How To Promote Your Business Locally

Remember when consumers were told to “let your fingers do the walking” through the YellowPages to find local businesses? Those days have long since passed as local marketing trends have shifted to the internet. Unfortunately, many small businesses have not established a strong enough online presence to draw in new customers and build strong relationships with their current client base. If you have not yet taken advantages of the many local marketing opportunities that the internet affords you, it is time to reevaluate your strategy.

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Here are four simple ways to boost the reaches of your local marketing by utilizing the internet.

1. Maintain a Professional Website

If your small business is not already represented by a website – start one. If your current website has been collecting cyber “dust” and has remained unchanged and unused for years – update it. Consumers are far more likely to give their business to a company that regularly updates a clean, concise, and professional looking webpage. Your page should be used to explain your services, introduce your customers to who you are and what you stand for, and provide links for current and potential clients to connect with you on other online mediums or to reach out to you for further information.

2. Manage a Blog

Blogs are best used for local marketing when they provide insightful, helpful information to consumers. In doing so, you are establishing a need – that is to say, your customers will be able to understand why they need you to provide them with services and helpful advice. This gives you credibility in your field, and enables you to build lasting relationships with your clients. By using keywords (generally these are words that you would expect consumers to type into a search engine to find companies like your own), you will become the top search result and draw in more new customers.

3. Be a Social Butterfly

Social Networking is a highly valuable local marketing tool. Nearly everyone is a member of some type of network, whether it be Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest. Joining up with as many networking sites as possible is a great way to reach out to your customers and keep them interested in your latest promotions, products, and services. You can use these sites to generate interest, provide useful tips, and even get free advertising! For example, by offering a giveaway on your Facebook page, those who “like” a particular posting will put your name across Facebook timelines everywhere. Whenever a customer “likes” something that you say, it will show up on his or her timeline so that all of their friends can see. With an interesting enough link or post, their friends will feel compelled to look at your Facebook page and will be drawn in to do business with you.

4. Make Yourself Available

There is absolutely no point in using the internet for local marketing if you are not available to your consumers. Wherever you have established a presence for yourself online, you should have a clear way for your potential and current clients to reach you. Utilizing an appointment scheduling tool like Sester is the perfect way to allow your customers to reach out to you and set up appointments to learn more about or schedule services from your company. Setster enables your clients to reach you anytime, even when they are on the go – making you literally available 24/7!

Edward Lujan

Internet Entrepreneur, Founder & CEO of cloud scheduling software Setster.com.