Let’s face it, small business owners; we live in a world where all it takes is a few clicks and 2 business days for that “gotta-have-it product” to be at your doorstep.
So, in a world where convenience is just a click away, how do you get people off the couch, off their screens, and into your store?
It may sound nearly impossible but take heart, brick-and-mortar business owners. The answer is in smart, targeted advertising that brings your brand directly to the people who matter most: your local community.
To drive foot traffic and boost your sales, it’s not just about getting your local market to notice you. Nope, it’s about positioning your business as a go-to place, and with the right mix of local advertising strategies, you can definitely attract new customers, keep up a steady flow of foot traffic, and keep your business growing!
So, if you’re ready to see the strategies it’ll take to get you there, then keep reading because today’s blog is diving into the top 10 local advertising strategies to help your brand stand out, engage with your local community, and drive some serious results.
Let’s get started!
How Local Advertising Can Drive More Customers to Your Store
How exactly does local advertising benefit your brand?
Whether you’re a small shop or a large bustling superstore, implementing the right strategies (in the right way!) can bring you many benefits, including:
- Increases Brand Visibility — Local advertising makes sure that your brand stands out in the community, making it easy for nearby customers to recognize and remember your business.
- Attracts New Customers — Targeted local strategies help reach people in your area who may not have heard of your business otherwise and can bring fresh foot traffic to your store.
- Builds Customer Loyalty — Engaging with the local community and offering personalized promotions helps build up loyalty to your brand. Loyal customers keep coming back for more.
- Strengthens Community Ties — Partnering with local businesses, hosting events, or participating in community activities builds strong relationships with your community and boosts your reputation locally.
- Drives Immediate Sales — Tactics like in-store promotions and SMS marketing create a sense of urgency and, often, that’s enough to motivate customers to visit your store and make purchases on the spot.
- Boosts Online Engagement — Local ads and social media promotions increase your brand’s visibility online, driving traffic to your social media profiles and website as well.
The Best Local Advertising Strategies to Boost Your Brand
So, if you’re ready to start driving more folks to your door, then we’re ready to help you do it!
Below are 10 of our favorite local advertising strategies to boost your visibility, attract more customers, and sell your products!
1. Optimize Your Google My Business Profile
First things first.
If you want to be visible online to locals in your area, it’s essential for you to have a Google Business profile. This will help your website rank higher in searches related to your products or services and make sure that your business can be found on Google Maps, which is often the first place a potential customer might start their search.
A complete and up-to-date Google Business listing makes it easy for customers to find your store, your hours, contact information, and a list of services/offerings/menu items. Once you have it, then optimize it!
Add relevant keywords, update your photos regularly, respond to any reviews (yes, even the bad ones), and share posts to keep your profile fresh and engaging. It may not seem like a lot, but this is one of the simplest and most effective ways to boost your presence in local search results and attract nearby customers.
2. Use Localized SEO to Rank Higher
Localized search engine optimization (SEO) is a strategy that businesses use to help boost their search engine visibility for locals in their immediate area.
To do this, use a keyword research tool like SEMrush, Ahrefs, or Google Keyword Planner to identify some location-specific keywords that have high search volume. Then use these keywords on your website, in the FAQ section of your website, or in your content.
And speaking of content, that should be localized as well, using topics, language, landmarks, and insight that will resonate with folks who live in a particular area (i.e., Best Portland Cafes to Warm Up This Winter,” or “Top Tips for Getting Your Car Through Another Chicago Winter.”)
If you can, try to partner up with some other local sites and trade backlinks as well. All of these techniques can make a big difference in your website showing up in search results when customers are searching for products or local services.
3. Partner Up for Cross-Promotions
Sometimes two heads are better than one.
Teaming up with complementary local businesses (i.e., your gym with a whole foods market, your coffee shop with a nearby bookstore, your peanut butter factory with a chocolate factory) is a great way to reach new audiences.
Collaborating together for joint events, promotions, or even social media campaigns allows you and your partner a chance to expand both of your reach and benefit from each other’s customer base.
4. Social Media + Geo-Targeting
Social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram are excellent places for connecting with locals and attracting new customers. Social media advertising is a powerful tool to reach targeted audiences, allowing you to create a paid ad campaign that reaches the locals who are most likely to engage with your brand or swing by for a visit.
You can also use location tags in your posts (i.e., #ShopNYC, #SanAntonioEats) and use hashtags that are relevant to your area. This can help to increase your visibility by putting you in front of locals who may not follow your business online but are searching for local spots or events to attend.
And it gets even better! With geo-targeting, you can also run social media ads specifically to people within a certain radius of your business.
Pretty neat, huh?
Geo-targeting lets you reach potential customers nearby with paid ads to a targeted audience that can feature limited-time offers, showcase new products, or announce seasonal events, making it easier than ever to get the word out and attract foot traffic to your store.
5. SMS Marketing to Get the Word Out
Everyone’s on their phones, are we right?
That’s what makes SMS marketing such a direct and highly effective way to reach modern customers on the go. Sending text messages about exclusive promotions, flash sales, or new arrivals is a great way to bring curious customers into your store.
Just be mindful to keep your messages short (nobody’s gonna read a novel), enticing, and actionable. And make sure that your customer has opted in to receive your messages too.
Do it the right way and SMS is a super effective way to create a sense of urgency and drive some immediate results!
6. Host or Sponsor Local Events
If you want to attract new customers in your community, it’s a good idea to actually get involved in your community.
Hosting or sponsoring local events is a great way to not only strengthen your connection to your community and encourage some good word-of-mouth marketing but to give back as well!
Consider sponsoring a charity food drive, organizing a local cleanup, or hosting an in-store event like a product demo or a workshop. You can also partner up with a local school sports team by sponsoring a game or offering prizes for local fundraisers.
These live events are great ways to engage with your audience face-to-face, boost your brand’s visibility and give you an excellent opportunity to gather up contact information for further engagement!
7. Target Nearby Shoppers with Geofencing
Like geo-targeting, geofencing makes it possible to target customers who are near your brick-and-mortar location but goes one step further to create a virtual “fence” around a specific area.
This means that when potential customers enter your set radius, they can receive push notifications, ads, or special offers on their devices (through push notifications on your app, other in-app ads, display ads, or text alerts if they’ve opted in), drawing instant attention to your store.
For example, if someone walks within a few blocks of your coffee shop, they might get a message like “Looking for an afternoon pick-me-up? Get 10% off a small coffee at [Your Shop Name], just a block away!”
This is a highly effective way to encourage nearby shoppers, especially by promoting flash sales, seasonal promotions, or exclusive in-store deals!
8. Offer In-Store Deals for Online Followers
It’s always fun to turn your online followers into real-life visitors.
Encourage your social media followers to get off of their screens and visit your store by offering exclusive in-store discounts for followers. This can help you bridge the gap between online and in-person engagement and bring your digital followers directly to your store.
Be sure that whatever promotions you offer, they’re easy for your followers to redeem by either showing a code or mentioning it at checkout!
9. Get Listed
Having your business listed in local online directors, like Yelp, TripAdvisor, and other directories that might be unique to your industry is a good way to boost your visibility to local customers.
Listings in these directories improve your local SEO and also increase the chances that nearby customers will find you. Just be sure to double-check that your information is consistent and up to date in all of the directories that you’re listed in so you can boost your credibility and improve your search rankings.
10. In-Store Promotions and Visual Merchandising
There’s nothing quite like eye-catching signage and visual merchandise to turn passersby into curious visitors and curious visitors into repeat customers.
Use displays to promote your in-store promotions, to highlight new arrivals, seasonal products, or exclusive in-store deals. From point-of-sale displays to window showcases, your creative merchandising is capable of capturing attention and encouraging your customers to make purchases while they’re in your store!
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Need Some Remote Assistance to Reach Your Local Audience?
There you have it!
Our top 10 list of local advertising strategies to drive foot traffic to your store. However, we know it’s one thing to read about marketing strategies you want to implement and another thing altogether to actually implement them yourself.
While listing yourself on Yelp or creating a Google My Business profile might be simple to do, others on the list require much more time, manpower, and the right creative talent.
And if that’s all that’s stopping you from rolling up your sleeves and diving in, then we have one more strategy to help you boost your local advertising efforts.
Why not partner with Designity?
Designity is a remote, Creative as a Service platform that instantly connects you with a crack team of US-based experts around the country, all led by an experienced Creative Director.
That means that putting Designity in your corner means you’ll have instant access to the best of best in fields like graphic design, copywriting, social media management, digital marketing, motion graphics, video, print design, web design, and more — everyone you need to create eye-catching marketing assets and the strategies to use them to make an impact on your community.
Why not check out our community portfolio to see how Designity has been able to help brands like yours increase their visibility and drive meaningful results? If our style vibes with yours, then go ahead and take the next step.
Book your demo call today to get started on a two-week trial so you can test-drive our 100+ design and marketing services and see firsthand how Designity is the best remote partner your local advertising efforts could have.
Are you ready to start driving more local traffic to your store?
