Local marketing is an online marketing strategy that businesses use to attract customers to purchase their products or services within a certain radius of their business.
This form of marketing can be used by any business or brand that has a physical location as this type of advertising focuses on potential customers that are nearby as their business relies on in-person purchases.
The Importance Of Local Marketing
Using local marketing will help you sharpen your resources on a specific audience that is likely to buy your product or service and is within a certain radius from where your business operates. Investing in local marketing is what will help your business be discovered through local Google searches.
Local marketing is a necessary marketing strategy for local businesses because it helps attract customers who will more than likely bring repeat business.
What Businesses Should Use Local Marketing
Many businesses can benefit from local marketing, whether they are an online business or operate from a storefront, but there are a few businesses that require the use of local marketing as one of their marketing strategies.
A few businesses that should be using local marketing and will benefit from it are:
- Restaurants
- Retail stores
- Health services such as doctors, dentists, pediatricians, chiropractors, and physiotherapists
- Beauty salons
Benefits Of Local Marketing
Saving time and money
Local marketing requires demographic profiling and once you have a desired demographic defined, it allows you to advertise to that targeted audience. Money isn’t wasted on broader audiences as the local advertising is being targeted within a specific radius to ensure to only advertise to people nearby.
Increase business visibility
Local marketing forms a part of Search Engine Marketing. This marketing strategy will focus on finding relevant local keywords that are specific to your business to help attract the right potential customers. Location-based keywords need to be used on all the pages on your website in order for SEM to be used accurately and make the local searches more relevant. Having the right local keywords on your website gives your website a higher chance of appearing on the first page of search engines when the local keywords are searched by potential customers.
The target audience is more specific
In all forms of marketing, a target audience needs to be defined. But when you are using local marketing, the audience is even more defined and the focus is on potential customers within a certain radius. The more you know about the locals in your area, the easier it will be to define your local target audience.
Increase brand awareness
Using local marketing gives your business an online presence. The more often your website appears in search results, the more your brand awareness increases. Getting your business discovered through local searches is a great way to increase your business’s brand awareness.
Positive user reviews
Local marketing allows the opportunity for customers to leave reviews or feedback on your products or services. Positive reviews can motivate potential customers to buy your products or services. Negative reviews are not necessarily a bad thing, so long as they are responded to and the issues brought up in the review are addressed.
Local Marketing Strategies
These local marketing strategies will help you localize your business and take local marketing to the next level:
Create a business website
Make sure you have a professional-looking website that is optimized specifically for local SEO so that you can increase your brand awareness in the area. Make sure your website is also mobile-friendly. A mobile-friendly website is crucial in trying to attract new business, especially local customers.
Create Google My Business listing
Create a business profile on Google My Business in order to help increase your business ranking on Google Maps. Having a listing also increases your visibility on Google searches. This is also an opportunity to give existing or potential customers more information about your business such as contact details, your business address as well as operating hours.
Optimize your website and marketing by using local SEO
Optimize your website by using locally relevant keywords on your website, in your social media posts, and across all forms of other paid advertising. For example, instead of using “boutique coffee shop”, on your website or ads, you could rather use “boutique coffee shop in Dallas”.
Make use of social media
Social media is one of the most efficient and quickest ways to reach a target audience and give them the opportunity to interact with posts about your business. Because you are able to define an audience based on location, social media is a must-have when it comes to local marketing.
Conclusion
Local marketing is an important part of any marketing strategy for a business that wants to attract customers to their store so it is imperative that you understand how it works and how it can benefit your business. Read more about digital marketing in the blog section on our website.
