Best local content marketing strategies to reach your local customers

Local Content marketing strategies
Content Writing

Best local content marketing strategies to reach your local customers

What are local content marketing strategies?

We can say that local businesses have been around for an eternity. Before globalization caught up, commerce was just about local business. Even in this globalized world, local businesses still have their own place. But yes, they do need content marketing for local businesses, to do well.

Local Content marketing strategies

Marketing strategies that worked 20 years ago won’t be successful today. This digital age calls for a distinctive digital marketing strategy for local businesses that can help add value to your local business!

Here are pointers that could teach you how to do local content marketing

Ensure you have a Google listing

Today’s generation uses the internet to search for anything. Having your local business listed on Google ensures your name pops up when someone is looking to find a business like yours. And the best part is it’s free!

Research proves that 73% of consumers trust local businesses after reading positive online reviews. Ensure your listing has details like Address, contact number, working hours, the exact location of the business( with landmarks), your website (if you have one), and photos of your business place and a few products.

Google listings also allow customers to post pictures and write reviews too, a feature that has a major positive effect and contribute towards success. Your star rating is also a contributor.  Research proves that 94% of customers will use businesses that have been given a 4-star rating by other past customers.

Get Involved with the Community

Make the name of your business heard in the community. Attend local events, sponsor local charity events, sponsor a local sports team, donate something useful to a school in exchange for your name being visible on the backdrop their annual event, join the Chambers of Commerce, or other associations as per your business. The main goal is to get your brand seen by the movers and shakers in your area – particularly those who may be interested in your products. You also get a chance to meet lots of people and also get a chance to build up valuable links.

Blogging

People use Google to find local businesses. So if as a business you employ basic principles of SEO, you could land in the top searches. Statistics prove about 50% of clicks go to the top 3 search results. So when you are content marketing for local SEO, blogging can be immensely helpful. The chain is simple—clicks-more people landing on the website- more exposure to your products- more sales- resulting in increased profits.

Organize contests

The idea of winning excites everyone. Running contests through online platforms is easy and a great way to grab attention. The trick you could implement is to ask users to post pictures related to your business. The photo with maximum likes wins. This way each participant ensures your business gets exposure in their respective circles. 

Have a customer loyalty program

This works amazingly to increase sales. Such programs not only increase purchase frequency but also increase the average purchase amount. Say for every ₹100 spent at your local business, the customer gets a point. Slowly when the points reach 100, they get to use it by getting a ₹100 off on the bill.

The best part of such a marketing tactic is that your sales increase as your customer is likely to spend more, without the need to acquire new customers. Research states that more than 82% of consumers prefer shopping stores with customer loyalty programs.

Run discounts

The word discounts play with psychology. Even gimmicks like raising prices and then offering discounts work! Seasonal discounts, special discount code coupons, percentage off on purchase of gift cards, all such things work as good local small business marketing strategies. 

Partner with a local influencer

This takes the social media marketing strategy to the next level. Every community has a few local influencers. Such people themselves have a huge social following. Sign them up to promote your business. You could pay them in cash or free products! This works out much cheaper to the benefits the celebrity name can bring to your business’s growth.

Customer referral program

Here you make your existing customers work for you! It is a wonderful means of old customer retention and new customer acquisition. You may have to give a few benefits to both the customers, which is worth every penny you shell out. This becomes a highly profitable cycle for your local business.

Emails

This is the most common, cheap, old, and yet successful local business marketing strategy. One should not underestimate it! A business just needs to target, segment, and trigger the email strategy well! The best part of the email is that it is very cheap and can be reused and sent out to multiple users in one go!

Mobile app

Do you think a mobile app is only for the giant sharks and not a small local fish like you? Must say, you are mistaken. Whatever be the type of your small business, your customers surely have a mobile phone and spend a lot of time on apps.

An app is more convenient to a website/ mobile site as it gives a quicker and personalized experience. Yes, it does require funds initially and also continuously, but if you think your business can afford this investment, you should go for it! It may not drive home a lot of benefits now, but it is sure to be a cash cow in the future.

Google Alerts

Google Alerts is about monitoring what is being said about your local business online. Each time the name of your business comes anywhere online, you will get an email about it, be it a favorable or unfavorable post. If an unfavorable one, you get a chance to take immediate action. On the flip side, favorable articles can be used and quoted by you on your social networking sites.

Social media presence

The world is online. There is where the name of your local business should be. Presence on various social networking platforms like LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube – work as a wonderful digital marketing strategy for local businesses. 

Excellent customer service

Giving excellent service is the best way to retain the customer, and also ensure they recommend you to their circle. So you not only retain a customer but also get newer customers without any added efforts. You could also run offers like a 10% off on the bill if the buyer tags your business on a social media post. 

Use local media

Local media and local links like local radio, local television channels, local magazines, etc. are a great source to tap local people. Run advertisements in local paper/ radio. Organize talk shows, talent hunts, quiz contests, and other such things where people get to know about your existence.

Partner up 

Contemplate partnering up with a business in your area that might have a similar clientele. If your business is an apparel shop, tie-up with a nearby jewelry store. You can then together launch a pop-up event. Such a co-marketing strategy can bring attention to both your businesses with very less investment individually.

How Can Your Business Benefit From Local Content Marketing Strategies?

Now that you have learned how to do local content marketing, it’s time you understand the benefits of content marketing. Content marketing can work wonders to a small team or a solopreneour run businesses which are trying to create a brand presence. The three primary benefits of content marketing are improved sales, savings in cost savings, and loyal customers.

Content marketing for local business also includes brand establishment, competitive advantages over customers who do not have a content marketing strategy, website traffic generation, higher conversion rates, and achieving a leading position in the industry.

Better Brand Recognition

There is no second thought that content marketing is the best strategy to make your brand stand out amongst the crowd. Today a buyer is cautious about what they purchase. When your brand is constantly able to deliver quality content it creates a place in the mind of the audience. This would help to build trust with your brand.

Increased Search Engine Traffic

Regular good content that is generated based on keywords ensures higher rankings in major search engines, ensuring higher traffic flow to your website.

Enhanced Social Media Reach

When people agree with the idea or thought of your content, they are likely to share it with other people on their social media platform. This way it reaches more and more people. This leads to an increase in the social media reach of your small business.

Means of promotion without selling yourself

With content marketing, it is possible you just make the presence of your brand felt, and not just try to sell in each and every post. Your social media updates could be informative, thought-inspiring, and promotional at times. You need not promote your small business on blast 24/7. Such a strategy ensures your presence is felt, the customer relates to you and has subscribed for your posts, and can come to you when he wishes to buy. Continuous promotion is an easy turn off for prospective customers. 

More Credibility

If you believe you are an expert in your small business, let it reflect on the content. Publish detailed and engaging blogs about your product/ service and your sector of business. Your display of authority is definitely going to send out a message of authority, compared to your competitors.

Unsurpassed Cost-Effectiveness

The cost of generating well-written content in much-much lower than other marketing mediums like print ads, or physical events in both cases- outsourced content marketing or in-house specialist. Moreover, the same content can be used at multiple places like your own website, on different kinds of social media, e-mail, e-newsletters, etc., all this at just the cost of single content generation. This makes a single blog post a long-lasting marketing material for your business.

Research states that content marketing usually costs about 62% less than old-fashioned and outbound marketing tactics. And with this low cost, it can still be capable of generating 3x the number of leads.  

Informality breeds friendship and commitment

The style of writing blogs is usually very informal and friendly. It gets easier for prospective customers to associate with your brand when the medium of conversation has a friendly tone. Other forms of marketing like print media or static web pages are expected to have a formal tone. And we all understand how an informal atmosphere can contribute to better friendship.

Blogging is free advice 

Through content marketing and precisely through blogging, readers are given information. This information does not have a tone urging the reader to buy. It can simply be put as free advice. 

Imagine this scenario- you enter a store. The salesman offers you a comfortable chair and some refreshments, even before you display your intention of buying. Such a scenario ensures one thing for sure. You would stick around longer in the store than you would have without the offerings from the salesman. Good content is the virtual comparable of the sales assistant.

Any Sector Can Benefit from local small business marketing strategies

The best part about content marketing and blogging is that it can be applied to any sector under the sun. Be it beauty, exercising, plants, pets, automobiles, electronics, any kind of service offerings, etc. The list is not exhaustive!

Wrapping Up

And that’s just about half of the benefits of content marketing. When solopreneour or small businesses wish to create a place for themselves online, the least, most feasible and economical yet effective thing that should do is to invest in good local business marketing strategies.