10 Local Business Advertising Tips to Increase Revenue for Your Small Business
There’s a big difference when you’re trying to market a local business and a national business. It’s not like you have a social media video go viral in Canada and you have a ton of customers.
Getting a social media post to go viral is great, except that you’re not reaching your target audience. That’s the people who live in your service area who have a very specific problem.
How can you use local business advertising to boost your visibility and sales? Keep reading to find out.
1. Fill Out Local Directory Listings
The first thing that local businesses need to do is to fill out your local directory listings on Google and Bing. This is the first step in reaching people who are looking for your services online will use a search engine.
If you don’t have a directory listing filled out, search engines will have no idea that you serve that area. When you do fill out the listing, make sure that it’s complete and you have high-quality pictures that make people want to know more about your business.
2. Understand Your Audience
Local business advertising comes down to reaching the right person with the right message at the right time. It sounds easy, but so many businesses get this wrong because they don’t truly understand their customers.
You might be a plumber who wants to attract anyone in a 30-mile radius who needs plumbing services. Who are these people? Are they DIY people? Are they the type that will just throw money at a problem? What is the emotional issue underneath?
This is how you understand your audience. The more you truly understand them, the better equipped you are to create marketing messages that show that you relate to them and their problems.
3. Leverage “Near Me” Searches
People will search for restaurants, products, and services on their phone. They want something, they want it now, and they want to find a solution nearby.
They’ll use the term “near me” in the searches. For example, Italian restaurants near me, auto repair near me, and bicycle store near me are all local searches.
You want to make sure that your business is positioned to capture these searches. That’s one reason why directory listings are so important. You tell search engines where you’re located and the search engines will list your business as long as it’s near the person searching.
4. Work With Local Influencers
Who are the influencers in your local community?
Those are the people that you want to know. They don’t need to be YouTube or Instagram stars. They just need to be influential in their network.
They could be board members of big organizations or they could be people who have a wide reach. You want to connect with them and build relationships with them. After a while, ask them to spread the word about your company.
5. Get Out in the Community
Being visible in your local community is a great way to build your brand and generate your business. You can become a member of your local chamber of commerce.
You can also sponsor local events like a 5K or have a booth at a trade show. Attending industry networking events is another great way to get out in the community.
Make it a habit to follow up with people you meet with handwritten notes after the event. No one does this anymore and these types of notes have become a lost art. This personal touch will make a huge impression with potential prospects.
You can use rubber stamps to save time writing your return address and signature over and over again. Check out this page for more information.
6. Be a Content Producing Machine
When Google produces search results for users, it tends to weight businesses that are near the searcher near the top of search results.
Having a blog on your website will get your business in front of prospects early on in the buying process. That give you time to show off your expertise and build trust with prospects before they’re ready to buy. When they are ready to make a purchase, your business will be front and center.
7. Get to Know the Local Press
In order to get your business name out in the community, you need a little help from the local media. It helps to establish relationships with news editors and business beat writers well before you issue your first press release.
8. Use Pay Per Click Ads
When you have your messaging down and you know your audience responds well to it, put gasoline on the fire.
You can use pay per click ads to generate more web traffic to your site and more business. This will supercharge your local business advertising efforts and take your business to the next level.
9. Get More Reviews
One of the factors that is used to determine if you’ll rank well in search engines is reviews. It’s also a big influencing factor for potential customers.
You want to make sure that you follow up with your customers and encourage them to leave positive reviews of their experience with your business.
10. Collect Leads Everywhere You Go
The more often you can get your local business in front of your customers and potential customers, the better. You’ll want to make sure that you use your website as a lead generation tool to encourage site visitors to sign up to your newsletter.
You’ll be able to connect with them with specials, events, and general information about your business.
Local Business Advertising Tips to Grow Your Business
Not all of the marketing trends and buzzwords apply to your business. As a local business, you require a different kind of visibility.
These local business advertising tips are geared to helping you reach the right people in your local service area. There are countless ways to reach them. You want to make sure that you use digital marketing and offline marketing strategies for the biggest impact.
Do you want more great marketing tips? Check out this blog regularly for articles about digital marketing and writing better content.