Today’s world of marketing offers numerous possibilities for Local Marketing, defined as the marketing of a business within a defined and localized geographic area. While this is a rigid definition, it complements marketing done across the web that may benefit a local business, such as content visible to travelers researching a location before arrival. These choices provide both opportunity and complexity. Businesses with a significant localized component may have limited resources for marketing. Therefore, where to start? Any business seeking services to enhance their marketing capabilities should research what’s possible, the potential return on investment, any risks involved and anticipated costs at a minimum.
What’s possible – within Local Marketing given today’s choices, such as marketing agencies and technologies? Even when concentrating this discussion as previously defined, Local Marketing contains many elements for a given business. It may cover the website, public relations, content marketing, and advertising as a few examples. The following is a guideline of features to consider when formulating your local marketing plan. Determine the importance of each for a specific business.
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The Value – The combination of capabilities offered by these solutions ranges from building brand awareness to bringing “purchase-ready” prospects to a business either via the web or face to face. An assessment of the value of this type of technology should start with whether it helps a location achieve its objectives. A few examples to consider are brand awareness, website visits, views of directory listings, clicks from advertising campaigns, or increased revenues. However, many of these solutions enable a local business to create a digital presence not otherwise possible without hiring beyond its means. Therefore, be sure to consider these and other efficiencies in addition to more easily measured results.
A Marketer’s Perspective – As a result, the value of Local Marketing solutions vary by the type of business and the most pressing marketing objectives at hand. It is evident that this marketing construct encompasses many possible initiatives for multiple channels. Finding what resources, including marketing technology, will work best for your location is an essential part of your marketing planning, yet it has its complexities. Many of these solutions provide critical value by simplifying the multitude of tasks associated with successfully presenting a business online in one or more locations. Whether this type of solution is managed in-house or an agency is hired to manage it as a service, selecting the appropriate technologies should enable a business to compete more effectively and efficiently within today’s competitive local marketplace.
Real Applications – Thousands of companies rely upon these marketing technologies in part due to the minimum requirements for competing in most local environments. When analyzing business segments, the utilization rate of these technologies indicates that word-of-mouth by itself is not enough anymore. The following is a partial list of the businesses currently relying on these solutions:
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