As business owners and marketers, we often fall for the idea that bigger is better. We think, “If we just did more, bought more, or expanded our budget more, we would get better results.” But what if that’s not true? What if the exact opposite were true?

It’s 2022, and many savvy marketers and brands are waking up to the fact that bigger doesn’t necessarily mean better. They’re discovering that one of the best ways to build a successful brand is actually by aiming smaller. We’re talking about going local with your marketing strategy.

Local marketing might seem like something that small, niche brands or startups do when they don’t have the budget to launch a full-fledged marketing strategy. But don’t be so quick to judge. There’s a reason some of the world’s most successful brands are refining their scope and placing a bigger emphasis on local marketing. Here are some of the direct benefits:

When you add up all of these benefits, you can clearly see the value of local marketing (particularly when you stack it up against your existing marketing strategy that attempts to reach a broader market).

If you want to be successful with local marketing, there are several things you can do to maximize your results. Let’s explore a few of these tactics:

Successful local marketing starts with having a very defined target market. In other words, you need to know who your audience is.

It’s not enough to target a specific local market, like Nashville, TN. You must get clear on who your ideal target customer is within this market. As you build out your target customer profiles, think about factors like age range, interests, careers, political and religious affiliations, desires, frustrations, etc.

The more detailed your target audience is, the more effective your local marketing efforts will be. Take the time to really flesh out these details on the front end.

Once you have a defined market, it’s time to turn your attention to local search engine optimization (SEO). Considering that nearly half of all online users are using Google and other search engines to find local businesses, an investment in local SEO is a no-brainer. Here are the main ingredients:

Technical SEO. While everyone wants to immediately jump into keywords and content, the reality is that your local SEO strategy won’t go anywhere fast without a sound technical SEO foundation. This means properly setting up your website so that things like tags, titles, page structure, URLs, site speed, security, and usability are all optimized. Local keywords. SEO is largely based on keywords. If you want your pages, ads, and content to be served to people who are in your target audience, you have to prioritize the right local keywords. There are plenty of tools you can use to perform keyword research, Content. Keywords can be used in a variety of places, including PPC ads, but are most valuable when integrated into your website’s content strategy. In fact, content is the gas to this entire local SEO engine. Website pages and blog posts are what Google uses to drive traffic to your site. Backlinks. Google and other search engines view backlinks as trust signals. When they see dozens of backlinks pointing from authoritative websites back to pages on your website, it tells them that your content is worth serving to people. This makes link building one of the most important components of a proactive local SEO strategy.

When you invest in local SEO, you instantly make your brand more searchable online. In other words, people are more likely to find you when running keyword searches related to your products, services, or niche.

If you have a physical storefront or building, you can use location-based services to really increase your visibility and potentially drive foot traffic to your locations.

Popular location-based services include Foursquare, Google Places, and Facebook Places. These services are free to use, but they give you an opportunity to connect with people nearby.

One of the fastest ways to build a presence in a local market is by leveraging the connections, resources, and relationships that other established businesses already have. You can do this by forming partnerships (whether official or unofficial).

Partnerships can take on any number of different formats. Ultimately, the goal is to help other businesses. If you help other businesses by adding value to them, they’ll be willing to do the same for you.

The power of business partnerships was perfectly exemplified during the pandemic shutdowns of 2020 and 2021. Businesses that had rich partnerships with other companies were able to combine and leverage resources to remain solvent. Those who were operating on their own little islands were much more likely to go under.

There’s no better way to connect with customers than getting in front of them and interacting in a face-to-face manner. And what better option for face-to-face engagement than local events?

Attending local events allows you to get in front of people and build relationships. This strategy works especially well if your team features people with outgoing personalities. Here are a few ideas for local event marketing:

These are just a few ideas. Bring your team together and brainstorm some additional ideas. Every market is different and there could be unique opportunities available in your city.

Local marketing isn’t a get-rich-quick marketing scheme that drives instant results. It takes some time, patience, and planning. However, if you give it a few months, you’ll eventually be rewarded with higher penetration, better visibility, and – ultimately – a greater ROI on your marketing dollars.

The only question is, are you willing to commit the resources?

Source: ReadWrite

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