Maybe you’re a brand new business, borne from an idea and ready to shake up the market. Maybe you’ve finally decided to become self-employed after working in your trade for a long time. Maybe you’re a long-established business that relied on word-of-mouth, and that has slowly dwindled. Whatever your reason for needing marketing; it can be tough to know where to start as a local business.
Establishing your name in the local area can be tricky; competition is often high and most small business owners don’t have marketing experience. It can be hard to know where to start; you’re great at what you do but you don’t know how to grow your customer base from scratch.
Don’t overthink it, and definitely don’t get drawn in by complicated ideas and big agency promises. You need simple, consistent, affordable marketing to grow your business. It’s much better to start small and build up than blow your budget on one big shiny campaign.
If your budgets are small, it’s important to prioritise where you spend. For example, a social media campaign might be a great way to reach new customers, but it can be expensive when your target customer group is broad. A better way to utilise your budget would be to offer an incentive to local customers, and post it in your area’s Facebook group. Posts are free, local customers get a bonus (free coffee; extra discount; complimentary service), and your name gets out to the community. The more active you are in these groups generally, the better. There are likely rules around business posts so it’s always best to check before posting, and ensure your profile doesn’t have anything controversial on it first!
Don’t dismiss print. It’s generally quite cheap and not too high effort. One of my most successful local clients had huge success just dropping leaflets to neighbours of their customers. Each time they worked on a property, they would leaflet drop 10 houses each side. In their early days, this got them plenty of new customers and allowed them to grow without high cost or high effort.
Print can be used to support your digital marketing too, for long-lasting effect. For example, reviews are key to success with SEO as a local business. Many customers will find you via Google Business Profiles (the box with a map and list of local businesses when you search – see image below) and in order to reach the top suggestions, you will need some positive reviews on your profile. A postcard to give your customers with a QR code that opens up straight to the review section means you’re much more likely to get those reviews; make it easy for the customer to help you and many will.
Your website is vitally important
Websites are key, even for a small business. If you want to grow then you need to ensure your potential customers get the best first impression of you, and that means making sure your website is as good as it can be. Fast loading, easy navigation, and a modern design can do wonders for your business. Aside from a nice design and plenty of useful information, you should have an SEO strategy even if it’s a very simple one. Although many think SEO is just for larger or national companies, it is actually essential for local businesses, possibly more so. Getting listed in Google’s Business Profiles is one of the best ways to get local customers, and Google’s system for deciding who is suggested is all based on SEO. The system feeds into a loop in a way, as Google’s system for ranking in search results is partly based on your Business Profile reviews. Your website and your profile are equally important as one boosts the other.
You might see the words, UX, SEO, UI mentioned when talking about websites; you can find out more about technical terms in our FAQ page.
The last point to mention is reviews; it has been touched on already throughout this guide. Reviews are a great, but often under utilised, part of a local marketing strategy. Nice to have them, but even better to put them to good use. Your social media pages are great for collecting reviews, as is your Google Business Profile, and generally it’s best to aim for a good amount across both as they can be used in different ways.
How to use your reviews in marketing
Here are some simple ways you can use reviews (called social proofing in marketing terms) to gain more customers:
- On your website. It’s one of the best ways to convert a website visitor into a customer. Use review blocks on your home page, link to Google reviews, and keep them updated. Use part quotes throughout the website, too.
- On your social media. You can post a customer review along with a photo of your work, or even have some adverts created using a quote from a customer. This is a great way to show potential customers they can trust you.
- In print. Use quotes from reviews in your design – similar to social media, it’s a great way to build trust.
Finally, the best thing you can do as a small, local business is to team up with an expert. Someone who can support you to prioritise your marketing activities, stretch your budget (further than you think is possible!), and ensure everything you put out there is created to covert a new customer. Even an hour a week of planning can make a huge difference to the success of your business growth; sometimes it is just enough to have some guidance and improve what you’re already doing.
