As a small business owner, you want to increase your visibility and get ahead of your competitors in your industry. Chances are that your reality is that really getting ahead of the competition is out of reach. That doesn’t mean you should give up or not aim high, it just means that you have to work more strategically. What you want to do is to dominate your local market, both online and off. If you can capture the local market, then you can get ready to go further.
Use these local business marketing tips now to localize your marketing efforts and gain a better foothold in your community:
1. Enhance or Claim Your Google Local Profile
Your Google My Business Listing is a great and free way to enhance your local profile. Visit Google’s Google My Business, and once you’ve verified the local listing for your company, spend some time improving your profile. Add photos, videos, and coupons, restaurants and other like businesses can add menu items or a list of services to your listing all designed to draw people in. These steps can all help improve your search engine rankings massively, which will definitely boost the chances of local customers finding your business online.
3. Upgrade Your Online Presence
The majority of consumers are searching online to find local businesses, so be sure that you monitor any sites that list—or should list—yours. In addition to Google My Business, make sure that your information is absolutely correct in the online Yellow Pages. Spend time improving your Yelp profile. And although they’re not as popular as Google My Business, optimizing your Bing and Yahoo! local business profiles can help leverage a portion of the market that your competitors may well overlook.
Finally, be sure you have a way for people to connect with you via Social Media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.). Social media allows you to reach out to your customers on a daily basis by sharing your interesting content, photos, and updates on your business. In addition, you can also run contests and reward customers for sharing your posts with others, which will help further your company’s brand reach.
3. Establish Local Business Marketing Partnerships
This might sound counterproductive, but forming an alliance with another local small business can offer you tons of exposure to new customers. You’ll want to team up with a business that is likely to interact regularly with your target customers. For example, you can offer specials or discounts to one another’s customers as part of a co-marketing strategy. Post a well-designed flyer in each of your respective storefronts promoting each other’s business along with with your discount your offer. Another idea you can incorporate is co-hosting a joint type of event or running a joint promotion. For example, a local hair salon can team up with a nail salon and offer a special Mother’s Day or Valentine’s package.
Conclusion
Make sure to claim or list your local business on Google My Business, get more presence by listing your local business in other directories such as Yellow Pages, Yelp, Google Local and Bing Local. Additionally, partner with other local businesses to bring both more online and offline awareness to your local business.
Get a head start by using the guide and planner found here to kick your local presence up tenfold.
