Local Marketing: What is it?

Word-of-mouth is still the most important strategy to get customers through your door. A massive 85% of business owners depend on word-of-mouth referrals. That is why it is crucial to reach customers in your local area.

Local marketing is a marketing strategy to target potential customers within 50 km of the physical location of the business. The customer base of a local business may totally consist of customers within a few kilometers. Other phrases for this type of marketing are location-based marketing, neighborhood marketing, or local store marketing.

Why does local marketing matter?

To ensure a sustainable business you will need local marketing to grow your customer base for sustainability and growth especially due to the pandemic.

Local businesses don’t need global reach. They need to target their immediate local community. If local businesses target the wrong location and audience, they will waste time and money. Basically, there are two types of marketing: Inbound or Outbound marketing.

Inbound marketing refers to Local SEO, Google My Business, and Social Media Marketing, etc. Outbound marketing on the other hand refers to local events, Display ads, community involvement, etc.

Local marketing is crucial for small businesses that depend on consumers to purchase goods/services from their physical location (like shops, dentists, hairdressers, restaurants). All relevant local businesses are presented to the searcher due to Google’s search algorithm – if they use “near me” in their search string.

Local Marketing – 3 Trends to Implement

Being knowledgeable about local marketing trends can make the difference between implementing a successful or unsuccessful local marketing campaign. With the following 3 local marketing trends, you may reap unexpected results.

1. Reviews

The most powerful local marketing strategy is probably customer reviews. Did you know that 95% of customers will read a review before they decide to go through with the purchase? Obviously, you don’t want negative reviews (and those you will always get), but you need to find a system where customers can leave a review. A review is as good as word-of-mouth; especially if the reader reads a review of somebody he knows and trusts. There is no doubt that positive reviews will hugely impact your local marketing strategies. The Google Review system is an excellent way to incorporate reviews into your local marketing strategy.

2. Mobile

Today, and especially in this post-pandemic world we live in, the primary way consumers discover businesses, products, or services they want to buy is via a mobile device. In fact, according to Google, 61% of all searches are done via a mobile device. The most important fact about mobile search is to ensure that your business website is fully functional and optimized for mobile devices. Your website should be viewable on different screen sizes and browsers. Having a clickable phone number is equally important. A mobile-optimized website is key for local marketing conversion rates.

3. Customer Expectations

In today’s world, convenience and speed are at an all-time high. People don’t want to wait for anything, least of all a slow-loading website. Add an easy checkout and you’re already ahead of the competition. Bottom line - buying behavior has drastically changed. Therefore, for you as a small business owner, it’s important to tap into these new dynamics so that you can get your product or service in front of the right people at the right time.

As you can see local marketing is all about getting reviews, having a mobile-optimized website, and ensuring you are fulfilling customer expectations. Are these trends part of your local marketing campaign?