Why Local Companies Need Digital Marketing
Digital Marketing, online advertising, lead generation – for some companies, these business terms can be intimidating. Usually they’re intimidating because they’re foreign or unknown. After all, many local businesses thrive on word of mouth and referrals. As such, they don’t believe they have a need for marketing – digital or otherwise.
This couldn’t be further from the truth, though. Digital Marketing – especially in the local market – is a critical component of long-term success and every business owner should pay attention.
The Value of Digital Marketing For Local Businesses
Digital marketing for local businesses is important for a number of reasons.
According to the Consumer Barometer study conducted by Google, 70% of consumers go to the internet to make some sort of preliminary online research before making any moves to purchase products or services offline. If you don’t have an internet presence, you’re missing out on sales.
Marketing expert Laura Lake says “A local company needs a targeted marketing strategy to attract a new set of customers who may not realize that there is a local specialty business in the area.”
In other words, the big national brands will force you out of town if you don’t make your presence known. They have large marketing budgets and everyone knows who they are. Your business, on the other hand, is small and unknown. The internet is great for leveling the field since potential customers can easily find you online if you have your SEO set up correctly.
You also have one other thing going for you: you’re local. People love working with local businesses. They enjoy giving back to the community and perceive small local companies as more attentive and honest.
Through digital marketing efforts, you can establish, identify, and make your company known. And despite what you may think, it’s not time intensive or expensive to develop a basic digital marketing strategy.
Setting up a website and maintaining a blog is a simple way to get online and increase your brand awareness. Including area pictures and information can help your potential customers see that you are local.
Digital Marketing in the Modern Marketplace
While there’s nothing wrong with traditional forms of local marketing (billboards, newspaper and magazine ads, mass mailers, radio spots), most local businesses will find their money is better spent online. Start by emphasizing local SEO. Here are some tips:
- Set up your Google My Business page. This is a good place for people to find you online. Be sure to include descriptions, photos, contact information, location information and anything else that’s relevant.
- Fill out your name, address, phone number on all websites, social media profiles, and online directories where your business is listed. People need to be able to contact you after they discover you.
- Seek out local reviews from satisfied customers. Online reviews go a long way and help remove some of the hesitancy associated with doing business online, especially for service-based businesses.
- Optimize your website, blog, and landing pages. Target local keywords and adjust title tags and URLs to reflect your location. These elements will help drive local traffic to your site.
- Set up a Google Analytics account to analyze and track everything from what pages people are viewing to where they are located when viewing them.
- Set aside some money to experiment with pay-per-click advertising, which can be especially effective when used in conjunction with local search terms and targeted audiences.
7 Reasons for Local Businesses to Pursue Digital Marketing
We’ve compiled seven reasons for local businesses to pursue digital marketing
- Because Digital Marketing is more cost-effective than traditional marketing
- Because Digital Marketing provides better ROI for your marketing investment
- Because Digital Marketing levels the online playing field
- Because Digital Marketing allows you to market to specific areas and target audiences
- Because Digital Marketing can be expanded quickly and easily as the business grows
- Because Digital Marketing can be closely monitored and analyzed to see what works and what doesn’t
- Because Digital Marketing facilitates interaction with targeted audiences
If you haven’t yet invested in digital marketing, do what thousands of other local businesses are doing and start targeting your immediate community. Start with local SEO and then expand as your budget allows.
Facts & Benefits About the Internet & Local Businesses
- 80% of budgets are spent within 50 miles of the home (DMA / proprietary)
- 54% of Americans have substituted the internet and local search for phone books (comScore networks)
- 61% of local searches result in purchases (TMP / comScore)
- 35% of all searches are local (DM News)
- 97% of consumers now use online media to shop locally (BIA / Kelsey)
- 25% of internet searches have a purely local, commercial focus (Kelsey / Bizrate)
- 82% of local searchers follow-up offline via an in-store visit, phone call or purchase (TMP / comScore)