As a small business owner, the only thing on your mind is how to expand your local customer base. You can accomplish this with more objectives than general advertising efforts. You know of course word of mouth isn't just enough for your marketing strategy.
Your marketing strategy ought to be locally focused. What kind of things are you doing to attract people in your area to your business?
You'd be happy to know there are several ways you can truly attract people without breaking the bank.
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15 Ways of Advertising Locally
Create Local Listing
The world has evolved, so as people have changed also in terms of being digital. Internet is now one of the first place people turn to when searching for local businesses in their area that offers what they need. However, 'listing' is an online profile that contains your business name, address, phone number and other details.
Local listing are therefore a great way to advertise your business. We have several local listing site, but the most essential is Google My Business. Yet, you should complete listing on local directories such as Vconnect, BusinessList, Sortlist and lots more.
Remember to always verify your listing on various local listing site as this would help for authentication.
Use Local Newspaper Around You
Local Newspaper has its own advantage depending on your area. Local Newspaper however provides different opportunities for advertising. You can place an ad or get listing in the appropriate section depending on the availability of the ad space. One of the benefit of local newspaper is that they can actually get your business/brand to your right audience and attract more audience. Its a good form of advertising locally.
Host Local Events
The Event hosting could be anything, it could be a party, workshop, anniversary sale, charity event, or a webinar. The options are endless and usually doesn't cost much. Getting people together can mean a lot for your business, in which you can share ideas about your business. It doesn't have to be formal.
There are various avenues you can announce your event, through Facebook Event, Placing a notification on your various social media platforms, and also on your website. Most importantly, hold your event out in the open where you can attract more attention on the day of the event.
Run a Referral Campaign
Word of mouth is one of the most powerful forms of advertising you can use, since most people trust personal recommendations. Giving your current customers and new ones an incentive can go a very long way and you’ll be surprised how many will refer you to friends and family. Use that knowledge to your advantage and ask for referrals.
Do Vehicle Wrapping
Do you own a company car you can wrap your business logo on? or could you get local commercial cars to get wrapped by your business logo and descriptive information?.
Car wraps attract attention, while giving people valuable information about your business such as an idea of your services and your contact info. And the great thing is, they never stop working. Even when parked, your vehicle(s) will be advertising for you!
Print on Product Packaging
Printing on your business packaging bags, doesn't only create a sense of a branded business, it helps in advertising your brand without any advertising effort. Because most of your customers would eventually use your packaging bags for other purposes, it would help advertise itself when seen by other people.
Share Souvenirs
Souvenirs are items of sentimental value, to remember an event or location. So you could share souvenirs such as your business branded clothes, books, pen, wristband, branded shoes and many more. You could do this at hosted events, roadside and social media competition.
Wear Branded Attires
You can brand yourself, your team and possibly even family or friends with your branded business attires branded t-shirts, jackets, hats, caps and more. It’s something that doesn't stop giving you awareness until you stop wearing!
Distribute Printables
Printables such as business cards, flyers, or brochures can be printed in bulk for a relatively low price. You can then offer them to customers residing locally and place a few in other businesses that allow it e.g Restaurants, Hospitals and lots more.
Advertise on Local Public Ad Space
Local public ad space can be found mostly on major and minor roads and shopping malls. Advertising on local public ad space (billboards) can have a great influence on your business.
Try to determine where your targeted customers are likely to be or spend more time on i.e location wise, then place ads on public spaces where you can reach them with your ads.
YouTube
YouTube is considered the 2nd largest search engine after Google and the biggest video search engine in the world. It allows you to create engaging videos for both personal and business use. YouTube is a great source of acquiring customers locally and international, all you need is to great engaging videos about your business and always be active, then you would see people interested in your business or product.
Try Local Ads
Paid local ads give you an advantage because they’re often placed in prominent, noticeable places on web pages and in search results. For example, search engine ads appear above even the top websites in organic search results. You can’t help but see them.
Therefore, if you carefully target your ads to appear in the most relevant search results and to those most likely to become your customers, you can attract many to your business. When creating your ads, focus your efforts on your local area, your target demographic, and search terms (keywords) consumers will use to find you.
Direct Mailing
Sending printed advertisements to potential customers can be a great way to create awareness of your business. Not only that but doing so repeatedly will keep your business top of mind, increasing the chances that people will come to you when in need of what you offer.
Social Media
Social Media is also a great avenue to market your product/service. It's allows you to communicate with your customers locally using various multimedia such as Pictures, Video and Text for an effective marketing campaign.
Forum Participation
Participating in local forums can help in marketing your products/services. You would be able to post and discuss about your business/brand. Try not to be too salely rather engage with your potential customers like you would in real time.
Conclusion
Whether you’re already doing some local advertising or not, it wouldn’t hurt to try out a few other methods as well. The more you advertise, the more exposure your business gets. And the higher the quality of your efforts, the more sales you get.