From your doorstep to your identity on the web, community involvement is an aspect of advertising you must not overlook. A solid internet marketing strategy is paramount if you want to capture the attention of your local target market. Avenues of local marketing are many and must involve careful planning. Here are just a few:
With Independence Day just around the corner, the American Automobile Association (AAA) predicts that about 39 million Americans have travel plans for the July 4th weekend. This number is down about 2.5 from last year’s travel figures. About 44 percent of travelers agreed that high fuel prices affected their travel plans. But what does that mean for local merchants? It means that more people will be staying home this weekend. This could be an advantage if local marketing strategies are used to bring in local customers looking for something to do for their mini “staycation” besides watching the town fireworks display. Whether it is a sale at the local boutique or a 4th of July brunch special at the local restaurant, giving local customers and incentive to get out of the house this holiday weekend should pay off. If you have nothing special planned for your business, it’s not too late. Consider using some basic local marketing strategy approaches, such as social media, banner signs, and flyers to attract customers. It’s never too late to have a sale or run a special. Promoting it on the radio or through online advertising is another option.
Are you getting the most out of your local marketing efforts? It is sometimes hard for small local businesses to compete with national chains in the same business. Brand recognition and national advertising on television spots puts up an interesting challenge for small businesses with small marketing budgets. Visibility and community involvement can increase the number of potential customers. Try these 3 tips to boost your local marketing strategy.
Visibility
Make your company visible in the community. Whether it’s sponsoring a hole at a charity golf event or a booth at the town fair, put your company’s name and faces in public view. Use promotional products like cups, pens, funnels and key chains as give-aways at your booth so passersby will have your name and address at their fingertips. When they are ready for your services, they won’t have far to look for a local contact.
Social Media
Use your Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and MySpace accounts to interact with your customers. Go beyond creating accounts. Use them regularly and post photos of your business in action. Let people know when you’re having a sale. Interact with other local businesses from different industries on social media websites so that their customers will see your name, too.
Local Listings
Take the time to claim and fill out your company’s profile on local listings. When people are looking for a local merchant, they should be able to find you on the Google Places map when they search. Be sure that, at the very least, your company name, address, category and contact information are correct.
If you’re looking for local marketing ideas, you might be wondering who has a successful local marketing plan that works well. Take a look at the Girl Scouts’ philosophy. It’s been working for more than 80 years. Yes, it’s that Girl Scout cookie time of year again. You should have the familiar sight of Girl Scouts touting cookies over the next few weeks. Maybe you’ve already placed your order. When you pay for your cookies, think about why you bought them. Maybe you can find a way to work that reason into your own local business marketing plan.
Although the Girl Scouts have been using successful traditional grassroots marketing strategies, now they’re adding in a touch of innovation and technology to increase their cookie sales. Keep in mind that proceeds from the cookie sales are used for projects in the troop’s local community. Here are a few ways they are using local marketing strategies to increase sales and visibility.
Online Marketing
While Girl Scout cookies cannot be ordered and paid for online, one of the newest ways to find cookie sales is through the cookie locator. It shows up in a local online search and connects people hoping to buy cookies with the troop council in their area. For those seeking online information about the different types of cookies available, there are video links to view the products. Local Girl Scout Troops frequently have a group website or social media site web page monitored by the local Girl Scout Council to allow potential customers to find cookies. A store locator is one way for businesses to localize an Internet search. Local pay-per-click advertising and search engine local map listings also help people find nearby locations of businesses. Another option is to host a YouTube channel and post videos.
Local Visibility
One of the most popular methods of selling Girl Scout cookies is just plain visibility. Networking with the neighbors and local businesses is one proven method of making sales. You’ve no doubt seen a troop of Girl Scouts sitting outside the grocery store at the local shopping center. A table stacked sky high with cookies is enticing to nearly anyone walking by, followed by a polite approach to anyone not paying attention. While the grocery store probably won’t allow a local business to do it, the company can set up a table outside their own establishment to attract attention. Keep in mind that some cities and towns may require a permit before setting up shop outdoors.
Mobile Marketing
Another option, of course, is text message marketing. While used only for friends and family in the same zip code as the Girl Scout Council, it is one way that people can find out when it is time to order cookies. Using an opt-in list before sending them out, a text message from grown-ups with help from the Girl Scout is an efficient use of mobile marketing. Businesses can use the same concept for their regular customers. Using a list with those who have already signed up for text messages, preferred customers can hear about special sales, new products and coupons.
Photo courtesy of neuralnet
When it comes to local marketing, teaming up with other companies is one way to cut expenses. Try hosting a local event and invite your customers to come by for an open house or a special promotional night. If your business is not well known, it might not be a bad idea to approach another company to join you – perhaps one without a physical location, but a local presence online. It worked for VooDoo Doughnut and Google Hotpot in Portland, Oregon last month.
The independent doughnut shop recently held an in-store promotion for customers to receive free Google coffee cup sleeves. While customers were enjoying the smells and tastes of freshly baked goods and hot coffee, Google Hotpot was doing some local business marketing to promote its new service. The idea behind Hotpot is for people to create an account, rate local businesses and share their recommendations with friends and other contacts. It also goes one step beyond. If you like one business, Google Hotpot will turn you on to another similar type of business or places recommend by people you know.
If you’re looking for a local promotion idea, consider teaming up with another local business or locally based Internet business to cut expenses. Try to find one with some common ground or related activities – a convenience store and movie rental outlet, a bait and tackle shop with a boat or watercraft dealership, a daycare center and a children’s shoe store. Consider promoting a meet-up, a tweet-up or an open house so people can learn more about both businesses.
One of the oldest forms of marketing is word of mouth. One of the newest is local search engine marketing. Borders Books has found a way to combine the two. In a new marketing campaign, Borders has started using the Internet to organize and promote local meetups for their customers both through a link on its website and through a listing on Meetup.com. A meetup is a prearranged get-together of people with something in common. They use a meetup forum to announce when and where their next meetup will be. Those planning to attend will note it on the Internet meetup forum.
Borders will be using the www.meetup.com planner to attract its customers to the event. Just imagine a room full of your customers getting together and talking about the products they have bought from your store. People like to stay close to home. Using local marketing to promote the books through meetups at the individual stores satisfies their need to be social and local at the same time. As a result, Borders is encouraging its customers to meet each other and share information about books and experiences with its stores in local markets throughout the country. While it is just getting started, the retail chain is hoping to spur website and foot traffic by helping customers find story times, book signings and local events at their fingertips with a quick local search which reveals their individual store locations and their Meetup listing on the search engine results pages.
There are many different ways to locally market your business on the Internet. It can be done through paid advertising with banner ads on a website or pay-per-click ads on the search engine results pages. Some companies opt for social media marketing; others use organic, or free, listings on the search engines to boost their website’s visibility. These are all methods of increasing web traffic and hopefully improving sales of goods and services for their businesses. Local search engine marketing is simply a strategy for bringing potential customers to merchants in their geographical areas.
Our future blogs will share with you different tips, tricks and trends that businesses are using to promote their Internet local marketing campaigns. Stay tuned.
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With Independence Day just around the corner, the American Automobile Association (AAA) predicts that about 39 million Americans have travel plans for the July 4th weekend. This number is down about 2.5 from last year’s travel figures. About 44 percent of travelers agreed that high fuel prices affected their travel plans. But what does that mean for local merchants? It means that more people will be staying home this weekend. This could be an advantage if local marketing strategies are used to bring in local customers looking for something to do for their mini “staycation” besides watching the town fireworks display. Whether it is a sale at the local boutique or a 4th of July brunch special at the local restaurant, giving local customers and incentive to get out of the house this holiday weekend should pay off. If you have nothing special planned for your business, it’s not too late. Consider using some basic local marketing strategy approaches, such as social media, banner signs, and flyers to attract customers. It’s never too late to have a sale or run a special. Promoting it on the radio or through online advertising is another option.
