Marketing 101: Best Tools For Local Businesses

Are you the owner of a locally-focused business with a brick and mortar location? Small businesses today are in a difficult position. Customers have more choices than ever before thanks to the rise of giant e-retailers. Still, many customers would prefer to do business with their local businesses.

Sometimes they need a reason to buy local! 

 

The good news is that you can use the same marketing strategies as large e-retailers to compete with them. Social sites like YouTube and Facebook have leveled the playing field. It is not necessary to have a large budget to use these sites.

 

The problem is that many small business owners struggle to understand how to take advantage of these tools. Here are some of the best marketing ideas for local mom-and-pop shops.

 

Connect With Facebook

Facebook is a great tool for any business. It offers many opportunities for you to connect with customers and show your customers that you are proud of your community. You can also use the site to demonstrate how your products and services can be used to help the community.

 

Inspire your customers get to know you through a Facebook page – Post things about your business, employees and more.

 

Post on a regular basis – Share information about your company with your community. Let potential customers know about special events.

 

Don’t just post advertorial content – Provide your customers with tips, tricks and advice that is helpful to them.

 

Post special “Facebook-Only” offers – Give a discount to people who mention your business on Facebook.

 

Connect often – Use comments, likes and messages to connect often with your customers.

 

Share Videos Via YouTube

When most people think of social media marketing, they think of Facebook and Twitter.  It is not enough to just market your local business through these channels. Ignoring YouTube means missing out on an important marketing tool. According to Forbes, more than 85 percent of adults that go online use YouTube regularly. Don’t miss the opportunity to put your videos in front of a larger audience. YouTube videos can be optimized for local SEO. Here is how:

 

Use geo-tagging within your video – This helps ensure that your videos are found within your local market. To use geo-tagging, simply tag your video with the longitude and latitude coordinates of where it was shot.

 

Use keywords in the title – Keywords play an important role in local SEO. If you operate a local replacement window company, try a headline like “How To Know When It Is Time For Replacement Windows.”

 

Add your website link to the video.

 

YouTube is also a great tool for grassroots campaigns. One of the best YouTube grassroots campaigns is from WestJet. In 2015, the low-cost Canadian airline took to social media to ask travelers what they wanted for Christmas. While passengers were in the air, WestJet went out and bought the gifts and delivered them to the airport’s baggage carousel. The stunt was shot on video and uploaded to YouTube. The video has received more than 44 million views.