The top 4 marketing strategies to promote your business locally
The British public loves local business. In fact, 8/10 British consumers prefer to buy from local independent companies over larger businesses. Google search analytics also show us that 46% of all searches have a local intent. Searches that include “near me” or “close by” have grown over 900% since 2016.
Google’s research also tells us that internet users in the UK expect their search results to show businesses within a 5-mile radius of their location. Because of this, Google’s algorithm feeds results based on the searchers location. For digital marketing and this specific reason, you must ensure that your business’s location data is up-to-date online. To help you stand out amongst your thousands of digital competitors, have you considered reaching out to your local potential customers in a different way?
Marketing strategies for local advertising
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
When it comes to reaching your local customers the first marketing method that springs to mind is Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). Whether your services or products can be bought online or not, SEO works well for a massive range of businesses, from local small to medium and large businesses. Yet there are other, proven marketing methods that can support your online activity to boost local business.
Local Radio Advertising
Most of us listen to the radio whether in the car, at home or at work but how many of us listen to local shows? According to Ofcom, around 31 million adults in the UK listen to local radio which is close to 60% of the population!
A local radio advertising campaign could have a huge reach in your local area and costing around £2 per thousand impressions, it is also a cost-effective marketing channel to include within your campaign.
Out of home advertising
Also known as OOH advertising, this media is any visual marketing found outside of your home. This could include anything from bus stop banners to the large billboards found on the side of an A-road.
This form of local advertising could be more expensive when looking at large, digital billboards in London, for example, however, for a local campaign, it would be far less with OOH starting from around £2 per day.
Local Leaflet Advertising
Leaflet or flyer advertising is a great way to get into the homes and hearts of your local consumers. A tangible and creative leaflet landing on a customer’s doormat with their household mail is almost certain to be read. In fact, according to Royal Mail, 98% of all leaflets delivered to the home are engaged with.
Leaflet advertising also has an enormous reach. When booking on a campaign with Leafletdrop for example, you utilise Royal Mail distributions meaning you can reach almost every home in the UK. That is nearly 30 million households.
It is also a highly targeted, cost effective marketing strategy as you can find high-density households within a radius of your businesses location making it a great way to reach ideal local consumers. Prices are usually around 7 to 8 pence a leaflet.
Use Leafletdrop’s Online Pricing Calculator
The best marketing strategy for local advertising
The best marketing strategy for a local advertising campaign would involve multiple marketing methods used in sync. No one advertising channel is explicitly better than another for local advertising, it all comes down to what works well for you and what works well together.
Integrating marketing strategies can bring you more return on your marketing budget. As an example, if you are a local business advertising your latest deals, a local radio ad would most likely work better alongside a digital ad and a targeted local leaflet distribution.
Research from the IPA shows that integrated campaigns including leaflets achieved +18% more frequency, and +7% more reach demonstrating that adding flyer distributions to your media plan can help to ensure more customers see and absorb your message.
So, whatever channels work best for you, be sure to remember the following:
- Use local marketing channels
- Integrate different types of marketing channels
- Ensure your campaigns are highly targeted
