Advertising To Locals
Social media has proven to be one of today’s most useful marketing tools and with so many outlets for all types of audiences, some businesses rely solely on social media for leads. It’s constant traffic on social media so trying to reach everyone you can seem like the smart thing to do but in business that may result in spending over budget and unnecessarily spending on ads that are not targeted to the right people.
Overlooking your local market can really slow down progress in your business depending on your type of business. Outside of places like retail stores that pretty much depend on local traffic to survive, it’s not always the obvious walk-in customer that needs your product or service. Try thinking about other local businesses that may be able to use your product/service as an extension or an add-on to improve their quality.
Patronizing with local businesses and giving their employees discounts when they come into your store is also a great way to get a group of potential customers.
Let’s say you are the owner of a small neighborhood restaurant, walking into establishments like party stores, salons, medical centers, and even other restaurants that’s in the area and utilizing their service, then offering their staff a 15% off lunch through the week can almost guarantee repeat customers for 3 or 4 of those days of the week. Loyalty cards are also a good way to engage local traffic. These types of programs offer repeat customers a free service or particular product usually after their 4th or 5th purchase.
Determining factors like location, population, ethnic and age groups, gender majority, and tons of other analytics can really allow you to customize the way you interact with your local customer base. In highly populated places like New York City where street traffic is extremely high, the retail stores offer daily discounts and inventory sales regularly also because of the tourist attractions local businesses are able to hike prices on novelty products.
Taking advantage of your surroundings is normal business practice and should be thought out carefully. Your niche may be just as or even more valuable to someone else’s business than it is to yours. Knowing that should trigger some ideas about the businesses around you. What do they do? Can their customers benefit from what you have? Who would it make sense to bundle my services with? Those are just some questions you should think about when you’re figuring out how to get more customers.
Tip: Every Door Direct Mail or (EDDM) is a US service that allows businesses to mail advertisements directly to the door of residents targeted mainly by zip code.
