Small businesses should focus their energy and marketing to a local and smaller audience, at least initially. Local audiences are easier to meet because they are in the same physical proximity. Larger national audiences, for example, are stretched thousands of miles apart, with unique languages, cultures, and interests that can make targeting a more extensive audience challenging.
So, why should you focus on your local audience? How can you get your local audience’s attention? Throughout this article, we will go through the unique benefits associated with marketing locally.
Local Audience vs. National Audiences
Local Audience vs. National AudiencesDid you know that about 72% of consumers that did a local search visited a store within five miles of their home? You will likely have better luck if you can boost your website and application to the first page on Google searches with a local audience since it is a specific keyword and target.
The conversion rate for local searches is also significantly high. According to one study, approximately 88% of searches for local businesses on a mobile device either call or visit the business within 24 hours. You have almost a nine in ten chance that a customer will visit your business 24 hours after finding you in the search results. With larger businesses, a sudden increase in competition can make it more difficult.
What are the Benefits of Local Marketing?
Listed below are a few common benefits to marketing towards your local audience instead of a larger and broader audience.
Local marketing is affordable
Marketing toward a local audience is a less expensive solution compared to marketing toward a broader audience. For instance, when you Market to a local audience, you can do so within your small business and store. While you can use marketing and ad campaigns online, it is easier to grow a local audience using trust and reward systems.
Local audiences are easier to understand
Another marketing benefit is that local audiences are easier to understand. For example, when you are researching audiences and your customer base, there is more information locally than in a broader audience.
SEO practices are catered to local audiences
Most of the time, SEO practices are catered to local audiences, especially when looking at keywords. Long tail keywords are the most effective type of keywords when creating content online. For example, when you use SEO practices like keywords, you can be more specific towards the audience and location while adding words like near me or the searcher’s city.
Word of Mouth
The good thing about choosing a local audience is that you can easily grow it by spreading it through word of mouth. As soon as you have a loyal customer that loves your service and product, it does not take long for the information to spread to family and friends.
Suppose you want to increase the number of people who are talking about your company in a positive light. In that case, you can also use referral programs as well as rewards, and stamp cards, to increase the number of interested people.
| Related: 3 Simple Ways to Increase Word of Mouth Referrals |
Strong local audience leads to larger audiences with time
Although we recommend starting with a strong local audience, this does not mean you have to remain with the same audience for the entirety of your company. Having a strong local audience can lead to a larger audience in time that is broader and has multiple locations. But if you do not have a strong local audience, it is hard to grow because there is no customer base that is strong enough.
In conclusion, it is more beneficial for companies to market digitally to their local audience because digital marketing is growing in popularity and growing local audiences is easier, more affordable, and the better way to grow your company.
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