SEO
10 Creative Digital Marketing Ideas for Local Businesses
How did you find your favorite coffee shop, restaurant, or antique shop?
Maybe your friends showed it to you. Maybe you just saw a nice sign and came in one time. Or maybe you saw one of their amazing marketing campaigns.
One social media ad or a blog post from an influencer can do wonders for a local business.
However, there is a problem: for local businesses, it’s often harder to find budgets for marketing activities.
They often don’t have the resources of huge commercial chains and corporations to pour them into advertising, celebrity collaborations, and so on.
Nonetheless, marketing doesn’t have to be expensive.
You’ll just have to get more creative with it.
In this article, we hope to inspire you with marketing ideas that local businesses can implement on a smaller budget – or even for free!
1. Collaborate With A Local Influencer
You might not have a budget to buy a promotional post from an Instagram blogger with 1 million followers, but micro-influencers can be just as (if not more) effective.
And who is a better candidate for collaboration than a blogger or an industry expert who lives in your area?
The problem is, how do you find such an influencer?
A simple Google search won’t do – it’ll likely show you bigger accounts and popular names and not micro-bloggers.
Besides, it’s difficult to make Google focus on a specific town for this task.
What you need here is social listening software.
Such tools are able to find accounts with any given number of followers that talk about particular topics.
In addition to that, you’re able to choose your town in the settings to make sure you only get relevant results.
You can filter your search results by the minimum and maximum amounts of followers and look through the profiles.
Choose the people you think will be a good fit and reach out to them!
You can invite them to your store and give them a tour or offer a free product.
This is a mutually beneficial collaboration. You help them create content, and they raise your brand awareness by connecting you to their audience.
- Screenshot from Awario, January 2022
Pro tip: You can also create a social listening alert with your brand name and look for the influencers mentioning your company organically.
Maybe there’s a blogger that is your regular visitor and you don’t even know it.
If that’s the case, you can foster these relationships to promote your business even further.
2. Write Your Business Into A Local Narrative
People love stories!
That’s perhaps one of the most essential parts of human experience – creating and consuming stories.
You can create a story around your brand to make it more memorable.
Create a character that would always sit in your cafe in a particular seat with this specific drink, or make up a lovely anecdote about the building your business occupies.
Sometimes you don’t even have to make up everything – you can do a little research about the town’s history and find out some unexpected and exciting stories.
Talk to the local historians, go to the archives and museums, and maybe you’ll discover something that will bring you even more clients.
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- Screenshot from Tripadvisor, January 2022
Once you have the narrative, incorporate it into your brand.
Add it to your description on the website, social media, and review sites.
Create social media posts and blog posts referring to the story.
Make sure it runs through all your marketing messages so that people remember it.
3. Create Search-friendly Content About Your Town
Local SEO is a great way to get more customers. First, you bring more traffic to your website, then you get more foot traffic in your store.
However, it’s something that every business should do – so I wouldn’t call it a creative marketing idea.
The thing is, businesses tend to optimize their website for the most obvious requests; for example, “buy furniture Nashville.”
The content I’m talking about is more entertaining in nature. Its goal is to tell locals and visitors about your town and simultaneously promote your business.
Both goals should be represented in your social media posts, articles, or videos.
Lists are a great type of content here.
For example, an article about the top five coffee places in your area will be a great way to mention your business organically and give value to potential customers.
Of course, you don’t want to promote your competitors, so choose a topic that will allow for representing different businesses.
For example, you could craft an article about amazing dating spots can feature cafes, museums, and sightseeing places in one list and make sure that only your restaurant is mentioned in it.
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- Screenshot from milwaukeemom.com, January 2022
Think about timing, as well.
Holiday marketing is an effective way to bring more attention to your business.
Offer some holiday-related products and activities and then publish a guide titled “What to do with your family in (town name) on (holiday name).”
This will please both the search engines and potential clients alike.
4. Join And Engage On Local Facebook Groups
- Screenshot from Facebook, January 2022
Facebook Groups are THE places your audience hangs out.
By joining a Facebook Group in your district, you kill two birds with one stone: you are able to learn more about your clients and at the same time promote your business.
The ultimate rule of promotion on Facebook Groups is to not be too sales-y.
You don’t want to post about your discounts and new offers every other day.
Even if such kind of spam is tolerated in the group, it’s unlikely to make people actually interested in your business.
What you could do instead is to initiate conversations that would allow you to bring up your business organically.
You could do it in a sneaky way from your personal account or in a more genuine way, without hiding the fact that you’re a local business owner.
A great way to do it is by actually trying to give value to the people.
For example, you are a bookstore owner and you want more locals to know about your bookstore.
You can ask people in the group if they would be interested in participating in a reading club and what kind of books they would like to read.
It doesn’t even have to be book-related: You can start a conversation about anything, for example, should you allow dogs in the store or not.
Your goal is to start a discussion that will draw attention, but be wary of controversial topics.
While they can generate a lot of buzz, you will certainly alienate a lot of people.
5. Utilize Your “Localness” In Digital Marketing
As a local business, you have an inherent advantage over corporations and chains in that it’s much harder for them to target specific locations since their shops are everywhere.
You can benefit from this by creating such hyper-focused ads yourself.
Here are some tips on how to create such ads aimed at people in your local communities:
- Use Google Search Console to find new ad group options based on what’s the driver of search impressions.
- Try including your Zip Code or name of the street in the ad and make it visible.
- Talk about the distance to your location in your targeted ads.
6. Take Care Of All The Reviews
Now, asking for reviews or monitoring your business on Yelp is not the most creative idea.
But the thing most local businesses neglect is that review sites are not the only place people talk about your business.
Social media, blogs, and forums are equally important when it comes to reviews.
Nowadays, everyone with a social media profile has an audience – even if it’s just their family and friends.
And they might post an opinion about your business.
You’re lucky if they tag you and you’ll see it – but what if you miss the post, either because they don’t tag you or because you have too many notifications?
best place for tea ☕️ time.
nak breakfast, brunch, lunch, and dinner pun boleh! 😋📍Lisette’s Café & Bakery, Subang Jaya
Open daily (8am – 10pm) pic.twitter.com/136gNbvvTy— Luqqyyyyyy (@luqqssssss) November 11, 2021
If it’s a positive opinion, you’re missing a marketing opportunity; you could repost it, save it, and use it in your marketing materials in the future.
If it’s a negative opinion, you’re risking a reputational crisis by ignoring it.
Use a social media monitoring tool to make sure you notice every time your company gets mentioned, both on review platforms and elsewhere.
You can choose free options; for example, a combination of Google Alerts and Tweetdeck.
Or, opt for a more robust social listening tool that offers real-time notifications, covers more online sources, and provides handy filters to organize your mentions.
7. Reach Out To Local Media
Almost every town has a local newspaper or online media, and you’d be surprised how influential they are!
While you’re creating content for your own website and social media, don’t forget to establish contact with your local media.
You can participate in the topical materials about local businesses in your town or even give commentaries on the news events – from the perspective of a local business owner.
The links on their website will be good for SEO.
In addition to that, your commentary and perspective will establish you as an active member of the community that will draw more attention to your business.
8. Dive Into Event Marketing
Speaking about the community, if your business allows it, organize an event for the locals.
Given the interconnected world we live in now, it can even be an online event if you don’t set a goal of driving customers to your physical store.
The best option is to organize an event with a purpose everyone feels connected to — maybe there’s an issue in your community that needs more attention and funding to solve it, and you could organize a charity event to highlight the issue.
You can promote the event on local Facebook Groups or run social media ads.
During the event try to communicate with new people and establish connections.
That way people will feel welcome and will be enticed to come again.
You can even set up a series of events or regular meetings to get a long-running marketing effect.
9. Run A Social Media Contest
Christmas is one of the most popular holidays in the world for many reasons, but one of them is non-stop gift giving. People love gifts!
While your customers are not your friends or family, you can try handing out small presents to promote your business.
One way to boost foot traffic to your business is to launch a contest. You could promote it through social media and your website.
For example, you could suggest that the first 20 people that come to your place on a specific day will get their product or service for free.
This tactic works great for newly opened businesses that need to get the word going.
10. Form A Local Partnership
As a local businessperson, you’re a part of the community.
Try to establish relationships with other local business owners.
This will not only help you have a support network to consult and exchange experience with.
Regular communication with other businesses gives you a lot of promotional opportunities.
You may discover local brands and businesses that perfectly supplement and support your brand while targeting similar audiences. Consider offering them cross-promotional opportunities.
This tactic kills two birds with one stone: on one hand, you’re raising your brand awareness and utilizing the goodwill of your partners.
On the other hand, by establishing these relationships, you’re building a support network for local businesses, a community that can represent your interests.
You can start by connecting and engaging with local businesses on social media.
Try running offers for bundles with both of your products, promoting in each other’s stores, and organizing events together.
These 10 tips are great to use as jumping-off points for your local business.
Use your strength and the resources available. The power of community can be much more effective than money poured into advertising.
More resources:
Featured Image: Sammby/Shutterstock
SEO
Google Clarifies Vacation Rental Structured Data
Google’s structured data documentation for vacation rentals was recently updated to require more specific data in a change that is more of a clarification than it is a change in requirements. This change was made without any formal announcement or notation in the developer pages changelog.
Vacation Rentals Structured Data
These specific structured data types makes vacation rental information eligible for rich results that are specific to these kinds of rentals. However it’s not available to all websites. Vacation rental owners are required to be connected to a Google Technical Account Manager and have access to the Google Hotel Center platform.
VacationRental Structured Data Type Definitions
The primary changes were made to the structured data property type definitions where Google defines what the required and recommended property types are.
The changes to the documentation is in the section governing the Recommended properties and represents a clarification of the recommendations rather than a change in what Google requires.
The primary changes were made to the structured data type definitions where Google defines what the required and recommended property types are.
The changes to the documentation is in the section governing the Recommended properties and represents a clarification of the recommendations rather than a change in what Google requires.
Address Schema.org property
This is a subtle change but it’s important because it now represents a recommendation that requires more precise data.
This is what was recommended before:
“streetAddress”: “1600 Amphitheatre Pkwy.”
This is what it now recommends:
“streetAddress”: “1600 Amphitheatre Pkwy, Unit 6E”
Address Property Change Description
The most substantial change is to the description of what the “address” property is, becoming more descriptive and precise about what is recommended.
The description before the change:
PostalAddress
Information about the street address of the listing. Include all properties that apply to your country.
The description after the change:
PostalAddress
The full, physical location of the vacation rental.
Provide the street address, city, state or region, and postal code for the vacation rental. If applicable, provide the unit or apartment number.
Note that P.O. boxes or other mailing-only addresses are not considered full, physical addresses.
This is repeated in the section for address.streetAddress property
This is what it recommended before:
address.streetAddress Text
The full street address of your vacation listing.
And this is what it recommends now:
address.streetAddress Text
The full street address of your vacation listing, including the unit or apartment number if applicable.
Clarification And Not A Change
Although these updates don’t represent a change in Google’s guidance they are nonetheless important because they offer clearer guidance with less ambiguity as to what is recommended.
Read the updated structured data guidance:
Vacation rental (VacationRental) structured data
Featured Image by Shutterstock/New Africa
SEO
Google On Hyphens In Domain Names
Google’s John Mueller answered a question on Reddit about why people don’t use hyphens with domains and if there was something to be concerned about that they were missing.
Domain Names With Hyphens For SEO
I’ve been working online for 25 years and I remember when using hyphens in domains was something that affiliates did for SEO when Google was still influenced by keywords in the domain, URL, and basically keywords anywhere on the webpage. It wasn’t something that everyone did, it was mainly something that was popular with some affiliate marketers.
Another reason for choosing domain names with keywords in them was that site visitors tended to convert at a higher rate because the keywords essentially prequalified the site visitor. I know from experience how useful two-keyword domains (and one word domain names) are for conversions, as long as they didn’t have hyphens in them.
A consideration that caused hyphenated domain names to fall out of favor is that they have an untrustworthy appearance and that can work against conversion rates because trustworthiness is an important factor for conversions.
Lastly, hyphenated domain names look tacky. Why go with tacky when a brandable domain is easier for building trust and conversions?
Domain Name Question Asked On Reddit
This is the question asked on Reddit:
“Why don’t people use a lot of domains with hyphens? Is there something concerning about it? I understand when you tell it out loud people make miss hyphen in search.”
And this is Mueller’s response:
“It used to be that domain names with a lot of hyphens were considered (by users? or by SEOs assuming users would? it’s been a while) to be less serious – since they could imply that you weren’t able to get the domain name with fewer hyphens. Nowadays there are a lot of top-level-domains so it’s less of a thing.
My main recommendation is to pick something for the long run (assuming that’s what you’re aiming for), and not to be overly keyword focused (because life is too short to box yourself into a corner – make good things, course-correct over time, don’t let a domain-name limit what you do online). The web is full of awkward, keyword-focused short-lived low-effort takes made for SEO — make something truly awesome that people will ask for by name. If that takes a hyphen in the name – go for it.”
Pick A Domain Name That Can Grow
Mueller is right about picking a domain name that won’t lock your site into one topic. When a site grows in popularity the natural growth path is to expand the range of topics the site coves. But that’s hard to do when the domain is locked into one rigid keyword phrase. That’s one of the downsides of picking a “Best + keyword + reviews” domain, too. Those domains can’t grow bigger and look tacky, too.
That’s why I’ve always recommended brandable domains that are memorable and encourage trust in some way.
Read the post on Reddit:
Read Mueller’s response here.
Featured Image by Shutterstock/Benny Marty
SEO
Reddit Post Ranks On Google In 5 Minutes
Google’s Danny Sullivan disputed the assertions made in a Reddit discussion that Google is showing a preference for Reddit in the search results. But a Redditor’s example proves that it’s possible for a Reddit post to rank in the top ten of the search results within minutes and to actually improve rankings to position #2 a week later.
Discussion About Google Showing Preference To Reddit
A Redditor (gronetwork) complained that Google is sending so many visitors to Reddit that the server is struggling with the load and shared an example that proved that it can only take minutes for a Reddit post to rank in the top ten.
That post was part of a 79 post Reddit thread where many in the r/SEO subreddit were complaining about Google allegedly giving too much preference to Reddit over legit sites.
The person who did the test (gronetwork) wrote:
“…The website is already cracking (server down, double posts, comments not showing) because there are too many visitors.
…It only takes few minutes (you can test it) for a post on Reddit to appear in the top ten results of Google with keywords related to the post’s title… (while I have to wait months for an article on my site to be referenced). Do the math, the whole world is going to spam here. The loop is completed.”
Reddit Post Ranked Within Minutes
Another Redditor asked if they had tested if it takes “a few minutes” to rank in the top ten and gronetwork answered that they had tested it with a post titled, Google SGE Review.
gronetwork posted:
“Yes, I have created for example a post named “Google SGE Review” previously. After less than 5 minutes it was ranked 8th for Google SGE Review (no quotes). Just after Washingtonpost.com, 6 authoritative SEO websites and Google.com’s overview page for SGE (Search Generative Experience). It is ranked third for SGE Review.”
It’s true, not only does that specific post (Google SGE Review) rank in the top 10, the post started out in position 8 and it actually improved ranking, currently listed beneath the number one result for the search query “SGE Review”.
Screenshot Of Reddit Post That Ranked Within Minutes
Anecdotes Versus Anecdotes
Okay, the above is just one anecdote. But it’s a heck of an anecdote because it proves that it’s possible for a Reddit post to rank within minutes and get stuck in the top of the search results over other possibly more authoritative websites.
hankschrader79 shared that Reddit posts outrank Toyota Tacoma forums for a phrase related to mods for that truck.
Google’s Danny Sullivan responded to that post and the entire discussion to dispute that Reddit is not always prioritized over other forums.
Danny wrote:
“Reddit is not always prioritized over other forums. [super vhs to mac adapter] I did this week, it goes Apple Support Community, MacRumors Forum and further down, there’s Reddit. I also did [kumo cloud not working setup 5ghz] recently (it’s a nightmare) and it was the Netgear community, the SmartThings Community, GreenBuildingAdvisor before Reddit. Related to that was [disable 5g airport] which has Apple Support Community above Reddit. [how to open an 8 track tape] — really, it was the YouTube videos that helped me most, but it’s the Tapeheads community that comes before Reddit.
In your example for [toyota tacoma], I don’t even get Reddit in the top results. I get Toyota, Car & Driver, Wikipedia, Toyota again, three YouTube videos from different creators (not Toyota), Edmunds, a Top Stories unit. No Reddit, which doesn’t really support the notion of always wanting to drive traffic just to Reddit.
If I guess at the more specific query you might have done, maybe [overland mods for toyota tacoma], I get a YouTube video first, then Reddit, then Tacoma World at third — not near the bottom. So yes, Reddit is higher for that query — but it’s not first. It’s also not always first. And sometimes, it’s not even showing at all.”
hankschrader79 conceded that they were generalizing when they wrote that Google always prioritized Reddit. But they also insisted that that didn’t diminish what they said is a fact that Google’s “prioritization” forum content has benefitted Reddit more than actual forums.
Why Is The Reddit Post Ranked So High?
It’s possible that Google “tested” that Reddit post in position 8 within minutes and that user interaction signals indicated to Google’s algorithms that users prefer to see that Reddit post. If that’s the case then it’s not a matter of Google showing preference to Reddit post but rather it’s users that are showing the preference and the algorithm is responding to those preferences.
Nevertheless, an argument can be made that user preferences for Reddit can be a manifestation of Familiarity Bias. Familiarity Bias is when people show a preference for things that are familiar to them. If a person is familiar with a brand because of all the advertising they were exposed to then they may show a bias for the brand products over unfamiliar brands.
Users who are familiar with Reddit may choose Reddit because they don’t know the other sites in the search results or because they have a bias that Google ranks spammy and optimized websites and feel safer reading Reddit.
Google may be picking up on those user interaction signals that indicate a preference and satisfaction with the Reddit results but those results may simply be biases and not an indication that Reddit is trustworthy and authoritative.
Is Reddit Benefiting From A Self-Reinforcing Feedback Loop?
It may very well be that Google’s decision to prioritize user generated content may have started a self-reinforcing pattern that draws users in to Reddit through the search results and because the answers seem plausible those users start to prefer Reddit results. When they’re exposed to more Reddit posts their familiarity bias kicks in and they start to show a preference for Reddit. So what could be happening is that the users and Google’s algorithm are creating a self-reinforcing feedback loop.
Is it possible that Google’s decision to show more user generated content has kicked off a cycle where more users are exposed to Reddit which then feeds back into Google’s algorithm which in turn increases Reddit visibility, regardless of lack of expertise and authoritativeness?
Featured Image by Shutterstock/Kues
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