Of the many possibilities of marketing as a business driver, one of them is local marketing, a strategy that involves segmenting customers based on the location where your business is located or wants to reach.
Focusing on your local audience and investing in tools and initiatives to grow within that community is a great way to strengthen your brand and increase sales, and this strategy shouldn't be overlooked. Do you know what local marketing is and how it can strengthen your business? Stay tuned!
What is local marketing?
Simply put, local marketing is a company's advertising strategy focused on its geographic segmentation, whether city, neighborhood, or region. This approach understands local characteristics and makes it a differentiator when approaching customers and encouraging decision-making.
In other words, this is a type of marketing that takes into account ways to attract people who live or work near your business.
It is very common for this strategy to be used by establishments such as stores, restaurants, clinics and small and medium-sized businesses in general.
Local marketing combines features such as geographic targeting, physical presence, targeted promotions for local audiences, community engagement, and content personalization.
This type of marketing is increasingly important, after all, people search for what they need online and the first options are precisely the businesses that are close to the search location, right?
Therefore, investing in strategies to be displayed in searches is crucial to reaching the audience that surrounds your business.
What are the benefits of local marketing and how can it increase sales?
Local marketing highlights your business and directs strategies toward an audience close to your business. Of course, it offers many other benefits, impacting your sales and brand strength!
Attracts new customers
This type of strategy is an interesting way to attract new customers and expand your customer base. Because it's an effective way to reach people, it attracts the right people, resulting in more qualified leads reaching your business , accelerating sales.
Connects the company with existing customers
In addition to attracting new customers, local marketing fosters closer ties between the public and the company , and this also applies to those already in your customer base. By feeling seen and valued in their surroundings, existing customers become closer to the brand and more likely to become loyal.
Increases brand credibility and reputation
More than just an address and simple information, local marketing also involves content, reviews from people who already know the business, and a series of strategies to help Google and other search engines understand the company's relevance.
This way, by being highlighted and shown in searches, people associate the brand with credibility, increasing its reputation and opening doors for new customers to come to the location.
Reduces investment
Of course, this isn't the only strategy that should be used in a business, whether sales or marketing, but when we look at it in isolation, we can say that it also contributes to reducing investments, after all, local marketing has a lower cost.
Even though this strategy involves highly personalized actions, investing in a specific region is less costly than very broad campaigns. Furthermore, your company gains a powerful ally in its marketing efforts: the customer themselves, who then evaluates and contributes to referrals and new leads.
5 tips to help your business stand out through local marketing
Local marketing requires a series of actions and strategies, and to simplify this planning, we've put together some tips to make your results even more visible in your community:
1. Create a local online presence
To have good local marketing, you need to invest in an online presence so that your brand is mentioned and found, and this is done through Local SEO .
Local SEO seeks to optimize your content for search engines, but here it takes into account the geolocation of the device performing the search.
In other words, SEO here relies on the geographic component to deliver relevant solutions to users that are close to where they are.
For search ranking, Local SEO uses relevance, proximity, and prominence factors, so it's necessary to invest in the information and content you provide.
Here, it is very important to have a Google My Business , keeping it always updated and with good references and information, as it is through there that Google will make the correspondence to show or not show your business.
2. Invest in segmentation
To succeed in local marketing, you need to understand the target audience of your strategy, and investing in segmentation is essential. We're not talking about the largest number of people you'll reach, but rather the right people who are looking for solutions your business offers.
Therefore, be clear about your audience's profile, understand who they are, where they are, and what they're looking for. Only then will your strategy become truly targeted.
3. Promote local events and offers
Offer unique features to your local audience to encourage them to choose your business over a competitor or large chain, for example. It's a good idea to create events, whether on special dates or for reasons to attract customers, or invest in offers exclusively for the audience around your business.
When you feel valued and see the differences in your business, the chances of your audience choosing you are greater!
4. Explore digital platforms and search engines
While local marketing can be done through conventional channels, such as distributing flyers in the region, in-store visual communication, events, or others, the opportunities that digital marketing offers for this strategy cannot be overlooked.
Work with content, targeted ads, social media, and, of course, invest in search engines. As we've already mentioned, keep your Google My Business and other business pages linked to search engines always up-to-date and with relevant information about your brand.
5. Encourage customer reviews
The brand's existing customers are great potential for organic and referral marketing and cannot be overlooked in local marketing.
As we mentioned, customer reviews on your business pages are very important for search engines and new customers to understand your relevance, so you need to encourage your customers to review you.
Conclusion
When a company offers unique features and excellent service, customers are more likely to recommend it to others. Therefore, encouraging your customers to leave a review makes all the difference, boosting your business' reputation and local marketing momentum.
Investing in local marketing is a smart and effective way to reach new audiences, increase your brand's exposure, and drive more sales in the community where your business operates.
Valuing this community is a huge differentiator, and becoming an active part of it can help you reach new heights and reach new audiences!
How is your business interacting with the public in your surroundings? Is local marketing already a reality in your strategies? Take advantage of the fact that you're learning more about it, understand what makes sense for your scenario, and use our tips to put this strategy into practice!
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