Marketing Growth Strategy for Local Businesses

I once started a small business making boats in my garage, and sails were through the roof! All jokes aside, if you implement a strong marketing growth strategy, your small business will have sales go through the roof before long. However, creating a marketing growth strategy is no easy task for busy independent business owners. In this article, we won’t overwhelm you with jargon and long definitions but rather provide easy, efficient strategies that create results. We want you to see movement in your numbers – in revenue and the size of your customer base. So here we share four tried-and-true strategies sure to spike business growth.

SEO Helps Your Business Get Found

To be honest, trying to attract new qualified leads can be exhausting – financially, emotionally, and time-wise. That’s why setting up strategies that bring customers to your doorstep is a must. And nothing does the trick better than search engine optimization (SEO). 

To grow your business, you want folks that type in Google “local pizza shop,” “pet store near me,” or whatever search term is relevant to come to you rather than the competitors. People searching for your product or services are primed to buy, so you want them to find your store online. For this to happen, you’ll first need to set up your own website and populate it with SEO-ed blogs on topics relevant to your customers. Blogs are the perfect way to position yourself as a trustworthy expert and forge a relationship with customers – one that will have them turn to your business for a solution for their needs. 

Pro tip: Write down several terms people might use when searching for your product or service. Some examples are “wine store, Fort Myers,” “best pizza in San Antonio,” or “send flowers in Burnsville.” Try to use these search terms in the titles of your blog posts and throughout the text. By doing this, your website will soon be at the top of the results page when people search for a store like yours!  

Pro tip 2: Don’t forget to optimize your Google Business Profile. For an in-depth look at how to do this, check out our blog on the topic. 

Email Marketing Will Get You a Long Way

Did you know that, out of all channels of communication, email marketing is the one that provides the highest level of return on investment (ROI)? So, if you hear someone saying email marketing is ineffective, don’t believe them for a second! Not only does everybody use email to communicate, but research shows that most people prefer getting information from businesses this way. 

Email marketing is not just a tool to inform and retain customers, but should be used to increase sales. To initiate sales, always provide a clear call to action button in the email body, such as a button that says “Buy Now,” “Schedule A Demo,” or “Book an Appointment.” Write text in the email that is a natural lead up to the call to action (CTA). The call to action (CTA) is the most important part of any email, so never forget to include one!

Lastly, for successful email marketing, you’ll need to get recipients to open and read your message.

Here’s how to increase the chance that your email will be read:

• Write short and compelling subject lines
• If you can, include the name of the recipient in the subject line
• Place your customer’s name at the beginning of the email to make it more personal
• Since most people read emails on their phones, make sure your email is mobile-friendly (check if your email provider makes all emails mobile-friendly)
• Give them information or promotions on things they care about – the topics they’ve clicked on before or discounts on the products they use
• Always include a way to unsubscribe – you don’t want to make customers feel pressured (believe it or not, it’s a legal requirement to give people a way to unsubscribe)

Social Media as a Marketing Growth Strategy

Nowadays, your customers are on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or TikTok. For most shoppers, social media is like a digital catalog. Sometimes it’s the first place someone learns about a company. 

Get in front of your (potential) clients’ eyes by regularly posting fun, inspiring, or educational content. To mark your territory among the vast competition, consider what’s valuable to your audience. Or better yet, ask them directly what content they want to hear and see from you – a little communication goes a long way!

Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter have built-in polling features you can use to ask your customers what they’d like to hear from you. Or ask them what products they would like you to carry. Polls are a fun and free way to understand your customers better.

Social media is also perfect for building trust with your customers. It’s also an excellent way to establish your brand as a thought leader. And, given that these platforms are social, the chances are your customers will share your content and spread the word about your business.

If your social media pages are relatively new, consider paying for ads or boosting posts. A $100 monthly budget for boosting and paid ads will build an initial following and place your local business on the map! You can increase the budget when you see more sales coming in as a result of this spending.

Spiking Growth

Local businesses that aren’t your direct competition can be your allies in growth! You’ve surely seen other businesses collaborate in a number of ways, from promoting each other on their websites and social media to creating collaborative products or events. One of my favorite collaborations is a great local brewery teaming up with a food truck.

To use this growth strategy, find a company with different products or services but with a pool of customers similar to yours. Approach them for a collaboration, share your customer base, and you’ll double your exposure. Win-Win! For example, a butcher shop could collab with a wine store and a networking group to host a networking event serving a selection of meat with wine pairings. You could even make this networking event a fundraiser for a local charity and get your business in front of its supporters–while doing good in your community. 

When partnering with other local businesses, plan how you’ll cross-promote to your audiences. For example, you can use email, social media, in-store posters, flyers, or demo tables. With inflation and staffing shortages, our local businesses can use the support– so join forces to spike each other’s growth!

Putting in place a marketing strategy that actually spikes growth can be challenging for a small business owner. Don’t be afraid to delegate and find partners that can help you thrive. Find out how Promenade can help you establish a professional, not to mention an inexpensive digital presence over social media, email, and your own website. Book a consultation today to see your business thrive!