13 ways to promote your business locally and find clients (2024)

To survive, small or large businesses must learn to adapt to modern marketing methods.

If you notice that your sales are stagnating or decreasing, it is time for you to improve your marketing strategy.

Even if your company is profitable at the moment, you must stay ahead of your competitors. You must keep learning

Analyze the latest marketing trends. Understand consumer purchasing behavior. Learn how to get more money from your existing customers.

Unfortunately, the numbers are not in your favor, only 33% of small businesses reach the 10-year mark. The rest fail.

I don't want you to become sad. I have myself failed in certain businesses and I have learned the lessons.

If your business is new, you must do everything possible to stay strong for years.

If you adopt the right techniques and processes, you will succeed in finding clients.

Choose these 13 trending marketing strategies that can set your business apart from others, raise awareness of your company locally, and bring you new customers.

1. Make your business known locally and find clients through Google

To become known and find new customers, word of mouth, advertising, radio, posters... are no longer enough. In 2021, competition is fierce in all fields.

You must target your marketing where your clients are. Use the internet, it is the only way to compete against others. Look at this statistic

The first step is Google My Business. It is a simple way to attract the attention of new local customers.

The procedures are simple: you just have to fill in the information that Google asks you for (address, phone number, working hours...).

But you need to stand out from the others, hence the importance of inviting your customers to leave their feedback on your company once the page is designed.

You can even add new features and descriptions of your services. Be innovative!

2. Have a blog and be visible locally

To successfully create a blog, you cannot skip steps. It is a long process, but it often leads to success stories. At

I recently wrote a guide about this

Once your blog is created, you will need to regularly publish SEO-optimized articles. I will show you how to write an effective article and give you some tips.

Whatever the case, the more you animate your blog, the more visible you become. You need to create visibility for your business on the searches of your potential clients and for that, you need to learn the basics of SEO

3. Join local groups

The best way to make your business known locally is to join local groups. Your future clients are in these groups.

Belonging to a community is already great. But being active is even better.

In general, these groups organize events, meetings... You should then participate in them! See them as golden opportunities to network with others. Knowing that these are professionals who live in the same region/neighborhood/city as you. Who knows, they may need your services!

However, sorting out groups and meetings is necessary. Otherwise, you risk wasting time, energy, and possibly money. I have experienced long evenings where you wonder what you are doing in that room watching people talk to each other without saying a word. Time wasted!

And as entrepreneurs, we can all agree that time is precious. Time is also one of the only things that we can never get back.

Choose the association or event to join based on your activity. In any case, these types of communities will always welcome you with open arms: local chamber of commerce, BNI, entrepreneur association, training, meetup, etc.

During some meetings, you may be asked to pay a certain amount as a membership fee. But rest assured, it's definitely worth it! From my experience, paid events are always the best for making business connections.

In this regard, it is important to be charitable. This will help you to quickly and easily make a name for yourself in your local area.

4. Get known on a local level through contests

If you target a B2C clientele, contests are a very good strategy to find new customers.

It's not about you, but about your subscribers. In other words, it's you who should organize contests.

It is one of the most popular marketing strategies on social media. The goal is to encourage subscribers to generate content on your behalf.

For example, ask them to post images or videos that accurately describe your activity. The person with the most likes on their post wins. Obviously, the more people react, the more your brand will become locally known!

6. How to make your business known locally through directories

Google is not the only platform that is interesting for promoting your business locally. There is also Yelp. Like Google, the latter requires some information about your company, such as: business hours, phone number, address, link to your website..

But why should you also register on Yelp? The reason is simple: before deciding on anything, internet users gather as much information as possible about a company; Yelp is one of the platforms they check first.

If your company has undergone any changes (such as a modified phone number), you must keep your information on Yelp up to date.

Suppose someone is trying to reach you on your old number, but they are unable to reach you. Their first thought in this case is to look for another company with the correct contact information. And one lost customer for you!

6. Develop a loyalty program

Making your business known locally is not just about trying to find new customers.

You also need to retain current consumers. There are several ways to retain them, but you need to find the one that suits your situation (and your customers) the most. Preferably, try not to blend in with the crowd. Find an original idea, for example: a reward for the 10th visit to your site.

By establishing a loyalty program, you will undoubtedly increase your sales. It has been proven that 82% of buyers consume even more products as a result of loyalty programs put in place.

At the same time, it is a way to attract even more new customers, and therefore, to become locally known. By becoming aware of your offer, others will also want to become your customers.

7. Promote as often as possible

This is a price reduction on your products. But in order for you not to incur a loss, a preliminary study on your economic situation is necessary.

Set a base price. Increase it slightly so that you can offer a discount from time to time.

8. Being present on social media

You increase your chances of promoting your business locally by signing up on all popular social media platforms: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, LinkedIn.

Next, you need to use them correctly, that is to say: publish attractive content regularly and interact with followers.

By following these instructions to the letter, you will automatically make yourself known. Besides, why not be inspired by these

9. Get help from local partners

Choose a few companies that already have their reputation locally.

Establish a partnership with them. Offer them something they need in exchange for this collaboration. Both parties will then be win-win.

When these local businesses talk about you on their page (social networks and blogs), you will immediately gain strong traffic, and possibly new local customers.

This is generally the fastest way to find new clients quickly.

10. Get known locally through a sponsorship program

Instead of the contest, the referral program will save you a huge amount of work.

Let me explain. It is your clients who will take care of almost everything.

As a benefit, you will retain your current customers and gain new ones. So, proceed as follows: reward everyone who plays a role, whether it is customers who refer new clients to you, or the new clients themselves.

11. Write an AMAZING newsletter

Studies have shown that the use of newsletters is effective

One dollar spent on email marketing is equivalent to an average gain of $44. Furthermore, 80% of those who use it have successfully retained their customers.

Only you need to know how to write an effective newsletter. Also, for this strategy to be fully effective, you must continually increase your subscriber list.

You want a good example? Then subscribe to my newsletter.

12. Designing a mobile application

There are not only IT companies that have the right to design mobile applications. Whatever your company's activity, know that mobile applications will bring you even more local traffic.

If you let internet users choose, you will see that about 63% of them prefer apps to websites.

Of course, as long as they are well designed, intuitive, and easy to use. Not only are such applications practical, but they are also faster.

13. Stay informed about everything through Google Alerts

Being aware of everything that is said about your company is possible and a must!

You need Google Alerts.

You will receive email notifications in real time, allowing you to act quickly. In case negative comments about you are published, do something immediately to save your reputation.

However, for positive reviews, share them immediately on your network. Your customers will trust you even more while your prospects will be more likely to accept your offers and become your clients. A simple way to make yourself known locally.