Most Effective digital marketing for a Local Business
There are tons of options for developing a digital marketing strategy. I’m sure you heard about so many that you head spins, especially with all of the industry terms and acronyms. When you look at all the options, it’s important to keep the 80/20 rule in mind. Not only will this control cost, but it will also speed up results. That’s not to say that other avenues aren’t effective because they certainly are, however, it doesn’t mean they are cost-effective at this stage. So, with that said, let’s dive in!
Well-designed website
This is your foundation that sets you up for success in the rest of your digital marketing. It absolutely should not be overlooked. Your site should be aesthetically pleasing, informational, easy to navigate, and SEO friendly. Platforms like WordPress and Magento are excellent for accomplishing these requirements. While a well-designed website won’t get you a positive ROI by itself, it is necessary for everything else to work properly and effectively, increasing your overall return for all of your other marketing activities.
General and Industry Specific Directories
What’s an online directory or IYP’s? IYP stands for ‘Internet Yellow Pages’. These are sites that list helpful businesses to potential clients/customers that are looking for your type of business. There are a vast number of directories you can be listed on, most of which have no additional charge you for placing the listing. You can do these yourself for free, or you can hire a digital marketing company to accomplish this. Not only do they help drive traffic to your business or website, but they also offer some amount of search engine ranking benefit for your website.*For a DIYer, it’s important to note that there are nuances involved that affect your overall digital marketing when you do these, including making sure all of your information on each one is done exactly the same.
Content Marketing and SEO
Organic search engine results for local search terms (ie. Cosmetic Dentist in Dallas, Cape Cod Fishing Charter, etc.) are dominated by two types of results: Directories/IYP’s and content-driven results from local businesses. This is where content marketing comes in. By producing content around your business, Google and other search engines are able to learn more about what your business does. Coupled with appropriate ‘On-page SEO’ (this is the technical side), this then increases your chance of showing up in those results. With a good SEO company, you are able to target an infinite number of potential search terms over time, with the results continuing to build on top of themselves.
Ready to take the next step to see if these strategies would benefit your company? Send us an email or schedule a call, we’d love to chat with you to discuss whether it makes sense as your next step.