Being a local business owner requires premier league plate-spinning skills.
Sourcing suppliers, dealing with deliveries, soothing staff and caring for customers probably feels like feeding the five thousand on a daily basis.
But if you don’t spare your energy for digital marketing you might miss the 69 per cent of consumers who search for a local business online at least six times a year.
With that in mind, here are four ways digital marketing can boost your local business.
1. On-point website
Don’t ditch your website to focus on social media.
63 per cent of consumers still use websites to find or engage with businesses — so a clean, attractive site that showcases your products and services is a must.
A well-optimised site helps you spring up the search rankings like a Google mountain goat— ensuring local customers find you first.
2. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
At the dawn of the web there was a rush for every firm to have an online presence.
But search engines have become much more sophisticated in the way they rank sites.
So without SEO, a great looking site will effectively be invisible to new customers.
SEO techniques blend backroom technical knowledge with great user experience.
You can track and tweak the performance of every nook and cranny of your site with an analytics platform.
Nearly 60 per cent of searches now come from mobile devices — so make sure your site’s mobile-friendly, because your competitors are only a click away for potential customers.
Google’s services are also becoming more accessible for smaller businesses — Google My Business offers free listings to make you more visible on Google Maps and search.
Once you’re on the platform, you can promote new products and special events through Posts on Google.
3. Local content marketing
Local content marketing ensures that the content on your website is targeted specifically at your stomping ground.
If you’re an expert in your sector, customers should see you as the first place they turn for advice— the same way Starsky and Hutch headed straight to Huggy Bear for the word on the street.
You can tie in blogs and articles with local news and explain exactly how your offering solves pain points for people in the neighbourhood.
And when you create fresh content fairly regularly it’ll strengthen your search rankings.
So having your finger on the local pulse means the content you create is relevant, sharable and positions you as the go-to team in the community.
4. Effective social media
Social media platforms are popular for local businesses because they’re free to set up and have a massive potential reach.
But find out which platform most of your customers spend time on to focus your strategy there.
Sharing content is simple on social — but the way you communicate is crucial.
So become fluent in customer language fast or you’ll be less welcome than a skunk at a perfume convention.
Engage effectively and you’ll build an online tribe that advocates for your brand without you even having to ask— think of it as digital word-of-mouth.
Social allows you to show your support for community causes and share news about competitions and promotions rapidly. So it really enhances your reputation when used effectively.
Localised digital marketing done properly takes time.
But it’ll open up your business to a dynamic new dimension and eliminate some of the entrepreneurial weight from your shoulders.
We have in-house experts on all of these business boosting tactics and many more — call us today and you’ll soon be a local legend.
