Small businesses contribute character and individuality to a community. Imagine how different Main Street would look without the quintessential institutions that give the area its unique charm? Whether it’s a local dentist office, insurance agency, local auto body shop, a reliable real estate agent, or a home health care service you can count on - small businesses are often the heart of a local community. The best way to reach others in your area is with local advertising.
It’s all about targeting potential customers in your town or region for a small business to thrive. How do you do it? With a stellar hyperlocal marketing strategy, the right type of branding, and a strong branding approach.
What is Local Marketing?
As a general rule of thumb, local marketing targets potential customers within around 10 miles of the business. This generally works out well for small business owners, as they often live and work in their communities.
Local marketing is an easy, cost-effective way to gain customers in your surrounding area. Through paid search ads and social media targeting, others will be aware there’s a local specialty business in the area. Local marketing increases the ROI of your marketing efforts. Get more with less.
Hyperlocal vs. Local
Think of hyperlocal advertising covering your neighborhood and local covering the entire town or city. For a small business, it’s all about your target audience. To help define who exactly is worth your marketing efforts, look at the firmographics and geographic characteristics for your small business. Gathering data will help you decide which options for advertising are best.
Options for Advertising:
When you’re trying to deduce which channel is best for you, think about what % of your target audience is part of that channel? Learning where your consumers are most likely to consume their information means putting an end to paying for wasted impressions. The various forms of local advertising are SEM, Social, Email, Direct Mail, Print (Publications), and OOH.
To raise more awareness, get more leads, and attract and keep local customers, it’s all about marketing your brand, not just your business.
What is Branding?
Branding defines who you are as a business. Your brand should clearly communicate who you are, what you do, and how you do it. Branding is a critical process for any business, no matter the size or niche. Honing in on the features that make your brand stand out and what makes you memorable helps consumers associate a specific product or service with your brands.
A strong brand isn’t just a great logo and a quirky tagline. Your brand is reflected in everything you do, from your customer service style, staff uniforms, and business cards, to the way you advertise your business.
Your brand is your small business’s most valuable asset. Investing in a strong branding strategy will almost always increase ROI in the long run. The better your brand, the higher the chances of customers picking your product or service over your competitor’s. Branding helps build customer loyalty, deliver more revenue, increase buzz, and motivate and retain employees.
Brand Reputation: What It Is & Why It’s Important In Your Community
For any business, a good reputation helps drive success. For a small business, an outstanding reputation is critical to getting locals to trust and engage with your business. Your reputation is the way others in your community perceive your business, regardless of your niche. Brand reputation helps position you as a leader in your field. Consumers need that reassurance and confidence they’re in good hands. Whether you’re helping someone sell a house, pulling a tooth, or picking the best insurance plan for a new driver, buyers need to feel that you’re the right person for the job.
Word-of-mouth is still a prime marketing tool for small businesses. Referrals from friends, family members, and other community members are often an excellent way to increase a small business’s customer base. When someone speaks positively about your service, it helps build consumer confidence and trust. Just as a good referral can help your business thrive, a bad reputation in a small community could be your downfall.
Types of Local Marketing:
Multichannel Marketing
Multichannel marketing allows brands and businesses to interact with customers using a combination of communication channels. Multichannel marketing is often a mix of indirect and direct communication like websites, retail stores, catalogs, snail mail, email, mobile, and out of home advertising. This type of marketing helps brands reach a wider audience. By reaching customers at multiple touchpoints, you’re allowing the consumers to use the channel of their choice to consume media.
Digital Local Marketing
Online local marketing for small businesses often involves using social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram to boost visibility, communicate with consumers, and build brand trust. Targeted emails, online coupon campaigns (Groupon), and implementing a strong SEO strategy are all excellent tools to get traffic to go to your physical location.
In-Person Local Marketing
Even though many marketers are focused on digital marketing and advertising, traditional offline media channels are still relevant. Out-of-home advertising or marketing helps bring awareness to your brand, even when your target audience isn’t using their laptop or smartphone. Offline local marketing can include anything from billboards, signs, and radio shout outs, ads on bus stops, to giving out freebies.
Marketing isn’t just about showcasing how fantastic your services are. Consumers are looking for that human touch and the confidence in knowing they’re in good hands. Marketing your brand will help give the reassurance they need.