Achieving growth is easy for some companies but hard for most. What distinguishes those companies that grow in their local market in the face of competition and stagnant market?
The answer is…
Article Contents
Local Digital Marketing
Many agencies encourage businesses to “market online” by using digital technology and the internet. These small businesses ultimately begin “global marketing” the moment they hit the web. Focusing on the broader approach to web, social, and mobile is detrimental to some businesses. These businesses end up competing against other companies that aren’t going after the same customer.
This trend has thankfully been turned on its head due to the lack of financial impact. Local businesses who rely on foot traffic from their city’s footprint, or smaller, are realizing that they need to focus on local digital marketing. In today’s uncertain and changeable world, local businesses’ competitive advantage increasingly depends on their ability to maximize the local market.
It’s time to go behind the closed doors of successful businesses and share with you the truth about positioning your business for local dominance.
If your mind was sparked during the words above, this post is for you.
It is critical that your business have a local presence. Take action on the following today!
Create local business pages
Create local business pages on Google+ Local Pages, Facebook Pages and Bing Places for Business. These pages appear in local search which makes them highly valuable in your local marketing efforts.
Your business must show up in search results when people search for your business category and city or region.
Other local business pages to pay attention to are: LinkedIn Company Pages, Foursquare, YellowPages.com, Manta, and Yelp profiles. By creating these local pages you’ll be increasing your exposure online and helping potential customers find your business.
Don’t fall into the placeholder trap. This is where you create the pages, profiles, and accounts then never look at them again. Make sure you schedule time every month to oversee these pages. Uhuru offers a Local Marketing consultation for businesses who want to learn more about how to successfully monitor local business listings, along with recommendations for improvement.
Encourage reviews from local customers.
Once you have all those local business listings you need to make sure you take advantage of the social proof potential. Many of these local sites allow client/consumers to review or endorse your company.
Examples sites that offer this option: Facebook and LinkedIn, Yelp and Google+ Local Pages.
Not only will the positive comments establish social proof and credibility to your brand, it will also boost your SEO.
Don’t wait for your clients to write reviews, get proactive and ask. You should also add the invitation to review in your email signature and on your website.
Use local SEO keywords.
To take action on this step, keyword research is required. It’s imperative that you find out which search terms people use when searching for businesses in your area. Many businesses get hung up here, which is why they come to Uhuru. You’ll need to experiment with keyword combinations on your website and uncover, through testing, which keywords will gain you the highest level of conversion.
Make sure you add the city or region names to your industry-relevant terms. This is an established method to generate localized search phrases.
If you are using PAID search ads, you should use geo-targeting. This will limit where your ads are displayed to specified areas.
Optimize your website for mobile.
This impact of mobile devices on web traffic are significant. Especially, if you’re trying to draw local traffic to your website. If you want to successfully market your business in 2014 a mobile-optimized site is a priority. More local searches are conducted on mobile devices and tablets than desktops, so you want to provide a user-friendly experience that enables the potential buyer to engage with your business with the least level of friction.
Related: Business Mobile Marketing Strategy
Have other local businesses link to you.
You may have heard of the SEO tactic: backlinks. This regularly used tactic is applicable to local marketing as well.
The key is to target local websites and ask for relevant links. This isn’t breaking the online rules. To start, join your local Chamber of Commerce and get listed on their online directories which include a link to your website.
Another area of interest and value are .gov and .org. If your City’s website lists businesses by sector or service type make sure your business is listed. This will give your website added value.
One thing to remember with backlinks, it isn’t a single link that makes or breaks you – it is the gradual accumulation of quality backlinks that will benefit you most.
Conclusion
Transitioning your digital marketing efforts to emphasize on local is a good place to start when trying to grow your business in your city’s footprint.
By supplementing these digital strategies with traditional marketing initiatives, for example local promotions and events, you’ll position your business as an industry leader in your local area.
Shift your digital marketing strategy to focus on local. A local marketing effort can generate huge benefits, and sales, if done right.
1 thought on “How to go local with your digital marketing”
For local business, Digital Marketing can give a great impact on developing business. SEO is the best way to achieve your target. But you may also focus on Facebook and Directory for early success. Thanks for sharing your motive.