Table of Contents
You probably have it all; great products or services, stellar customer experiences, convenient locations, and so on. While these might seem enough to propel a new business into profitability, it’s not.
For a business to be successful, people need to know that you exist and all the great things you have to offer. This is what marketing does for you.
Marketing, whether distributed marketing, digital marketing, influencer marketing, local marketing, or any other forms of marketing, is essentially geared towards this.
Here, learn more about one form of marketing: local marketing.
What Is Local Marketing?
Smaller businesses or those with coverage in smaller geographical locations cannot compete with larger, better-known firms within the industry. Because of this, these companies need marketing strategies that enable them to attract new customers. These initiatives, in turn, target prospective clients that might be unaware their locality has a specialty business.
Local marketing can be online and in-person, and a business needs to determine the specific strategies that would deliver the most benefits.
Local Marketing Strategies For New Businesses
Here are some local marketing strategies to give you more leads, raise awareness and attract and keep local customers.
1. Engage With Your Community
you never go wrong with community engagement.
Engaging with your local community can get you to establish goodwill, build brand awareness and increase visibility. The best part is that this option is relatively inexpensive and practical for small and new businesses trying to get their footing.
Think about participating in festivals, sponsoring community events, contests, seasonal events, and so on.
2. Maximize Local Business Listing
You will be surprised at how many businesses are yet to complete their Google My Business Listing.
By doing yours, you can position yourself better before other companies catch on. Some of the things to include in your profile are:
- phone number
- business name
- address including Zip Code
- hours of operations
- directions
- links to your website
- professional business photos
What you get is free visibility on the world’s most powerful search engines.
3. Create a Loyalty Program
Customers love to feel like they are appreciated and that they are part of something bigger than themselves. While traditional loyalty programs were rather cumbersome, technology has made this much easier to do. Something as simple as a loyalty app or a loyalty card where you load points for each purchase can get the job done.
You can then structure rewards by the number of points. This needs not to be anything grand. It’s the thought that counts.
Get Started
Local marketing should be a part of your overall marketing initiatives. The key thing about them is that they are workable on smaller budgets, and they can help you gain traction as you start out.