An online business can achieve much success via international sales only, but the local sales funnel is the number one place to make a profit.
Why? Because your website and products will be mostly recommended to the people in and closely linked to your area, even when they’re surfing worldwide!
Because of this, it’s important to try and boost your local engagement rate.
You need local customers to know about you, and trust you above other similar companies in the area, and that can only happen if you focus specifically on them. And with the points below, we hope to help you with this.
Offer a Local Incentive
Local incentives aren’t a new thing; many local governments use them to ensure the community invests in itself. And as a small, local business, you can follow in these footsteps. Or simply put, the closer a customer lives to your business, the more they can get from you.
But what can you offer?
Well, depending on where you work and how well you know your community, there are plenty of ideas to throw around. Maybe anyone living in a 10 mile or so radius gets free shipping?
Maybe certain types of local workers, such as healthcare staff, get 10% off every purchase? Brainstorm a few effective ideas and try out a few trial runs first.
Market Specifically Online
Online marketing is the number one to reach your audience in the digital era; most people use the internet on a daily basis, and use it for convenience in a variety of areas.
And no matter the kind of business you’re running, people are going to shop for products or services like yours, and they’ll want them to be as local as possible for the convenience!
Which means your marketing needs to get local and specific. Where are you? Who do you serve? And of course, what do you offer? Create banner ads and pop-ups like these, as well as get onto social media.
It might also be a good idea to outsource the bulk of your marketing needs here.
Whether you need a hvac digital marketing agency or you’re trying to advertise plumbing repairs, there’s a marketing agency out there who understands your needs specifically. Feel free to get in touch with them for a more efficient use of your marketing budget.
Power Up Your Word of Mouth
Finally, a surefire sign of engagement from your local area is word of mouth advertising.
This is completely free for you, as you won’t be paying customers to spread the word – they’ll do so anyway, thanks to just how wonderful their experience with you was. It’s all in the customer service.
Staying on a customer’s mind is another effective way; get their email address and send personalized messages, including requests for feedback and a selection of deals on products similar to what they’ve already purchased from you.
Overall, boosting engagement from your local area just requires a bit of local investment!
