For small business owners, local marketing can be an effective way to promote your products and services, build your brand, and create valuable relationships with potential customers in your community. However, many businesses neglect this area of marketing because they think it’s too expensive or time-consuming—or both!
Luckily, there are plenty of ways to boost your local marketing without breaking the bank. In this post, we’ll talk about five inexpensive but effective methods that you can use right away to increase awareness of your business and drive more traffic to your storefront or website.
1) Go door-to-door 🚪
Building a list of clients and customers by getting out there and going door-to-door is one of our favorite marketing strategies here at V12 Marketing. It’s cost-effective, it’s easy, and it builds your brand by developing relationships with people face-to-face. Who wouldn’t want to do business with someone who took that much effort?
You don’t have to sell at each door – just connect with your audience one person at a time!
2) Invest in an email list 📩
Email is still one of your best marketing tools. Marketers with a robust email list are four times more likely to see a sales increase than those who don’t have an email list. With just an hour per week, you can build a targeted database of potential customers, which can then be leveraged for increased sales and revenue.
For example, start by offering a free gift when people sign up for your email list.
3) Give away something useful and relevant 🎁
As an alternative to a contest or giveaway, consider giving away something of value in exchange for an email address or other contact information. Running a contest or giveaway can be time-consuming and expensive; however, you can build databases of subscribers by giving away items that are relevant to your business.
For example, if you run a yoga studio, you could give away free yoga mats in exchange for a subscriber’s name and email address.
4) Offer coupons online 💰
It’s easy to set up an e-coupon system for your customers. By providing an incentive, you’re likely to bring in more people who want a discount. This is a low-cost marketing option that can be promoted on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, too. It’s also easy to set up e-mail campaigns that allow customers to receive coupons and discounts directly on their phones via text message.
5) Start a referral program 🤝
There are a ton of benefits to giving something away for free, and one of them is developing customer loyalty. Consider starting a referral program that rewards existing customers for recommending your business to their friends. Think: 10% off their next purchase or 5% off every time they refer someone who makes a purchase. It’s easy, it costs you nothing, and it can be an enormous boon when you’re trying to reach new customers.
As a bonus, if you structure your referral program correctly, word-of-mouth marketing may bring in even more potential clients than expected. You might not even need to incentivize people—just ask nicely! But if you do decide to offer something as thanks for spreading the word about your business, try including instructions on how people can enter promotional codes at checkout so that others don’t get left out in the cold.
