How Do You Start Doing Online Marketing for a Local Business?

Don’t like reading? Listen to the audio below:

If you listened to the audio, you may want to Click Here.

Otherwise, read on:

You started – or bought – a new local business. You need to start marketing it online, but with all of the information out there…

Where do you start?

5 Steps to marketing your local business online.

1. Establish your brand identity.

Many new business owners think that a brand is just a logo. In reality, the logo is just a small part of it.

Your brand is what shapes people’s perception of your business. What is the message you try to bring across? What is your value proposition? What is your positioning, and how do you differentiate yourself from competitors?

2. Build your ideal customer profile, or ICP.

Everything you do starts with the buyer. If you don’t know who your ideal client or customer is, how will you reach them? Yes, you may try “blanket advertising” on very general websites, but the low response rate will likely render your campaign unprofitable.

If you had to describe your ideal prospect as a person, what would that person be like? Different products and services will target people based on different metrics.

For instance, you could look at age, income level, location, profession, gender, aspirations, and whatever specific issues they may have in common. In some cases age may be the primary factor, while in others it might not even feature.

To know who your potential buyers are, you can look at reviews on reputable review websites. You can learn a lot that way.

3. Create a website that WORKS – not just one that looks nice.

So, so many new business owners fall into the trap of focusing only on the appearance of their websites…

Worst move ever. Period.

You can have the most beautiful website on the internet, but if it isn’t set up correctly, it will be useless.

Ask yourself the following questions:

a. Does the first glance – on mobile or desktop – tell visitors exactly how you can help them? Does it state your value proposition clearly?

b. Do the graphics on your site help to convey that perception?

c. How easily can people access the information they really want to get to?

d. Is there anything on your website which is just “filler content”, which speaks in abstracts and not straight facts?

e. Is the copywriting persuasive?

f. Do you have a singular focus for your calls to action, or do you have several, potentially creating indecision?

g. When people need to find a business like yours on Google, they are likely to use a specific set of keyword phrases. Does your website, and especially your home page, contain those? Are the more important ones used in headings and sub-headings?

h. How simple is it for anyone to do business with you? Keep in mind that, depending on what you offer, your visitor may be frustrated by their situation when they land on your website, and any unnecessary friction could cause them to leave.

4. Pick your marketing channels.

Theoretically, there are a multitude of ways to market your local business online. In reality though, there may be just a few that actually work.

Look at what your successful competitors are doing (or similar businesses in similar cities or towns), and see what works for them. However, once you establish some trends, don’t just dive in, boots and all.

Unless, of course, you have very, very deep pockets. Then you are welcome to throw everything at the wall and see what sticks.

For most people, though, you have a few logical choices to make:

a. Will you be using paid advertising? You have many options, ranging from push ads and display ads to pay per click ads on Google. The latter can be very effective, but often also very expensive.

Whichever one you decide on, tread carefully, and test small. Keep in mind that if none of your test runs are profitable right away, those with SOME results can perhaps be improved to make them profitable. It’s a process.

Side note: In the copywriting for your advertisements, try to incorporate words that will not only target specific people, but which will also qualify your prospects. Keep in mind though, that some platforms – like Facebook ads – prohibit any references to personal attributes, preferences or financial situations.

b. As far as getting traffic from search engines goes, it will depend on your niche and your budget. Search engine traffic is often regarded as the most valuable source, purely because people come to your website based on their searches for specific keyword phrases.

However, in many niches – especially high ticket niches – the competition is incredibly fierce. If you are targeting things like weight loss, insurance, real estate etc., you may find yourself up against huge websites from people with deep pockets.

If this is the case, just do your basic search engine optimization on your website, and find another way to drive visitors to it.

However, if there is room to be ranked in Google, by all means go for it. You can start a blog (you can switch off comments if you want), or simply add a knowledge base to your website.

Do however keep in mind that Google will take six months of more before sending you any decent amounts of visitors. Also, the number of visitors you receive will depend on how many of their typical questions you have covered. For each new article or blog post you add, focus on one question, aimed at one specific keyword phrase or search term.

Regardless of whether you go all in for search engine optimization or not, remember to create your Google business profile – and add as much information to it as possible. Depending on the market your serve, many visitors might not even scroll beyond the Google business listings, and just find a supplier there.

Side note: When choosing keyword phrases for blog posts, the home page title, headings and sub-headings, always consider the intent of the person executing the search, and where they are in their buying cycle (browsing, researching or buying). For instance – don’t attract people to your About page who should have been on a sales page, or vice versa. If you get it wrong, people will get to the page, and click away in an instant.

c. Social media marketing…

So many people get this wrong. Your choice of social network will depend on a few things – most importantly though, your ideal customer profile.

Different types of people hang out in different types of places. It all boils down to habits and expectations. For instance, Tiktok is more of a younger crowd, and not – on average – affluent. The affluent (younger) crowd hangs out on Pinterest.

Facebook tends to be a somewhat older crowd in general, while Instagram is a mixed bag.

If you do B2B products or services, Linkedin can be a goldmine if you know how to use it.

You may also want to look at – whichever network you are considering – which other similar businesses are doing well. Sometimes you will find that some types of business simply don’t do well on specific networks, and at other times you will find that the network is over-crowded by people with similar offers.

If the latter is the case, consider exploring some of the newer, emerging social networks that are home you tour target audience.

Whatever you do – unless you have very deep pockets – do not try to be everywhere at once. Focus on one social network at the start, and learn as much about it as you can. Master it before you move on to include the next.

If you try to be everywhere at once, you will dilute your attention, resulting in slower growth across all of the networks you target. Also, since you have to learn about multiple platform algorithms at once, mastering them all will take a lot longer than mastering one.

5. Be consistent.

When it comes to both search engine optimization and social media, consistency is key.

Fair enough, consistency means different things to different people. For one, it means hammering out three or more pieces of content per day, and an hour of social interaction each day too.

For the next person, it could mean two social media posts per day, and one new blog post every two weeks. Stick to what you know you can sustain indefinitely, whether you do it yourself or pay for it.

Both social networks and search engines reward consistent activity.

Again, this is why it is important to not try to be everywhere at once at the start – because the more social networks you want to target, the harder it becomes to actively post to all of them.

Also keep in mind that most social networks also reward you for being active on their platform – so take a little time each day to leave a comment or two, and do a few likes every day.

Just a few minutes per day can quickly make a difference to how much exposure you receive.