Technological developments are making marketing for small local business owners a big challenge. It’s hard to keep track of all the apps their customers could be using and promote the business on all of them. It’s next to impossible to run the business and then look after its prospects on Google without giving the job to that geek in the neighborhood.
So, instead of playing a champion on such forums all at once, small businesses can rely on local marketing and keep their focus on limited web presence.
Here are such 5 tips that you can’t afford to miss if you want to succeed in local marketing as a business owner.
In this article...
1. Choose Your Social Media Wisely
That’s as important as it can get. You need to handpick the forums you know will help you. Most people begin their web presence with a page on Facebook and a Twitter account. However, such social media have shown little or no success in introducing their consumers to local businesses they would love.
It’s ironic that the less populated social media forums, such as Pinterest and Instagram, have already shown much success in bringing the customers to new local businesses.
So, learn about your options before you choose.
2. Avoid Information Overload
Do you have a friend who keeps sending you all sorts of text messages they receive without thinking whether it would be useful to you or not?
Don’t be that friend to your customers. Once you have a social media presence, make sure you share valuable information with your followers.
The idea is to use social media for real engagement of prospects and customers, and that will happen only if you share useful content.
3. Use the Growing Popularity of Online Reviews
Start doing that today. Research shows more people read online reviews now than they did only a couple of years back. The reason is the growing acceptance of the online world as a marketplace. Now that people take the Internet as a viable, serious medium of shopping, they want to know more about the product they’re looking at before they actually buy it.
So, find good customer reviews and promote them on your social media.
4. Be Their Hero
This is a tricky one but you can manage it if you follow our advice.
The idea of a hero is somebody people look up to and love. As a small business owner, you can create content that positions you as a lover of the community. When you do something for the neighborhood, find a way to mention it on your social media and blog (if you keep one).
5. Localize Your Content
Don’t go after the world. Create for the audience living around your business. The easiest way to do it is by making events for local causes and engaging the people in your neighborhood. These kinds of activities will establish you as a local hero, somebody everybody smiles at when they visit.
