Local Marketing – 7 Ways To Market Your Local Business

1. Google Local Places Promotion

The single most important source of traffic that you can bring to your local establishment is by having your business in the Google local business center – also known as Google Places. Your prospects who are searching to find businesses like yours will be more apt to pick up the phone and call you to set up an appointment or order your product.

Google looks at many factors when it decides whom they are going to display in the local business listings for business. But, there are two major factors – citations and reviews. These are similar to the traditional “word of mouth” advertising in times past for businesses who have built up a good reputation. Google just copied this and brought it to the virtual world.

2. Setup a Website for Your Business

With the Google local business center it is possible to promote your business without having a website, but I would highly recommend that you don’t go that route. Why? Not having a website will reflect badly on your business because in today’s time and age, not only is it very inexpensive to build one, it’s a standard to have one. It's simplest to use WordPress for your small business website.

Small local businesses have not been keeping up with the changing times and for the past years have only used a website as an online brochure. Your website should present an interactive way to communicate with all of your different audiences – not just new prospects. Here are some of the reasons customers of local businesses will frequent a website:

1. To make an inquiry about your product or service.
2. Something as simple as finding your phone number.
3. Ask a question using your online contact form.
4. Look for information on what you offer or your business.
5. Provide comments and testimonials.

Building a high-quality, interactive website that draws in your different audience groups to a call to action is not difficult. If you are going to be marketing your business on the internet then you should consider having a professional give you a free website assessment to give you advice on how to improve your conversions and bring in more traffic.

3. Market Your Website

I have a saying “If you aren’t promoting your website, then it’s like a bulletin board in the dessert with no one to see it!”. Your website won’t get noticed unless you are promoting it. You promote it primarily through search engine optimization. You see, the search engines will drive more traffic to a website then any other medium combined. At the current time, Google has an 80%+ market share related to searches for local businesses. Say hello to the eight hundred pound gorilla!
 

The skinny is, you better be found in the correct places on Google if you intend on marketing your local business online so you can grab the 43% of searches that are local related or the 61% that purchase offline. You can promote your local business in many different ways online, a few of those being, local seo, article marketing, social media marketing, pay per click and e-mail marketing. Search engine marketing being the main promotion factor in getting google to rank your website high on the front page for your targeted keyword phrases.

Realize though, that search engine marketing is not a “one-shot” deal or a “set it and forget it” proposition. On a consistent basis (monthly) you need to put in the effort to expose your local business website on other web properties, commenting on other websites posts and articles, creating content that is re-purposed for other mediums (i.e. video, audio, pdf’s). This creates inbound or “external” links to your website.

Of course, you want to focus on those links that will yield you a greater return on your investment of time. You just don’t want any ol’ link, but quality over quantity.

4. Building a List to Market To

You hear it all the time online from internet marketing “goo-roos” – “The money is in the list!”. Having a quality e-mail list that you can market to is one of the best return on investments that you will have. According to the experts, for every $1 spent is a return greater than $40 (give or take). That’s a fantastic investment and who wouldn’t continue to keep putting in a $1 and getting $40 back!

This is where a lot of local businesses go wrong. They don’t have a system in place to capture the name and e-mail address of visitors to their website so they can create a “house” list to setup a qualified e-mail campaign. You can then communicate with this list on a monthly, bi-weekly or weekly basis building a relationship with them and also offering them specials, discounts and other products and services. By doing this you will be building trust and loyalty towards your business.

5. Socialize With Your Customers

It’s all the rage. Social media that is – such websites as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. This is where a lot of your prospects, customers and even your own employees are hanging out – getting social. Now that we are well into 2010, we see that Facebook has taken the lead in helping local businesses bring in traffic and leads. With over 500 million active users and atleast half of them visiting it on a daily basis to socialize with like minded individuals, playing games, posting messages, photos, music and more.

Having relationships is part of human nature as well as understanding that every business sells something that we either want (mainly) – or need. This “social” technology gives us humans the means to build relationships with other businesses, to communicate and to transact.

How can you, as a local business utilize this phenomenon?

Stick to the basics at first, and that is – be present on Twitter and Facebook on a consistent basis, setup a Facebook page and blog to communicate to your followers. To connect with key players in your business setup a LinkedIn profile as well.

6. Joint Venture With Other Businesses

Do you know what leverage is? In marketing your business, it is having a another business promote your product or services to their customers (an endorsement) so you can bring in new customers and they get a share of the profits. It’s important to find ways to leverage existing customers to find new business opportunities.

You can find many businesses in your area to joint venture with. Look at complimentary businesses to your product or service, associations in your industry, suppliers or vendors. These companies are probably targeting the same customers as you are, as well as, there own customer base. There are many ways to leverage promotions with these companies such as an endorsed letter, discounts or offering them a lot of value by using you through the joint venture.

Take some time and think about some ways you can leverage other businesses customer base to make a win-win-win proposition.

7. Keep On Marketing

Marketing a local business, or any business for that fact is like taking one step forward and three steps back. You only go back the three steps once you STOP marketing your business. Successful businesses don’t start and stop their marketing, innovating and pushing themselves forward.

It takes consistent effort each and every day to promote, expose and make your business transparent online using search engines, social media, e-mail marketing, video and article writing. Like the saying goes “you can only eat an elephant, one bite at a time.” If you stop and start your marketing efforts it’s going to send a message of sloppiness, that you are unorganized, and inaccessible to your prospects that you don’t want them to have.

It’s all in the experience of how you are marketing to them that is going to draw in your target market and keep them coming back for more. Part of that is how you handle complaints, communicate with them and thank them for their patronage. Find that way to serve your customers with passion and they will be loyal to you for a long time.

Are you utilizing any or all of these methods to market your local business? Share with us your experiences, struggles and successes by leaving a comment below.

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I'm here to help you build a successful and growing business using WordPress and online marketing efforts. Please connect with me on Facebook. You are what makes up Lapeer Website Design!

Patrick Whitson has spent more than twenty years in the computer field programming and designing web sites for such companies as J. Walter Thompson, Ford, MSX Intl., White Castle, Delphi and many small to mid-sized businesses. Moving out of corporate America, he decided to work specifically with local businesses to help them market online using their own website. He has worked with many small businesses and is seeing them grow and bring in more customers with Lapeer Website Design.