Digital marketing is often touted as the ideal way to get your business seen by wider audiences (We have said it ourselves). It's true, too. Social media and the Internet offer access to pretty much everybody. You just need a digital marketing campaign that gets you in front of your target audiences.
While we can help you with that, we also want to highlight the fact that digital marketing can be pretty useful for local promotion as well. In fact, targeting your efforts to your local area can be a great way to expand your reach within your local geographic area. Unless of course you want to let people in California know about the awesome Italian food in Greencastle, but don't expect them to hop on a plane to check it out.
So how do you market your business locally? Here are just a few easy ideas to get you started. When you are ready to implement them, or need help with the heavy lifting of local digital marketing, consider letting us help.
Localize your Google AdWords campaign.
The first thing you need to know about how to market your business locally is that you can and definitely should localize your Google AdWords campaign.
Google AdWords allows you to geo target your ads. This means that you choose to have Google only show your ads to people in the certain area, like a state, city, or even within a certain radius of your address.
AdWords also lets you do some other pretty cool forms of targeting, but when deciding how to market your business locally, geo targeting should be your focus. Successful targeting will ensure that those ads get in front of people who are from or who are looking in your area, and that can increase your local visibility, as well as increase the chances that visitors to your site will actually convert.
Claim your local business listings.
Fortunately for small businesses, there are a number of local business directories online. The most important is the Google My Business listing. However, other directories, such as one on Yelp, can also help you associate your company with a certain area. The more directories that have your information, the easier it is for potential customers to find you, both online and in person.
Add local keywords to your content.
One of the main ways that the search engines decide who your content is best suited for is by the words you use in your content. Called keywords, search terms that your target audience will use to find products and services like yours are important to include in your content.
If you want to know how to market your business locally, you need to know how to use local keywords on your website. This can be as simple as adding references to your location on your blog posts and making sure your contact information appears on every page.
Talk about your area on social media.
You can adopt a similar approach on social media. Just like you should use local keywords on your website content, so you should use local keywords in your social media posts.
Doing so can be as easy as adding the name of your city or as complex as using a search terms like “industry name, city, state”). Just be sure to make it sound natural so your readers don't feel like you are trying to promote yourself instead of having a meaningful conversation.
Localize your Facebook posts.
Talking about your area on Facebook is a great way to alert search engines and audiences alike to your location. Another way to use social media marketing when you want to know how to market your business locally is to target your Facebook ads and posts.
You can achieve this targeting in much the same way you target your Google AdWords efforts. Facebook allows you to choose the areas where you want your Facebook posts and ads to appear. By choosing the areas your business serves, you ensure that only people who can benefit from your products and services see your business.
Share local partnerships and promotions.
Finally, if you want to know how to market your business locally, you should consider using your digital marketing campaign to share local partnerships and promotions
For example, say your community is putting in a fundraiser for a struggling family. Sign your business up to participate, then share on social media and your website. Not only will you get more participation, but you will also promote the fact that your business is local.
When you want to know how to market your business locally, consider these few easy tips. And consider hiring Distinct Web Design to help you develop a comprehensive digital marketing campaign. We can help you create a compelling online presence that extends your reach locally and as wide as you want.
