Local growth has always been and will always be crucial when it comes to small businesses who offer a service. So the question remains; how do you market your company in your local area to build strong connections and raise brand awareness in your area?
Here are 4 ways you can do this for success on a small scale!
1. Run competitions
Competitions grow exponentially through social sharing.
Therefore they are a great way for your brand awareness to grow locally, through communities of friends and local communities.
Maximise the benefits of the competition for you.
Put your website’s link into the social post and add multiple ways to enter (Sharing, Following, Tagging friends).
These benefits can be long lasting when it comes to prolonged exposure to your brand.
You want to be able to retarget entrants so you can reach out to them easier in the future.
2. Put it everywhere!
Putting your brand image out there doesn’t have to be difficult or expensive and can be online or offline.
You can easily target paid Facebook posts to only appear to users in a certain area, or to only appear to specific users who meet your criteria.
For example; if you own a dog walking company in the city centre, then your can target a post of yours to only appear in front of dog owners who live near the city centre.
There are many ways you can get your brand image out in the world offline as well.
Get Creative!
Print off stickers and place them all around town, give away t-shirts, put your brand all over your work vehicle.
3. Get involved in your community
Getting involved in your community can massively boost your brand image in your local area
by being useful and known to other people in your area they are much more likely to remember you
and therefore think about you next time they need what you have to offer.
This can be in a variety of ways. Attend local B2B meetings, Help out at charity events,
Create your own charity appeal (this could be by offering your businesses services for free, for a charitable cause), work with competitors, work with complimentary businesses.
All of these techniques can help to not only give brand awareness but to also build strong connections to local communities and influencers.
4. Leverage your competition
We know it’s hard trying to compete with the largest companies in the local area. But there’s a way around it.
Embrace it!
Your largest local competitors are likely to have big brands, and a lot of authority in your area this is very hard to compete with.
But by aligning yourself with these brands you can steal some of their authority for yourself, Just by being in the race.
Advertise that you are in competition with the market leaders, acknowledge and embrace that you may not be as big as them but emphasise your quality and competitiveness.
It may sound counterintuitive but putting up a banner saying that you are competing with the market leader can help to make you seem better by comparison
By doing this you are adhering to those who fall through their fingers, and you can catch them for yourself.
Conclusion
There are many ways to grow your business locally. You have to look past general marketing, dig deep and be creative.
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