11 Local Business Marketing Ideas to Try

What Is Local Business Marketing?

Local concern selling involves utilizing tactics designed to pull and prosecute prospects successful circumstantial geographic areas. It’s utile for helping some brick-and-mortar businesses and those without carnal storefronts pull imaginable customers. 

The geographic area(s) a concern targets depends connected its needs. For example, a canine walker mightiness absorption connected conscionable 1 neighborhood. But a section depository whitethorn privation to scope the full city.

Examples of section businesses include: 

• Restaurants, cafes, and bars
• Clothing retailers and boutiques
• Gyms and fittingness centers
• Local attractions similar zoos, museums, amusement parks, and theaters 
• Local work providers similar lawyers, concern consultants, favored groomers, plumbers, electricians, and existent property agents 
• Transportation and conveyance services including car dealerships, car repair shops, and car rental services

Why Is Marketing Important for Local Businesses?

Local selling helps you physique marque consciousness and pull caller customers. More specifically, it tin assistance you:

• Connect with prospects who are apt to acquisition soon
• Build semipermanent relationships that pb to repetition business
• Compete with some section and non-local competitors
• Reach a larger lawsuit basal wrong your community

11 Local Marketing Ideas for Your Business 

1. Claim Your Business Directory Listings

Local listings are citations that let you to adhd your business’s name, address, telephone fig (NAP), and different information. And they tin assistance radical find your concern and amended your visibility successful section hunt results. 

Common section directories include:

• Facebook
• Google
• Yellow Pages
• Better Business Bureau
• Instagram
• Yelp

Here’s an illustration of a Google Business Profile (GBP) listing that appears erstwhile searching for “thierry chocolates alberni”:

And 1 connected Instagram’s searchable map:

So, adhd your business’s NAP accusation to applicable directories. And marque definite it’s accordant crossed each listings. 

Why?

Consistent listings look much trustworthy. Users privation close accusation erstwhile they look up your business. (So they don’t sojourn an aged concern location. Or telephone the incorrect number.) 

Having the aforesaid accusation crossed citations whitethorn besides amended hunt visibility. As Google whitethorn presumption businesses with accordant listings arsenic much reputable and trustworthy. 

So, usage a instrumentality similar Semrush’s Listing Management to show your citations.

Here’s how.

Open the tool, hunt your concern name, and prime the close 1 from the list.

The instrumentality volition amusement you a study with errors and inconsistencies related to your listings. Along with places your concern isn’t listed but should be.

You tin manually update these listings.

Or motion up for Semrush Local to fto the instrumentality automatically instrumentality attraction of each your directory listings. 

2. Optimize Your On-Page SEO

Improving your site’s local on-page SEO—optimizing your site’s contented for section visibility successful hunt engines—can assistance you look much prominently successful search. This tin boost website postulation and adjacent pb to in-person visits (if you person a carnal location).

In different words, you privation your concern to fertile for local keywords. So searchers tin find your tract and instrumentality action.

Here’s an example. 

A New York angiosperm transportation work ranks for the hunt word “wedding bouquets adjacent me” among adjacent users who hunt that term. And those users could perchance click connected the business’s hunt effect to bid flowers.

To find people section keywords, you’ll request to execute section keyword research. 

Here’s how:

Open Semrush’s Keyword Magic Tool, input a wide keyword related to your business, prime your location, and adhd your website successful the “AI-powered feature” bar. Then, click “Search.”

The adjacent leafage displays a database of related keywords. 

To find section keywords, effort adding the location(s) you service with the “Include keywords” filter. 

Just participate these locations, prime “Any keywords,” and click “Apply.”

Go done the database of keywords to find ones applicable to your business. 

Review the Personal Keyword Difficulty (PKD %) file to find keywords your tract tin easy fertile for. (Keywords with PKD % scores little than 50% are easiest to fertile for.)

Finally, prime the keywords you’d similar to fertile for. 

These could beryllium keywords for blog posts. Or keywords for location-specific landing pages. (We’ll spell implicit that next.)

3. Create Location-Specific Landing Pages

Landing pages are conversion-oriented pages. And creating location-specific ones helps transportation prospects successful your country to instrumentality a desired action. Like booking a consultation oregon buying a product.

Here’s an illustration of a landing leafage for a massage session that asks radical to publication a massage.

So, make a dedicated landing leafage utilizing your keywords from the erstwhile step.

Using our mechanic illustration from the erstwhile section, we tin make a landing leafage for the keywords “mobile mechanic coventry” and “mobile mechanic.” So users tin telephone and publication an appointment.

To make your ain section landing pages, constitute contented focused astir applicable presumption you recovered successful the erstwhile measurement straight successful Semrush’s SEO Writing Assistant. 

Write your substance straight successful the exertion (or import substance from the web), adhd your keyword(s), and set your people assemblage to your location. Then click “Get recommendations.” 

Use the suggestions connected the close to amended the text’s readability, SEO, originality, and code of voice. To assistance you make high-quality contented that’s apt to fertile higher successful hunt results. 

After penning and editing your text, usage Semrush’s Landing Page Builder app to make the existent page.

The app lets you physique no-code landing pages done a drag-and-drop interface. And you tin take from nonrecreational templates oregon commencement from scratch.

Simply take your template and usage the drag-and-drop exertion to customize your landing leafage with your transcript from SEO Writing Assistant. 

See our instructions for the Landing Page Builder app for a elaborate walkthrough. 

Nearly 50% of polled consumers accidental they’ve utilized Facebook to larn astir section businesses successful the past 30 days. And 33% accidental the aforesaid of Instagram. Meaning you tin perchance scope caller audiences by being progressive connected societal media.

Here are immoderate ideas to assistance your section societal media efforts:

• Post consistently. Use tools similar Semrush’s Social Poster to support an progressive beingness connected societal media. This way, radical volition travel crossed a illustration they cognize is from an progressive marque erstwhile they probe section businesses.
• Use section hashtags. Analyze adjacent competitors’ societal media profiles with Social Tracker to spot which section hashtags thrust the highest engagement. And incorporated those hashtags into your content.
• Engage with section influencers. Consider partnering with applicable section influencers to beforehand your concern to their audiences.
• Add locations to your societal media posts. Certain platforms (like Facebook and Instagram) fto you tag geographic locations successful your posts. Which means your posts mightiness amusement up erstwhile users hunt for businesses successful those locations. 
• Host a giveaway. Ask radical to like, share, oregon remark connected a station arsenic an introduction request that makes them eligible for a prize giveaway. And usage a instrumentality similar Woobox to prime a winner.

For example, this section cafe successful Chicago tells radical however to participate their contention for a acquisition card:

5. Localize Your Paid Ads

Paid ads fto you acceptable geographic locations to people radical wrong a peculiar country (as circumstantial arsenic a definite neighborhood). Meaning they tin beryllium a large mode to scope circumstantial audiences astir apt to bash concern with you.

For example, you could tally Facebook ads that people radical who unrecorded successful a definite metropolis oregon wrong a definite region from your location. Like those wrong a five-mile radius of you.

You tin besides tally section paid ads connected Google. And people radical based connected their determination and the keywords they hunt for.

Like these HVAC companies who people their ads to a section area:

Use Advertising Research to peek into competitors’ hunt advertisement strategies. And get ideas for your ain ads.

Open the tool, participate a competitor’s website, take your country, and click “Search.”

The “Positions” tab tells you which keywords this rival targets. So you cognize which ones to perchance target, too.

And the “Ads Copies” tab shows you the nonstop substance that rival utilized for ads. Which tin animate the transcript you constitute for your ain ads.

Once you cognize what transcript you privation to use, you’re acceptable to make ads. 

And successful Google Ads, you tin specify your determination by country, city, region, oregon postal codification done its guided setup. 

Getting progressive successful section events lets you interact with imaginable and existent customers. And tin assistance you turn marque awareness.

Here are immoderate ideas for ways to get involved:

• Restaurants can acceptable up tasting booths astatine festivals, events, and nutrient shows with samples oregon peculiar paper items 
• Clothing retailers and boutiques tin acceptable up pop-up shops astatine section markets oregon fairs
• Gyms and fittingness centers can big outdoor classes, demonstrations, oregon challenges astatine parks for non-members 
• Local attractions can big interactive booths astatine events to springiness radical a preview of offerings 
• Local work providers can stock their expertise astatine assemblage fairs oregon workshops, offering escaped consultations oregon demonstrations
• Transportation and conveyance services tin supply shuttle services for ample events and transport attendees to and from places similar hotels and venues

For example, this blistery cocoa festival successful Calgary, Canada, invites section cafes, restaurants and chocolatiers to vie for awards portion raising wealth for a charity:

7. Respond to Customer Reviews

Replying to affirmative and antagonistic lawsuit reviews connected platforms similar Google and Facebook helps you:

• Address concerns
• Build rapport with customers
• Enhance marque cognition by showing responsiveness

Plus, replying to reviews mightiness promote much radical to permission them successful the future. And having affirmative Google reviews tin assistance you fertile higher.

Monitor online reviews from a scope of places similar Yelp and Google with Review Management. You tin besides reply to Google reviews close successful the tool.

You tin adjacent usage AI to acceptable up automatic responses.

8. Leverage Local Media

Getting featured by section media tin assistance you physique credibility wrong your community. 

Examples of section media organizations you mightiness privation to link with include:

• Newspapers
• Local TV stations
• Community newsletters
• Local magazines
• Radio stations
• City-specific blogs/podcasts

For example, you could transportation a newsworthy communicative related to your concern to a section quality outlet.

Or inquire a section blog to reappraisal your services and make a station based connected their experience.

Find section media opportunities by searching things like:

• [Your city] + magazine
• [Your city] + section blogs
• [Your city] + section podcast
• [Your neighborhood] + newsletter

Then, scope retired to the antithetic outlets with your pitch. 

9. Partner with Other Local Businesses

Joining forces with different section businesses tin assistance you scope a wider audience. For these partnerships to beryllium successful, the businesses you spouse with should service a complementary assemblage with akin interests.

Some section concern ideas include:

• Co-hosting a store and teaching attendees however to bash a task related to some businesses
• Featuring each other's products successful your stores
• Having societal media takeovers wherever you tally their relationship for the time and they tally yours (with approved content)
• Hosting a giveaway connected societal media wherever some businesses donate a fewer products/services arsenic the prize

Here’s an illustration of 7 section businesses banding unneurotic for a giveaway:

10. Implement a Loyalty Program

Loyalty programs connection incentives similar cash, credits, points, oregon talented products to faithful customers. So, they tin beryllium large for driving repetition business.

And gathering a loyalty programme doesn’t request to beryllium complex. Here are a fewer elemental options:

• Use punch cards to way lawsuit purchases that reward customers aft they bargain a definite fig of items. Like a canine groomer that offers the tenth nail trim for free.
• Use a point-of-sale strategy to way points and reward those who scope a circumstantial level of points. Like a bookstore that offers tiered rewards based connected points acquired.

Good Earth Coffeehouse takes the points approach:

11. Reward Customer Referrals 

People spot recommendations from friends and family. So, promote your customers to notation concern your way. 

One mode to bash truthful is by rewarding radical for their referrals. 

For example, this section landscaping institution offers acquisition cards for referrals. 

Additional ideas:

• Offer discounts connected aboriginal purchases for some parties
• Award products, cash, oregon acquisition cards to referrers

And regularly advertise your referrals programme to existent customers, truthful they cognize astir it. 

You could make a dedicated landing leafage connected your website outlining your program, nonstop retired emails reminding subscribers what they get if they notation someone, and station signs successful your concern encouraging radical to commencement referring. 

Start Your Local Marketing Strategy

Now that you cognize however to marketplace your section business, your adjacent measurement is to enactment these ideas into practice.

Start by creating your Google Business Profile and adding your concern to online directories. Then, optimize your website for section searches. 

From there, absorption connected tactics that marque consciousness for your fund and goals. 

And usage Semrush tools to streamline your efforts.

Try them for free.