3 Local Business Marketing Tools (with Step-by-Step Instructions)
Local business marketing can result in huge benefits for your business, but it does require a little bit of marketing know-how.
In this post, you’ll learn three powerful local business marketing tactics.
Rather than providing broader strategies, this post is going to focus on actual how-to guidance and tactics. That means you’ll learn how to enhance your small business’s local marketing, step-by-step.
Before we get started, it’s important to note that local business marketing is a great approach for small businesses and larger enterprises, and even freelancers. A lot of customers prefer to work with companies and individuals from their area.
After a local search, 50% of mobile searchers visited a store location within one day, according to Google.
If you’re not doing any local marketing yet, it’s worth asking yourself why not.
However, if you don’t have an office or workspace in a specific location, and aren’t able to meet in that location, I do not recommend local marketing. Misrepresenting your location and availability can cause customers to lose trust in you and your business.
Finally, remember that local marketing will work best if your website is mobile-optimized. Plus, mobile optimization is good for your SEO in general. If your site isn’t yet mobile-friendly, I would recommend putting that at the top of your digital marketing priorities list.
Without further ado, here are three success-focused tactics for local business marketing:
1. Create a Google Business profile with your location and hours.
This is a really easy, free step that can result in significantly better search visibility for your business.
When you search for a business, or even a type of business, on Google, it will typically list a few local options at the top or on the right of the search engine results page (SERP).
Below is an example of what it can look like. Check out the right sidebar! That box is showing the data from a Google Business profile.
Boingo Graphics is a printing company in Charlotte, NC that I have used for corporate event booths and would definitely recommend. They’re great! And more to the point, I found them via their Google Business profile when searching for trade show booth printers in Charlotte. That’s the power of local business marketing with Google.
Creating a Google Business profile will help your business show up when people in your area search for your product, service, or business name.
So, here’s how to create a Google Business profile to help with your local business marketing:
Type in your business name and click “search.”
If Google already has some information about your business, you may see an option to claim it. Otherwise, you will be prompted to submit some information about your company.
Make sure to add your logo and a cover photo, as well as your website and phone number. This information will make your profile look more trustworthy when visitors see it on Google.
Google will likely require you to verify your profile and ownership of the business. Sometimes they do this by sending you a postcard with a code on it. This typically takes about 5 days. When you receive the postcard, verify your account and get ready to show up on Google!
Any additional materials you can use to build out your Google Business profile are wonderful. The Google Business profile has space for you to add an appointment link, videos, photos, and more.
Creating a Google Business profile will help your business be more visible online, but that’s not the only benefit. With a profile, people can leave reviews for you, and upload pictures of your location. Providing ways for visitors and customers to also contribute to your profile also creates the opportunity for valuable social proofing for your company.
“The number of searches containing the phrase “near me today/tonight” has increased by 900% over the past two years, according to Think with Google.
Plus, Google Business also allows you to set up messaging, so that potential visitors and customers can live chat you!
Additional note: this strategy is most effective for businesses with a physical location or target geographic market. However, it could be successfully leveraged even by digital-only businesses.
2. Build out your local listings and profiles.
Local listings are a great way to develop your digital presence, and strengthen your local SEO.
How do they impact your local SEO?
Many of the local listings will allow you to link to your website. Those backlinks are healthy because they show the search engines that you’re real, and help provide consistent messaging about your business.
These listings are also valuable because they (theoretically, at least) make it easier for consumers to find you. However, with many consumers turning first to Google to find out information, your Google Business profile is more relevant.
There are hundreds of local listing websites. Some are more newsy, such as your area’s Business News, while others are more social, like Foursquare or Yelp. Your city or state’s government probably also has a company listing site. Depending on your business, you might choose to create a profile on all of them, or just a few. Note that you may need to pay for some of them.
Pro Tip: I would highly recommend using a solution like Moz Local for your local business marketing efforts. This is a powerful tool that helps boost your local SEO and lets you easily track the online listings.
That said, if you’re not able or willing to pay for a service, I’ve included steps below!
Again, local marketing is all about making it easy for potential customers in your area to find you. When you’re thinking about the best local listing services, keep your potential customer in mind.
Here’s how to create your local business listings and profiles:
Pull together all the information you’ll likely need for the profiles.
This data includes your business name, logo, location, website, social media profiles, any promotional imagery or videos, and a clear description of your company.
You’ll be copy-and-pasting this information to a lot of different places; make life easy on yourself by keeping it organized and accessible.
Create a list of the best local business listings for your business. (Really make the list - don’t just keep tabs open on your browser!)
I created a template for you to use when making this list. Get it here!
The business profiles that are the most relevant for you will depend on your business. If you’re a restaurant, it’s important to make sure you have a profile on Yelp and can respond to comments. If you run an auto body shop, you may want to be in the directory of your industry trade group. If you’re a local home or landscaping professional, Houzz or Angie’s List might be good options for you.
Continue your research with this simple search: “[your city] + local business directory” This will probably return a lot of results - not all of them good. Select the ones that are best for your business or seem the most reputable. If you’re only looking for free business directories, make sure to include the word “free” in your search.
Finally, search for “the best [product/service/solution] in [city]” to put yourself in your consumer’s shoes. Any listing or review website that shows up is a good place for you to create a profile. If blogs, online magazine articles, or podcasts show up, take note! Those are also going to be important for you - more on that in the next section!
Begin creating profiles on each of the local listings you identified.
This is where you’ll be grateful that you actually did pull all of your business data and these local listings in one place. It will make your life so much easier when it comes time to actually create the profiles!
As you move through your list, make sure to cross off or otherwise mark the listing as complete.
Paste a link to your actual profile in your list.
Note when you created the listing.
As I mentioned above, many of these local listing services will request that you keep your local profile up-to-date. At a minimum, you should review it annually. Tracking all of your local profiles in a central place will make your life easier 12 months from now!
Again, a tool like Moz Local can help out. I am not sponsored and do not receive anything from this recommendation. It’s just one of the best tools I know of that will allow you to more efficiently create and update those listings.
Read Also: 5 Expert Tips for a Successful Marketing Strategy
3. Partner with local influencers and bloggers to promote your company.
Influencer marketing can seem like such an overwhelming prospect - particularly for local businesses! It’s a red-hot marketing strategy these days, but it isn’t often talked about in the local marketing context. Time for that to change.
Influencer marketing is basically media and public relations in 2020. Ten years ago, if you were opening a new location, you might publish a press release about it. These days, you can replace the press release with influencer relationship development. The influencer has replaced the media network for many consumers.
Think about where you’re getting your news. Across generations, digital media is either the leading news source, or a dominant one. While social media is a huge sector of digital media, it’s not the only one! Email, blogging, and digital events are also important digital channels where consumers are getting news. Influencer marketing has a place in all of these channels - not just social.
Still nervous about influencer marketing? I get it. It can seem really intimidating because it seems costly and hard to track. Here are a few things to keep in mind.
Not all “influencers” have a million followers, and they’re not all bringing in six figures with their posts. They’re not all expecting huge payments in return for posting about your product, service, or solution.
Even if your business is more industrial, there are probably influencers in your space. (There are influencers even in banking compliance!)
Influencers need new content, too! Partnering offers them a chance to explore new ideas, and share new content with their followers. Influencer relationships can and should be mutually beneficial.
Local influencers can provide deeper connections to your community, on- and offline!
Marketing your local business using influencers is all about building relationships and buzz. Keep that in mind, and be creative in how you execute!
When you’re ready to implement influencer marketing, here’s how to do it:
First, determine what you’d like to offer the potential local influencers. Are you going to host an event? Offer a sneak preview? Pay an advertisement? Think about what makes the most sense for your business.
Review of your social media followers to see if you may already have some influencers following what you’re doing, making, or serving! Make a list of these influencers.
Also, make sure to note that they’re currently following your brand. You’ll be adding to this list, and it’s helpful to know who’s who.
On this list, include their follower count, engagement rates, and other important metrics.
You guessed it! I’ve created a template for this, too. Get the local business marketing tracker template here!
Next, you’ll want to start researching other leading voices in the industry in your area. As you find them, add them to your list, too! (Again, make sure to keep notes about their followers, engagement rates, and whether they follow you.) Here are a few tactics for finding those influencers:
Search for your city and see what posts come up in the “most popular” section of the results. Some of these posts have likely been created by local influencers.
Look at the social media profiles of your competitors. See which posts, photos, or videos they’ve been tagged in. Again, some of this content is likely to have been created by local influencers.
Research the leading voices in journalism in your field. Some of these journalists may have significant social media followings. While they aren’t “pay to play” like an influencer would be, they may also be interested in covering your business.
Identify the influencers you want to connect with. Here are a few things to keep in mind when determining if an influencer is a good partner for you:
How many followers do they have?
Are those followers your ideal customers? If so, great! If not, this influencer might not be a good fit for you.
What percentage of their followers are engaging with their posts? As you might guess, more engagement is better!
Once you have a list of influencers you want to connect with, draft up a short intro message. This message will likely be different, depending on whether that influencer follows you or not. Here are some examples:
“Hi! I noticed that you’re following [business]. Thanks for your support! We’d love to find a way to collaborate. Would you be interested in learning more?”
“Hi! Based on your profile, it seems like you might be interested in [business]. We’d love to collaborate. Are you interested in exploring a partnership?”
Follow the influencers that you aren’t yet following.
Send out your messages, and note on your list when they were sent.
Follow up to those who don’t answer within a few days.
If you’re not getting any responses at all, your messaging may need some work.
If certain people still don’t respond after reaching out the second or third time, they’re probably either not interested, or the message didn’t resonate with them. That’s okay! Focus your attention on the engagement that you *are* getting.
Finalize the terms of your partnership with the individual influencers.
Rinse and repeat!
Connecting and collaborating with influencers isn’t as impossible as it seems from the outside! It’s really very similar to media relations and advertising, just with a slightly different spin.
If you’re looking for more small business marketing tips, check out this blog!
So that’s it! There are tons of local business marketing strategies you can deploy. When you’re evaluating strategies, always ask yourself “does this help me connect with my local prospects and customers better?”
Any strategy should deliver real value to you and your customers, and help them find you when and where they need you.
If you’re looking for a helping hand with your marketing, Lane Collective would love to be considered. Book your intro call here.
