In today’s digital universe, it’s a well-known fact that businesses, at the bare minimum, need to have a website. However, marketing experts everywhere will tell you that, today, it takes more than that. Your local business online is the way to go.
In addition to having a website, it’s recommended that brands also maintain at least one or two social media accounts and invest time and resources into other inbound marketing practices, such as SEO, email marketing, etc.
But, as a business owner, where should you start? What’s essential, and what isn’t? And how can you best leverage the power of the internet to promote your local business?
Below, we’re diving into a few of the essential tips and tricks for promoting a local business online.
Website, Blogs, And Local SEO
You already know that you should have a website if you want people to find your business online. However, it’s highly recommended that companies maintain a blog where they regularly publish content, further shared on social media or via email.
However, the most significant benefit to blogging is that each blog post you write will become a new page, indexed and used by search engines. In turn, this should help drive more traffic to your website.
In and of itself, SEO is a topic that could use a college-level course, but the key is to realize that local SEO is often a lot easier than industry-level SEO.
For instance, when you compare the amount of competition between the clothing industry on a global level with the clothing industry, specifically in Brooklyn, New York, you can start to see why targeting local SEO keywords is often easier.
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Instead of millions of competitors in the clothing industry, you might only have a few hundred competitors locally in Brooklyn. Note that Brooklyn is just an example and could be replaced with any smaller town, city, or location.
Getting Social
Blogging and SEO are great ways to get search engines to take notice of your website, but you’ll need to get active on social media if you want people to get involved.
Generally, people spend more time on social media than they do on websites.
Therefore, social media marketing is just as, if not more important than owning a website and publishing blogs. After all, you need to go where your customers spend their time if you want them to see your brand and possibly even buy your products.
On that note, it’s also worth taking the time to find out where your target customers spend most of their time on social media.
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Then, you’ll be able to focus your social media marketing efforts on one or two platforms where they’re most active, rather than spreading yourself thin, trying to remain active on all social media.
On another note, you should also get social with other website owners and bloggers in your industry.
These relationships can prove to be valuable advocates for your brands, and they can also lead to guest posting opportunities, which is another excellent way to get more people onto your website.
Word Of Mouth
Finally, it’s important to remember that sometimes the old, tried-and-true methods are the best ones, just like making an effort to share your business cards and tell people about your business whenever the chance presents itself.
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It’s also worth making an effort to ask your customers to share reviews and feedback about their experience with your brand to better know how to promote your local business online.
In the end, no sales pitch’s more trustworthy than one that’s coming from a satisfied customer!
Promoting A Local Business Online
There indeed are dozens of different ways you can choose to promote your local business online.
For instance, in addition to blogging, social media, and word of mouth, you might also want to look into paid advertisement via digital channels like Google Ads or more traditional channels, such as a digital newspaper or magazine.
Either way, don’t be scared to experiment a bit and see what works best for your brand!
