Those who run a business and offer online services might be aware of location-based marketing. Targeting a real audience is the key in any industry. Every business has competitors around the city or country offering similar services like you, but targeting people in your locality like Trinidad and Tobago should be the ultimate focus.
What Is Location-Based Marketing?
This is a form of marketing in which the audience is targeted based on their locality. It is confined to online marketing tactics, but in this, you utilise offline marketing approaches.
This form offers excellent insight into the potential customers’ buying behaviour and tells about their needs, desires, and the reason for staying attracted to your business. Hence, it serves a two-way function, drawing people in the near locality and others by providing the details of what you provide.
Reasons Businesses Should Use Location-Based Marketing
This marketing strategy can offer great help to your business, particularly by accomplishing return on investment or ROI. Another positive prospect is that it performs well for both small scale and large businesses. According to this survey report of 2018, companies utilising this strategy saw an increase of up to 89% in their marketing and advertisement campaigns.
After looking at all this, if you are still confused about using location-based marketing for your business in Trinidad and Tobago, below, we provide a few fundamental reasons why this strategy must be used.
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Segmentation Is a Lot Easier
When you group your costumers based on their personalities, interests, actions, locality, and characteristics, this is called dissection. As your targeted costumers are all within the same locality, this dissection becomes a lot easier.
It Helps Generate More Business
Attracting a whole state or country is not a good idea as compared to targeting a particular locality. By doing though the targeted audience is small, there are chances that you all attract potential costumers rather than those who have no interest in your business.
While utilising this method, one thing must be made sure that the targeted costumers must be within the same zip code as yours. This is beneficial for those businesses that own a physical location. People of the locality will not bother to visit a farther away place. They will ultimately visit your place, hence increasing your sales.
Better ROI
A business requires smart, not hard work. As if you are looking to get your return on investment back, it is essential to rethink your marketing strategies.
Always examine your nearby audience. Assemble their details and devise a mechanism by which they can get inclined to your business. The more you work on it, the higher are the chances that you will get ROI back.
Effective Location-Based Marketing Strategies
We have discussed in detail what is location-based marketing now; let’s analyse how it can be applied to your business.
Use PPC Geo-Targeting
Making use of your Pay-Per-Click advertising is the right thing to start for any online store. By doing this, you will get a filtered audience. Hence, you will be able to target a specific group of people in a locality.
Local SEO Optimisation
Use Google My Business as this tool aids you to connect with the customers in your locality. Not only this, but it also helps you to get the organic traffic for your eCommerce business.
You can improve your local SEO by inspiring customers to give reviews, creating location-based content and optimising your listing on Google My Business. This technique is helpful for small businesses has it helps them to attract new customers.
Also, always add a location-specific keyword while uploading your content, as this is a ranking factor on search engines. Your website would be visible to the customers while searching for similar products and services that you offer within the area. Target a specific and relevant keyword from customers’ viewpoint as once the keywords get ranked, your chances of attracting more customers get increased.
Good content is another factor as this boost your search engine rankings. It also attracts links and website traffic from blogs, newspaper websites, and sometimes, even on social media sites like Twitter.
Pay Attention to the Community
Paying attention to the community offers great insight, but this will also help you spend not much money. All you have to do is engage your local community by dedicating time instead of cash.
Spoken words have a significant effect. It is also a great marketing strategy to engage people through effective communication. This provides their experience with your business.
Apart from that community can be engaged when you participate in contests, community festivals, and seasonal events. Similarly, think about sponsoring local events like school performances or sports teams. Additionally, if possible, try to volunteer for local charity causes.
By doing all this, you will meet a lot of new people, but you will also gain support and trust from the local community.
Maximise the Use of Social Media
Start with attracting and engaging people in your locality and for this maximise the use of social media. Target the areas that are near your business.
You can use hashtags on social media for location-based advertising. Furthermore, add a location to your Instagram and Facebook tags, so people that are searching for your area can find it.
Apart from that, while posting on social media, always consider the interests of your audience. To put it simply, before posting anything, ever think from the point of view of customers.
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Engage in a Loyalty Program
Costumers love when they are valued, so for this, think about designing a loyalty program for faithful costumers. As your business targets explicitly, the people within your locality, creating a loyalty program would be beneficial for your business and your customers.
For instance, if you are running a clothing business, offer “loyalty cards” to your customers. By availing of that card, they should be given a 5% discount on every purchase, and on their 6th purchase, they should claim their 20% discount.
It’s just an example you can design your program as you like but keep in mind that the rules are not too complicated. Customers must be encouraged to take full advantage of this program.
Be Open About Your Business’ Story
Try to be open about your business story as, by this, your customers will feel a lot closer to you. Please don’t go into every specific detail but provide an overview of your area and its start. Only add components that are enough to keep them interested.
By doing this, your brand name will become more memorable. Customers will not only connect your story to your brand name, but even some might relate to it. Hence this will lead to the building of a sense of trust towards your brand.
This can also be done through blog posts, articles, online videos, your “About Us” page, or even through TV ads. While doing, always build a connection between your business, local community and the area. This will help to create a deeper connection of the locals to your brand.
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Ask for Reviews and Testimonials
Reviews and testimonials always provide a better insight into new customers, and they work as a trusted tool. You can ask for them from your customers without forcing them to do so. But keep this in mind do not ever go for the paid reviews as they can easily backfire.
To get reviews, you can offer a freebie or discount in exchange for a review. Costumers love something free and; hence, this will inspire them to write a positive review of your business.
Always pay due consideration to the reviews and testimonials on your site and social media pages. In case of any negative reviews, contact the customers and see how you can help. Don’t hide any bad review; instead, make it public. Other customers can know that you are willing to help them if they have also had a bad experience.
Advertise in Newspapers
Though this is now thought of as an old way of advertising or marketing, this can do wonders. People in your locality most likely read the newspaper almost every day.
For this purpose, you can buy advertisement spaces or issue a press release to the editors. You can also try to get interviewed as this will ultimately advertise your name and brand on the local paper. Hence not only your business will get promoted, but the local community will trust your brand more.
By following these trends in your locality, you can help your business to grow.
Conclusion
By using location-based marketing strategies, you can expand your business within your locality. This method is more comfortable and helps create a community for both business owners and consumers.
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