Online Digital Marketing Drives Local Business Success
What is Online marketing for a local business? It’s a combination of mobile optimized business website, active social media presence, video promotions, email outreach all built into a customer focused marketing plan. Here’s how. Local comapnies need to be activeonline. Lack of visibility online and active efforts to engage with social media nad provide valuable website content will limit competitiveness.
The reality of operating a small or mid-size local business changed forever in early 2020. The advent of the Covid-19 pandemic caused millions of people already shopping for products and services online to significantly increase online shopping. It brought millions more who rarely shopped on line into the digital age.
Online digital marketing for local business products and services is here to stay…it will never go back.
Today’s Facts About Local Business Digital Strategies
It’s a digital world! Every small and mid-size local business not only needs to be fully integrated into digital marketing but are perfectly aligned to benefit from online digital marketing. The search engines suchc as Google provide an emphasis on local searches.
If you are a local business take the following to heart.
According to the 2021 Local Search Consumer Behavior Survey by RioSEO found that “most consumers (90%) make a purchase within a week of their initial search. The survey showed that over 80% conducted an online search query to find information about a business near their location.
Survey respondents “(84%) reported expecting the information on a brand’s website and Google My Business listing to be accurate and up to date. And three-quarters of respondents agree reviews displayed on the brand’s website influence their purchasing decision.
Additional key highlights and takeaways from Rio SEO’s “2021 Local Search Consumer Behavior Survey” include:
61% of local consumers search locally every day.
53% of local consumers most frequently search to find information about retail stores.
75% of local consumers agree that first-party reviews displayed on a brand’s website are likely to influence their purchasing decision.
51% of consumers said they feel more confidence and trust in a local business when they see them actively responding to reviews.”
You should want to know more and can read the details at the RIO SEO website (leading local platform provider for brands and retailers) from PR Web.
Defining Local Seo for Marketing
What is Local SEO?
One of the industries top authorities AHREFS provide a succinct definition for local SEO marketing.
Local SEO refers to the process of ‘optimizing’ your online presence to attract more business from relevant local searches. These searches take place on Google and other search engines.
That last point is an important one—this isn’t just about Google.
People search for local businesses using various search engines… Google, Bing, Yelp, Apple Maps, etc. Learn more about local business SEO.
As the name suggests, local SEO (search engine optimization) focuses on attracting customers in specific geographic areas relative to a give business location. This can be a City, town or specific neighborhood area.areas This a powerful strategy for a local business with the objective of attracting visitors to their location, driving online traffic to their website and promoting their brand on social media.
How can you make sure your local business is doing all it can to be visible and competitive in online search?
Learn to implement “digital-led online marketing.”
This is what Digital based online marketing for local companies looks like in total.
These 6 online digital marketing components, leading to local business growth Success, represent the minimum collection of local business online marketing that must be implemented.
I have yet to talk to a local business person about their marketing online who doesn’t say something like “Of course we do social media and have a website.” Really?…Some may have a Google My Business site but likely not optimized.
Few do video promotions. I have yet to meet a businessperson with a YouTube Channel who published brand marketing videos regularly. Some are sending regular Email Newsletters to clients and prospects but this is really a missed golden opportunity for most local companies. A samll percent are posting relevant customer focused website content and regularly planned social media posts and ads.
As a local business owner, who has worked at this local marketing for 12+ years, I know the feeling of realizing you really aren’t doing enough of the right things regularly. To be honest you can get frustrated and really concerned that you need to do more.
Understanding the 6 Components for Local Business Online Marketing
Completely Understanding your Target Market Personas
Frankly, this should be obvious however most local companies take this for granted or gloss over it assuming they are in touch with their ideal customers.
That is not good enough.
If you want to engage, attract, and retain qualified customers and beat the competition at this digial marketing game, you simply must research target customers indepth. This involves creating a “Persona” for each distinct product/service target customer segment. A “persona” is a hypothetical composite of the ideal customer for your business.
Knowing the details of the common behaviors, interests, attitudes, and problems of your ideal customers will allow you to be relevant in all your online marketing. Your website articles, social media posting, video marketing, and emails. Everything your company brand puts out must speak to the target customer Persona.
How To Know If You Are Focusing on The Target Customer Online
Many local companies are doing some level of website and social media marketing and perhaps even some advertising. I will share from expereince that the majority are getting it wrong (if they are marketing online at all).
How do you know? You know because the primary focus of their digital-based marketing online is centered areound their business and it’s products and services. The sobering truth about local business marketing.
Know this. The customer is going online to find a local company who will do one or more of the following:
- Solve their Needs
- Fulfill their Desires
- Resolve their Problem
- Provide a valuable Gain
I would put it hsi ways to turn a phrase. The customer doesn’t care about your business unless they know you care about and understand their needs.
Undertaking market research may not be familiar territory for many local companies. It is critical. To get you started, you can review How to Do Market Research – A Guide and Template by HubSpot.
H4 Website Content for Online Marketing
The business website is the centerpiece of your online marketing efforts. Typically, the structure will encompass at Home Page, Category Pages (defining each of your distinct products or services), Landin Pages designed to get a customer to take action (sign up for your newsletter, inquire about products or services, or directly make an offer with a Call To Action (CTA). You may need product pages for eCommerce. You will need Administrative and Regulatory pages (based on industry norms) such as Privacy Policy, Contact Forms, About Page, etc.
All of these Pages need to have specific Search Engine Optimization (SEO) attributes so search engines understand what you are about and rank your website content when people search for your type of services. This will require specific SEO techniques such as “structured data” that aids the search engines like Google to clearly understand your website intent.
Your website MUST BE MOBILE OPTIMIZED!
Google My Business | A local Company Dynamic for Online Digital Marketing
Google My Business (GMB) is a free Google Ancillary Site for your business. It acts as a sub-website to your standard Business Website and is focused on supporting and promoting local companies. It will be linked to your main website. You can use snippets (sections) of your business website content, such as blog articles, and post them to GMB with relevant images. You can also run Ads and promotions on your GMB site.
Experts voted it the number one ranking factor for local searches and, sure, it makes sense: Google’s going to favor Google.
Local Business Social Media Marketing
Social Media with all its flaws is still a local business dynamic marketing tool. The use of selected social media channels, not more than 2-3 to start, will be instrumental in building your local company’s brand, reaching new customers, nurturing relationships with existing customers and followers, promoting products and services, and engaging in interest-based conversations.
There are two aspects to social media marketing.
The first is regular and consistent content posting relevant to your target audience. This cab creating increasing numbers of organic free traffic.
The second is social media advertising. Social media ads, such as with Facebook, allow you to target a more specific audience closely matching your identified Personas and target niches. It is affordable and done correctly, it gets paid traffic results.
Email Outreach is an Opportunity for Local Companies
Sometimes overlooked, email marketing to subscribers both customers and prospective customers, is a powerful and proven digital-led strategy. From Newsletters to promotions and brand building it is necessary for local companies.If you are a local business owner or a start up prepare to be shocked.
In an article by HubSpot,
You might be wondering if email is still a worthwhile marketing strategy. Well, it is.
In fact, email generates $42 for every $1 spent, which is an astounding 4,200% ROI, making it one of the most effective options available. (Source: Litmus.com)
Ask yourself honestly, am I leveraging the power of email marketing?
Video Marketing and YouTube Promotions
Video marketing is powerful and productive and in reach of small and mid-size local companies. There are quality Video creating and editing software readily available that makes the production of quality videos very doable and affordable.
Look. Video is a powerful local business digital marketing tool. Consumers today spend as much as 100 minutes a day watching online videos. Much of this is for entertainment but the undercurrent of importance is that people really like videos.
A local company should understadn what the leading digital marketers are doing with video. A huge 86% of businesses of all sizes are using video marketing as a key strategy! [blog.hubspot.com). So, ask yourself, ‘what part is video marketing planning in my local efforts?
Once a video is created, usually in. Mp4 format, it can be downloaded to your computer and saved for marketing projects. As a suggestion for those getting started in video marketing, it is important to realize that from a website point of view hosting a video on your website/server slows downloading time for any page. This is an important SEO factor for ranking a website page. Slow load means dropped visitors and lower ranking.
The place to start is YouTube. Once your video is created and downloaded to your computer, you can then upload it to YouTube. There you can get a specific xxx for your video and that can be embedded in your website pages and posts. It is being hosted on YouTube and that helps speed up load time for visitors.
Most local business owners I know are very savvy and alert to opportunities when they present themselves. So, if all the statisctics ae positive about the use of video as a key component of your digital promotions, does the following statistics have all the ear marks a big opportunity?
Nine percentof small businesses today use YouTube because of its many benefits: Increases the visibility of your brand in search engines. Attracts and retains customers. [Source: MileIQ]
Here is a great way to get a quick overview of YouTube video marketing opportunities in an article by MileIQ How to Use YouTube for small business
Knowing What To Do Online and How Much Digital Marketing Techniques to Implement
When people search online for a local business service or product provider today it is done quickly and with specific reference to a company’s online presence, ranking in Google Search, and customer reviews.
Your online and on-social media presence must be clear, credible, and better than your competition. Over 80% of today’s consumers perform a Google search to learn more about a local business and make a quick decision of whether they feel a particular business is right for them.
The first place to check your online digital marketing is to learn to understand the benchmarks for how much and how frequently a local business needs to market online. Then, to develop Key Performance Indicators to check if you are meeting your plan and getting results.
I know every type of business has diverse needs and challenges and target market customers or personas that vary from industry to industry. These differences will determine the actual level of online digital marketing that needs to be sonde combined with current marketing levels.
That said, here is a typical schematic of the online activities for the first full year of an organized local business marketing plan. Do you want to be competitive with the competition and really grow your business? Here is what it takes.
How Can a Local Business Implement a Comprehensive Online digital Marketing
The first reaction I often get when reviewing the 6 components of online marketing through digital media is “you have to be kidding! How can I afford the time and money for all this?”
Point taken. That is a logical first impression when you see the level of daily and weekly activities needed to implement the 6 components.
Start with one-bite-at-a-time. Really. A local company can be expected to drop everything demanded of them already and implement all this online marketing at once.
So, how do you get in step with today’s digital marketing demands and live where your customers live online?
Four Methods Allowing a Local Business to Implement a Winning Digital Marketing Plan
Done For You (DFY) Digital Marketing
A business that can afford it can hire a Digital marketing agency in their local to help design your plan for the 6 Components, evaluate where you are now. There are several qualified local Agencies and Specialists that can be found by simply searching for “local digital marketing agencies” or “Local SEO providers.” Check out their websites and read their website. Check for references and testimonials on social media. Ask around. It is reasonable to predict that in most locations you will expect to pay $500 – 1,000 a month and sometimes more.
Done With You (DWY) Digital-based Marketing:
There may be local or area organizations willing to collaborate with you. They may provide some level of teaching and coaching upfront so that you or someone on your staff can learn to do specific elements of the 6 Components and have the provider do the rest. The relationship of the local business activities and those done by the online specialist will vary. This is a viable and cost-effective approach and can range anywhere from a few hundred dollars a month for providing 1 or more components to $600 a month or more for providing more functions.
Do It Yourself (DIY) Online Marketing:
There are resources available online (so your geographic location is not pivotal) who can provide a training program on each of the 6 Components. These providers may provide online coaching and a help desk as you start implementing. The cost of quality online training for the digital marketing initiative will vary.
Both the DWY and DIY methods will require software enablers and online services which will make it easier and more effective and time-saving to get the 6 Components done.
An example would be “social media posting” services. Companies like Buffer https://buffer.com/ and Metigy https://app.metigy.com/. There are many options out there for various needs and budgets. Services like this allow you to create your social media posts in advance and schedule future days and times to automatically post them.
Contract Out Specific Components of the Digital Marketing Plan:
Depending on a small or mid-size local company or start-up Business needs, circumstances and budget, you can find local marketing agnecies or outsource to free-lance specialists. For example, if you want outsource your social medai posting component you can go online and search for free-lance spcialists. You can do an online search for “freelance social media provders.”
Another resource would be “Freelance” organizations such as Fiverr.com or Freeup.com. There are thousands of independent people available to help you at affordable rates. Once you locate some sources just make sute to cehck them out with reviews and testimonials.
FREQUENTLY ASKED DIGITAL MARKETING QUESTION
Why is Local SEO Important?
The intention here is not to offer a bunch of randmon statistics that add no value. But I do want to illustrate clearly to any local business owner several revealing current data call attention to how poweful local SEO is for small and mid-size companies. “46% of all searches in Google have “local intent” ( Search Engine Roundtable ). 29% of all Google SERPs contain a local pack in the result. 76% of consumers that search for something local on their phone visit a store that day.” (Google).
To be clear, local searches make up a huge slice of the SEO world. And if you can get your local business in front of these search queries, you have a reasonable opportunity visitors will see your visibility and come to your business to meet their needs.
Summary – Digital-based Online Local Business Marketing
A local small or mid-size business or a start-up company trying to scale up their marketing needs to embrace and immerse their marketing efforts in local SEO online digital-based marketing. Start small. Start where you are already. Research your target customers. Focus on the customers needs and desires. Do it soon, Do it often!
Our organization M4 Digital Marketing is focused on one mission> Providing Affordable Digital Marketing for Local Companies to Help Them Become Vastly More Competitive.
Reach out to us for ideas and questions. We welcome the opportunity to add value to your efforts.
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