Navigating the marketing landscape can be tricky, especially when your aim is to boost your local business. To help you find the answer to the question, "how to advertise my business locally?", we’ve designed this blog post to help you advertise your small business.

Use of SEO

In the digital era we live in, the question on many entrepreneurs' minds is: "how to advertise my business locally?". Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) plays a crucial role for any business, but especially for small local businesses grappling for visibility in the saturated online market. SEO can position your business favourably within search engine rankings, enhancing visibility and providing valuable organic growth at the local level. When implemented correctly, this strategic tool can significantly increase web traffic flow, broaden your customer base, and contribute to business growth and expansion. If you think this is an area you need help with, contact us, and our SEO experts will be happy to help.

Keywords Used On Pages

Keywords act as the cornerstone of a successful SEO strategy. Keyword research involves identifying the terms and phrases that your target audience uses while performing online searches related to your services or products. Once identified, these keywords should be integrated naturally into your site’s content, helping search engines to identify and rank your web pages accordingly.

For instance, for a local bakery specialising in artisanal pastries, keywords such as "artisanal bakery in Norwich", "homemade pastries near me", or "locally sourced bakery products" can prove invaluable in attracting the right customers to your locality.

Directory Listings

There is an abundance of directory websites that can enhance your local online visibility. Listing your business on these platforms is usually free of charge and provides access to a community of potential customers in your area.

Examples of such sites include Yell, Yelp, and Foursquare. In addition, these websites also provide backlinks to your business website. Backlinks are a major aspect of ranking factors and crucial to your website's SEO, thus improving the overall health and SEO performance of your website.

Google Business Profile

In the current era, having a Google Business Profile is much like having a digital storefront. By creating a comprehensive and engaging profile, you provide potential customers with a quick snapshot of your business - its location, operation hours, contact information, and reviews from other customers.

The best part? Creating this profile is completely free, and it significantly heightens your chances of appearing in local search results and Google Maps. Contact us if you’d like us to help get you set up correctly on Google Business.

Email Marketing Campaigns

Establishing consistent communication with your existing customers can be made simple and effective through well-executed email marketing campaigns. These campaigns are an ideal way to share updates about new releases, upcoming sales, or any offers tailored to your customer base's interests.

Along with driving repeat business, an engaging email marketing campaign can turn your current customers into brand advocates, amplifying your local advertising efforts.

Run Ads

Online ad platforms like Google Ads offer diverse advertising options like search ads, display ads, local service ads, remarketing ads, YouTube ads, and shopping ads. Each of these ad types serves unique purposes and can be used based on your specific requirements.

For instance, if you own a local fitness centre and have recently introduced new workout classes, running Google search ads with an explicit focus on these new classes can draw potential enrollments from the local neighbourhood.

Write Blogs

Web content using long-tail keywords not only helps your business rank higher for specific search terms but also offers informative and engaging content to your site visitors. Writing blogs relevant to your brand and local community can boost your local SEO efforts and attract a dedicated audience.

For instance, if you own a garden centre, you could write a blog post titled "6 Best Indoor Plants for Apartments in Norwich" or "How to grow aloe vera at home".

Social Media Marketing

As you search for ways on "how to advertise my business locally," don't underestimate the power of social media in the current marketing landscape – especially when it comes to boosting a business's local online presence.

Identifying the social media platforms your target audience prefers is crucial in establishing online connections and interactions. From Facebook and Instagram to LinkedIn and X, it's about choosing the channels where your potential customers are already engaging.

For example, if your business caters to a younger audience, Instagram and TikTok might prove more beneficial in engaging them.

Post Your Success

Sharing testimonials and reviews from satisfied customers on your social media platforms not only validates your product/service quality but also generates social proof, which can encourage potential customers to patronise your business.

For instance, featuring a "Customer of the Month" post on your social media, with compliments from a satisfied client, can be a mini case study showcasing your business's successful outcomes.

Offline Marketing

While the digital age has dramatically transformed how businesses reach out to their customers, traditional offline marketing tactics still have their unique charm. Physical, tangible advertising can complement your online efforts and broaden the range of your audience reach.

Parish Magazines

Parish magazines can provide an effective platform for promoting your business to a local audience. By publishing an advertisement or a feature article about your business in a parish magazine, you can reach out directly to a local audience who may not be active online.

Notice Boards

Notice boards are the original social networks for local communities. Strategically placing your business flyers or cards on local community notice boards, coffee shops or popular public establishments can capture the attention of locals and create curiosity about your business.

Flyers

Flyers offer a tried and tested, cost-effective marketing option. Distributing flyers in local shops, households, and public spaces could expose your business to a wide local audience. For example, if you own a local pizza joint, handing out flyers promoting a new flavour or a special discount with high-quality, appetite-inducing images can attract new customers.

Local Newspapers

Another effective strategy to form a local connection is advertising or publishing an article in your local newspaper. This provides an opportunity to educate your community about your business, its relevance to the local area, and how it might fulfil their needs or solve their problems.

Word Of Mouth

Word-of-mouth marketing revolves around creating positive customer experiences that people delight in sharing. It's one of the most powerful marketing strategies, as people trust personal recommendations more than any form of advertising.

Networking

Networking events offer an incredible opportunity to form business relationships with other industry professionals. Being present at such events can place your business on the radar of influential people, which can open up numerous opportunities for collaborations and partnerships.

Speak at an Industry Event

Another way to spread word of mouth about your business is by speaking at industry events. This positions you as a thought leader within your industry, provides a platform to showcase your solutions and gives people reasons to talk positively about your business.

Work with Smash Marketing

To truly excel in promoting a small business locally, you need to grasp its unique challenges. At Smash Marketing, we simplify this process by offering first-rate SEO and PPC services tailored for small businesses. We provide cost-effective packages aimed at boosting your online presence, building strong customer relationships, and promoting steady growth.

We're ready to partner with you to create a marketing strategy tailored as perfectly to your business as a glove to a hand. Get in touch with our team to find out how we can help you smash the competition!

With an ever-changing landscape digital marketing sometimes feels like a minefield… but that’s why we are here! Keeping ourselves on top of the newest trends is extremely important to us, so we can offer you more opportunities for your company to grow further by reaching more potential customers.

Here we look at the power of TikTok advertising – with no dancing involved (unless of course you want to!). With its rapid rise TikTok has seen the app reach 1 billion users and counting! And with this huge engagement comes huge opportunity for marketers.

‘But isn’t it just for kids?’ we hear you cry – perhaps in the earlier days, but now we see influencers like Gordon Ramsay and Rod Stewart doing extremely well on TikTok, as well as the lovingly named ‘granfluencers’ (anyone older than 60) who are taking the platform by storm.

Due to its scale and the fact that it’s not yet saturated with ads, TikTok is a very exciting marketing channel – allowing for more affordable generations of clicks and impressions.

There are a few options that marketers can utilise to target their demographic; including in-feed adverts (self-service ads created through the TikTok ad manager), image ads (which run on TikTok’s News Feed apps and include a name, text, and image), and of course probably the most well know, video ads which run between 5-60 seconds in the For You Feed.

TikTok advertising encourages authenticity, which drives brands to success, plus the use of popular songs encourages the viewer to feel a connection to what they are viewing (even if the product is new to them).

TikTok is not about to go anywhere any time soon, with its creatively, entertainment value and positive energy it’s only going to grow more – an exciting time for brands and marketers!

Contact us at hello@smashmarketing.co.uk to find out how you could use TikTok for your business.

We love working with you. We are sure you must know some other lovely companies too – so to keep that love going, as a thank you, we are offering you a £50 John Lewis voucher after a ‘recommendation’ becomes our client.

Our services include:
• Ongoing SEO packages
• One-off SEO projects
• Website content management
• Online advertising (PPC / Google Ads)

Here at Smash Marketing, our mission is for all UK small businesses to have access to excellent SEO at a price they can afford, to help them grow and flourish.

With over 30+ years of combined experience in marketing, we will guide clients through their digital marketing decision-making process to ensure the right channels are selected for their message, organisation and budget, and will continue to be on hand throughout their journey with us.

*terms and conditions apply – must be a new introduction to us.
A voucher will be awarded once the new client pays their first invoice.

Smash Marketing is a digital marketing agency, providing SEO, PPC, Email marketing and Social media marketing to businesses throughout Norfolk and Suffolk. We work mainly with small to medium businesses, across a variety of industries including retail, hospitality, engineering, tourism, legal, financial, leisure and healthcare.

Much of our work requires multiple applications and systems to run simultaneously, requiring high quality IT equipment. Due to COVID-19, most of our communications with clients, networking groups and each other are via video calls.

Despite the restrictions, our business has been growing in the last few months and many of our clients have asked us to help them produce videos for social media and to add content to their websites.

Being accepted for this grant means that we are able to update and upgrade our computer equipment, giving us a better capacity for the latest versions of software. We have purchased a desktop computer and laptop with the funding to replace very out of date equipment that has been struggling to upgrade to newer software and process the video files that we need.

We are looking forward to providing an even better, more efficient service to our clients.

Help for other businesses.

Are you planning to do some R&D, grow, expand, or diversify or need any other business support? New Anglia LEP and Growth Hub offer free business support and grants from £1,000 up to £500,000 to support businesses in Norfolk and Suffolk. Contact the New Anglia Growth Hub on 0300 333 6536 or visit www.newangliagrowthhub.co.uk/

During these difficult times, many businesses are struggling to do business in the same way - even digital marketing has changed. This is the time to become creative and find different ways to communicate and ultimately sell to your customers.

Here are our top tips for marketing during the COVID-19 outbreak:

1. Don't stop all marketing!

This has to be the most important thing. There's a temptation to cut all costs, but please think long-term. Marketing strategies such as SEO take time to implement and produce results. Stopping these activities now will slow your recovery when the initial COVID-19 lockdown is over. There may also be other ways to promote your organisation and even generate new business using digital marketing.

2. Take stock

This is an opportunity to look at your business in a new light. Take stock of where you are, where you want to be and how your business can. or in some cases, needs to adapt to the current situation.

3. Communicate, communicate, communicate

Keep your customers and suppliers informed of what's happening. Are you working reduced hours, closing premises, working remotely? If your delivery times are affected, or you're running on a skeleton staff, keep customers informed as accurately as possible. Give them alternative ways to contact you if necessary. The most important thing is to keep them 'in the loop' - it will make both yours and their experiences far more enjoyable.

4. How else can you provide a service to your clients?

If you can't provide physical products or services currently, can you provide other information? How about advice on products, 'how to' guides or FAQs that you regularly receive by phone or email. Interesting quality content on your website not only helps clients, but can also help your SEO strategy by updating your website.

5. Plan ahead, but stay relevant

By all means, write content in advance, but check that it is still relevant before publishing. The coronavirus situation and related government advice is constantly changing, so make sure that your messages are still correct when you press 'go live'.

6. Are you making use of technology?

Think about how you can deliver the same service but virtually. Bring your products to the customer if they can't get to you. Webinars and video can be utilised to demonstrate products and services, or deliver information and advice 'in person' via video conference.

7. Can you diversify your business?

Are there other services that you can provide during this time? Can you provide help to community groups or key workers at this time? These activities may not produce a profit, but is great for PR, will boost public opinion of your organisation and goes towards your CSR (corporate social responsibility).

8. Delay press releases and product launches

Unfortunately, any news about your business will just get lost in the monumental amount of media that we're all being subjected to at the moment. Unless you have news that simply cannot wait or is relevant to the coronavirus outbreak, delay it until the situation has changed.

9. Work on those marketing projects you've been delaying

Dig out those projects you've been putting on the back burner. Have you been meaning to update your brand, change the website or develop a new digital marketing strategy? Now is the time to do it. It may even be that the recent outbreak has made you realise that something in your marketing strategy doesn't work and needs to be changed. Take this time to reflect on your business and how it can better serve your customers in future.

10. Utilise social media

With people out of their usual routine, you may be noticing a drop in website traffic. There is however, a great deal of social media usage at this time. Is your business utilising these channels? Become creative with your message, consider video use or live streaming if you have something that you think is important, useful, or might just brighten people's day. It doesn't all have to be about business either; perhaps your staff are finding interesting ways to cope with social isolation, or you've been doing something different. Encourage engagement too, so ask questions of your followers, or set a challenge for people to get involved with.

11. Consider other forms of marketing

If your advertising relies on passing traffic or public interaction, have you considered other forms of advertising? Pay per click (PPC) prices have dropped recently, with advertising prices for some industries at 50% of the usual cost, and most companies that have a Google Ads account have been given a voucher. Also, more people are online at the moment, so consider promoting your business on social media. Make the most of your budget by clearly defining customer demographics

12. Plan for growth after the pandemic

Look ahead to when things get back to normal. Can your business ramp up quickly? Have marketing plans ready to implement, plan ahead by writing social posts, content and emails in advance.

If you need any advice or help during this period, Smash Marketing are more than happy to help! We can provide advice via phone, email or Zoom call, or support your business with all aspects of digital marketing; SEO, PPC, social media, and website content. Please get in touch today!