In another article, we address a local product/service business with a brick-and-mortar location.
What if you have a local business without a brick-and-mortar location? A lot of the same principles apply.
It’s arguably more important for local businesses like this to maximize their exposure online to continue increasing leads and sales.
You might be competing with a local whose been around for a few decades and has a strong word-of-mouth lead pipeline. How do you compete with that? Online marketing.
Our world is more transient than ever before. Every community has people moving in and out every day. When someone moves to a new neighborhood where they don’t know anyone, where’s the first place they look first when they need something? Online.
With so many businesses vying for attention, it can be tough to stand out from the crowd. If you have a strong marketing strategy, you’ll have the advantage.
But by following these 10 local marketing strategies, you can increase your visibility and reach more potential customers.
- Optimize your Google My Business listing.
- Create high-quality content.
- Promote your content on social media.
- Run local paid advertising campaigns.
- Get involved in your community.
- Partner with other local businesses.
- Offer discounts and promotions (not my favorite but for first time buyers this would be good. Especially if you have a repeat service type of business.)
- Provide excellent customer service.
- Ask for reviews.
- Track your results.
Optimize Your Google My Business Listing
Google My Business is a free tool that allows you to create a listing for your business on Google Maps. This listing includes your business name, address, phone number, hours of operation, and website. It also allows you to add photos, videos, and customer reviews. Optimizing your Google My Business listing is one of the most important things you can do for your local marketing efforts. There are additional directories you can work with but if you’re struggling with too much to do and too little time start with Google My Business.
Create High-Quality Content
Content marketing is a great way to attract and engage potential customers. When creating content, focus on topics that are relevant to your target audience and that will provide them with value. You can create content in a variety of formats, including blog posts, articles, infographics, videos, and social media posts. Remember, when it comes to building trust, give value first.
Promote Your Content On Social Media
Social media is a powerful tool for connecting with potential customers. Share your content on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. You can also use social media to run contests and giveaways, and to engage with your followers. Find local hashtags to connect to your posts. Make sure the hashtags are relevant to what they would be searching for.
Run Local Paid Advertising Campaigns
Paid advertising can be a great way to reach more potential customers. When creating a paid advertising campaign, be sure to target your ads to people who are in your local area. You can also target your ads to people who are interested in the products or services that you offer. If you’re in the trades, you can geo-target ads to show for people who live in specific neighborhoods where you want to do business.
Get Involved In Your Community
Getting involved in your community is a great way to build relationships with potential customers and raise awareness of your business. You can get involved in your community by sponsoring local events, donating to local charities, and volunteering your time.
Partner With Other Local Businesses
Partnering with other local businesses is a great way to reach a wider audience. When partnering with another business, be sure to choose a business that complements your own. You can partner with other businesses to host joint events, to cross-promote your products or services, or to share resources.
Offer Discounts And Promotions
Offering discounts and promotions is a great way to attract new customers and encourage existing customers to return for more. When creating a discount or promotion, be sure to make it clear what the offer is, how long it will last, and how customers can redeem it. I wouldn’t recommend relying on this strategy because once you start competing on price it becomes difficult to maintain a realistic profit margin.
Provide Excellent Customer Service
Excellent customer service is essential for any business, but it’s especially important for service businesses. When providing customer service, be sure to be friendly, helpful, and responsive. You should also go the extra mile to make sure that your customers are satisfied. In a crowded marketplace, one of the easiest ways to stand out is to listen to your customers. I know this sounds crazy, but a lot of service providers have a hard time with this. By listening, I don’t mean doing whatever they say, I mean just listening to their concerns. You’ve probably been somewhere you felt like they didn’t hear you at all…..probably many places. Being professional, polite, and caring goes a long way.
Ask For Reviews
Asking for reviews is a great way to build trust and credibility with potential customers. When asking for reviews, be sure to make it easy for customers to leave a review. You can ask customers to leave a review on Google, Facebook, or your website.
Track Your Results
It’s important to track your results so that you can see what’s working and what’s not. There are a variety of tools that you can use to track your results, such as Google Analytics and social media analytics tools. By monitoring your results, you can make adjustments to your marketing strategy as needed.
I’m going to add a bonus one here.
Email Marketing
Email marketing is an often under appreciated asset for local service businesses. It’s also one of the cheaper ways to build a list so you can share promotions, deals, new products, content, etc.
After you get your google my business and website setup it’s really simple to get started with email marketing. Find a service that is easy to use and has automations. ActiveCampaign and MailChimp are popular for small businesses or those just starting with email marketing. I’ve used both platforms for various companies.
It’s important to remember that no one marketing strategy is a silver bullet. The best approach is to use a variety of strategies and tailor your approach to your specific business and target audience. By being consistent with your marketing efforts and tracking your results, you can see what’s working and what’s not, and make adjustments as needed.
Also, give your efforts time before you start making optimizations. If you launch something for a day you probably won’t get strong enough data to make an informed decision about what to change.