In this digital age, the marketing field has become highly competitive. Gone are the days when advertisements were limited to televisions, radios, magazines, or newspapers. Today we have digital channels for marketing like social media, websites, emails, mobile applications, and so on. You must now know that any marketing done through digital channels or electronic media over the internet is called digital marketing. Remember those flashy advertisements on websites and mobile apps or video ads on YouTube? Those are just a few examples of digital marketing campaigns.
The growth of digital marketing is attributed to the exponential increase in the use of smartphones these days. Whatever task you wish to perform, just use some apps on your smartphone and they will be accomplished in a jiffy. Millions of people use their smartphones for hours. As per a news article, people generally spend an average of three hours and 15 minutes on their phones every day. Companies know that this is an opportunity to enhance their online presence and reach as many audiences as possible.
One of the major benefits of digital marketing is it allows small businesses the ability to compete with companies of any size. Your competitor may be a well-established brand and have a huge customer base, but with the right digital marketing strategy, a small company with a low budget can also level the playing field and connect with a larger audience. It is a great opportunity for local businesses to engage with a lot more customers by investing a comparatively small amount of money.
This article is for everyone who wishes to know about digital marketing for local business and how even a small business can utilize effective digital marketing strategies to compete with a well-known brand.
How can Local Businesses Adopt Digital Marketing?
Customers only view the lucrative highlighted image or a 30 seconds video as an advertisement. But what works behind is the effort of an entire marketing team that tries to launch a successful digital marketing campaign through various strategies. In contrast to what you might think, Digital marketing is a broad field that encompasses different aspects like Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Social Media Marketing, Pay-Per-Click (PPC) marketing, email marketing, mobile marketing, content marketing, video marketing, and so on.
Each of these aspects contributes significantly to an overall digital marketing campaign. Local businesses, however, may not need to adopt all of them due to budget constraints. They can specifically adopt SEO, mobile marketing, and social media marketing to grow their business. Moreover, the results from such marketing efforts are measurable. When you launch campaigns through any of the above aspects, you can track if they are working as expected and if any modifications are required to grab the attention of more customers.
Here are some of the steps local businesses can take:
Get listed online
Google and JustDial are popular engines where people look for local shops for the desired products. So, your first step is to get your business listed on them. Enter all the details regarding what you offer, complete address, contact details, and opening times. People then would get an option to review your business and you can build customer trust if you gain a handful of positive reviews.
Create an SEO friendly website
Creating a website is a must to enhance your online presence and reach the target audience. Adopt all SEO best practices and include city-specific keywords in your content so that it is optimized for local search. For example, if you are selling shoes, you should use a keyword like ‘buy the best shoes in Pune’ rather than a general keyword ‘buy best shoes.’ The better your site is optimized, the higher it will rank on search engine results for targeted keywords.
Also Read: Top Tools for every digital marketer
Leverage social media marketing
There is no better way to promote your local business than social media. Millions of people spend some time daily on social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and more. You can create economical social media campaigns to promote your product on these sites. Facebook, for example, allows you a wide range of options to customize your campaign according to the desired location, type of audience, budget range, and so on. Instead of direct promotion, you can also create engaging content and ask for a customer’s opinion to interact with them.
Be active on YouTube
You can also do video marketing to promote your local business. You can create informative videos related to your services or products and get the attention of your target audience. YouTube ads can also be used to reach a local audience and making a video in your local language would further give them a personalized experience and increase their interest in knowing about your business. The more creative your ads, the better it will be successful in grabbing the attention of the audience.
Regularly interact with your existing customers
Even if you have limited customers today, it is important to keep them happy so that they can spread the word and help bring in more customers. You can send them messages or emails informing them about any upcoming discounts and offers on your products. If you offer any services, you can send reminder emails regarding their appointments, ask for their reviews, update regarding any new services, etc. All these efforts would help you spread your reach locally.
Final Words
You can see how beneficial digital marketing is for a local business. To give the right start, you need to understand the fundamentals of digital marketing thoroughly. We would recommend you to take a digital marketing certification program to learn everything from scratch. There are many online resources available claiming to teach you effective marketing strategies but they often contain redundant information. With a reliable training course, you would be guided by an industry expert who has years of real-world experience in launching successful online marketing campaigns. So, explore your options today and take your local business to new heights with digital marketing.