3 Ways To Improve Location Based Marketing
When it comes to marketing, one of the first things a business owner must consider is their location. How many people are in a 10 mile radius of your store? How many of those people fit into your target audience? How many competitors are in your area? All of these are location based questions that you need the answers to. We’re going to give you some of the best tips when it comes to local marketing:
[success]1. Push and Pull[/success]
There are two ways to market to people in your area. Pulling them in with interest or push ads out to them in order to create interest. We recommend being strong on both fronts. Pushing ads out is smart, but make sure that the ads are effectively placed and can create interest. An example of this is buying ad space on a bus that has a route on the street of your storefront that says something along the lines of “New Restaurant located on 123 Local St – Kids Eat Free!”. That slogan will catch the attention of a potential customer and will contribute to the pull factor. Now pulling them in isn’t just a matter of having flashy signage or great deals – it’s largely about your online reviews. This is the prime opportunity to take a look at what people are saying about your business and make some changes if need be. Once that’s complete, you’re ready to pull them in.
[success]2. Social Media Platforms[/success]
We talk about using social media a lot on our blog, but that’s only because the effectiveness of it for businesses is immense. Make good use of Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest with photos, interesting status updates and interacting with your customers. Our next recommendation is getting involved with apps that give customers incentives to come back. One of the best apps out there for this purpose is Foursquare. If you’ve never heard of it, it’s a brilliant but simple app to use. Customers can “check in” to your storefront and each time they visit they get an incentive such as a special offer or money-saving coupon. It’s a great way to get some customer loyalty and being featured as a business on the app will allow you to become available to people that may not know about you but can find out via Foursquare’s instant daily suggestions. Still not convinced? Ask the 35 million people using the app on a daily basis.
[success]3. SEO[/success]
One of the biggest mistakes business owners make is optimizing their websites for vague search results. Don’t forget about your local market! Get creative and think outside the box, but inside your neighbourhood
. What do we mean by this? Perhaps you own a local hair salon in Vancouver, the keywords you should be optimizing are as follows: hair salon Vancouver, men’s hair salon Vancouver, women’s hair salon Vancouver. Then think of a few more specific keywords such as: hair extensions salon Vancouver or hair salon and spa Vancouver. This way you’re casting a large net and a small net simultaneously and reaping the rewards. Never underestimate the power of local SEO.
[notice]What do you do to market in a location based manner? Are our tips helpful for your business? Give us some feedback in the comments section below![/notice]
photo credit: Lars Plougmann via photopin cc
