It’s great that you have opened your brick-and-mortar storefront and have even gathered some first-time visitors without much marketing. But there is a possibility that these visitors were just passing by your store and decided to give you a chance to fulfil their needs.
Have you thought about how you will attract visitors to your business beyond impulse purchases and word-of-mouth marketing?
Have you thought about how you can establish a strong presence in your local market that can keep regularly flowing in newer customers in your store?
If you haven’t, you may have already missed out on a great deal of opportunities to lead prospects to your store and turn them into regular customers.
Now, you may think of adopting a digital marketing strategy to get this done. While you are not wrong, know that digital marketing is the broader strategy that consists of various different marketing elements for your business.
One of these elements that will keep your phone ringing and bring people back is a solid local marketing strategy. Local marketing will catapult your business into one that has a shining brand presence. Let’s look at some areas that you need to focus on while building a local digital marketing strategy for your business.
Optimising Your Website For Local Search
Having a highly optimised website is great and having relevant and meaningful content on it is also a good start for website optimisation. But, if you want your local prospects to find your business immediately after they search for something related to your business on Google, you will need to optimise your website for local searches.
It is absolutely important that you first follow the SEO guidelines for 2022 for your website. Along with that, you can improve your local SEO insights even further by leveraging free keyword research tools like Google Analytics, Google Trends and Google Search Console to inform precisely what local terms you should incorporate. Local customers are more likely to visit your website when it is optimised for local search.
For example, a digital agency based in Bangalore can optimise its website with the keywords like “digital marketing agency in Bangalore” to respond to users’ search queries if they are finding an agency in the city.
GET Google My Business NOW!
Remember the time when you got a flat tire just a few hours before you were about to head to work and you immediately Googled “tire repair shops near me.”
The results that popped up on your phone suggesting you shops listed from the closest to the farthest along with their phone number, directions and reviews, are prime examples of how Google My Business brings customers directly to business.
Claiming your Google My Business listing is one of the simplest and most effective local marketing methods you can start using right away. An increase in GMB listing has come to be one of the most prominent digital marketing trends observed in 2022.
Search engine users can access information from Google My Business immediately on the search engine Google pages, including your location, store hours, directions, contact details, and more. It also gives you a chance to prompt customers who made a purchase from you to leave a review. This review is displayed as a part of the GMB listing and helps other prospective customers make a decision in their purchase journey.
Google Ads For Local Prospects
As far as sales go, advertising efforts are involved. And if there’s one thing that’s clear, it’s that Google and its algorithm are really smart. They are so smart that they can help in retargeting your ads to customers based on their locations. Interesting right?
You can target audiences based on keywords and location with Google Ads, a keyword-driven pay-per-click channel (amongst other things). Until your SEO is fully implemented, your creative copy and solution-focused content will assist you to capture your local market. This will enable you to optimise your campaigns and make changes for the best possible chance of commercial success.
Not sure how you can use Google to your advantage and optimise your ads? Take the help of an agency that offers google ads services to help your local target prospects with your Google ads.
Host Local Events & Market It In Online Communities
While digital marketing is great, creating a physical connection between your audience and your company is invaluable. Whenever it’s feasible, think about producing or supporting a neighbourhood event to raise your brand’s presence there. This is also a terrific method to get local news coverage, which increases the likelihood that a local audience will find you online.
If you are unsure of how you can get people to turn up to the event you are hosting, you can start off by promoting the event on social media platforms like Facebook which has the feature of hosting events and inviting people to attend them. You can also gain valuable insight into who will be joining the event and plan for the event ahead of time. Moreover, social media platforms like Reddit, LinkedIn and Facebook also encourage users to form communities and groups. It is a good idea for you to join these groups and promote your event to larger audiences.
Local Give-Aways & Discounts
Hosting giveaways and offers locally is a fantastic chance for your company to acquire more exposure and attention locally.
Though giveaways do not have to be bound by geographical boundaries, you can limit your giveaway to a specific area and advertise it through regional marketing and social media campaigns. Additionally, you can promote your giveaway in-store.
You can host these giveaways and offers on your social media pages or website. If you are using social media services, try to make the posts engaging where prospects comment, like, share and invite more people to interact with your social media page. This way, you not only promote your local business but also alert the social media algorithm that your post has high engagement.
An example of a giveaway for your cafe you want to promote locally could be a quiz or a contest. Such as, “First 10 to answer correctly get a free drink in-store on their next visit.”
A fruitful giveaway will raise brand awareness, boost engagement on social media, grow your fan base, and ultimately increase foot traffic into your shop.
Use these local marketing tactics and let us know which ones worked best for your business.
You can reach out to us on:
- Instagram: @brandfamedigital
- Facebook: Brandfamedigital
- Twitter: @brand_fame
- LinkedIn: BrandFame Digital
All the best!
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