A lot of people think they need to market to the world when they run a business. Although that will work for some companies, for others, it’s a bad idea. After all, if you don’t want to become a huge corporation or you aren’t able to sell to a large area (perhaps because you offer a particular service and can’t travel too far for cost and time considerations), then staying local is a much better idea.
If you choose to do this, you’ll need to ensure your marketing reflects that. It’s not very professional to have to turn away business because you aren’t able to help someone, even if your marketing suggests that you can. You could earn a poor reputation this way, and at the very least, it’s time-consuming. With that in mind, here are some ideas on how to market your business locally.
Google Maps
Google Maps is one of those tools we often use but don’t really think too much about. However, when you think about this, it’s exactly the reason why it can be such a powerful idea for your local marketing; people use it all the time.
When you are able to be located on Google Maps, more people will know where you are and how to find you – ideal if you are a store or restaurant, for example. They can even use other features such as determining how far you are from their home and where the best parking is close to where you are located. It will take time and effort to improve your ranking on Google Maps, but it will be worth it. The following point will help you with this.
Local SEO
SEO (search engine optimization) is a very valuable way for businesses of all sizes and in all sectors to market themselves. When your SEO is good, you can rise up the search engine results rankings and ideally find yourself at the top (or close to the top) of the first page. Even better, this is where your potential customers will find you, ensuring you get more visitors to your website, after which it is your job to convert those visits into sales.
Local SEO is even better. With local SEO from the best local SEO company, you can ensure that your marketing efforts are linked to your area specifically. In this way, you’re marketing to a bigger pool of people, but you’re ensuring that those people are, generally, in your sales area. This will help your budget go further and give you a much better return.
Your Vehicle
If you have a vehicle, you’re going to be driving it around your local area for all kinds of reasons. You might take it to the office, drive it to clients’ houses, or, even if you don’t specifically use it for work, you’ll take it to the grocery store, your children’s school, on day trips, and so on.
It makes sense to add signwriting to your vehicle that advertises your business. People will see it as you drive around, and even if they don’t need your services right now, this might be enough to remind them of you when they do in the future. You’ll become a recognized part of the local community, which will help you sell to local people more easily.
