Digital Marketing Strategies for Local Businesses

digital marketing

Local businesses often struggle to create a smart digital marketing strategy. When the business relies solely on the community it’s in, it’s hard to imagine the role of online marketing. However, digital marketing isn’t just for online businesses.

In this day and age, more people are online than ever before. They’re searching for local places, products, and more. Did you know that 50% of consumers who conducted a local search on their phones visited a store within a day? That’s a statistic that should matter to you. Here are the top digital marketing strategies custom tailored to local businesses.

1. Search Engine Advertising

How do you get seen by those local users searching for your business? If you’re not in the top search results, odds are they’ll never scroll far enough to find your business. That’s where search engine advertising comes in.

Search engine advertising, also known as paid search, is a way to promote your business so it appears in those top local searches. According to Digital Logic, you can highly customize your search engine promotion so you appear in your target geographic area as well as to the right customers.

2. Monitor Your Online Reputation

Odds are you read reviews for local businesses from time to time. Let’s say you run a local coffee shop and you hope to gain a wider audience in your community. If you have a Google Business page, customers can leave reviews online. What happens if you get too many negative reviews and don’t take action? You lose customers.

Reviews matter. For local businesses, they’re a form of social proof. Today, 72% of consumers say that positive reviews make them trust a local business more. If you’re not monitoring your online reputation, you’re losing customers. Always respond to both positive and negative reviews, and make sure you encourage your best customers to leave reviews online.

3. Be Active on Social Media

Younger generations use social media to discover new businesses. If you’re not on social media, do you even exist? Many people would argue you don’t. Posting regularly keeps your business looking active and as a positive member of the community.

Interact with other businesses, local experts, and influencers. Invite them to your store for some publicity on social media. Post about new events, discounts, and happenings. Basically, you want to be present both online and offline.

digital marketing strategies

4. Use Your Google My Business Listing

Remember how we talked about the importance of reviews? You’ll have the ability to respond to those reviews through your My Business listing on Google. Use this listing to your advantage. Make sure it has the latest information about your business hours, location, and website. If this isn’t filled out, you make it harder for customers to get frequent questions answered quickly.

You can use other services like Incitylife to list your business in order to be available to potential customers.

5. Create an Email List

Last but not least, consider making an email list for your customers. You can drive customers to sign up in person, through social media, or through your website. Why create an email list? It’s a direct form of communication with your customers.

Doesn’t social media work the same way? Yes and no. While social media is a great tool for building relationships, you don’t own your followers in the same way you own an email list. When you have an email list, you can easily sell to this engaged audience by promoting events, discounts, and more.

Making an Impact with Your Marketing

Is your marketing effective? The outdated methods of print and media advertising of the past aren’t cutting it today, even for local businesses. You need a way to meet customers where they already are: online.

Try these strategies above to see what works for your audience. You’ll likely need a variety of techniques to make the biggest impact. What are you waiting for? Your customers are out there. It’s time to go find them.