What is local marketing?

Local marketing refers to a marketing strategy that targets customers and consumers within a specific radius of a business’s physical location. Local marketing can also be called neighborhood marketing or local store marketing.

Local marketing is important if you own a brick-and-mortar business location. This applies to both local businesses as well as chains. Any brand with a physical location can use local marketing, but local marketing is especially useful for businesses located in a contained local area.

Local marketing allows you to focus your efforts on a specific audience that can respond to your print and digital advertisements.

Why is local marketing important?

Local marketing can help you reach new people, improve your search rankings, and increase your online traffic. It also helps to establish your business within your local community. These local marketing strategies can help you bring in new customers.

Customers want to be able to buy products and services quickly. This often means that they begin their research locally.

Local marketing can be a great tool for small and medium-sized businesses to generate leads. Small businesses often make the common marketing error of copying larger corporations’ strategies. This can lead to their being ignored by the local market.

Local marketing tips

Online directories

Ensure that your business is highlighted and listed on other websites and online directories.

Examples of these directories include Google My Business and Yellow Pages/White Pages. Yahoo Local and Foursquare are other examples.  You may also be able to list your services on service-specific directories depending on your industry.

Your Google My Business listing is one of the most important listings you should claim and have full control over.

Google My Business allows businesses and organizations to manage their online presence on Google Search and Google Maps. It is free and simple to use. You can help customers find your business by verifying and updating your information. 

It is also a good idea to ask your customers to leave a review on the listing. These reviews will not only boost your local SEO but give your business credibility.

Design your website to be mobile-friendly

You probably aren’t surprised that over half of worldwide internet traffic happens on mobile devices.

But did you know that 61% of mobile searchers are more likely to contact a local business if they have a mobile-friendly site? A mobile-friendly site is critical to attracting new business, especially local customers.

Mobile-friendly sites load seamlessly when accessed on a mobile device. They often show bigger text, form fields, menus, and buttons, making it easier to browse site information on the go.

Before you embark on these local marketing strategies, confirm your website is mobile-friendly. If you’re not sure about your own site’s mobile responsiveness, use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test tool.

Use local SEO to localize your website

Target keywords that your ideal customer would use when searching for information. The keywords should be a combination of “your location” and “your brand, service, or product.”

Hyper-local keywords can be used with street names, specific neighborhoods, or cities. You can also create landing pages and blog posts for customers located in specific areas.

• 46% of all Google search results are for local information.
• 72% of those who did a local search found a store within five miles.
• 97% of people find out more about a local business online than they do offline.

Your website should be localized to appeal to the people who live near you. Your website should first be able to include location-based terms. Your homepage might read “Best Organic Baker in Louisville” instead of “organic bakery.”

You should localize all web content and ensure that the language is consistent across your website, social media, and digital ads.

Add location pages to your site. If you own more than one brick-and-mortar location, this is particularly important. These pages include your business name, address, phone number, and any other pertinent information. They also allow you to rank in local SERPs.

What is local SEO?

Local SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is a process to improve search engine visibility for local businesses. This pertains primarily to brick-and-mortar establishments. 

Local SEO best practices can help businesses increase organic traffic from customers searching in their business area.

Search engines use signals like local content, social profile pages, links, and citations to deliver the most relevant local results.

Local SEO allows businesses to position their products and services in the local market to attract local customers and prospects.  The primary purpose of local SEO is to gain website traffic on mobile devices for people looking for solutions near their physical location.

5 Local SEO Stats

1. 1. 46% of all Google search results are for local information. (Source: GoGulf)
   2. 72% of those who did a local search found a store within five minutes.
   3. 97% of people find out more about local companies online than they do offline. (Source: SEO Tribunal)
   4. 88% of local business searches made on mobile devices result in a call to or visit the business within 24hrs. (Source: Nectafy)
   5. 61% of mobile users are more likely than others to find local businesses if the site is mobile-friendly. (Source: HubSpot Marketing Statistics)

5 Local SEO Tips

1. Claim, complete, and optimize your Google My Business (GMB) page.
2. Post consistently on localized social media pages.
3. Ensure your NAP (name, address, phone) data is correct and consistent.
4. Obtain, claim, complete, and optimize local directories and citations.
5. Optimize your website for mobile users.

Trends in local marketing

Local marketing can be a great tool for your business if done correctly. You must understand the current trends in local marketing to be able to focus on the strategies that work.

Let’s look at three trends currently changing the face and landscape of local marketing.

1. Reviews

The power of customer reviews is immense. Buyer’s remorse is something no one wants to experience. 

Reviews are extremely motivating, and people actively search for them before spending any money on any business. 95% of customers actually read online reviews before making a purchase. 81% read reviews online about local businesses. 

A dedicated system to get customers to review your business is a great way to boost your local marketing efforts.

2. Mobile

More than half (61%) of all Google searches are performed on mobile devices. This is true for customers within your locality as well.

Ensure your website is mobile-friendly and fully functional. It is important to ensure that your website adapts to all screen sizes and browsers. These small changes can dramatically improve the conversion rate of your local marketing efforts.

3. Customer Expectations

Customers won’t come to you if they don’t like your product or service. Customers expect speed and convenience. Easy checkout and a fast-loading website can help you meet these expectations. Local businesses can benefit from this because they will be able to emphasize the convenience and speed of their business.

What is Geotargeting?

Geotargeting is a digital marketing strategy that uses location data to reach the right shoppers through digital marketing campaigns such as local pay-per-click marketing. By providing the best possible service to your target audience, “near me,” queries make it work for businesses.

These are the four best geotargeting tips:

1. Find local keywords.
2. Prioritize certain locations.
3. Target venues and events.
4. Avoid creating rival campaigns.

How to Rank for “Near Me” Searches

A “near me” search is when someone searches for “sporting goods store near me” in their search bar. There are many ways to rank for a “near me search.” They include relevancy and distance as well as prominence.

These are ways to increase your chances of being ranked high.

• Include local keywords in your content.
• In your content, include relevant links to local authorities.
• Be cited in the local media
• Mobile-friendly websites are a must.

Conclusion

Every business is different, so your local marketing strategies must reflect your product, industry, and service. Continuously measuring and improving data-driven decisions is the only way to know for sure what that looks like for your business. 

You will enable you to adapt your local marketing based on facts. If you’re committed to this, the sky is the limit for growing and developing your business.

If you want help designing and implementing local marketing or local SEO for your business, reach out to Asymmetric for a no-obligation consultation.