Our clients often ask us what local marketing toolkit they should be using to promote their business. So we’ve developed this post to provide guidance to those looking to promote their business in a local area.
We’re a small business too – so we know that small business owners have a lot to think about all the time. There’s a lot on your plate, from managing the day-to-day to behind-the-scenes operations, ensuring customer satisfaction, making sure employees are up to speed, and so forth.
Unfortunately, marketing often falls to the bottom of the to-do list. But, it is crucial to use the right tools to market your business. Doing so can go a long way to helping you build sales – and peace of mind. So, we’ve put together this local marketing toolkit that won’t break the budget and will move your business further along the line.
Website
A website is vital for online success. Whether you’re looking to collect leads or close an e-commerce sale, you need the proper infrastructure in place. That’s why these platforms are at the top of our local marketing toolkit.
- WordPress or Shopify: Website builders like WordPress and Shopify allow you to create unique websites that your customers will find. (Shopify will enable you to start selling online for as little as $29/month.) Many plug-and-play website builders out there make it easy to create and manage a website. But these sites come with a significant downside, too: they’re not set up with the appropriate back-end fields to help your website get found in search results.
- Google Analytics: Before you have your website up and running, make sure to enable Google Analytics. Google Analytics is a web analytics service offered by Google that tracks and reports website traffic. It’s vital as it lets you measure your advertising ROI as well as track referral traffic from organic, social media and paid traffic sources. This platform will help you understand where people are coming from to get to your site and which traffic converts the most visitors.
Search Necessities
Now that your website is up and running and you’re tracking visits, you can concentrate on getting your needs found. Being search-ready can help you attract and intercept customers looking for what you sell or provide.
- Google My Business: This free profile or business listing on Google helps you keep your current customers up-to-date and makes it easier to be found by potential customers. Often, Google My Business listings will appear in search results even before websites do, so you’ll want to take advantage.
- Other directories and listing platforms: Countless apps and platforms allow businesses to set up a profile and get found by potential customers. But your business needs to have these profiles set up and be active! Expanding your presence to more directories allows you to increase your reach, build awareness and generate more traffic to your website. 10|20 Marketing offers a low-cost service that manages all of your profiles so you can focus on more important things in your business.
Email Marketing
If your website exists to generate leads or convert sales, then you’ll want to do something with all those email addresses you’re collecting. Regularly communicating with your prospects and clients can lead to (repeat) sales and greater loyalty. Make sure they opt-in to receive emails from you first, though!
- ConvertKit: Free email marketing software for up to 1,000 subscribers. The free account includes unlimited landing pages and forms (to collect email addresses), allows you to send emails, and lets you sell and track digital products and subscriptions. You can even build your forms in ConvertKit and embed them into your website. Doing so allows each form completion to go directly into ConvertKit so you can make sure these sign-ups are in your database!
- Mailchimp: More often than not, MailChimp seems to be the email marketing software of choice among small business owners. The free account allows you to have up to 2,000 contacts, sending up to 10,000 emails per month. It also includes landing pages and design tools.
Promotion
With everything running nice and smooth, you may want to consider a content (and) or a paid advertising strategy.
- Social Media: Social media is excellent for building brand awareness and engaging with your audience for free. Use it to promote your content, blogs, tips, and advice – all things that help build trust with your audience and customers. Popular platforms for business are Instagram, Facebook Pages, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and yes, even TikTok! However, we recommend choosing one or two platforms to focus on, especially if you’re getting started. It’s to be present in one or two places all the time, then only once in a while on several networks.
- Facebook Ads: On Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, or any other social platform, if you want more than organic reach, you can create ads to target a wider audience. You can choose exactly how much you want to spend. And doing so is especially helpful if you are promoting a new product or service.
- Google Ads: Wish your website would appear at the top of the search results page? Well, it can. Google Ads are similar to Facebook Ads, except, of course, they appear on the Google web search results page. Create an ad and choose what kind of keywords you want to target, set a budget, and you’re you’red running!
10|20 Marketing can help you manage your ad campaigns on social media and Google if this is outside of your comfort zone.
Other Tools
What else might you need to keep your business running smoothly? Here are some other ideas.
- LastPass: LastPass allows you to store all of your passwords securely and share individual passwords with trusted team members that require them. It’s an important tool to maintain business integrity and stay safe online.
- Zapier: Zapier allows you to integrate all of your apps and automate specific processes to save time. Build triggers to complete processes for your business. For example, you can use this to get an email every time a new form completion comes from your website.
The Local Marketing Toolkit For Small Businesses
Finally, you’ll want your website, apps, social profiles, and email marketing all connected so you can accurately measure the results of your efforts. Connect what you can to Google Analytics, and take the time to understand the leads and sales you get from your promotions.
There are several moving pieces when it comes to marketing your local business online. If you’re feeling stuck or overwhelmed, book a free consultation with us and let’s see how we can help.