You may not realize it but location-based marketing is part of your everyday life. How many times have you hopped on Google or another search engine looking for a particular product or service and the very first list of results that populate are ones that are closest to your current physical location? You experience that almost every day, and as a business owner, this is something you want to capitalize on, especially in your local market.

So what is local marketing? Well, for one, local marketing is also known as “neighborhood marketing” or “location-based marketing” but whichever term you prefer to use, it all means the same thing. Essentially, local marketing is the process of bringing more awareness to your business in your local communities, whether online or offline. The key is to use all the resources around you to help your business grow.

Now, the methods in which you choose to do this is what’s going to determine how successful and profitable your business will be. If you’re unsure how to get your business started, look to your community for local seminars and training courses to help you get your business off the ground. Upon taking some of those courses, you’ll be prepared to take on the competitive marketplace of your local communities, whether it’s online or offline. Take a look at some of the top marketing tactics to dominate your local market.

Get Active in Your Local Community

If you didn’t know, small businesses are considered as the backbones of their local communities and by staying active in community events, your business will be recognized by natives in the community. Whether you help sponsor a community event or if you have a booth set up with free samples of customized products with your company logo on it, people in the community are going to be able to put a face with the product or service. If you’re unsure how to go about getting involved in community events, a great way to start would be to check out your local chamber of commerce.

Focus on Improving Your Business’ Local SEO

If your business has a website, improving your business’ local SEO is what will drive more traffic to your website, which will, in turn, lead to more sales for your business. According to Search Engine Land, 97% of consumers use search engines to search for local businesses. So, in knowing that, why not take full advantage of it? Make SEO a top priority! Google is constantly making changes to its guidelines for businesses but one step in the right direction is to make sure you get your business registered with Google and Bing Places.

Get professional help and make sure to know all the ins and outs of this approach. The key to understanding B2B conversion rate optimization is to know how your buyer persona interacts with your website, the limitations they face, and what solutions they consider when making purchase decisions. Having a clear understanding of these factors can help you optimize your website for improved conversions.

Encourage Online Reviews

You can think of online reviews as digital versions of word-of-mouth and they can either help or damage your business’ reputation. A study reported that over 60% of consumers used online reviews to help them decide whether or not to shop at a particular store. Now, the thing about online reviews is that they’re not just limited to Google and Bing...Yelp and Facebook are also outlets that customers can leave their thoughts and opinions of your business on.

Yes, online reviews can make or break your business but they also give you direct insight as to how your business is doing and how customers perceive your business as well. It can let you know the areas where your business excels and where your business lacks and those are things you want and need to know in order to improve your business.

Put a Strong Focus on the Customer Experience

It was mentioned earlier that small businesses are the backbone of their local communities, right? Well, if that’s the case, then that would make the customers the heart of local small businesses, right? … it only makes sense. Because of that, your small business must make special efforts to give customers the best shopping experience possible, and that applies to brick-and-mortar stores just as much as online stores.

Customers shopping at brick-and-mortar stores get to experience human contact and that’s the most genuine way to give customers a great shopping experience. When customers have great shopping experiences, they will not only keep coming back but they’ll also tell other people in the community about your store and how wonderful it is. Dominating your local market is no easy task but with the right strategies, online and offline, your business will be a heavy contender in the tough local market.