5 Ways to Promote Your Business Locally
Are you a local small business wanting to connect with more people in your area? Perhaps you're a brick and mortar, looking to increase foot traffic to your store, or you're a service provider hoping to book more clients in your area. How do you make this happen? Here are 5 ways to promote your business locally to inspire you and make the most of your marketing efforts.
The Importance of Local Marketing
Why is it important to emphasize local marketing? By prioritizing marketing your business in your area, you'll develop a stronger sense of community and connection with those who live nearby.
Pouring into your local community can lead to deeper relationships, more collaborations, and ultimately, more clients and customers. If building your community is on your to-do list this year, join the Bloom Membership—your go-to place for creative inspiration and brainstorming with fellow business owners!
How do I advertise my business in my local area?
Local business marketing goes beyond hanging up a couple of flyers or posting once on social media in your neighborhood Facebook group. Advertising your business in your area takes consistency, experimentation, and most of all, a comprehensive strategy.
There are many different ways to advertise your business locally, so start small and increase as you can. As a marketing strategist, I help local and online business owners so if you'd like to explore my services, click here.
5 Ways to Promote Your Business Locally
How do you get started marketing your business in your area? Here are 5 ways to promote your business locally, straight from a marketing strategist. Get curious about which of these ideas would work best for your business. You'll find a combination of in-person and digital strategies, and combining the two will lead to the best results.
1. Get involved in your community and network.
Networking within your local community is one of the most underrated marketing strategies out there. This is why I believe in ethical marketing that values relationships over anything else. When you get to know and support others, you're both excited about referring people to each other.
There's a good change that people in your community need what you have to offer, and vice versa. Focus on building relationships and helping when you can, and the referrals will naturally come. Get involved with your local entrepreneur groups, coworking space, or Chamber of Commerce and prioritize community.
2. Connect with people in your area online and engage with them.
Social media makes it so easy to connect with others in your city or town. Follow other local businesses or your ideal clients in your area, and engage with them. I'm not talking in a fake, cold-pitching sort of way, but comment on their posts. Cheer them on. Organically create conversations in the DMs.
10% of my followers on Instagram are from my city because I do this. It makes it so much fun when I go to local events and recognize people from engaging with them on Instagram. You can also engaging with people online through your email list, and if you want to learn more about email marketing, download this free guide!
3. Optimize your Google My Business Profile and website SEO.
If you don't have a Google My Business profile for your local business, you're missing out. When you search Google for businesses near you, it's the little blurb that pops up with the business address, hours, website, etc. This is basically like a virtual business card, and you can create an account for free here.
Along those same lines, prioritize your business's SEO strategies. SEO, or search engine optimization, is how you get found on Google for specific keywords. You can increase your SEO rankings by blogging and optimizing each page on your website. To learn more about SEO, I highly recommend the course RANK Method from my friend Maggie, a web designer and SEO specialist. Click here to get RANK Method and use code “KARLEY” to save $$$!
4. Use location-specific keywords, hashtags, and geotags on social media.
Another way to utilize social media for promoting your business locally is by using all of the location features. On Instagram, there are quite a few you can use.
Location-specific keywords in your posts would look like adding "maryland hair stylist" or "best pizza place in baltimore" in your captions. You can use location-specific hashtags on your posts, like #marylandmarketingagency or #baltimoreweddingphotographer. Lastly, adding geotags, or the location, to your posts like "Frederick, Maryland" or "Washington, D.C." will help you get found by those in your area.
5. Connect with a marketing strategist to develop your comprehensive strategy.
Another way to promote your local business is to hone in on your overall marketing strategy. There are a lot of different components that go into marketing, and you want to make sure all your dots are connected in the most effective, efficient way.
I've worked with small business owners in all different industries develop a marketing strategy that works well for them and their goals. My best suggestion to get started with this is by booking a 60-minute strategy session with me. There, we can look at all your marketing avenues, offer ideas for improvement, and I'll create a custom plan for you to take and run with. Click here to book your session!
BONUS: Brainstorm with fellow business owners.
There’s nothing quite like brainstorming with people who “get it”—aka, fellow business owners. Running your own business is a unique experience that people only understand if they’ve gone through it themselves.
That’s why I created the Bloom Membership: a virtual community for small business owners who grow better together. This is your safe space to ask direct marketing questions, get custom feedback and strategy, and virtually network and cowork with other business owners. It’s basically a marketing mastermind at a fraction of the cost!
Click here to join the Bloom Membership, and use code “BLOG10” for $10 off your first month!
