7 ways your local business can use online marketing to get more customers

Last Updated on Dec 18, 2017 by Jos

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    With the rise of social media and smartphones, now more than ever consumers are turning to the internet to influence their buying decsisions.

    As a business owner, where and how you show up online will have a huge effect on the future success of your business.

    As with most things I prescribe the goal is to start with the lowest hanging fruit where you know your ideal clients will already be searching for your business and businesses like yours.

     

    1 –  Social Media (Facebook, Instagram)

    Whilst this may seem like the obvious choice to most people the execution of it tends to be a little harder. The key thing to remember here is that people browse social media to unplug from their normal day to day lives. So the content you post must be interesting and engaging for them. e.g telling stories, showing photos that attract the eye and getting them involved in decisions, competitions etc will really help you build a strong community of online advocates.

    The other recommendation is to start using paid social media marketing (ads) to bring in new customers and bring back old.

     

    2.Search Engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo Search

    Most of the time before going out or deciding who they’ll give their business to, consumers will do an online search on their browser of preference. For most people this is Google. Are you showing up for the words that they’d be searching for? And is what they see going to entice them to visit you (or scare them away) ?

    To start appearing for search results  you can use a combination of SEO and AdWords

     

    3. Local Directories

    There are 2 reasons to use local directories. The first being the direct searches on those directories. The second being the boosting it will give to your SEO rankings

     

    4. Youtube

    Fun fact, YouTube is the 2nd Largest Search Engine

    Yes you read that right, after Google people will often search for solutions to their problems using YouTube if your business offers a relevant solution it’s worth answering potential questions on YouTube.

    Added Bonus: They also rank well on Google and will provide you with content you can use on your social media channels. Win-Win-Win

     

    5. Banner Ads on relevant sites

    Say you own a coffee shop and there’s a local blogger that features great cafes. If they’re open to it create a deal with them to allow you to place advertisements on the site.

     

    6. Co-Promotions with other businesses who share a similar audience

    Is there another business in your area that has the same types of customers as you? e.g. if you’re a vet clinic and there’s a local pet store close by you can help eachother through promoting the others services. Or even doing events in person.

     

    7. Offer Sites

    This is low hanging fruit, not always the best customers as they’ll be looking for a deal but if you’re able to offer an experience and get people coming back for more it’s definitely worth trying.

     

    Over to you, try some of these online promotion strategies out and let me know how you went.