Learn the main benefits of digital marketing for local businesses
Local businesses and stores are making the same mistake when they drop their digital presence. They think that just having physical presence without digital presence is enough for their success.
Let’s think together, when you travel or visit a new place, where do you search for information about restaurants, hotels, bars? If you answer on the internet, you´re not alone.
Most people research basic information of the places like opening hours, address, phone, photos, at the Google, and if your business or stores isn’t there, you are lost customers. Keep reading to understand more specifically how and why digital marketing is essential for local business.
In this content:
- Why to choose digital marketing for local business
- More online visibility with Google
- Build loyalty and customization with local marketing
- Low Cost and Better Segmented leads
- Easier to Measure and Target
- Local Participation
Why digital marketing for local business?
- Reach more people
- Measure investment and direct impact
- Cheaper than traditional marketing
- Adapt to the digital era
In a research, 97% of interviewed answered that they learn more information about a local company online. This shows how digital marketing influences users, not just in a global way but locally too.
What defines a neighborhood marketing or local marketing are a set of strategies that targets consumers and customers in a specific geographic location near the company or store. With this information, it is possible to build marketing strategies that help people find your business and learn more about it.
There are more benefits in having a good plan of digital marketing and a specialized team. If you don’t act now other businesses will make the difference and take place where you should be.
More online visibility with Google
Here some of the best benefits that local marketing will bring to your business, rather it’s a hotel, a restaurant, a store, a beauty salon, etc.
Use more of Google
When people travel or visit a new place, they need information quickly and practically, they find this on the internet, more specifically at Google´s research.
Give information and access for your clients and future customers, start to look at Google as a friend, not as a competitor. Make a website for your business and don’t forget to make sure that it is mobile-friendly, since most of the searches are made from our cell phones, especially if is a local one.
Create a page on Google Mybusiness or claim yours if someone already created for you. With a location set on Google, many of the relevant store information (address, number, open hours) will appear in the research. Google gives you a set of tools to manage your local business, from reviews to direct buttons to contact and edit the visible pictures. Make sure to have an accurate profile.
This way, your local business will be found before other options, if you don’t have money to invest right now, keeping your Google Mybusiness page updated will give you instant visibility and for free. If you keep working on it, you will rank better and new potential customers will easily find you.
Build loyalty and customization with local marketing
Customer relations depend on all interactions and experiences between the company and the client. Taking care of this relationship becomes easier with a local marketing that understands the real needs of their customers.
Customization is possible on a small scale that local businesses have. When companies make a unique way of services or product, they attract more people that identify with the image or purpose of businesses. For this, you need to license to your customers.
Building channels of feedbacks and reviews, your business will have material to make personal mensagens and communication that create a real sense of community and belonging.
Low Cost and Better Segmented leads
Many companies look to the cost of marketing with insignificance. But cultural awareness and brand relatability are sum important at long term. In this case, the local marketing companies’ audience is more precise and the digital marketing have strategies that are better segmented, turns the cost lower than global companies, and the results are more results that can be measured.
Easier to Measure and Target
Digital marketing works with metrics that measure the results of the campaigns and actions. Besides the common metric, key performance indicator (KPI), that demonstrates the effectiveness of a company in accomplishing key business objectives, there are other relevant metrics for your business.
With digital marketing, your local place will have social and business metrics, like these below:
Business metrics: average ticket, total amount of purchases, churn.
Social metrics: cost per lead (CPL), cost per customer (CPC), click through rates.
Hiring a professional team for help your local business will be essential to put digital marketing into practice. Tracking the progress of actions and goals is crucial to know what the next steps will be.
Local participation
It’s evident that digital presence is the key for the success of local business. With digital strategies your business will be ranking at research, all the information that yours customers need will be accessed, have a more targeted audience and help to build loyalty and customization.
Now that it is clear the importance of the technology at your business, we can add other ideas of action that will help engage the local community. Some ideas are to invest in booth space at events in the city, personalize a sidewalk sign and support your community with donations or contributions to a cause.
Last but not least, take care of your social media. They are good places to interact directly with your customers, to show your business routine, introduce your time, talk about the news and promotions. It is a good form to create a sense of community and at same time, allows metric spoon.