The Benefits of Hyperlocal Marketing
If the last 18 months have taught us anything it’s that nothing we used to do is
necessarily the way to do things anymore. Not that those ways are dead and gone.
It’s just that consumers have new ways of behavior as they have re-emerged from
2020 and some old patterns may resume but some may not. And the most important
thing business professionals can do is to learn new ways of attracting customers.
Hyperlocal marketing is the new way brick and mortar businesses are attracting new
customers. A hyperlocal marketing strategy strategy targets potential customers present in a specific and
limited geographical area. Sometimes these places are just a few streets or blocks
away. It’s based on apps or phones using the “near me” functions when searching for
a product or service.
Nearby searches have become famous recently. Those “near me” and “where to buy”
searches have increased over 200% in the last few years according to data from Google.
Local foot traffic disappeared last year and hyperlocal marketing is the perfect way
to rebuild that foot traffic and sales. And it hits target markets in the best possible way.
They Hyperlocal marketplace includes both the services and delivery sectors. Services
includes home service, laundry, health medical, etc. Delivery includes anything you
can delivery such as groceries, food production, home necessities, electronics and more.
Here’s how to use the technology and strategies of hyperlocal marketing to get your
business more attention in the community.
Work Your Google Business Listing
Did you know that ⅓ of all mobile searches on Google are location specific? This is
why the information on your Google business listing needs to be up-to-date and detailed.
Here’s what you need to make sure you have:
-
A unique and attractive description (you have 750 characters - go crazy!) Make
sure you have relevant keywords in the first 100 words to optimize SEO.
-
Add quality pictures
-
Give a searchable address
-
Give a local phone number
-
Add your business hours
-
Choose your primary business category that identifies your product or service
Local Reviews
Many sites that folks use for local searching have a review component including Yelp,
Google, Facebook and others. Reviews are a huge component in local search ranking. In
fact, 88% of customers make decisions considering local reviews and personal recommendations.
And you don’t have to passively sit back and wait for reviews to come in. You can offer free
items in exchange for a review. A free appetizer coupon, 10% off the next delivery or an
item from your store for a review. It’s a small price to pay for a valuable advertising tool.
Target Consumers Through Hyperlocal Advertisements
You can use your geography to target your customers by analyzing your customer data and
advertising as a result of that mining. If you live in a tourist area, target those travel
shoppers at travel areas - airports, bus stations, hotels, etc. If there is a conference
location in your city that’s near your location, take advantage of that influx of people.
Target your competitor’s location and show how your product or service or location is better.
Create Hyperlocal Content
They key to creating content is determine what people want to consume, now what you want
to sell. And then deliver your message in a variety of ways: videos, blog posts, articles
or infographics, online quizzes. Recognizing that people are attracted to messages
differently, you have to vary your message. But the online world offers lots of choices
for not a lot of cost. And make sure you spread your message across all the social media
platforms: your Google Business Listing, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.
A tool that will help you know if you’re getting your website set up for success are the
structured data testing tool.
Drop in your URL and it will let you know about any errors or warnings in your structured
data tags.
Also make sure your site is optimized for local search. One way to make sure this works is
to have a landing page for each location if you are a multi-site business. It makes it easier
for local searchers to find the location close to them. Also make sure each other page links
to every page on your website so that navigation is smooth.
Analyze your activity. Make sure you have analytics set up on your website and that you
review the analytics from your social media activity. It will tell you what is happening
and inform the decisions you make next. It’s important to make informed decisions even if
the decisions don’t cost you any money. Hyperlocal marketing doesn’t hit a lot of people
but when it works it hits exactly the right ones. Make sure you’re doing it the right way.
Sources:
https://www.jeffbullas.com/hyperlocal-marketing-strategies/
https://www.premise.com/the-rise-of-hyperlocal-marketing-in-2021/