Can You Share Any Tips on Promoting Locally Owned Businesses?

Is it a brick and mortar? If so, Local SEO is a big deal. I have a video presentation on the subject. It is a service I provide mostly as an add-on to my clients, but it's so important I provide a free checklist for the DIYers. Seriously, this is the lowest cost online marketing, with the most promising results, for locally owned business. This also helps service-area businesses that visit their clients (AC, plumbing, etc.).
Please tell me you have a great sign outside.
After that, the rest is word-of-mouth and promotion. Get the local paper to do a write-up, host a charity event and invite local media (online blog and mags included). Join a local chamber of commerce of business association. A lot of them will throw an opening ceremony for becoming a member. The better ones will also publish it online and invite the media themselves. Get out there and shake hands is still the best advice.

Unless you live in a small village, the best way to promote yourself locally is Google. Newspapers, magazines, TV and radio advertising are all going the way of the dodo bird. People find what they want on the Internet today.

Google is now geo-centric and knows where you are when you search. Google assumes that, given the choice, you will always buy locally than nationally.

So, by including the city in your keywords that you want to rank for, e.g. lawn service Greensboro, you improve the chances that Google will display your listing on page 1 when a search happens.

You may not be doing it, but the vast number of Google searchers add the city name in the search. The reason is experience has shown that they get better, more relevant search results.

Will you actually get found? That's a topic for another discussion.

As a sign maker, I can tell you one part of the answer is to have a simple and yet elegant sign for your enterprise. You will be amazed by the number of people coming to your location and say " I saw your sign every day as I drive to work and decided to finally stop because I need ........."

A simple, one time cost advertising that will give back to you year after year.

Word of Mouth- Put it to Work!

If your interested, I have a series of articles based on methods for using word of mouth as a business growth strategy. But for now...

I'm going to give you some great tried and true ways to use word of mouth when building and executing your campaigns and trying to gain exposure. Put it to Work!

I've done it in a list form, so you can go through and highlight the ones you want to put into action. These are offered by George Silverman which you can find in his amazing book, "The Secrets of Word of Mouth Marketing."

Here they are:

I know this is a lot of information to digest, so I'm going to wrap this up and leave you with the homework of going through and taking a look at the tips and tricks you like best. Also, look for tips that fit your company, products, services and target customers for the most effectiveness.

Tim Wesley,

TWfics Strategic Marketing

Stephanie,

What type of business is it? Id it B2B or B2C? If it's B2C look into Every Door Direct Mail. No matter what anyone says, major studies and statistics performed every year show that for dollar for dollar Direct Mail ALWAYS produces the best results. You can't argue with math.

There are only 10 spots on the 1st page of Google, unless you are willing to spend the money for a great SEO Expert which will cost around $2500 dollars a month for a good one, Direct mail is the easiest way to get in front of a large amount of people in a short amount of time.

However if you are not going to mail on a regular basis then it's not worth it. You have to be diligent.

First and foremost, ensure that you are properly listed in local search business listings. These include Google My Business, Yelp, Facebook and other listing sites. If you want to verify your listings, we have a free listing checker, just click here and follow the instructions, it's free and there is no obligation to use us.

As a realtor, if you do not have a marketing budget, then you are very dependent on referrals. Referrals come from networking and meeting people. They can also come from businesses you are aligned with or services that interface with your customers and you can buy lists as well.

The key is knowing precisely who your best customer is, where do they hang out, what do they do for fun, what and why are they looking to buy? Knowing this will give you clues to how you can position yourself. For example, if your primary customers are parents of young children, then you might work with local daycare and early development centers to see if you can advertise in their newsletters or email blasts. If your customers are older retirees, then you might think about offering a seminar or workshop in cooperation with a financial planner or similar. My best advice is to avoid trying to do what everyone else is doing, if you have limited budget and resources, don't cast a big net, try to focus on a very specific niche, so you can maximize your dollars and time.

I hope this is helpful.

Consistency is probably one ot the top answers because if you lack or lay back on your networking you would surprise at how soon you are forgotten about, Your competitors are the only one's who will remember you as they are always watching. You see I work from my home and don't have a "space" that I can use as such. So my marketing is even more difficult to stay involved with because the days I am painting (artist) I'm not marketing. It creates a roller coaster ride of working capital that gets so scarey sometimes you wonder if you will have enough to get by the following month. Especially during slow downs and just nasty economies. I tried the NextDoor.com thing to and they need more experience about marketing (It was a waste of time) Good idea but they have too many restrictions and you cant make the moves you need to too improve the exposure. They wont last long......

Well, I think you're on the right site, for starters! :)

Despite what others suggest, going with local media is still a good option. You're in real estate, right? The local paper/website will be much more effective (and more local) in promoting particular properties you're selling.
Also, don't discount the fact that you'll be dealing with actual people who live where you live. Much better if something needs fixing.