote your business in key areas across the Yelp site and mobile app—including above search results and on competitors’ business pages. You’re in control of your budget and can pause your ads at any time. Additionally, you’ll only pay when someone clicks on your ad, ensuring your investment is going toward customers who are more likely to spend.
5. Set up a direct mail campaign
When you’re considering how to promote your business locally, don’t rule out traditional marketing strategies. Direct mail campaigns have been around for a while but they’re still highly effective, especially if your target market includes people who don’t often use email or social media.
Frequent internet users see numerous ads a day. Sending a physical brochure could help you stand out from the crowd. Research shows that direct mail has influenced 87% of recipients to make online purchases.
When designing your brochures, include your business name and contact details, plus a coupon or discount voucher. Also, issue a call to action to tell prospective customers what steps to take next. For example, perhaps they need to present the brochure at your business by a certain date to receive the discount.
You can also invest in local advertising by posting an ad in the local newspaper in the classified ads section, depending on your target market.
6. Add your business to any local listings
Make sure you are on all the local listings in your area. This could be a registry, citations or an online version of the yellow pages. You may need to pay a small fee per citation, but it’ll help you gain more exposure to your business as well as provide links back to your website.
Another way to find listings is to check where your competitors are being linked to and see if you can gather the same links. Most importantly, don’t forget to add your website, business address and contact details to Google My Business and Google Maps so customers find you when searching online!
7. Sponsor a team or event
This could be a sports team, a school team, a chess team – you name it. Anything that is a team from your city and related to your local community, consider sponsoring it (even better if it relates to your services/industry).
Sponsoring could mean an advertisement on their website, a logo on their clothes or an outdoor banner wherever their events take place. Sponsoring things will also allow you to boost your SEO, as companies, teams and organisations will be more than happy to link to you on their websites.
8. Exchange favors
One of the best ways to advertise your business for free is to exchange favours with other businesses. If you know a business that is not a direct competitor and may have a common customer base, then consider proposing a cross-promotion. This could be as small as promoting their business on a newsletter or social media, to incorporating their services within what you do.
For example, if you offer physiotherapy sessions across various locations in your city, you can partner with a small sports shop that also offers sports clothes, massage balls, etc, and even add their flyers in your waiting area. You can then tag each other on social media so both of your followers gain exposure to your brands.
The underlying theme here is building relationships and building win-win partnerships. This will allow you to keep your marketing budget to a minimum while increasing your reach.
9. Turn your shop into a QR code
QR codes make it easy to access an online shop or link. With Pomelo Pay, you can turn your online shop into a QR code for free, allowing you to promote your website and services on literally anything with a surface! This could be on a direct mail flyer, an advertisement, or even on someone else’s ecommerce website/newsletter.
QR codes make it a lot faster and easier for customers to access your online shop, learn about your services and even order online. If you are a new business, you can build a customer email list by offering discounts to encourage people to sign-up and send their contact information.
10. Donate to a local charity
Sure, it’s not strictly free; but you can choose to donate your own products or services to a specific charity rather than money. If it’s a strategy that makes sense, join forces with a local charity and let customers know how you’re giving back to the community.
Whether it’s an annual contribution or special promotion, both will bring exposure to you and the charity’s brand. If you run a special event, make sure that you get the charity to mention your business on their website. You can also get local media involved and even get a mention on local newspapers and news sites. Moreover, pay attention to a good pagination SEO practices to drive visitors on your website and retain them.
11. Improve SEO
In addition to creating a reputable local profile, you should ensure that your website is optimised for Google and other search engines like Yelp and Bing. You probably have lots of competition and you will all be fighting for those coveted spots on the first page.
The more generalized your keywords, the harder it will be to get found. Trying to rank for ‘vegan restaurant’ will be extremely difficult, but trying to rank for ‘vegan restaurant Croydon’ will be a lot less so.
The more specific you are, the better chance you have of ranking higher – however, you these long-tail keywords will have fewer people searching for them. So it is a careful balancing act.
Send your website to friends and family and ask them for feedback. Once you have decided that your content is the best it can be, you need to build a backlink profile. Backlinks are when another site links to your site. Google treats backlinks as a sign that one website trusts you.
Broadly speaking, the more backlinks you have, the more trustworthy you are (in the eyes of Google). Bear in mind however that not all sites are created equal. If you have lots of backlinks from spammy and disreputable sites, this will hinder rather than help you.
Getting another site to refer to you can be difficult and will take some imagination. If you own a restaurant, make sure you are listed in local business listings and restaurant directories. Throw special or charitable events and contact local newspapers for coverage. Get in touch with food sites and offer to write guest posts detailing recipes from your restaurant.
It will take some time and effort but if you are able to focus on your SEO you will be doing more than much of your competition, and you will see results.
12. Run ads
Online advertising sounds simple, you just need to make sure that what you bring in is more than what you spend on your ads. However, this can be complex in reality and if you don’t know what you are doing you may find yourself spending a lot more than you thought you would.
There are a number of websites available. You can run Google ads, Facebook ads and ads on all of the most popular social media platforms.
As you are a local business, it’s critical that you focus on the demographics of your target audience, otherwise you’ll be paying money to advertise to people in Manchester when you are situated in London. You will be able to target potential customers through sex, age and even occupation (depending on the platform you use).
It will take lots of trial and error, and you should read a few tutorials before you run any marketing campaigns. If you’re in an industry with low competition you may find ads to be a cost-effective marketing tactic that brings in the customers you need.
Conclusion
The one main advantage of being local is that you can be part of a community, something that can you give you an edge over the competition. In the age of self-isolation and the internet, people value local communities now more than ever; which is why now is a good time to focus on local advertising.
