Did you know that small, locally-owned businesses account for 44% of the U.S. economy? These businesses play an essential role in their local communities and the nation as a whole. However, one of the most prevalent problems these businesses face is getting local people to find them. 

If you want to get more foot traffic into your local business, start using local marketing or hire a Colorado SEO agency to help you start implementing it. Here is a breakdown of local marketing and some strategies to help your business.

What is local marketing?

Local marketing consists of the marketing strategies that a small business uses to promote its products and services within its local market. The target audience of these businesses is usually within a specific radius. 

This kind of marketing is used by businesses with physical storefront locations in their community. Some common examples of local businesses that use local marketing are:

• Restaurants

• Bars

• Medical services

• Home services 

• Boutiques

• Car services

Local marketing strategies 

Start using local SEO

Search engines are powerful tools. Research shows that 97% of search engine users search online to find a local business. That means if your business is not showing up on these local searches, you could be losing potential customers. You can fix this through a local SEO strategy. 

This kind of SEO strategy focuses around using locally-relevant terms and keywords to increase your website’s visibility on search engine results pages. It is important to note that customers looking for local products and services are using terms like “near me” or “close by.”  In fact, these search terms have grown in use by more than 900% over two years. 

Set up a Google Business Profile

Another tool that can help increase your local visibility is a Google Business Profile. This tool allows people to manage their local business across Google’s products, such as maps and search. How it works is when people search for your product or service in a specific geographic area, the business listing that you have created will show up. 

It will provide users with your contact information, store hours, website and reviews. 64% of consumers have used Google My Business to find contact details for a local business. As a business owner, you should make sure your listing is claimed, store hours are updated and you are actively responding to reviews left on there. 

Use social media marketing 

Another digital marketing tool that can help increase your local visibility is social media. This tool allows you to promote your business in certain locations. You can use hashtags to make sure your content shows up in certain areas. For example, if you are a Denver restaurant, you may want to include #DenverRestaurtant or #DenverFoodie to gain exposure. 

There is also geotagging, which allows you to make sure your posts show up in certain geographic locations. Going off the example above, if you are a Denver restaurant, you will also want to make sure you are geotagging the Denver area. Do not forget you can create ads that allow you to target certain areas as well.

Let a Colorado SEO agency increase your local business’s visibility! 

At Denver Media Group, we can make sure your business is showing up on local searches and social media platforms. Contact us to learn more about our SEO and digital marketing services.