Local Business

10 Great Local Marketing Ideas for March 2015

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published by Web Marketing Today. Practical Ecommerce acquired Web Marketing Today in 2012. In 2016, we merged the two sites, leaving Practical Ecommerce as the successor.

Web Marketing Today asked ten industry insiders to share their best advice for helping local small businesses market online. Here’s what they had to say.

Use Local Keywords

Lolly Spindler

Lolly Spindler

“If you’re a local small business just starting with Internet marketing, focus on using local keywords to rank well in search engine results. These have less competition and provide a bigger return on investment. Say you’re a florist in Burlington, Vt., who wants to do a Mother’s Day promotion. You may think ‘Mother’s Day bouquets’ or ‘flowers Mother’s Day’ are excellent options, but they could apply to anyone in the United States. Instead, optimize for keywords like ‘Mother’s Day bouquet Burlington’ or ‘Burlington Vermont flower shops.’”

Lolly Spindler
Content Marketing Manager
xoombi

Invest in Resource-rich Content

Mike Gingerich

Mike Gingerich

“A local small business must invest time and effort into resource-rich content on its website. A ‘resource center’ blog where the business publishes content each week that offers value to potential customers is incredibly significant. When done right, it helps a business rank higher in search engines and gives it content to share on social media. With opportunities to optimize for the local area, this content can help with local search ranking, as well. Become the go-to local expert in your broader field through content marketing that impacts your web traffic, your social media, and your search ranking.”

Mike Gingerich
President, Digital Hill Multimedia
Co-founder, Tabsite

Identify Time-saving Marketing Tactics

Toby Bloomberg

Toby Bloomberg

“Small business owners who wear multiple hats have to come to terms with the fact they can’t do everything. Identify the web marketing tactic that gives you the most return for time spent. That may not always lead to direct revenue, but branding or extended reach instead. For a business-to-business company, that may mean diving deeply into LinkedIn. For a restaurant, it may be Twitter that best drives audience.”

Toby Bloomberg
President, Bloomberg Marketing
Co-founder, Diva Foodies

Listen and Engage with Fans and Followers

Kelsey Hoffman

Kelsey Hoffman

“A local small business that wants to leverage the web for marketing purposes should listen and engage with social network fans and followers. You can have an incredible website and the most efficient digital marketing strategy, but if you are not utilizing tools to listen to your customers, you are missing an opportunity to develop lasting relationships. Your followers can make or break your brand. If you’re not actively listening and engaging, then you are missing out.”

Kelsey Hoffman
Digital Marketing Specialist
Ashley Furniture HomeStore

Go Social with Visual Content

Denise Wakeman

Denise Wakeman

“Just about any local small business can integrate images into its online presence, taking advantage of the huge trend of visual content marketing. Start with Instagram, using your smartphone. Install the Instagram app and connect your Facebook and Twitter accounts. When you share images of your shop, customers, products, on-site events, and employees, you get triple exposure for your story on three top social networks at once. That’s how you leverage your time and resources.”

Denise Wakeman
Online Business Strategist
Denise Wakeman.com

Pay Attention Daily

Debbey Ryan

Debbey Ryan

“Many small businesses don’t pay attention to the details of marketing online. They believe that having a website and Facebook page will magically deliver new clients to their door. This is rarely ever the case. To effectively leverage the power of the Internet, someone in the company must make it a priority to pay attention daily to the website and social media presence, as well as actively engage their target market.”

Debbey Ryan
Business Consultant
Prescriptive Marketing

Be Found on Social Media

Andy Beal

Andy Beal

“Let your customers know where they can find you on social media and then make sure you are there to update them, thank them, and engage them. ‘Find us on Facebook’ should be changed to ‘We look forward to connecting with you on Facebook!’”

Andy Beal
CEO
Trackur and Reputation Refinery

Establish a Marketing Hub

Bobby Carroll

Bobby Carroll

“Too often, business owners jump on social media thinking of it as their instant meal ticket. They’ve been told to think of social marketing as a gigantic cocktail party and be conversational, using the ‘soft sell’ approach. What they fail to realize is where the ‘hard sell’ should happen. That place should be on their marketing hub — their website or blog. The hub site is where you establish your authority, demonstrate your expertise, and ask for the customer’s business.”

Bobby Carroll
V.P. of Sales and Marketing
Dakno Real Estate Marketing

Be Consistent

Tommy Landry

Tommy Landry

“For local small businesses, the most important thing to get right online is consistency of information across the web. Be sure that your NAP — name, address, and phone — information is the same everywhere. That includes your website, Google My Business (very significant), the local chamber of commerce, directories, and social media profiles.”

Tommy Landry
President
Return On Now

Shoot a Video

Michelle Hummel

Michelle Hummel

“Regardless of your technical skills, it’s quite easy to shoot a video that explains what your business has to offer and then upload it to YouTube. When you put it on YouTube, include your company name and location in the title, as well as a link back to your site. Not only is this useful for people who want to learn more about your business, but there’s a good chance that it will rank quite well in Google for one or more relevant results.”

Michelle Hummel
CEO
Web Strategy Plus

Got a great local small business Internet marketing idea? Email Paul Chaney at paul@webmarketingtoday.com.

Web Marketing Today
Web Marketing Today
Bio   •   RSS Feed


x