Importance of Localized Marketing Efforts

It can be so easy to become swept up in the idea of reaching a massive amount of people through the use of social media, but what about localized marketing efforts? There are still a lot of good reasons to keep your focus on the local area and immediate contacts in your region.

Keep reading to learn why you should consider prioritizing your local area in your marketing efforts.

Search Engine Results

Did you know that the people in your local area are more likely to find you on Google or any other search engine?

“Search engines base their results off of the individual’s location,” explains James Ville, Chief Product Officer for GunSkins. “If they’re nearby and search for the product or service you offer, you’ll likely come up on their first page of results. However, if someone from across the country or around the globe types the exact same thing, you won’t come up in theirs.”

“Take advantage of the algorithms that are already in place and make sure you’ve set up your business’s location on your website so that search engines will pull it up for local customers,” says Jae Pak, Founder of Jae Pak MD Medical. “By taking advantage of this, you have a cost efficient way of marketing yourself to consumers while also making sure they know how to find you.”

Location, Location

Did you know people are more likely to purchase from a local business than somewhere far away? Even if they’re opting to use your online store, people feel that they can trust the brand more if it is closer to home.

“People love shopping locally when they can,” says Adam Shlomi, Founder of SoFlo Tutors. “I think that’s something a lot of brands forget about because they’re conditioned to use social media and try to reach as many people as possible.”

“Even though the internet is super popular and sites like Amazon seem to be dominating, there’s still a big gap left open for small and local businesses to fill,” says Jeremy Gardner, CEO of MadeMan. “Fill that gap by making your location easy to find by putting it on your website and social media profiles. Create some incentives to visit any of your locations or pop-ups you might be doing as well to generate more interest and let people meet your brand and your staff.”

Familiarity

Instead of having to go out of your way to learn everything about the area you’re marketing in, you’ll probably have some pretty good ideas of how you could get your brand’s name out there just from your experience living in the community.

“If you’re looking to reach locals, you’ll have to go where the locals go,” says Luca Capula, CEO of Son of a Barista. “Check out holiday events, go to community markets, sponsor a youth soccer team, and invite the community to check out your location. All of these things can get new customers in the doors and it’s not something that out of town competitors can take advantage of.”

Relevant Reviews

Did you know that search engines will show people the reviews of people that are similar to the profile that has searched for a product, brand, or service?

“The reviews that you see on search engines and review sites often cater to your profile settings,” says Jason Sherman, Founder of TapRm. “So many people are looking up reviews before they make a decision about purchasing or visiting that brand. If you’re looking up a brewery in your default search engine, it’s going to pull up local breweries and show the relevant results within the reviews from people like you.”

Become a Friendly Face

Think about it: are you more likely to buy a product from a brand or company that you’ve seen out and about working to make your community a better place or some faceless company with a fancy logo on the internet?

“People recognize you in the community. You want to be the person they see supporting mental wellness groups or volunteering alongside them at a community event,” says Chris Vaughn, CEO of Emjay. “Look for ways you could meet people and let them know who you are. Word-of-mouth spreads like wildfire through a community and your reputation as being a good person who runs a company will help your brand.”

“It seems tacky, but post photos of yourself and your team so you can start to be recognized by the people in your local area,” says Michel Mosse, Co-Founder and Head of Revenue of Hoist. “Don’t be afraid to introduce yourself too. You can also check out any business organizations and see if there’s any sort of mentorship program that you could participate in to help people who are looking to start a local business or where you could learn from someone more experienced.”

Take Advantage of Digital Local Marketing

This might sound like an oxymoron, but there is a way to create digital content that can be used to advertise locally.

“Find a way to set up email campaigns that will specifically target people in your local area,” says Remon Aziz, Chief Operating Officer for Advantage. “Make it personal and let them know what’s coming up and what to expect from your brand. Send out newsletters or birthday notes – whatever you can do to make them feel valued.”

“Connect with local influencers,” says Julie Harris, Co-CEO and Head Of Coaching for Tim and Julie Harris Real Estate Coaching. “Influencers are great, but local influencers are even better. They’ll make a bigger statement to the community around you. They don’t have to have a million followers to be a good influencer, but look for someone respected and well-followed within your community. This could be the High School football coach or the town mayor. Regardless of who it is, they’ll likely make a bigger impression on your community than some hot-shot celebrity that would be expensive and not care about the community as much.”

Conclusion

It sounds like making an impression on your local community can really carry you far. Look at how you can make an impression through volunteering and getting involved.

It also doesn’t hurt to make sure your social profiles and website show your address clearly- whether that is in your shop or at pop-up vendor events in the local area.

Good luck in engaging your local community in future marketing efforts!