As the Internet is flooded with businesses in every are imaginable people are forced to find better ways to reach their target audience
. Many businesses falsely believed that mass advertising was the answer to reaching potential customers. It is now becoming increasing obvious that this strategy is not working. For some of these businesses, their best option is to turn back to local marketing strategies.
Local advertising allows businesses to interact with customers from the community. These type of customers are often repeat customers. They may shop with the same business their entire lifetime. Satisfied clients will also spread the word to their friends. Businesses spend six times more money recruiting new customers than they do retaining the ones they already have.
Once a business decides to focus on local marketing, the next step is choosing a strategy. Some strategies are based on classic marketing practices. Others may decide to go with a trendier approach. Still others may decide a combination of strategies will work for their business. Businesses need to evaluate their own goals and targeted audience and then decide the best way to proceed.
Many local advertising strategies have been around since the beginning of business, and are still some of the most effective. These practices involve interacting with the local community. This can be done in a variety of ways. One way is to submit pieces to the local newspaper or magazine publication. Another way to utilize these publications is to place classified ads. These ads can be advertising products or services, or looking for employees. Companies can also hand out business cards, and hang posters in areas most frequented by people.
Simply getting the businesses name out there is helpful, but it is even better if positive associations are made with the business. There are multiple ways that a business can accomplish this. One way is by handing out small trinkets with the company's information listed on it. After all, people love free stuff. Another option is sponsoring a community event. This event could be as simple as a barbecue. In the future, when the company's name comes up people will look back and remember the name in a positive light.
For companies that would like to employ more up-to-date strategies there are other marketing options available. As more and more people use smart phones mobile marketing also grows. Marketing tools that are used for mass marketing can also be adapted for use on the local level. An example of this is the use of social media networks.