Tag: Market

Why The Rental Market Is So Important

A key focus of my blog is Financial Literacy/Money. An expense all of us have is our housing costs. The majority of us rent at one point or another and there are advantages to doing so, though it’s often thought to be better to buy. The following contributed post is entitled, Why The Rental Market Is So Important.

* * *

https://unsplash.com/photos/b3H9CbDZqrs

We are always taught about the importance of buying our own homes. Once we get a bit older and start to put some money in the bank, everyone wants to know when we are going to get on the property ladder. However, there is another alternative, and this is to rent a property. There are actually a number of different benefits that are associated with the rental market, which is something we are going to explore in more detail below so that you can get a better understanding.

Renting Gives People Flexibility

Whether you are a landlord or a tenant, you cannot deny the fact that the rental market presents much more freedom and flexibility. As a landlord, you are going to have the ability to make money and diversify your income stream. As a tenant, you can stay in the property you are considering for as long as the initial buyer will have you. You are not going to be tied to one specific location as a tenant, so you can explore different opportunities. Plus, contracts are not often overly long.

People Rent What Is Affordable To Them

The rental market has changed considerably over the years. There are so many different options to select from today. This includes everything from studio apartments to large luxury apartments, as well as family homes and cottages. There really is something for everyone. One of the great things about the rental industry that we have today is that it is well-regulated. A prime example of this is the landlord and tenant checks that are carried out before the start of any tenancy. This provides tenants with the best chance of ending up with a landlord that is going to be best for them. If you are not able to afford to rent the property you are interested in, you may want to look at the prospect of getting a guarantor on board to assist with this.

You’re Not Restricted To One Area

Last but not least, when you purchase a property, you are putting down roots in that specific area. You are committed to living in that area and that property for many years to come. There are a lot of people that simply do not like the sound of this. They do not want to have such restrictions placed on their lives. Instead, they like to travel and explore the world around them. They want to be free to take up opportunities when they come their way. This is one of the reasons why the rental market is so important.

So there you have it: an insight into the rental market and why it has become so important. While there are a lot of people that prefer to purchase their own home, there are also plenty of people that like the freedom that comes with being able to rent. There is no right or wrong approach; it is all about figuring out what is going to be right for you.

The Importance Of Digital Marketing

Three focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money, Business/Entrepreneurship and Technology. If you’re in business of any sort today, you will likely need a plan to market yourself digitally. If not, you’ll be falling way behind your competition. The following contributed post is entitled, The Importance Of Digital Marketing.

* * *

One of the best ways that you can take advantage of digital tools available to your business is to invest in a great digital marketing strategy. The tools that you get with digital marketing allow you to reach out to new audiences, gain better conversions and reach out to bigger audiences. Without these tools, you will end up left behind and it’s very hard to come back from that in your business.

If your business is only just starting out, you will be looking at as many ways as possible to market your new venture. You might consider white label online services and Facebook ads. You might consider Google and SEO. There are so many ways that you can get your business brand out there for other people to learn about you. You need to be exposed, and digital marketing is the way to do it. If you’re still on the fence about needing digital marketing for your business, here are some of the things that you need to know that will hopefully convince you to step into the new century!

Image Source: Pexels

  1. You can keep a flexible budget. Your digital needs aren’t going to be the same as other businesses in your sphere. It makes sense, then, that the budget is totally flexible with digital marketing. Some of the traditional marketing methods can begin in the thousands, but digital marketing can cost as little as you like. The more you spend, the further your reach.
  2. Tracking data is possible. When you have digital marketing strategies in place, you can actually track the way that customers click your adverts: where the clicks came from, how many people clicked per hour, the location, the method (mobile or desktop?). You can track the sites your adverts sit on and know whether you are spending your money in the right places. This level of data analysis isn’t available with most traditional marketing methods, so investing in digital marketing is smart.
  3. Digital marketing allows you to connect better with your audience. You can expand beyond Google and right into the social media apps available to you, creating some of the best and most relevant content. You can use everything in your marketing arsenal: audio, video and more to ensure that your business is recognized.
  4. Cultivating trust is easier with digital marketing. You can bet that you are going to be in front of a lot of people and they will be looking to ensure that your business is going to appeal to them. If you write a blog, you can add a personal angle to your website and give your readers something real to read about.
  5. Increasing your conversions. The whole goal of your business is to build, right? You can improve your conversion rates and make them soar when you have the right people reading all about your business. If you use digital marketing, you can ensure that you are going to drive those conversion rates through the roof. All you have to do is invest your time and money.

How Any Brand Can Dominate A Local Market (Including Yours!)

Two focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. Depending the business you’re running, you want to figure out how you can thrive in the relevant environment. For some businesses that your local market. The following contributed post is entitled, How Any Brand Can Dominate A Local Market (Including Yours!).

* * *

Pexels – CC0 License

Big-picture company leaders can sometimes get into the habit of viewing the world through the lens of averages. They only see the whole and not the parts.

That might be a good technique for taking short-cuts. But when you only look at your “global” or “regional” market size, you neglect to consider the local.

You might think that appealing to a local market is something that only small businesses do, but even the biggest brands recognize that everything is essentially local. There’s no such thing as a “global consumer” because everyone has to come from somewhere.

So with that in mind, how can you change your marketing so that it appeals more to people inhabiting specific geographies. Here’s what to do.

Target Paid Local Results

Did you know that search engines like Google provide special PPC advertising segmentation for businesses looking to target local areas?

If you run a small shop, you don’t have to target popular generic keywords. Instead, you can make all your search ads appear automatically, in response to queries that contain local search terms. So, for instance, your ads will show up on results for “hairdresser in Washington” and not just “hairdresser.”

Be More Active In Your Local Community

Even if your business has big national or international plans, it pays to become more active in your local community. The more you can appeal to residents and build your base, the more resources you’ll have to expand to a second or third location.

Being more active in the community could involve anything that falls under the category of “corporate responsibility.” You could also contact your local chamber of commerce and ask them whether there are any events taking place in your local area. Becoming a sponsor helps to secure your brand in the minds of locals.

Do More Local SEO

Sites like https://unravelseo.com/seo/local-seo/ talk extensively about the benefits of local SEO. The basic idea here is to increase organic traffic arriving at your landing pages and sales funnels from Google search. Remember, the more people you can direct to your site this way, the less you’ll have to spend on PPC. Plus, you’ll acquire customers long-term, instead of having to pay a fee for every lead.

Target Government Contracts

Businesses compete fiercely for government contracts – and for good reasons. Not only do they provide a high and stable income, but they also allow you to align yourself with the local “official” sector, which is great for branding.

Be More Customer-Focused

Customers know that if they go to a big box brand, they’ll get the products they want at a low price. So there needs to be an additional reason for them to come to you.

For most local businesses, that differentiator is quality of service, according to https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/281174.

What does that mean in practice? Well, partly, it’s knowing your customers’ needs on a personal level. People want to be able to come to you and for you to know precisely what they want. And they enjoy the friendly atmosphere – something that’s challenging to achieve at the bigger companies.

3 Mobile Marketing Strategies to Help Make Your Sales Figures Soar

Three focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money, Business/Entrepreneurship and Technology. In 2021 it’s critical to have a mobile marketing strategy to propel your business and your sales figures. The following guest post is entitled, 3 Mobile Marketing Strategies to Help Make Your Sales Figures Soar.

* * *

Mobile phone usage is increasingly quickly across the globe. According to a report from Pew Research, over five billion individuals have mobile devices.

If your small business isn’t marketing to smartphone users, now is the time to start. Marketing your business to mobile phone users can bump up your brand awareness. What’s more, it can help boost your bottom line. The right marketing strategy will help mobile users find information about your products and services, which can help convert them to customers.

Take your business to the next level by adopting these mobile marketing tactics:

1. Optimize for Voice Search

Some mobile customers depend on voice search to complete everyday tasks, such as order food and find grocery stores near their area. They call on Alexa, Siri, Google Assistant and other voice-controlled personal assistants to help them with requests. If you have potential customers using voice search on their mobile phones, you’ll need to refine your marketing strategies to help your business become more visible to these people.

Not sure how to optimize your website for voice search?

Here are a few suggestions:

• Keep your business information up to date. You want to make sure that on-the-go voice search users can easily find the location and contact details of your business when they visit your area.
• Add long-tail keywords into your website content phrased in the way mobile users speak instead of the way they type. When people do voice search, the words they use tend to be long-winded statements or phrases compared to typed searches.
• Use your website to answer common queries. Find popular or frequently asked questions in your niche and provide answers to them in your site content.

2. Make Your Website Mobile-Friendly

When you use mobile marketing to reach a wide audience, you want to capitalize on it. An effective way to make this happen is to have a mobile-friendly business website.

Many companies have a website, but not all have a responsive site design that’s suitable for mobile phones. So, take this opportunity to get your website optimized for mobile users. If you need help with this, look for digital marketing agencies that include mobile site optimization in their website design and SEO packages. By having a mobile-friendly website, you can deliver a better browsing experience for your visitors and further improve your online visibility.

3. Spice up Customer Engagement with Augmented Reality

Concepts, such as augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR), are relatively new. Some marketers don’t completely understand how they can apply these tech trends in their promotional strategy.

AR involves projecting virtual images and other elements in a real-world environment. VR, on the other hand, is an immersive and simulated experience wherein an individual wears a headset that places them in a virtual environment, such as outer space.

Although VR marketing tools can get expensive, you can use AR components to your mobile marketing campaigns. Tools, such as Blippar and ZapWorks, let you integrate AR into your campaigns.

Employ these mobile marketing tactics to help boost the bottom line of your business. Remember to personalize your mobile marketing efforts because personalization can contribute to higher sales.

5 Ideas To Attract New Clients

Two focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. An important aspect of your business is attracting new clients to assure that your pipeline is continually filled. There several important keys to your marketing strategy. The following contributed post is entitled, 5 Ideas To Attract New Clients.

* * *

pexels

When you’re running a business, you’ve got to balance your time between retaining your current customers and working to attract new ones. To help you attract new clients today, these five tips may come in handy.

1 . Offer incentives

To attract new clients to your business, it can be useful to offer incentives. Provide discounts for your new customers; simple actions like this can work wonders. With a discount or two you can lure in those customers who wouldn’t have otherwise made a purchase. Once these customers have made a purchase with you, ensure that you make a note of the offers which drew them in. By tracking customer purchases, you can improve your marketing efforts to retain their ongoing loyalty.

2. More networking

When you’re looking to boost your brand awareness, networking is a crucial step. You should start by joining networking organizations and your trade association. You can also network online using sites like LinkedIn or apps like Shapr and One Million Cups. As an entrepreneur, it can be useful to join up to organizations such as ‘The Association For Entrepreneurship’. Here you’ll find networking opportunities, education, peer mentoring, and community involvement.

3. Improve your content marketing

To attract new clients, one of the most critical areas to focus on is your content marketing. Focus on best responding to search intent and on ensuring that your content is educational and engaging. Video marketing is one of the best ways to engage new audiences, boost your credibility, and increase conversions. To present your business as authentic, it’s helpful to focus on user-generated content. When customers can see that their peers are enjoying your products, they’ll be far more likely to convert.

4. Appeal to international markets

To attract new clients, you should aim to appeal to international markets. One of the easiest ways to do this is to cater to international client needs. Here are a few areas of focus:

● Currency Exchange: First off, make it easy for international clients to pay using their own currency.
● Worldwide Shipping: Offer worldwide shipping options so that your clients are not restricted to only one geographical location.
● Languages: Ensure that your website, your chatbots, and marketing materials cater to different languages, depending on the markets that you are targeting.
● Software Localization: Investing in a software localization service is a great way to target new markets. It refers to the procedure used to adapt your software to cater to new languages and cultural requirements.

5. Review sites

Last up, putting your business on review sites is a great way to get some glowing testimonials. When customers are looking for products, one of the first things they do is to look at reviews and testimonials. Make it easy for them to find you on review sites, and ask your existing customers to provide testimonials.

To widen your reach and keep on growing it’s important to be attracting new clients all of the time.

How Do You Get A Better ROI From Your Marketing Strategy

Two focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. A major component of your business is you marketing. It’s good enough just to market though. You have to do it effectively. The following contributed post is entitled, How Do You Get A Better ROI From Your Marketing Strategy.

* * *

Image Source (CC0 License)

What does ROI mean? For those that are unaware, it stands for Return on Investment, relating to what you gain from investing your money. In marketing terms, it basically addresses how much you earn as a result of a marketing campaign/strategy. As a basic example, let’s say you spent $1000 on a marketing campaign, and it yielded sales totaling $2000. Here, you’re made a positive ROI as you essentially gained $1000.

With that in mind, how do you get a better ROI from a marketing strategy? Marketing and advertising cost lots of money nowadays, meaning many small businesses struggle to profit. Nevertheless, here are a few worthwhile ideas:

Utilize free marketing as much as you can

The first step is to be more frugal in your approach to marketing. There’s no need to splash the cash all the time – many marketing tactics are free! Think of things like social media marketing; this can be done without spending a penny. Word-of-mouth marketing works well for small businesses – get people to spread the word for you. You’ve also got ideas that initially cost money, yet provide free marketing afterward. Handing out branded products is a fine example; give customers a free tote bag with your branding on it, and they basically advertise your business whenever they go out with it.

Switch from traditional to digital marketing

Traditional marketing includes loads of classic ideas like billboard ads, newspaper adverts, flyers, etc. Nowadays, these methods aren’t as effective, meaning they provide a lower ROI. Instead, it’s worth venturing into the realm of digital marketing. Now, what is digital marketing? In short, it relates to all the different ways of promoting your business through digital channels. Again, social media falls under this umbrella, as do SEO, PPC, etc. Digital marketing helps you get a better ROI because it’s easier to tweak and measure the success of a campaign. You have access to all kinds of metrics that tell you what is working and what isn’t. Therefore, you can make adjustments to ensure you see a positive ROI.

Plus, most digital marketing tactics are more affordable than traditional ones. Do you know how much it will cost to get an advert on the TV during a prime time show? A fair bit more than paying for an advert on social media!

Set a strict budget

Finally, you should set a strict budget and stick to it. Many people see a negative ROI because they keep paying for more things. Your campaign isn’t producing results, so you increase the budget and keep promoting as much as you can. In the end, you spent far too much to make it possible to gain a positive return. A strict budget forces you to think smarter and make your money go a long way. It limits your spending, which could help you see a better ROI.

In summary, it’s all about being wise with your spending. Think of ideas and tactics that don’t cost much money, yet provide excellent results. Contrary to what you might believe, you don’t need to spend a fortune on a good marketing strategy.

Business Marketing Tips in Challenging Times

Three focuses of my blog are Current Events, Financial Literacy/Money, Business/Entrepreneurship. Covid-19 has changed the way business is conducted in many instances. Those businesses that have been able to survive will need to think about how to adapt and survive in this new environment. The following contributed post is entitled, Business Marketing Tips in Challenging Times.

* * *

This year has been a rollercoaster year for most businesses. With many businesses forced to limit hours and cut staff because of Covid-19 closures, many must evaluate what’s next? Maybe the way you used to do business won’t be viable moving forward. When your customers’ needs shift, your business must do too. Challenging times mean tweaking your marketing techniques as well.

Communicate with Your Customers

The number one rule in business is keeping the communication going. Your sales funnel may be a process of months for some products or even years for others. A normal newsletter and social media updates are great ways to keep your business in front of your customers. Everybody loves a good story. So, make your customer outreach like storytime: what’s new, what’s aligned with pop culture, and what’s funny. You can find memorable, free images online that connect with popular hashtags like #MotivationalMonday, #ThankfulThursday, and #FridayFeeling. Marketing doesn’t have to be salesy. The new buzz phrase is content marketing. These are some marketing do’s and don’ts during a pandemic. Don’t just stick with social media, though – you can make the most of the number of time people spend on their mobile phones. Put your data to good use, start sending more regular newsletters, chat groups and use a mass texting service to stay engaged.

Focus Your Strategy on Solutions to Current Challenges

Whatever you are doing, whether email marketing, print marketing, or social media marketing, present solutions to current challenges. You may need to unschedule previously planned campaigns to shift to the “new” normal. Just a few topics that may resonate with your customers this year are how to work from home without losing your job, how to design the best interior layout for home-schooling, or how to make homemade masks easily and with things you have around the house. In particular, topics that help with the boredom of staying at home are ideal, including new technology, virtual activities, and online courses. Remind your customers that can help them overcome the obstacles of 2020.

One method that can help you to identify the unique needs of your customers is to use an AI advertising company. AI advertising uses machine learning tools to identify complicated patterns in data. These patterns can point to all kinds of conclusions, including the current challenges of your customer base. It can also be used to predict and build advertising strategies that are far more likely to succeed in the current market, as well as to provide the solutions that your customers are looking for.

Find Niche Experts for Your Industry

Although you know your business niche well, how well do you know how to reach your customers. There are specialists in marketing to very niche industries such as HVAC marketing as well as in healthcare and childcare service marketing. Well-targeted design, marketing copy, and even tight slogans can make all the difference. It is important to find niche experts for your industry so that you can get the most bang for your marketing buck and stand out from your competition.

2020 is winding down, but that doesn’t mean your business marketing does. In fact, the end of the year is where you need to finish strong. It is a great time to outreach to share your thanks, spread holiday cheer, and offer limited-time offers before the holidays or New Year. Maybe it is time to add a small business Saturday sale to your roster. Perhaps a virtual Q&A or roundtable to answer the most common questions of your customers could be added to your marketing calendar. By continuing to tell your business’ story with fun and helpful tips, tricks, and tools pays off. Sometimes you need a bit of encouragement, so reach out to the business marketing experts for niche advice as well as some fresh marketing trends to try.

Suggested image: https://pixabay.com/photos/digital-marketing-seo-google-1725340/

What To Do If Your Inbound Marketing Strategy Fails

Two focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. When it comes to business, marketing is major component to your business’s success. Marketing is a complex aspect in and of itself. The following contributed post is entitled, What To Do If Your Inbound Marketing Strategy Fails.

* * *

You can have spent a great deal of time and effort on your inbound marketing strategy for your business. You will have launched it expecting great things, sure in the knowledge that it is exactly as it should be to bring you the most value for any money spent.

Sometimes, however, those results don’t come. Occasionally inbound marketing strategies, as good as they may have seemed on paper, don’t work in the real world.

When this happens, don’t give up and don’t be disheartened. Mistakes happen all the time, even in business, and the best thing you can do is to work out how things went wrong and start again. If your inbound marketing strategy didn’t do what you had anticipated it would do, here are the next steps for you to consider.

Image from Pixabay

Re-evaluate Your Target Audience

When you first create your inbound marketing campaign, you need to know who your target audience is. If you don’t know who you are selling to, there is no way you can create content – blogs, social media posts, even videos – that will appeal to them. And this, of course, is the whole point of inbound marketing; you need to create content that makes those who are most likely to buy from you do just that.

If no one is buying, despite the content you are creating, then it would appear that one of two things has happened. Either the content is wrong, or the audience is wrong. Either way, your inbound marketing strategy is not going to work and won’t give you the results you need.

The easiest thing to check is your target market. This will require in-depth market research to determine what demographic is most likely to buy your product or service; you’ll need to know their age range, gender, location, and the struggles they might be having that your business can solve. Your content must be relevant to these people, so once you have the right target audience, create more content for them.

Ask An Expert

If you’re not a marketing expert, you might find the entire concept of inbound marketing frustrating and confusing. If you’ve tried to create a campaign and it didn’t do what you needed it to do, or you’ve yet to come up with anything because you don’t know where to start, asking an expert for help is the best alternative. Finding a marketing agency specializing in Saas, or any other kind of specialty that will help you, will be ideal.

When you have an expert on board to outsource to, you no longer have to worry about making a mistake in your marketing. The campaign will be created for you, and although you won’t necessarily be deeply involved, you will have the final say over what to use. Your inbound marketing campaign will therefore be slick, professional, and it will work. Whatever you paid to get it done, you should see returned when you start to make sales.

Start Again

Even if starting again is the last thing you want to do, sometimes it’s the very best thing you can do. If you are struggling to make your marketing campaign work and it is truly failing, there is no point in continuing with it. Instead, stop it completely right away, and try something else.

Business is often about trial and error, and not many people can get everything right the first time. Having this in mind will help you to know when it’s time to cut your losses and start again. As long as you don’t give up altogether, it’s not a failure.

Five Ways To Market Your Business

Two of the focuses my blog is Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. One of the keys to being successful at business is your marketing. As critical it is, not everyone understands the marketing aspect of business. The following contributed post is entitled, Five Ways To Market Your Business.

* * *

Photo by Serpstat from Pexels

2020 has been a year unlike any other, and with the future uncertain, it is more important than ever that you leverage your business to get ahead of the competition. If you don’t currently have a marketing plan or are unsure whether you are doing all you should be to get your business promoted, now is your chance. Whether you are a small business who has just set out or a large business, a good marketing plan is vital to keep yourself in the best position. This year might have seen you have to cut your budget or reign in your spending due to the current pandemic, but you don’t have to spend lots to get great results. Trial different techniques and find out the ones that work best for you and your company. Here are five top ways to market your business for optimal success this year.

Create a marketing plan

No business can successfully market itself without a marketing plan. With a marketing plan, you can ensure that you schedule out everything you need and have a clear direction to follow. It allows you to measure how your marketing budget is being spent and to try out every area to see which one works the best for you. You will know exactly what is going out when and can measure and track success and results. Whether you are a technologies company like Kapa Technologies LLC, a restaurant, bar, or manufacturer, your business will benefit from a marketing plan.

Sort out your website

Your website is essentially your shop front, and so it is important that not only is it functional and informative, but also that it looks good too. If people turn up and your website is slow, laggy, and looks old, it will give them a bad impression of your business and service. People can think if you don’t make an effort with your website, you won’t make an effort with whatever you are trying to sell or offer. Websites are so easy to create these days that there is no excuse for one that is poorly done. Just by searching online, asking for recommendations, or looking at local groups on Facebook, you will be able to find someone who can create you a stunning looking site that isn’t too expensive. You can also find someone who will do up your current site if you don’t want to opt for something completely new; this might save you money if you are looking for something that bit cheaper in the current times.

Focus on your SEO

If you don’t have an SEO plan, it is time to create one. SEO is vital for getting your business seen and showing up on search engines. By having a strong SEO strategy, your business will show up on Google, and you will get found by those who are looking for the services you offer. There are many ways you can improve your SEO, from improving the metadata and on-page SEO on your site to targeting specific keywords, getting backlinks, and more. This side of SEO can be quite technical, so it is worth getting in touch with an SEO company or hiring a specialist to sort it out for you. They will have the knowledge and expertise to conduct a proper plan. If you don’t have the money to hire a specialist, you can also do research on SEO online that will show you how you can improve your presence.

Implement a Social media strategy

Social media is vital to market your business, and there are many different strategies depending on the services you offer. The important thing to remember with social media is that not every social media platform will work with all businesses, and it is best to focus on a few niche ones rather than spread yourself too thin. Think about the types of audience you are looking to attract with your service and tailor your social media to this. Twitter and Facebook are great for sharing news articles or information, while Instagram is very visual so great for sharing images of your product. TikTok is also another very visual platform but is more aimed at a younger audience. If you have a more cooperative service, consider looking at Linkedin as this is where a lot of business professionals have profiles and look for information. You can use trial and error when it comes to social media and see which platform gets you the most engagement – you might be surprised at what works and what doesn’t! Remember if you are posting similar content on all of your platforms to change them to suit each one.

Have a strong newsletter strategy

Newsletters are a great way to stay in touch with your clients and customers and showcase your latest news and offers. It also allows you to stay in their mind and prompt them to visit your site when they might not have done otherwise. Try not to send out too many newsletters that your customers feel bombarded, but don’t do it too frequently that they don’t bother opening them. Always be sure that your email mailing list is compliant with GDPR. When it comes to creating your newsletter, be sure that it ties in with your branding and the tone of voice of your business.

These are just some of the ways that you can market your business. In uncertain times such as this year, it is very important that you get your marketing strategy up to scratch and make it as easy as possible for new customers and clients to reach you, as well as retain your current clients. Remember, your website and your social media are the first things that people see when they come to your business and are the initial selling points. These need to be aesthetically pleasing, technically effective, and really showcase what you are about and what services you offer. Don’t be afraid to try multiple techniques, and if some don’t work as well as expected, to try something else.

5 Masterful Marketing Tips For Generating Local Leads

Two focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. Most will argue that the most important part of business is not the the actual idea or service, but instead the marketing. Many entrepreneurs don’t focus on this aspect enough. The following contributed post is entitled, 5 Masterful Marketing Tips For Generating Local Leads.

* * *

Image Pixabay CC0 License

We are living in a digital age, and many companies now focus their attention on trying to reach a wider audience. However, stretching your nets further afield isn’t the only way to increase leads and sales. Learning to maximize conversions from your local demographic can be equally beneficial.

It’s easy to forget about the value of the customers on your doorstep. Here’s how to get more out of them.

1) Focus On Local SEO

The only thing better than reaching out to clients is to have them reach out to you. Even before COVID-19, a growing number of Google searches were focused on local businesses. The popularity of “near me” searches underlines the need for you to place added emphasis on local SEO. Targeting geographic search terms is essential, but you must also consider the growth of voice searches. Finally, a strong Google My Business listing will send local visibility through the roof. Traffic will soar.

2) Use Offline Marketing

Digital marketing trends are an ideal way to grow an audience and increase interest levels. However, offline marketing has a key role to play too. Many businesses rightly worry about the proposed costs. Direct mail advertising that targets local leads that have a genuine possibility of conversion can solve this issue. The healthy leads and contacts can subsequently point them towards the sales funnel. This is where personalized interactions can take success to the next level as selling practices can be tailored to them.

Image Pixabay CC0 License

3) Support The Community

Consumers don’t only judge companies based on their products. Brand image is an increasingly important feature for a socially-conscious generation. Therefore, you must do your bit for the local environment as well as the economy. Improved waste management should sit at the top of your agenda. Meanwhile, going green and supporting community causes will serve you well too. When potential leads can relate to the company and its brand message, they will be more likely to complete a purchase.

4) Be Accessible

While this step isn’t limited to local marketing, it has a telling impact on local audiences. Multichannel marketing can ignite interest in the business and its products. Sadly, it counts for very little if the leads cannot get hold of the sales staff. Social media channels can become a great portal for responding to questions. Meanwhile, call redirecting services facilitate great customer care even when you cannot afford to hire a team of agents. All contact details and information relating to your business opening hours should be clearly stated on your site too.

5) Join Forces

It’s very easy to fall into the trap of thinking gall other local businesses are your competition. But they’re not. For example, if you’ve started a PT business, it may be possible to work together with a local health food store. Your joint marketing efforts can double the visibility and professionalism. Crucially, you can share an audience without negatively impacting the sales of your partner. Marketing isn’t the only area where you can join forces. Joint orders on business services can also work wonders.

6. Use local social media groups

In addition to using email marketing to target local customers, you can also use various local media social platforms. This is where a company joins local social media groups to access in-depth information regarding their customers’ wants and desires. It also allows you to target the right customers for your products. If you want to reach a specific niche, you can do so through local social media accounts such as Facebook, or a WhatsApp group.

One reason why you should use social media to master marketing is that it can help you create a positive brand image. Besides, it can increase your brand’s awareness since today’s generation relies heavily on social media information. And the best thing about it is that you can use different channels to target customers based on your marketing goal. For instance, to increase brand awareness, you can use accounts such as Facebook, while those that want to generate leads that can result in sales should consider LinkedIn. It would be best to also look out for what channels your competitors use to select one that suits your business.