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Local Marketing Strategies to Help You Connect with Your Community

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Whether you aim to make your brand reach far or keep it close to home, local marketing matters. According to Business News Daily, it helps you reach the audience members that are within the same region your business is located in. Whether you’re locally-owned or part of a larger chain, local marketing will impact your business and we’re here to help you do it.

What is local marketing?

HubSpot informs readers that local marketing is specifically, “a marketing strategy that targets consumers and customers within a certain radius of the physical location(s) of a business.” It can also be referred to ask “neighborhood marketing” or “local store marketing.” Regardless of what you decide to call it, the goal is to reach audience members near you. It’s extremely beneficial for businesses that have a physical, “brick and mortar” location, especially for those that rely on in-person business rather than e-commerce.

Local marketing strategies that will help you succeed

As noted, local marketing is a very specific form of marketing and, just like any other marketing plan, there are various strategies that will aid you in your success. Some of these include:

1. Ensure your website is localized

A localized website means that “your web content [is] relevant to your local audience and consumer base” (HubSpot). This means doing things like:

Using “location-based terms” throughout your website
Incorporating your location into pages of your site
Using local keywords to support your SEO strategy
Localizing your meta descriptions and title tags
Ensuring your location is included in your paid advertising efforts

Ensuring that your website is localized will help you rank higher on SERPs (search engine results pages) for people in your area searching for services or goods that you provide.

2. Take control of your local listing on “third-party websites and directories”

“Third-party websites and directories” can include sites like Yelp!, TripAdvisor, Google My Business, and more. Taking claim of these sites’ listings for your business will ensure that the information presented is accurate and relevant as well as help you boost your local SEO efforts. Google My Business is especially important as it allows you to post updates about your business, and display need-to-know information like a phone number, address, hours of operation, and more. It’s also a great place for people to leave reviews.

There are a variety of ways that your business can or could be displayed on other websites. HubSpot recommends using Moz Local to help you take control of your listing on several third-party websites through a more simplified process.

3. Create a local social media presence

Because social media platforms make it easy to add in location-specific information, it’s a great way to connect with audience members within your immediate community. It’s also a great place to connect with your community by sharing fun updates, highlighting local events, and interacting with your followers and their comments.

Need some more convincing? Here’s a more thorough explanation of why social media matters.

4. Get your business involved with your community

Whether you host, sponsor, or participate in an event, getting involved in your community and supporting other local businesses are great and fun ways to connect with local members of your audience. Not only does it show that you care about the condition of your community, but it allows members of your audience and other local businesses to get interaction time they might not get with your business otherwise.

There are an endless number of ways that you can get more involved and your community is much more likely to support you if they know that your business supports them.

5. Invest in local media and advertising

Another great way to build trust with local members of your audience is to invest in local advertising efforts. In addition to trust, local ads help to give you another way to reach them. Whether you invest in a radio advertisement, a local newspaper listing, billboards, flyers, sidewalk signs, or a TV commercial, this form of paid advertisement is still important for getting your business on the map.

In conclusion

Local marketing efforts are just as important to your small business as investing in PPC ads on Google and building a well-functioning online store, especially if you have a physical location. Getting involved in your community will help you reach those audience members nearest you as well as show them who you are and what value you have to offer them.