A Complete Guide To Marketing Strategy For Local Business

Capturing new customers in your local market can be a challenge. Not only can people be set in their ways and routines, but local marketing channels can also be expensive and scarce. This means that creativity is a must when developing a strategy to promote your local business.

The good news is that there are lots of ways business owners can maximize both high-tech and low-tech options to promote their business.

What’s more, local promotion doesn’t have to break the bank! Understanding where you’re most likely to find success with your customers will be the key to success in this area.

Think: the ‘local’ market.

At first glance it may seem like advertising and marketing shouldn’t be a local business’s priority. After all, there are tough competition in local markets, and it doesn’t make sense to advertise your business in the area where your competitors are located.

The truth though is that local markets are crucial to business success

At the same time the customer realm is a massive market. But unless you target a certain section of the market you will struggle to make a profit. This means that all business owners have to put in more effort than they did in the past.

Nevertheless, it is unfair to say that all advertising and marketing efforts should be directed at the ‘local’ market. If you target the right kind of customer, you can succeed both within the local market and beyond.

What you need to know is that local markets are divided into different segments. There are also different customer segments.

Take a market in the US for example. The major population centers are also the largest metropolitan markets. Be it a market like Boston or Los Angeles, the market is going to consist of a certain demographic including those demographic elements:

Family income
Age
Educational attainment
Household income

Who’s most likely to visit your store?

A diverse customer base is going to allow your business to reach any demographic, which is key. Another important aspect of local markets is that there can be a lot of industry diversity from one area to another.

So if you want your business to grow, you have to develop a strategy that helps you to grow in one market, and also in the next market within a particular region. The key is that your strategy does the following:

Gathers your customers’ information. Gathers data and selects the perfect method to reach out to the right people.

So, how do you do this?

You do’t have to be a marketing genius to understand which demographic features your customers are most likely to relate to and what marketing tactics will be most effective in reaching them.

In order to do this, you’ll have to understand what the different US market segments are. But let’s get to these.

Understanding the types of customers you are likely to find in your local market

You’ll be well aware that the market is divided into different markets. These different markets come with various customer segments.

The important thing to understand is that there are different types of customers. There are the traditional customer segments, which are the old type markets like the nationally labeled market segment:

The traditional customer is the one that is already in your market. This is why these markets have so much brand awareness and competition.

Traditional customer segments include family, professional, and income segments.

The next segment is called the new customers. These new market segments have been on the rise, and their populations have been increasing in number especially due to recent economic slowdown.

These segments include the primarily younger and affluent customers who have recently taken up their hobbies or professions and are conscious of looking at ‘others’.

You can spot these customers by how they shop. They tend to carry a lot of resources, apparel, electronics, and food. These segments are going to be most receptive to information and technology.

A good business model will appeal to this group, and help them save money by using more products and fewer services.

These segments also have a customer survey page at the top of their website from which they can report their favorite products, services, and categories.

The next population segment are the “mass market” market segment which are the bottom 25% of local markets. These markets tend to have a markedly smaller population and are less important than the mass market.

In fact, the mass market includes this entire demographic who spends less than 25% on local goods and services and can be included in a generic market segment within your strategy.

The mass market is similar to the traditional “household” segment in that it has a very homogeneous population in terms of values, activities, and even preferences.

However, the mass market segment is a much larger than the traditional household segment in that they tend to range from working class to middle class. These people tend to be more relaxed about spending on local markets.

Some of these elements are:

Prices
Quality
Variety/stability
Variety is good, but diversity is better so follow this rule.

Diversity is the key to much success when it comes to marketing your business. The idea is that when you target a distinct segment of the market you have to offer something different to them. They are looking for something different and that requires a different strategy.

A good strategy is going to focus on the following:

Dollar volume
Brand awareness
Competition
Quality; diversity

Variety/stability, which is also a good way to attract customers.

Unless you want to sell this food, you’ll have to price it high. This should be the first thing you consider when planning your local market promotion strategy. If you plan it correctly, your local market will have the same number of customers as any other market. In other words, you’ll be buying the same food and exactly the same quality.

However, you’ll be able to target different groups of customers. You should sell the high price, and attract the lower price ones.

This means you’ll not only be selling high quality products, but also being able to sell in different price categories that suit different customer segments. This is done through buying them at different price points and offering them incentives such as free shipping and coupons.

As you can see, the same economic process of economic growth is still relevant today; but this time it’s in the local marketplace.

What will the different demographic features of your local market help you sell?

Before schools or businesses, the most valuable demographic for local marketing is the elderly who spend a large amount of time shopping.

The elderly want basic merchandise and are fed up with the prices of many local products. However most local products are not affordable to them.

The elderly are more likely to buy local products in comparison to their younger counterparts. So local marketing can really be beneficial for your business.

On the other hand, there are lots of other demographic segments than the retired. These include the young adults, middle-aged people, and the young and affluent.

You may find that this marketing strategy resonates better with your local market. If the youth are more open to new information technology, they’ll likely be more receptive to technology based marketing.

A good strategy can also work for businesses that cater to young adults.

A good strategy can work for businesses that cater to young adults. This category of demographics largely focuses on the ones who have a passion for technology and have bought into the internet culture.

This can be a competitive market segment which can be positioned in your advertising.

What can you do with your local market segment?

Everyone who has access to information technology has a hackpad. The hackpad is an online website where people can create (or edit) their own webpage.

As the internet is more prevalent, the hackpad will likely have more and more activity in the local market. To reach your target market, you’ll still need to do mass marketing.

You can never just try to convince these people of the value of your local market to buy. You’ll also need to propagate the water cooler gossip and market talk. This involves careful, calculated communication.

The way to do this is to use persuasive, informational communication where your unique selling proposition is displayed; and make sure each message is fully articulated in your media.

Get out of your office and into each person’s home to talk directly to them. You’ll find that a sales promotion tailor-made to the local market is more effective than just advertising for your business.

You’re also going to need to have a stock of products to promote your business. For this to be productive, you’ll need to ensure that you have a good supply of local products on hand.

You’ll also need to have a good supply of local products on hand. For this to be productive, you’ll need to ensure that you have a good supply of local products on hand.

To be able to create a high-value marketing strategy, you’ll want to find products that will help you prevent your local market from developing a chronic disease.

Some of these products are:

Paper products for personal hygiene and home use where hygiene is at an all time high

Pharmaceuticals where a product will help to curb the burden of chronic diseases

Food products for diet food and snacks where gout and cardiovascular problems are a concern

Abstainers, An overindulgent lifestyle where by choosing to not eat, a person can fight against the disease

Central nervous system (CNS) products for the elderly where study after study shows a multitude of benefits

HIV products for the elderly where controlling the disease greatly affects one’s quality of life

Herb products for use in the home where the elderly congregate

Gift items for the elderly where the gift itself will encourage them to keep expensive items in their home

Any of these local products can be a great addition to your marketing strategy depending on your goals.

Selling marketing in a local market is effective. So if you’re looking to establish a local market but find that you don’t have the necessary information or resources, don’t worry- creating the local market will easily happen. If you’re looking to increase the number of local products on-hand, gain more money in your account, and brand yourself, the local market is the place to go.

You can target your local market in 3 ways:

Mass Marketing

Effective use of television, radio, print newspapers, and direct mail

In this way, you’ll be able to get your message out to potential customers and then reach your local market.

The type of market segment you’re targeting depends on what your goals are. As a whole, you’ll have to decide what type of market segment is best for your local market.

As mentioned before, the elderly are one segment of market which you’ll want to target when it comes to marketing your business.

However this is not the only type of market segment. You’ll also need to know what types of demographic features your local market has. These include:

Healthy versus unhealthy lifestyle

Product availability