Tips on Marketing a Small Business Locally.  Here’s what YEC community members had to say:

1. Connect With Local Businesses
“As a guided meditation company for women who are preparing to conceive as well as pregnant women and new moms, healthcare providers around the country recommend our product through brochures. On a local level, developing relationships with these providers and expanding the network of businesses carrying our brochures, including prenatal massage and yoga studios, has been instrumental to our success.” ~ Mark Krassner, Expectful

2. Participate in Community Events
“The best way to build good business relationships is to network in community events that don’t necessarily involve your industry. Participating in a 5K run or charity event allows you to introduce yourself to other businesses in a way that doesn’t feel like a sales pitch. Everyone is in a comfortable environment where conversation can flow.” ~ Chris Quiocho, Offland Media

3. Encourage Clients to Tell You What They Think
“Everyone wants customers to have a good experience. Right after a person makes a purchase or signs up for a service with your company, encourage them to share their experiences on your website, on social media, and other popular review sites. Word of mouth is the best way to promote your business, especially locally.” ~ Blair Thomas, eMerchantBroker

4. Use Google Local
“Making sure you’ve got your listings properly managed is one of the best ways to be present locally. You need to make sure that you play by their rules. Upload pictures, include relevant phone numbers and information and ask people to participate in reviews of the location. If you check all those boxes you’ll cover the basics really well.” ~ Nicole Munoz, Start Ranking Now

5. Set Up Niche Meetups
“We launched a new meetup focusing on our core service area, technical SEO, and managed to actually land the ideal URL on meetup.com and have done two events with over 100 attendees at each. The success of this event has led to two large software companies reaching out to sponsor the events and has driven a significant amount of qualified conversations.” ~ Nick Eubanks, I’m From The Future

6. Organize and Attend Charity Events
“We’re a global business, but we think it is important to foster connections with our local communities. We’ve had great success with barbecues and other events that raise money for local charities. We contribute to the local community, make friends, and at the same time raise awareness of who we are and what we do.” ~ Vik Patel, Future Hosting

7. Hold Happy Hour Networking Events
“There is something interesting about business owners and executives being able to relax with a few drinks and share business as well as personal stories in a relaxed setting. Perhaps, it is because of the fact that we all have hectic and busy days. I have built some very strong relationships and business opportunities at these networking events.” ~ Michael Hsu, DeepSky

8. Use Groupon
“Groupon is an amazing resource to help market your business locally. As soon as somebody logs on to Groupon, they will see a variety of different deals based on the distance from their current location. Groupon is a great, low-cost solution to get your name out there. Also, most of the fees are paid when the customer actually purchases the product or service that you are offering.” ~ Mike A. Podesto, Find My Profession

9. Organize Exclusive Networking Mixers
“Creating a networking mixer for entrepreneurs to attend creates a private environment where owners can relax and discuss business. It also provides attendees with opportunities to get ideas from one another and make new business connections.” ~ Duran Inci, Optimum7

10. Use Local Directories and Social Media Groups
“There are so many more groups that have formed to discuss local businesses and that offer a way to share information on certain days about what you offer. These grassroots efforts are helpful and get you in front of people who may want to ask you a question that you can answer immediately to win their business.” ~ Peter Daisyme, Calendar

11. Post Targeted Ads on Social Media
“One of the most effective strategies we have implemented is targeted Facebook ads. The first step is to conduct extensive research on your target consumer. The more data you have on them, the more specific your ad targeting can be. After many rounds of A/B testing, you should be able to find an effective message that will help you to best reach your local audience.” ~ Zohar Steinberg, token payments

12. Partner With Local Influencers and Celebrities
“I’ve used local influencers to grow out my fan base and attract talent to my app. Being an app for entertainers to get booked, this was a great way to scale both the supply and demand of the two-way marketplace. By attracting high-level talent and influencers to the app, we are able to attract individuals from local regions who actively follow these people.” ~ Kristopher Jones, LSEO.com

Article by Young Entrepreneur Council

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