Running a business is tough, especially when you’re short on time and long on to-dos.

With so many options out there, it’s hard to know what to invest in in order to grow your brand through effective digital marketing for local businesses. We’ve created a list of 9 actionable things you can start doing today!

1. Start with your Call-To-Action (CTA)

Digital marketing campaigns for local businesses cannot succeed without encouraging some kind of conversion. Your CTA should be simple, offering clear instructions that help prospects on the verge of becoming your customer.

The right Call-To-Action is very important in all forms of digital marketing for local businesses. Whether they’re promoting a seasonal sale on Facebook or creating Google Ads. Powerful CTA also can raise brand awareness using languages that are relevant to your particular industry.

2. Use a Simple and compelling messaging strategy

The increasing number of times the average person checks their smartphones (according to a survey, Americans check their phones 262 times per day, at publishing, we are looking into the Candian stats) is a sign that local users are online looking for local goods and services. Remember, you usually only get a few seconds to market your business and connect with your prospects.

Make sure your marketing creatives (photos, banners, videos etc.) are simple, on-brand, attractive, and uncluttered. Your online message needs to set the stage for your customer’s entire experience. You want them to feel compelled to visit your website, where you provide them with all of the necessary resources to make their buying decision easy.

3. Create a custom landing page for your ads

When developing a digital marketing strategy for local businesses and creating the perfect social media ad campaign, you need to send visitors to the right landing page. Cutting corners to save time and money, such as sending everyone to the same page or not checking links for their mobile experience, can hurt your campaign in the long run.

When someone clicks on an ad, they expect to land somewhere with more information about the ad; they don’t want to search through your website. Sure, you could direct traffic to your homepage, but can you measure how visitors respond after they visit your site and can’t find what they’re looking for?

So take it one step further and either create a landing page related to your local business digital marketing campaign or send them directly to the page with more information about the ad, such as a service page or product page. It’s not just about keeping users on your website; it’s about saving them time and making their experience the best it could be.

4. Get active on social media

Being active on social media is one of the most powerful tools SEO marketers have in their toolbox but don’t forget about your website!

Your customers are on social media, and you should be too! Brands that keep their customers updated regularly tend to build stronger relationships with their potential and regular customers.

Did you know that using Facebook and Instagram to promote your business organically also supports SEO work? When you share a blog article on Facebook as part of your digital marketing strategy on your Facebook page, you direct traffic and backlinks to your website.

You also build your brand awareness through building strong online communities. Resharing customers’ photos that they tag you in (User-generated content) also builds fantastic rapport with your customers because they feel like they’re a part of your organization.

If you’re not sure what to post on social media, here are a few ideas:

1. You can post infographics relevant to your business to your brand

2. videos of behind the scenes

3. sneak peeks

4. how-to’s

5. industry information;

6. the possibilities are endless!

But don’t just post and run – make sure you’re sticking around and engaging with your audience.

Be sure to reply to customer comments. Be enthusiastic and try to establish a meaningful conversation with your followers.

Yes, even if it’s a negative comment. If you get a less than complimentary comment, be polite, and offer to take the conversation offline.

Your local business’s digital marketing strategy should include an emergency plan, including what to do with a dissatisfied customer, requesting feedback, and making changes as necessary.

5. Don’t Forget About Your SEO

SEO is an affordable way of promoting your business, and can also result in an increase in sales and profitability! When clients come to us, we always start our SEO strategy with SEO Optimization because we want to make sure your website has everything it needs for success.

What’s included in SEO Optimization?

Meta Tag – Meta Tags helps provide an idea or brief of the whole page to the Search Engines. Informative keywords-based Meta tags help to achieve good rankings in the SERP (Search Engine Results Pages).

Site Navigation – We want your reader (and Google) to find the information they need as efficiently as possible.

Content – We make sure your content is all unique. Google doesn’t like to see duplicate content.

XML Site Map – We check to make sure your Sitemap has been submitted to search engines such as Google and Bing.

URL SEO Friendly – Your website needs SEO Friendly URL structure. We take a look at your URLs as per targeted key
words.

Image Attributes – Images on your website should be optimized for SEO. This includes Alt Tag Attributes with targeted keywords. It helps in usability for those that are visually impaired and searches ability.

6. Create a Google Review Strategy

Did you know that 9 out of 10 users rely on google reviews when making buying decisions? Being ranked high in Google search results can significantly benefit your local business and helps customers discover your business.

1. Create a Google My Business page if you haven’t already – Go to Google My Business and signup. Enter the required data in the information section of the My Business dashboard.

2. Start asking your customers to leave you 4 and 5-star reviews, and ask them to include details such as keywords of their service. Great reviews from happy customers help Google recognize your business page as the go-to in your industry locally. i

7. Take advantage of content marketing

Content marketing elements also help improve SEO rankings. Content marketing describes the process of adding social media posts, articles and blog posts across the internet, direct to your website with the goal of brand awareness, the website traffic and ultimately a conversion. It’s a great way to attract local customers.

It’s important to develop detailed and engaging blog topics that answer targeted client-based questions and concerns. Some things to keep in mind…

1. Avoid creating content without understanding what your audience is interested in. Otherwise, you may be wasting your time and resources.

2. Research your keywords and add them to your blog title, meta description and alt tags when appropriate. Doing this helps Google understand your article when indexing.

3. Include one internal link to a page on your site.

4. Add one off-page link – I like to link to Instagram posts.

5. Add the keyword in the content, usually midway through.

6. Create content that you can repurpose across your platforms. Take snippets from your blog articles, use them as social media captions, share your articles across all platforms, and talk about them on your story.

7. Be creative and have fun! Sometimes the most engaging pieces of content are the ones you do on the fly.

8. Foster real relationships with customers

In reality, it’s relatively cheaper to retain existing customers than to acquire new ones. This is why building and maintaining lasting customer relationships is critical to your local business’s digital marketing strategy. One way to do this is to send an email to your customer base through email marketing.

9. Email Marketing

It’s smart to create a newsletter list with value-driven offers. If your customers are willing to give you their email address you have a huge opportunity! They have opted in to hearing from you because they have an expectation of value – informative, professional and relevant.

We have shared 9 Ways To Grow Your Local Business With Digital Marketing. If you have anything to add we’d love to hear it in the comments below or send us a message on Instagram!