Local Marketing: The Key to Your Local Business’ Success

Statistics show that 97% of the people searching the web on their phones are looking for products or services near them. In fact, even when you're not specifically searching for a service provider near you or a product in your local market, search engines will still show you local results anyway.

As a business owner in Miami, this presents a wonderful opportunity to put your brand in front of a wider local audience that is more likely to support and buy from you soon.  

However, how can you make sure that your business appears first whenever users search the web for the products and services you offer?

Given how competitive the local market is, you’re not just competing against other local companies, but also against corporate giants in your area. So, it’s really important to step up your game and bolster your business’ presence in the local market.  

This is where local SEO in Miami comes into the picture.  

Aside from reaching locals by ranking high, it’s also essential to develop local marketing strategies that will enable you to effectively convert local traffic into sales.  

In this article, we are going to share with you our top local marketing strategies that are guaranteed to increase your conversions. But, before we jump into that, let’s first discuss what local marketing is and why it’s necessary.  

What Is Local Marketing?

Local marketing, also known as location-based marketing, involves optimizing your website and digital marketing efforts to boost its visibility for local search.  

It aims to target potential customers in your local community to drive brand awareness and get them to visit your physical store.  

It involves using local keywords in your website, localizing your content, claiming your business on Google My Business, sending automated messages to customers within a specific mile radius from your physical store, and many more.  

Why Is Local Marketing Important?

Google’s algorithm takes into consideration a user’s location when serving up relevant search results. That’s why – whether you indicate it or not -  Google will show you relevant businesses nearest to you that offer products or services you're looking for.  

Since Google is already giving you the chance to reach new audiences in your local community by getting rid of your non-local competitors, your job is to take advantage and ensure your company shows up in the search results.  

By optimizing your website for local SEO in Miami and implementing local marketing tactics, you can specifically target the community in your area and convert them into customers.  

What makes local marketing stand out is the fact that you can take a more targeted approach and serve highly-personalized experiences to your audience. This means you can develop more meaningful and deeper connections with your customers.  

Now that you know what local marketing is and its significance, let’s discuss the different ways to make it work for your local business.  

Powerful Local Marketing Tactics for 2022

1. Focus on What’s Important

Given the vast number of channels and tactics you can use today to market your local business, we know it can be tempting to dip your toes in all of them.  

But, because local businesses tend to have fewer resources, it’s crucial to be smart about where you invest your time, money, and effort.  

If you ask us, we think you should focus on a few key areas that already work for your business.  

Then, once you feel like you’re ready to take on more responsibilities, such as starting a business podcast or organizing a local fair, you want to experiment first to see what your audience’s response is on those channels or activities before officially doing it.

If you try to do everything at once, chances are, you’ll end up sacrificing the quality of your output. And, we’re not just talking about how you manage your local business, but also with how you deal with your customers and make sure that things are up-to-date with your online presence.  

Tapping into a digital marketing agency in Miami is also a smart move. We suggest that you consider hiring one to handle the marketing side of your business.  

2. Optimize Your Business for Local SEO

Did you know that 70% of Americans shop from small businesses? A survey conducted by Mintlife found that 57% of people shop local because they like to keep their money circulating within their local areas, while 38% say that they do it to feel connected with their community.  

Since the majority of people already like to shop local, you should focus on appealing to them by localizing your website and its content.

Gone are the days when people instinctively look through the yellow pages to look for a service provider or shop near them. Today, consumers use their phones to browse the web and find what they're looking for.  

To increase the possibilities of your website showing up on your target audience’s local search results, you can target people within your area and attract impulse purchases.  

So, how can you optimize your business for local SEO in Miami? Here’s how:

• Enlist your business in the most trusted online directories. These include Yelp, Google My Business, Bing Places, Yahoo, and Foursquare.  
• Get your business verified at Google My Business (GMB). Doing so will get your business to rank for the local results, establish trust, and improve the experience for potential customers to easily find you.  
• Keep your information up-to-date and accurate across all your online presence. From your social media accounts to your listing and websites, all the information you’re sharing should be current. This is vital for consumers, now more than ever, because of the disruption in business operations due to COVID-19 and other variants.  ‍
• Optimize your business’ Facebook page. Local Facebook pages regularly appear on the first page of local search results. Users conducting a local branded search might see your FB page when they’re searching for the products and/or services you offer. That's why you should optimize your FB page. Use your logo as your profile picture, insert localized keywords in your description, and be active on the platform. Users will scroll through your page and they would want to see what your products are, your most recent promos, and if you respond to comments. If they like what they see, they may follow you and reach out to you right away.
• ‍Add a Google Map to your site. When you enlist your business on GMB, your profile will automatically get linked to Google Maps and your business will appear as a landmark when users zoom into your local area. Appearing on the map will also make it easier for people to find you.
• ‍Respond to reviews. The more reviews you have, the better your chances of ranking at the top of search results. But, more than this, positive customer reviews have the power to attract new customers to your business. Make it a habit to delight your customers, respond to both negative and positive feedback, and always act on complaints to get people to willingly leave a review about your business. If you just ignore feedback, people won't bother to leave any comments since they think that you don't care. Send the message that you meet your customers' needs by staying on top of praises and complaints.  

3. Localize Your Content

Content plays a critical role in your local marketing strategy.  

By posting the right images, blog posts, articles, videos, and whatnot, you can connect with your local audience on a personal level, engage them, and convince them to give your business a try.  

When you’re beginning to localize content, you need to consider the fact that customers will likely follow the customer lifecycle model: Awareness, engagement, evaluation, purchase, post-purchase, and advocacy. So, produce localized content for each stage of the customer lifecycle.  

Here are several types of localized content you should be posting for each stage:

• Awareness or Discovery Stage:  Since your content at this stage is all about creating brand awareness, what you want to do is use slang or terms that are commonly used in your local area. You can incorporate them in your captions, social media ads, product offerings, and maybe even in your product descriptions. You should also consider context and use local imagery the locals in your area will immediately recognize.
• Engagement or Education Stage: During this stage, potential customers have done their research and are interested to learn more about your products or services. Focus on educating the locals about your company. A good idea is to craft a brand story about how your company came to be and pay homage to your local community through video. If necessary, translate your content into your target audience’s language and use localized hashtags for your posts on social media.

• Purchase Stage: When your customers are ready to make a purchase, your aim is to make the experience easy and seamless. Consider the most common type of payment method locals use and make sure that both your store and website offer them.  
• Post-purchase Stage: Just because a customer already bought from you doesn’t mean that you should forget about them and move on to the next customer. For your local company to grow, you need to build your customer base by keeping in touch and forming a relationship with your customers. Send them a thank you email and provide them coupons or discounts they can use in their next purchase. You can also send a follow-up email and ask for feedback, as well as an automated text telling them about operating hours' updates, sales, and special promos when they're near your store. This will keep you close to their hearts and drive them back to your store again and again.  
• Advocacy Stage: This is the stage where your customers are happy with your products and are excited to share their experiences with others. Respond to their social media posts, comments on your post, reviews on GMB, and the like. Consider adding a localized user feedback form to your website, where customers can leave reviews.  

Here’s another tip to keep in mind: When localizing your content, always consider your local community’s ideologies and traditions. Being aware of them and implementing them in your content will help your blog posts, articles, and social media posts feel familiar.  

The goal is to create a seamless and consistent experience for your local customers. By localizing your content, you can provide added value to your target audience and delight them at every stage so that they can make a final purchase decision faster.  

4. Use Video to Your Advantage

This year, users are predicted to spend an average of 100 minutes per day watching videos online. 84% of consumers admit to buying after watching a brand’s video. This makes video an indispensable tool for businesses that want to generate more leads and make more sales.  

Videos are more memorable compared to other forms of content. With the right storyline, you can make your business appear relatable and elicit positive emotions from your viewers. This is why video is more engaging and extremely effective at getting through to your local audience.  

The best part about videos is that there’s no special equipment required to create something your audience will love. All you need is good lighting, a phone, ideas, and you can start shooting!

Modern consumers want authenticity from brands, so rest assured that your behind-the-scenes type of videos will appeal to your audience as much as highly polished video ads would.  

With short-form videos and live videos being the trends right now, you should definitely try doing some live selling and making TikTok-style videos.  

Below are four ways you can use video to boost your local marketing strategy:

• Add a video to your landing page to keep website visitors longer, which may lead to higher conversion rates. According to Unbounce, including a video on a landing page can increase conversions by up to 80%.  
• Create an engaging video that tells a story and demonstrates how your products work. A study by Animoto revealed that 75% of people are more likely to buy a product after seeing an explainer video. This means that creating demo videos can help convince your audience to make a purchase.  

• Post TikTok videos and Reels on social media to boost engagement. Hopping on to the latest trends on TikTok, joining dance challenges, sharing expert tips, and showing BTS clips allow you to show the authentic side of your local business, establish your credibility, and build rapport with your local audience.  
• Create hype videos to generate buzz for your upcoming events, promotions, product launches, and many more. This will help keep your brand at the top of your audience’s minds, builds anticipation, and can drive more sales for your local business.  

5. Stay in Touch with Local Customers Via Email

Email remains to be relevant and necessary even in this modern world. For some reason, people still prefer to receive emails from brands and businesses they support.  

To keep in touch with your local customers and put your business at the top of their minds, send them highly personalized emails consistently.  

Depending on how often they want to hear from you, see to it that you're sending them relevant newsletters, promotions, and updates regularly. Over time, they'll get used to your schedule and look forward to receiving emails from you. Just be sure to only provide them with the most relevant information they want. Otherwise, your emails will go directly to spam.  

6. Run Paid Social Media Ads

Facebook is no longer the same. Ever since its algorithm has changed, it’s becoming harder and harder to grow an audience organically on the platform. It probably has something to do with their shift in focus towards increasing ad revenues.  

But, despite this change, Facebook continues to help small and local businesses boost their visibility online and reach their ideal customers.  

Since Facebook’s organic reach is decreasing, it’s best to invest in social ads to put your business in front of a broader local audience.  

Unlike running ads on Google where you need a bigger budget just to see results, you can run FB ads on a relatively smaller budget. So, don’t be afraid to explore this option.  

Some things to remember when creating an effective social media ad copy are:

• Consider your local audience when making your Facebook Ad copy. Include popular slang and lingos in your local community, and use the latest events in your area to draw inspiration and create a more compelling ad copy.  
• Use a tone that lets you connect with your local audience on a personal level. Write your ad copies in the first-person point of view.  
• Use specific calls to action that you know your local audience will respond to. Instead of saying “Contact us today”, you can say something more specific like “Message us to get a free quotation”.  ‍
• Do a split test to determine which ad copy generates a better response from your target audience. You can then take inspiration from the results and apply them in your future campaigns.  

Grow Your Local Business to Success with Local SEO Marketing!

By optimizing your website for local SEO in Miami and using local marketing strategies, you can reach a broader local audience and bolster your presence in your community.  

Today, it’s no longer enough that you show up at the top of the local search results. If you want our local business to truly succeed, you have to find ways to engage your audience, keep your brand at the top of their minds, build a solid relationship, and provide a seamless, customized experience both online and in person.  

If your local business is struggling to drive local foot traffic to your store or traffic to your website, we can help!

At Digital Resource, our team of SEO experts and digital marketing specialists will work together to create a custom solution made specifically to help you achieve both your marketing and business goals.  

Fill out this form to get a free consultation and find out how our agency can help you succeed.