The Ultimate Guide To Local Business Marketing

If you’re stuck for new local business marketing ideas, you need to check out this handy blog post. With this advice, you’ll be boosting your business in no time.

Your company’s website is getting a decent number of clicks, you have high engagement on social media, and your blog posts always garner at least a few comments.

But no matter how much work you’ve put into your current digital marketing strategy, you’re still not seeing the level of conversions you want — and the revenue that you need to keep your doors open.

So, what are you missing?

Likely, it’s your local business marketing strategy that needs some work.

But when you’re trying to understand how to market service on the local level, it can be tough to know where to get started.

That’s what this post is all about.

In it, we’re sharing with you some of our most effective and efficient local business marketing tips.

Read on to learn what it takes to make an impact in your local community.

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1. Pick The Right Keywords

The first thing that you need to remember about local business marketing?

Make sure that the keywords you choose to focus on include references to the following:

• Your city/region
• The neighborhood your business is located within
• Your service area at large
• Your county/municipality

So, why does including your business’s location or the geographic location of your target market make such a difference in local small business marketing?

For starters, depending on the type of business you’re in, your local market will be your biggest target audience. For example, if you’re a dentist or a florist, it doesn’t matter how fabulous your services are — people aren’t going to drive four hours away to something they can get in their own neighborhood.

By including a location in your keyword phrases, you’ll end up in the search engine results of the people who are most likely to actually use your goods or services.

This helps to increase your conversion rate and encourages your local visitors to spend more time on your website.

Remember, the higher your website’s overall dwell time, the higher that you’ll rise in the search engine rankings.

Since over 3/4 of Google searchers never make it past the first page of search engine results, doing everything you can to end up on that first page matters.

2. Submit Your Site To Local Business Directories

Another way to ensure that you’re doing online local business marketing the right way?

Always take the time to submit your website to local business directories.

Think of these business directories as the online version of the Yellow Pages. When people need the products or services that you offer, they likely won’t simply conduct a Google search and leave it at that.

They’ll want to see a variety of businesses that offer what your company does, and then be able to choose the best fit for them.

Most local business listings also allow you to refine your business by things like industry, location, niche, and even price range. This way, you’ll be that much more likely to connect with the people who are actually going to convert instead of click away from your site.

It’s also important to remember that many business directories actually crawl through others and automatically index them into their own listings. So, by submitting your site to one listing, you may end up actually submitting it to three or more.

For a list of some of the top Canadian business directories, check out this link.

3. Get More Online Reviews

When you want to better understand how to market a service, one of the best things to do is to think about how you find products/companies online.

One of the first things that you probably do when you’ve found a business you’re interested in working with?

You head to websites like Yelp and Angie’s List (and Google My Business, which we’ll get to later on in this post.)

Why?

Because you want to see what people are saying about working with this company and their experience in doing business with them.

You’re not alone.

In fact, nearly 100% of consumers read online reviews about a product or business before they make a purchase or schedule a product.

So, if no one is saying anything at all about your local business?

Your small business marketing plan — no matter how optimized for SEO it is — won’t end up being effective.

This is because, without online reviews, you have no foundation when it comes to consumer trust. Focus on building up your online reviews as a part of your local small business marketing strategy.

Incentivize your clients to leave reviews by offering them a discount off of their next purchase, or by entering them into a drawing for free products.

4. Link To Other Local Businesses In Your Niche

As a local business, you’re always the first person to advocate for shopping small and buying from other brands within your community.

And while having a presence in person in your local community is important, it’s just as crucial that you build relationships with other local businesses online.

You can comment on their blog posts and share their status updates to your own social media pages.

However, if you want to do something that will improve both of your search engine rankings?

Then you should include links to their content in your own blog posts and your overall website content.

First of all, if their website has a higher domain authority than your own, then including these links will help you to rise in the search engine rankings.

Also, the local business is likely to notice that you’ve featured a link to their posts in your content. (And if they don’t, you can always send them an email to let them now.)

We’re willing to bet that they’ll return the favor.

When other websites link out to your own, your ranking factor improves. This is because Google sees that your post is helpful to others.

When you’re including external links to other local businesses, make sure that the links are actually relevant to what you’re writing about. For example, Google will notice if you include a link to a random post about car insurance on an article about the best wines in your region.

And they’re likely to penalize you for it.

So, always keep your links authoritative and on-topic.

5. Claim Your Google My Business Listing

The final piece of local business marketing advice that we’ll cover in this post?

Always make sure that you claim your Google My Business page.

First of all, if you don’t, be aware that your competition may do it for you. The last thing you want is for your biggest competitor to be controlling one of your business profiles.

Additionally, claiming this site means that you’re much more likely to pop up in the navigation results of those who are in their cars and looking to head to companies like you’re own.

Since nearly half of local searches completed on mobile devices mean that the searcher will end up in your store or at your company’s doorstep within 24 hours, this is something that you need to take seriously.

When you fill out your Google My Business listing, you need to do so as completely as possible.

This means that you should include photos of your storefront, your contact information, your store hours, and even the methods of payment that you accept.

Think of your Google My Business page as a one-stop-shopping destination for potential customers who want to learn as much as they can about your company in as little time as possible.

Always make sure that the information you’ve listed is up-to-date — especially your address and telephone number. Be sure to thank reviewers and engage with what people are saying on your page, as well.

Need Professional Help With Your Local Business Marketing? 

From linking to other local websites in your blog content to getting more online reviews for your business, we hope this post has helped you to better understand local business marketing.

Above all, make sure that you’re consistently checking your site visitor data and social media followers’ profiles in order to ensure that you’re making an impact on the local level.

We understand that sometimes, you need professional help with it comes to local small business marketing.

We want to be the SEO experts that help you to make it happen.

Spend some time on our website and blog to learn more about the SEO services we offer.

When you’re ready to take your business to the next level, get in touch with us.