While you might be navigating the turbulent seas of national and even international marketing, it is important to never forget about what should be your first port of call, local marketing. It is a common misconception that local marketing is solely for brands and businesses that have one location, but all brands should consider local marketing an important part of their strategy.Â
When you are crafting a digital marketing strategy it is important to consider your local market. You may need to develop a unique strategy for this audience, as a national marketing strategy may not resonate with local consumers. A local marketing strategy can be highly effective at building brand awareness, but can be difficult to implement if you are unsure. Below we look at how you can build a local marketing strategy.Â
Understand Your Audience
The very first step in any marketing strategy is to understand your audience, and this is especially true when it comes to local marketing. You will need to understand where they are spending their time online and what social media platforms they are using. For example, you might find that your local audience prefers Facebook over Instagram, and can tailor your social media marketing thusly.Â
The interests of your local market may also differ to those of the national or wider audience.If you have a restaurant branch in a small town, you may find that the people in this town prefer more intimate tasting events to a rushed and busy restaurant experience. Tailoring your offerings and your marketing material to this data will help with appealling to this audience.Â
Look At Location Data
An important part of local marketing campaigns is making use of the location data of your users. This will help you to send out personalised and timed push-notifications from your website or mobile app when a consumer is close to one of your branches. This will ensure that your local audience is aware of your location and can encourage more foot traffic.Â
Using location data can also help you to target your Google Ads and Facebook Ads, ensuring that these are only shown to people who live or frequent your local area. Showing ads to people who do not live in or regularly visit the area of your business will waste your time and money, but if you target consumers who are in these areas, you will see more website and foot traffic and can grow more leads.Â
All About Authenticity
Being an authentic brand is one of the best ways to reach your audience, local or national. However, authenticity is important for local marketing because it shows your audience that you are thinking about their needs and how your brand can provide a solution to these needs. Local consumers expect brands in and around their area to understand their needs and their location.Â
For example, you could not open a luxury shopping centre in a small town that is in a lower income bracket. Authenticity also includes creating content that resonates with your audience, such as blog posts about local festivals or articles highlighting the area where they live. This content will also allow you to use keywords targeted towards local search data, helping to improve your SEO rankings.Â
Add To Local Directories
A sure-fire way to ensure that you appear in searches by local clients is to make use of local business directories. These local directories allow you to add your location, use tags, add keywords, and upload images and even blogs. Many are free of charge to register and list your business on.Â
Once you have found directories that are local and that are frequented by your consumers, you can add these links to your website or share them on social media. Be sure to use keywords in your listing so that your business is easily found. Include your business location too, so that consumers are aware of where you can be found. This will also help your backlinking strategy, helping to boost your SEO results and online visibility.Â
Face-To-Face Interaction
Interacting with your customers on a face-to-face level is an important part of any local marketing strategy. This is because consumers are more likely to trust (and buy from) a brand with a human presence…and a human representative. If you are a small business, this might be easier to achieve, but larger brands can do this by assigning local representatives in the area.Â
Interacting with customers on a more personal level also allows you to gather real-time data about how your brand is seen by your audience, how you can improve this, and other important consumer data. These interactions will also help to solidify your brand in the eyes of your local audience. Local marketing should always extend further than simply placing an advertisement on social media or in your local newspaper.Â
If you would like to improve your local digital marketing strategy, you can speak to NetMechanic to find out how we can help you.Â
