Local Search Marketing Is Evolving

Local search marketing has really evolved and changed over the last few years and I think we are going to continue to see some really radical changes in the industry in the coming years. There have been businesses that have literally exploded with growth from websites like Twitter and Facebook and I am sure we will hear more of these success type stories over time.

Here are two marketing efforts that are changing the way local businesses communicate with their audience:

1. Social Media Marketing: If you are a local business and you have not yet ventured into social media marketing you are completely missing the boat. Some businesses have seen explosive growth from simply marketing themselves online to their local audience using tools like Twitter. If you are a business that still doesn’t believe you can get anything out of marketing yourself online you could be missing out on a great deal of growth for your business. Studies have shown that people are starting to really look for businesses online before they make any purchase. Some will actually search for the website and analyze the brand before they step foot inside any physical store location. Website’s like Twitter allow you to focus in on an audience that is geographically targeted so you can really find your target audience.

2. Location Marketing: GPS devices within most cell phones have allowed websites like Brightkite, Gowalla and Foursquare to virtually change the local marketing effort overnight. The now very popular check in feature that allows users to let other friends know what they are doing and where they doing it has become increasingly popular. Now Jane Doe can let her friends know she is at Starbucks with the ability to give everyone a tip on the new drink she just bought. This novelty has quickly turned into a way for local businesses to leverage the platform and create a new type of marketing effort that all local businesses can use to entice people to come and visit their physical store location.

Local marketing has changed quite a bit over the years and it is important for every business that requires physical customers to realize that using these types of efforts will greatly increase the potential of drumming up new walk in business.

source: searchengineoptimizationjournal