Local online marketing is a strategy that allows businesses to target and reach potential customers within a specific geographical area and drive them to their physical location. By reaching out and focusing on a targeted area, local online marketing provides businesses with a competitive advantage to win over the local market.
Often, consumers want to have a great experience without going all the way across the city. They want to see what’s best nearby. Local online marketing is about appearing in the local search results.
Here are some ways to leverage local online marketing opportunities to grow your business!
1. Optimize your Google Business Profile Listing
Completing your Google Business Profile listing will help you appear in more locally relevant search results.
Start by filling up your profile correctly and completely. You want to add your hours of operation, address, and contact information. It’s important to add all the valuable information your audience needs when looking at your Google Business Profile listing.
You’ll also want to add photos. Photos give your audience insight into your company, as well as your products and services.
2. Local SEO
When you run a local business, it’s crucial that you optimize your ongoing SEO strategies with local search visibility in mind.
People still use Google when searching for local solutions. However, they search with different key phrases like “in (city)” or “near me” in their queries to finetune their SERP results.
So, update your keyword research efforts to include top local terms and phrases, including long-tail keywords.
3. User-Generated Content
Whenever people search for a local business online, they first notice the reviews given by others on the listing. Local customers want to engage with a company they feel they can trust, which you can demonstrate with positive reviews and testimonials.
Ask your existing customers politely to let others know about their experience with you, and this encourages customers to write reviews. You may also ask them to share pictures or videos of themselves on your social media for a chance to be featured.
Sharing experiences from happy customers is one of the most effective ways to boost your credibility.
4. Geotargeted Search Campaigns
Geotargeting uses location data to reach customers based on an automated or assumed knowledge of customers’ locations. Here are some geotargeting tips that you can use:
- Research local keywords
- Target events or venues in an area
- Prioritize specific locations
5. Google Search Ads Local Campaigns
Google, the foremost search engine in the world, allows you to target potential customers in your local area. With this platform, you can run the classic search engine result in Google Ads, Google Local Services Ads, Google Shopping Ads, and more. A higher volume of inquiries and increased sales are just two of the many benefits of running Google Ads local campaigns.
6. Google Display and Remarketing
Did you know that around 97% of people who visit your site for the first time leave without buying anything? That’s because they need to feel like they know you first. Google display and remarketing ads help bring back those who visited your website. Remarketing lets you reach out to these past visitors, offer them a targeted incentive, and hopefully convert them into customers.
7. Local Inventory Ads
Local inventory Ads give businesses an opportunity to reach local shoppers by showcasing products available in their stores on Google.
Benefits of Local Inventory Ads:
- Promote your in-store inventory: let local shoppers know that your store has the products they’re looking for, at the moment they search on Google
- Bring your local store online: use Google as a robust and digital local storefront experience
- Measure performance: monitor the impact of your digital ads and free local listings on online and in-store sales.
8. Paid Social Campaigns
Paid social campaigns help you obtain new leads and nurture leads already following your page. You can join any social media site like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Pinterest, but your audience will determine which social media site is right for your business. Each social media site has its own paid advertising program that you can leverage to target your audience better.
9. Email Marketing to Local Audience
Email marketing has been around forever, and for good reason. Think about how you can make your emails more attention-grabbing with local content. You might try a monthly newsletter that also includes relevant updates about the community. Or maybe deals and discounts are creatively named based on location-specific themes, such as street names. You may also write free guidelines or blog posts with a local focus and distribute those via email.
10. Online Reputation Management
Reviews are crucial to your local business. When users research a business, they look at the reviews to garner if your business is a good option. If you want your reviews to work for your business instead of against it, make review management part of your local online marketing plan.
Manage your reviews and thank people for taking the time to leave positive feedback. This strengthens your relationship with these customers to keep them coming back.
As for negative reviews, it’s vital that you take time to address the issues in them. Potential customers expect to see negative reviews, and what matters to them is how you handle that feedback.
Press on with these local marketing strategies to bring new customers to your doors today. With Digital Medio by your side, you can always find the right plan for your small business.
We look forward to helping your business grow!
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