3 SMB Digital Marketing Strategies You Should Be Doing (But Probably Aren't)
In addition to marketing, small businesses have a lot on their plate. So, it’s no surprise that it’s difficult for them to find the time and resources to employ all of the digital marketing strategies available to them. But local, small businesses don’t need to use every strategy out there to make an impact in their marketing. They just need to use the ones that work best for their specific market. The following are powerful (yet often underutilized) digital marketing strategies that create big results specifically for local, small businesses. An online presence isn’t only about your website and social media profiles. Those pieces are important, but they are only two pieces of a larger puzzle. To extend the reach of your online presence, you need to also be visible on business directories and listing sites. Business listings give you extra exposure and also boost the online authority of your website. Listings improve your website’s search engine optimization (SEO) because they include links back to your website. The more links pointing to your website, the better. This shows search engines that your website is a legitimate resource and something that searchers want to find. So when you create listings that point back to your website, you provide support for your SEO strategy. To use this digital marketing strategy and improve your appearance online, create profiles for your business on directory and review sites such as: While print phone books are probably nothing more than a doorstop in your home, the online versions have value for your business. Create listings on: Depending on the type of your business, also look for directories or listings that are relevant to your industry, which may include: To find more directories that are relevant to your business, try searching for “[your industry] + directory.” Or, search for a competitor to see what listings show in their search results. Do some research to see if you should have an appearance on the listing site too. As you go through this process, keep an eye out for spammy or scammy directories. Don’t add your business to every directory you find. Do research to ensure sites are reputable. (Are there other high-quality businesses on the site? If you search for the directory listing, do you see any negative articles about the site?) And, don’t pay for listings. You should be able to find enough free listings to support this area of your small business digital marketing strategies. One of the other big benefits of adding your business to directories is that it will boost your local SEO. Local SEO is a practice that optimizes your site for nearby searchers. It helps people in the area surrounding your business find you through search. Search engines want to help people find what they are looking for. They know a person who searches for “pizza restaurant” doesn’t want to see results for the most prominent pizza restaurants across the world. They want to see results for pizza restaurants near them. So, search engines provide local results. Search engines often prioritize local results that connect users with nearby businesses that provide what they need. As a small business, you want your digital marketing strategies to help you appear in these local search results. To boost your appearance in local searches: With these digital marketing strategies, you help local customers find your business via search. Related: My New Website Doesn't Show Up in Search. Why? There is another powerful digital marketing strategy that also taps into the opportunities all around your business -- location based marketing. Location based marketing or LBM is a tactic that targets audiences based on their geographic location. It allows you to send messages specifically to people who are in a certain area, people near your business. For local businesses, LBM is an ideal marketing strategy because it connects them directly to nearby shoppers, consumers, and customers. There are multiple ways to tap into LBM. For tips on how to effectively collect telephone numbers through event marketing, check out our post on sponsorship activation. Local small businesses want local customers. And, these digital marketing strategies allow businesses to directly connect with nearby consumers -- and only local customers. There is no wasted advertising expense on marketing to people who are too far away to do business with you. Small, local businesses have dozens of digital marketing strategies to choose from when they begin promoting and advertising. But, not all strategies are created equal. Marketing strategies that work for small businesses are not always the same strategies that work for large, national brands. Small businesses will find more success when they focus on the strategies designed for local shops, stores, and restaurants. This post includes three of those smart strategies. And if you want help with executing these ideas or to learn more about marketing strategies that work specifically for small businesses, contact us for a free consultation about your digital presence. #1) Establishing your name on business directories
#2) Optimizing your website for local searchers
#3) Geographically targeting your local customers
Ready to implement these digital marketing strategies?
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