7 Local Advertising Ideas Your Small Businesses Should Implement
You may be wondering if investing in advertising is a smart move for your small business. Over the years, you’ve become accustomed to word-of-mouth marketing. Yet recently, you’ve begun to notice a decline in the number of customers walking through your doors, leaving you to question if you should start advertising locally.
If you want to enjoy sustainable growth in today’s world, you need to start investing in local advertising. While you don’t need to spend millions like Amazon, the U.S. Small Business Administration recommends setting aside 7-8% of your gross revenue for advertising.
If you’re just starting out, this may seem like a lot of cash to set aside. So, we’ve uncovered 7 local advertising ideas for your small business to implement without having to break the bank.
Claim Your Free Business Profiles
When potential customers search for your business on Google, Yelp, TripAdvisor, Facebook, and more, you want them to efficiently find your business. There is nothing more critical for today’s small businesses than to have a substantial online presence, especially when it comes to enhancing local SEO. Without taking the small step to claim your free business profiles online, any advertising money you spend will drive potential customers to the competition’s business.
Read and Respond to Reviews
Claiming your online business profiles is the first step towards being able to respond to your online reviews. It is essential to do and offers free advertising for your business. However, remember to always respond appropriately to any reviews. You want to make an excellent first impression to your potential and loyal customers.
Create a Website for Your Business
Every business needs a website. It’s the first place customers go to learn about what services and products you offer.
While building a website can be free, it’s always a good idea to hire a marketing agency to build one. They’ll be able to create a customer-centric design for your website, optimize it for search engine optimization, and drive real business results.
Develop a Social Media Presence
Did you know one of the first locations potential customers go to learn about a business is on social media?
Social media provides immense potential for a business and almost every notable company out there today has a social media presence. From Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to Snapchat, YouTube, and LinkedIn, consumers log into these platforms daily and spend hours of their day scrolling through feeds, liking memes, and looking up local places to visit, shop, and eat.
Sign your accounts up on the platforms that work best for your business and are easily manageable. Be true to your brand, interesting, and engaging. The value you derive from using social media helps increase your search results.
Run a User-Generated Content Campaign
Go the extra mile and have your customers create (and share) content about your business. User-generated content is created when your loyal fans create text, videos, images, and reviews about your business. And the best part? It’s free!
Consumers want a business to feel authentic, and when they find one that is, they stick with them for life. Whether it’s a product, service, or experience, modern consumers want to know what they’re getting into before interacting with a business. Promote your consumers to create content about your business, use your relevant hashtags, and tag your business in them. This will allow you to repost the content to your platforms for all to see.
Host Local Events
Hosting local events helps reach potential customers right down the street who may have been considering visiting your store or are learning about you for the first time. Consider hosting a pub crawl, poetry event, or live music performance for locals to participate in. Through the event, you’ll be able to interact and engage with potential customers, make connections, and, most importantly, promote your business.
Volunteer and Get Involved Locally
Similar to hosting a local event, being a part of your community through volunteer efforts and local involvement will get your business noticed. Volunteering at local food banks, donating resources to a local sports team, and being a vendor at the farmers market in town are great ways to be involved. Make sure you wear your business branded attire and hand out some branded swag to put your name in front of more potential customers.
If you’re looking for ways to advertise your business locally, don’t hesitate to reach out to the marketing experts at Kraus Marketing! Contact us today to get started!