consumers. However, targeting locals is crucial for local businesses that want to perform well. Successful marketing all comes down to how we choose to target customers. Keep reading to find out several ways in which to target your potential consumer base by location.
Search Engine Advertising
Advertising on search engines and social media is a great way to gain new customers. You can achieve this goal by placing ads on popular social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, as well as on popular search engine site like Google. Google has a special program where you can place search ads on the search engine so that your company pops up when certain keywords are searched. This means that you can include location-specific keywords associated with your business, which will help you further target clients in your area. While you can do this work in-house, if you are not an SEO expert you should consider hiring an outside company, such as Epic SEO, to help market your business online successfully.
Networks and Influencers
Networking with other people in your industry is a good way to increase your customer base and knowledge of the market. You can do this by attending local industry-specific events, such as conferences, to meet other business owners in your field. Although these businesses may, in some way, be competing with your own, networking with them could lead to collaborative and lucrative endeavors.
Working with social media influencers is also a great way to target new customers for your business. All you need to do is make a list of social media influencers you are interested in hiring to promote your business and track their engagement (i.e., how many likes and comments they get on each picture), and approach them directly about collaborating.
Referrals
Starting a referral program on your business’s website can help build out your customer base, as registered users bring in other interested customers. You can set up a referral program by simply using software to track the performance of your users. For example, if you’re a hair salon in Boca Raton, Florida, opening a referral program where a user can earn a certain percentage off any of your store’s services based on how much their referred friend spends in your salon provides your customers with a great incentive to bring in new clients from the area.
Advertise Locally
The best way to put your name out there is by combining new and traditional advertising techniques. While many large businesses opt to put their full weight behind digital marketing, it’s important for local businesses to be actively involved in campaigning face-to-face in their community.
There are many ways to make your business’s presence known. You can become a sponsor of local events that allow you to post your logo on signage or merchandise. For example, if you’re a store that sells athletic gear, you could become a sponsor of a local charity run. You can also use other traditional methods of advertising, such as taking an ad out in your local newspaper or newsletter.
To take a more digital approach, you should also work on cultivating an e-mail list to send to keep those in your community aware of any news about your store. It’s also a good idea to send special offers on store goods or services via the e-mail list as a way to ensure customers continue to open e-mail sent from you and encourage them to forward the messages along to their friends. This helps you retain old customers while also advertising to new ones.
List Your Business
Both traditional and online business listings, such as Yelp, Yellowpages, and Google My Business, help to attract interested community members to your business. All you need to do is register your company’s information on the top local business listing sites. The more highly-rated business listings you sign up for, the more potential customers you will get. If you submit a listing on Google My Business, your business will appear in Google search results once you type in keywords affiliated with your business. Keep in mind that millions of people use these listing sites to search for local businesses.
