Whether you’re a small business operating operating primarily on the Internet, or a brick and mortar shop on the street, there’s one aspect of your business that you’ve probably had to think about: local marketing. If this is a strong part of your marketing strategy and you’ve cornered the market in your neighborhood, then good for you! If it isn’t, then you might want to start figuring out your plan of attack.
Depending on your business, local marketing may or may not be a large part of your marketing outreach. But chances are, if you’re reading this post you’ve given some thought to local marketing efforts in and around your neighborhood. Local marketing isn’t what it used to be: simply putting an ad in the yellow pages and waiting for the phone to ring doesn’t work anymore. Now, it’s all about search engines and social media! This isn’t a bad thing, considering that with some strategy and effort you can significantly grow your business with SEO and social media marketing.
Here are a few things to keep in mind when planning out your local marketing strategy:
- Keep all your listings updated and consistent online, which means email contacts, phone numbers, and any other important business listing information.
- If you have a website presence, be sure it’s optimized for mobile phones. Research shows that 9 out of 10 mobile searches lead to action, and many of these within one hour!
- Local businesses are quickly losing out to those companies that have fully serviced websites or social channels. If you are a retail business without an e-commerce presence, consider redoing your existing website and adding an e-commerce platform.
- Google is the granddaddy of search engines; be sure to set up a Google+ Business page.
Build a great listing and it will help potential customers find you (and even boost your search engine rankings!)
- Yes, the yellow pages might seem archaic now, but that’s because they have been replaced with online directories. These are a critical part of any local marketing effort. Look into listing your business on sites like Yelp and Merchant Circle.
Having a sound local marketing strategy will make running your business that much easier. For further assistance with your local marketing efforts, contact EDK today.