5 Local Marketing Ideas You Might Not Have Considered

You've secured your ideal domain, created a fresh website and found a premium custom or vanity phone number to drive more calls to your business. Now it’s time to use those assets to promote around your area and start bringing in new customers. In short, you need local marketing ideas (and local phone numbers)... lots of them!

The automatic go-to’s in today’s marketing environment are often found online - search ads, social media promotions, search engine marketing and optimization. Nonetheless, businesses serving a defined area can still benefit from a variety of offline local marketing strategies that are highly effective.

Local Marketing Ideas You Might Not Have Considered

When you have brand assets like a catchy slogan, logo, and a memorable phone number, getting them out into the world is crucial. There are several fantastic ways to promote yourself and your business without having to enter the proverbial wolf’s den of online marketing. Here we'll look at five local marketing strategies you might not have considered for your business:  

T-Shirts

Turn your customers into brand ambassadors by handing out free, branded t-shirts that prominently feature your business name and your phone number. T-shirts are cheap to produce, and for a small spend of your marketing dollars, you can reach a whole new audience you might not have reached otherwise. When customers wear your t-shirts, it speaks to how highly they value you. They promote your business to everyone they pass on the street and may even spark a few conversations. Word of mouth is an extremely important part of local marketing, and getting your most loyal customers to promote your brand is a must. Free T-shirts are a great way to generate buzz around your business with minimal cost.  

Car Wrappers

Wrapping your car might seem tacky to some, but if your goal is to reach people in your local community, it is a great way to promote awareness of your brand. As a member of your community, you will no doubt frequent the same places—such as schools, shopping centers, restaurants, gyms, etc—as your customers. Displaying your business name, logo, and phone number on your car puts you in front of other locals and helps to generate buzz around your brand. You never know who will pull up behind you at the next traffic light. It could be your next customer!

Yard Signs

Yard signs are a fantastic way to increase your visibility in the local neighborhoods around your business. Frequently used by political campaigns, this marketing strategy will require you to leverage your personal network, as well as recruit loyal customers. You can also offer incentives to customers who agree to place your sign on their property, such as discounts or free products, to get more placements around town. It is also a good idea to ask around or see if anyone you know owns property on a busy street or intersection, and work out a deal with them to have a sign, or signs, put up. Depending on the local laws in your city, you may be able to place signs along high-traffic roads so long as they do not hinder traffic or local residents.  

Door Hangers

Reach your customers without the high expense of a direct mail campaign with door hangers. Door hangers can be left on the doorknob or doorstep of a home, and prominently display your business name and phone number, as well as an introductory offer to your products and services. While it may seem like a major task to walk door to door in the local neighborhoods, this task can actually be done quickly and inexpensively. You can hire four or five local students who may need some extra cash to walk the neighborhoods and distribute the door hangers. You would be surprised how much ground young people can cover in an hour! This is an excellent way to get the word out about your business to the local community.

Rack Cards

This old-school method of advertising still works, with good reason. Rack cards are ideally placed at other local businesses where your customers also shop. This will require you to network with other local business owners, and will likely require you to display their rack cards at your business. This pays off in short order because local businesses who work together are local businesses who succeed together. Displaying your memorable phone number prominently will help rack cards to stand out from others and drive more calls to your business.   Promoting a local business can be overwhelming. The sheer number of channels available, especially online, can quickly lead you down the wrong path. Experiment with some of the local marketing ideas above to find out what works for your business without blowing all of your promotional budget in one go.