The biggest names in business understand just how powerful digital marketing can be – collectively, they spend billions of dollars each year to maximise its potential. Through campaigns deployed on search engines, social media and via email, these brands target individuals on a global scale, reaching literally billions of people every single year.
This massive marketing industry can seem as if it’s designed exclusively for big brands and businesses, but technology has made digital marketing anyone’s game. Local and small businesses stand to gain plenty from digital marketing, if they use the right strategies.
Today, we’ll discuss how local businesses can use the power of digital marketing to increase sales, traffic and in-store visits without breaking their budgets.
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Cater to Mobile Users
Majorities of those who search for local businesses or peruse social media now use mobile devices. One of the biggest elements in reaching more local customers is to implement a mobile-friendly design for your website. Whether you’re running ad campaigns on social media, email marketing campaigns or something entirely different, implementing mobile responsive design is critical.
This will ensure that more people who see your organic or paid marketing campaigns actually engage with them. In many respects, this is the prerequisite for any successful local digital marketing campaign.
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Utilise NAP
Name, Address, Phone Number: these three simple elements can dramatically increase your visibility in local search engine and social media niches. When potential customers are looking for local solutions, they tend to go to the businesses that make it easiest to find them.
Through services such as Facebook and Google My Business, you can ensure that all NAP information is synchronised. This will help strengthen your brand’s SEO relevance and help you rank more highly for relevant local product and service searches.
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Take Advantage of Social Media
Even the smallest of local businesses have the ability to build followings on sites like Facebook and Instagram. However, it tends to be difficult for local businesses to amass huge followings of relevant, local consumers organically.
Thankfully, digital marketing through these platforms on a paid basis can be executed quite easily. Through Facebook Ads and other comparable services, businesses can target consumers based on geography, age, interests and a variety of other factors. Considering the low cost of social media advertising, it shouldn’t be surprising that most businesses are using it to augment their visibility.
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Use Calls to Action
Every business marketing campaigns needs a purpose; a call to action that is clearly recognisable. Any local business seeking to take advantage of digital marketing is no different.
What exactly do you want your targeted audience to do? Visit your online store? Stop by in-person to browse your products? Whatever the intended action is, make sure that your ad copy is clear about it. Additionally, the use of landing pages – particularly in conjunction with paid ad campaigns – should have the call to action clearly recognisable so that those who click on it do not become distracted.
By using a clear, concise call to action in every digital marketing campaign, your engagement rates will be higher, which means more profit with fewer expenditures.
Digital marketing is a powerful force that can propel even the smallest of businesses to new heights. By ensuring your NAP information is published, catering to mobile users, using calls to action and taking advantage of social media tools, your campaigns can be supercharged for success in any niche or industry.
