Local businesses rely on local clientele for most of their sales. If your business falls in this category, you should be taking steps to ensure that you are being found by the customers who are closest to you. Advertising and outreach are mostly done online now, but that does not mean you cannot use other non-digital methods of advertising. Below, we explore two paths to improving your local business marketing, each with its pros and cons.
Online marketing
More and more businesses are going online. It is getting increasingly harder to find a business that does not have an online presence. One of the best ways to establish this presence is to use a website. A business generates leads and sales 24/7, even when your business is closed and is, therefore, a great marketing tool to have. A website does not have to just bring you sales and leads, it can be used for marketing to the outside world. Sending potential clients a link to your website lets them see what you offer and makes them more likely to buy from you.
Social media is another massive way to get your business noticed. Try joining marketing groups that target your locality for the best results, especially if you do not cater to the global audience. Most social media platforms allow you to run targeted advertisements to people in your local area. To help boost your marketing efforts, you could try running such targeted advertisements.
Google is arguably the biggest sales machine you can use to your advantage. When people search for goods and services, most of the business results are for businesses close to them. Why not take advantage of that and register on Google places and Google business? Doing this will ensure customers close to you find your business when they search for your goods and services. Using these Google services ensures targeted advertising and outreach and thus filters out and sends you only the customers your business caters to.
Business directory listings
Here, you could go for physical business listings or online business listings. Physical business listings are not that effective in this day and age but could help bring in several customers especially if your ideal customer is not online often. Online business directories have replaced physical business directories and they work the same as targeted advertising. People go onto these business directory listings, see businesses close to them and then get in touch with them. These local directory listings are usually categorized geographically, by locality, state, and country. Getting a listing in one of these business directories is another great way of boosting your local business marketing.
