Spread the Word: 6 Must-Know Local Marketing Ideas
As a small business owner, you might think to yourself: “How do I market my small business?” If you have no experience in marketing, you might have no idea where to start or how to measure success.
If that’s the case, you’ve come to the right place. You don’t need a huge marketing budget or extensive knowledge in the field to bring in new customers. You can start small with these six must-know local marketing ideas.
1. Define (or Refine) Your Audience
At the heart of all business marketing is the customer. If you’re starting out, you need to define your customer, even if you’re not certain who it is. Make an educated guess and refine your audience as you sell more products or services.
If you’re an established business, take another look at your customer and refine your definition of them. What do you know about them? Why do they like your product or service?
Put yourself in their shoes and think as they would. It will help you target them in future marketing efforts.
2. Study Your Competitors
Once you know your customer, study your competitors. Are they targeting the same audience? If so, how can you make a better impression to draw in your customer?
Researching your competitors will also give you an idea about how they approach marketing. You can emulate their style or identify hidden opportunities.
3. Get Active on Social Media
Social media is key to successful small business marketing. It makes for a great, low-entry way to start marketing your business and gaining followers. The more followers you have, the better your brand recognition in the market.
To get into social media for business, you first need to set up a business page on the platform of your choice. Target a platform where your customer spends a lot of time. Then, fill out all the necessary details and try to post on a consistent basis.
Your posts don’t have to be fancy. Keep it simple by posting about discounts or content that spreads awareness about your services.
4. Create an SEO-Friendly Website
If you don’t have a website, make one. If you have one already, revise it to rank better on terms relevant to your business.
Online, you can find a lot of great information about search engine optimization (SEO). Take some time to study SEO and refocus your website on keywords you can compete on. You will start to bring in site visitors who are specifically searching for your product or service.
5. Buy Relevant Ad Space
If you don’t know anything about buying ad space, don’t worry too much. You can use programmatic advertising software to do most of the work for you.
Programmatic advertising technology automatically purchases ad space that’s relevant to your exact audience. This leaves you free to focus on the content of your ads.
6. Talk and Listen to Your Customers
Finally, build relationships with your customers. It sounds simple, but marketing for small business and marketing for business, in general, rely on how well you understand your customer.
Talk to your customers, and really listen. What pain points and challenges do they face, and how can you help them?
Apply These Local Marketing Ideas Today
With these local marketing ideas tucked into your pocket, you can start applying them today as needed. If you do, you should start seeing more interest in your brand. Capitalize on the earned momentum and continue building on your ideas with the latest advertising and marketing trends.
Are you looking for more small business marketing tips and tricks? Check out our site for the latest in advertising advice.