Not all businesses have to be global. Not all businesses have to be national. In fact, for some businesses, the more local they are, the better, and that might be precisely what you want for your own business.
If that’s the case, the most important thing to do is to target local customers, but it’s not always easy to know quite how to do it when there are lots of options. That’s why we’ve narrowed some of those options down for you, ensuring you can get started and attract local customers sooner rather than later. Read on to find out more.
Local SEO
SEO is a crucial element of marketing your business, and it can help when you want to target local customers too. SEO stands for search engine optimisation, and it’s a way of ranking better in search engine results by using keywords, links, images, and other techniques.
You can use these ideas to help you find local customers by implementing local SEO, which is more niche but uses a lot of the same ideas. The first thing to do is to verify your Google Business profile account online and make sure all your details are correct, including your contact details and opening hours. It’s actually a good idea to update this profile regularly to prove to Google that you’re still operating, but on top of this, you should use local keywords on your website and make your content specific to the local area, and this will all help to get you local customers.
Use Direct Mail
Another great way to target local customers is to use direct mail. In this way, you can use a mailing house to send out leaflets or postcards with your company’s details on them to specific addresses within your local area – the area you want to do more work in, for example.
Of course, you do need to think carefully about what your direct mail is going to say, so take some time to think this through and make sure it’s information people are going to be interested in and want to hold onto. In that way, even if they don’t need you right now, if they do need you in the future, they’ll know where to turn.
Social Media
You might assume social media is a global platform because you can connect with people all over the world, and because of that, it might not be ideal for targeting your local customers and area.
If you did assume that, you’d be missing out on a lot of potential sales because you can really make social media as local as you want to. Join some local groups and get involved in community discussions, for example – you don’t have to mention your business all the time or right away, but instead become part of the community so that by the time people realise what you do, you’re already a familiar face (or avatar, at least). You can also make use of geotags and hashtags that link to your area, as these will help to boost your visibility and can be really useful when you use them in the right way.
