With the widespread use of the internet for business and business marketing, people have started to forget the importance of local branding. Sure, you reach a bigger audience when you’re promoting your business to the bigger online community, but it’s safe to say that you’ll reach the right one when you start in your immediate vicinity.

Local marketing remains to be one of the best, sure-fire ways to get the attention your business needs effectively.one of the best, sure-fire ways to effectively get the attention your business needs

 

Why is Local Branding Important?

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Small businesses that are tied to a physical location rely heavily on local marketing as their first customers are always the ones that are within the local range as well. Local marketing is also one of the fastest ways to pick up wind on your business strategies.

But this type of business marketing does not only mean physically promoting your business to the people within your area, you can do this online too, just localized. 

For small businesses that are just starting up, the first ever customers are either going to be family or friends. That’s a type of local marketing too! 

If you’re a local business trying to get a good word out there, then we’ve got five local branding tactics to help you.

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Local Marketing Strategies

As we’ve said, locally promoting your business is one of the best ways to get you going quickly. You can do this virtually or physically, that’s up to you. But we’ve got a mix of both on this list to help you.

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• Community Engagements

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This is definitely a very obvious tip when talking about local marketing but getting involved and interacting with the people in your local community actually does wonders for your business promotion. And it costs little to nothing. 

A bit of conversation goes a long way, and a bit of exposure goes even further. 

You can also grab the opportunity to do this as well by participating in local events, like festivals and charity causes. You can donate or if you’re a local restaurant owner, for example, maybe you can set up shop somewhere during the event and give them a first-hand taste of your food.

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• Customer Referrals 

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We’ve mentioned how family is almost always the first ones to patronize your business, and you know what families like to do? Talk! Word travels fast and it will travel far with the right people. You never know, your cousin might have a friend who has a brother that needs your expertise immediately. 

Word-of-mouth marketing is a force multiplier that doesn’t get as much credit as it should. 

You can also encourage your customers to tell their friends about you. This could work very well for local businesses like dentist clinics because verbal marketing is backed up by proof.

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• Localized Social Media Marketing

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Small businesses are especially drawn to the use of social media to help boost their business, and for good reason. Everyone is on it! 

A lot of people nowadays often take their concerns directly to social media, so what better way to help them then meet them there right?

You can locally optimize your posts to appear on the newsfeed of people within your vicinity, you can do this by tagging your friends and tagging your business’s location. This can be a good tactic for real estate agents by posting open house locations and houses that are up for sale. 

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• Tell Your Story

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Generating human interest seems like a very personal way to promote your business but it is also very effective. You want to show people how passionate you are about what you do, you want to show your customers where you started and where you want to go. 

This helps you create a community of your own as well. A community of people who share the same love for your business as you do. You want to give them something to connect with.

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• Offer Free Stuff

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If there’s one thing people love, it’s getting things for free. You may think that this type of strategy hurts your business, but it actually helps a lot. 

You can offer free consultations on your expertise, demonstrate your knowledge, so they know you can be trusted if they ever need your help again in the future. This type of marketing tactic is especially helpful for accountants and lawyers.

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Conclusion

Dare we say that local branding is the best way to get any business up and running in no time, there’s so much you can gain from the people around you. It’s something you can even do alone, but if you just want to focus on running your business and you live in Calgary then you can trust RedFox Media to do the work for you. We have excellent services to give you and your business all the local attention you need!