If you’re the owner or director of a small business, successfully reaching your local audience and building a loyal customer base from nearby communities are essential to your business’s current health and future growth. Potential customers are right outside your business’s front door, and a well thought-out marketing strategy should be at the top of your to-do list for 2015.
Below are tips to help you create a local marketing plan for the New Year.
Write out, and refer back to, your marketing plan
It’s widely agreed that business leaders who take the time to physically write out their company’s marketing plan have a higher likelihood of long-term success. Take the time to sit down, identify your goals and write them down.
Decide on your reach.
Which geographic regions will your business serve? Choose the neighborhoods, cities, zip codes or counties of people and/or businesses you’d like to target.
Know your local audience on a very personal level.
Once you’ve decided the scope of your reach, get to know your neighborhood and the people you serve. Who are these potential customers and what draws them to the community? Figure out how your business provides them with a better life. Create a marketing silhouette of the various types of people within the communities you hope to capture – are they parents in search of family-friendly services, tweens and teenagers, young couples in search of local entertainment, business professionals who crave convenience or retirees? Every neighborhood and community has a unique quality about it, as well as reasons that people are attracted to the area. How does your business fit into this picture?
Maximize Local Advertising Efforts
Now that you know your audience, determine the types of publications they read and how they search for your type of business online. From local coupons inside of community mailers, advertisements in local publications and online sites, to creating a relationship with local media contacts and popular community bloggers, there are many ways to reach your audience. Take time to ask your customers where they find their information. And, ensure your building has proper signage to help customers easily locate your business from the street. Signs are important physical advertisements and speak a great deal about your business’s quality.
SEO Tactics Should Include Local Verbiage
Pay a lot of attention to your online presence. Your website should clearly state the areas you serve throughout your website pages to increase the chances that your business will pop up when people are searching for local services. A great way to help with SEO searches is to include the region you service in your business name, i.e., “Twinkle Toes Bakery of Rocklin, CA.” The businesses name states what the business is and where it’s located, making it easier to find in online searches when consumers search for bakeries near Rocklin. If your neighborhood has a nickname, such as ‘West Side,' ‘East Bay,’ South Bay,’ etc., include these neighborhood nicknames in your online content as well.
Connect with the Community Through Local Events and Fundraisers
Create a calendar of local events, including networking opportunities, community events and dates you plan to host events. Attend these community events as a vendor and hand out business cards or “swag bags” to those who stop by your booth. Advertise these events through social media and inform your local bloggers and media contacts about the events.
For more hyper-local tips every month and deeper dives into the above subjects, subscribe for free to The Local. Here’s to a thriving business in 2015 and beyond!
