Local Marketing for Your Home-Based Business
As a home-based business – you might be a freelance graphic designer or writer, a dog walker, nanny, or something else – opening your own business might be the culmination of a lifelong dream or a leap of faith. Regardless of your origin story, one thing rings true: it’s your clients and customers that make your business thrive.
If you do your local marketing the right way, you’ll ensure that the people who will use your business actually know about you and can find you. So, where to start?
Read on for 6 ways you can market your home-based business to get discovered:
1. Build your online presence so customers can discover you
The first step to getting your name out into the community is to claim your free Nextdoor Business Page so that neighbors – the people closest to you, and more likely to utilize your business – can discover and recommend you to others.
Next, build a professional website that all of your marketing efforts will link back to. Your small business website should include all of your important business information, like your contact information, a clear description of your product or service offerings, and a little bit about you. A mobile-friendly site that loads quickly is a must in today’s competitive landscape.
Spend some time creating blog content that will help with local search engine optimization (SEO). When Elissa Voris of Elissa Mae Creative started her business, she wrote blog articles to get her SEO going in order to start generating some passive traffic to her website. This extra step helps lay the foundation for a successful website and improves your chances of ranking on Google for various keywords in the future.
Finally, decide if any social platforms make sense for your business based on where your customers are – there’s Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest to consider – and set up your presence.
2. Consider low-cost ways to digitally promote your business
Digital marketing tactics, like ads, content marketing, and email campaigns, tend to be less expensive and less time-consuming to set up than traditional advertising campaigns.
Jesse Silkoff, Co-Founder and President of MyRoofingPal, prefers digital marketing, as he can start with a small budget and scale up if he sees success. If you go this route, Jesse has some advice:
Make sure you're sending potential clients somewhere that can capture a lead. You don't want to send them to your main site and not have them take any action. Design a landing page specifically for [the digital advertising platform you choose], and ideally offer them something special. Put an email capture there, add them to a list or database, and track your conversion rate that way.
3. Stay active online to build your reputation
It may feel cumbersome to regularly update your website and respond to recommendations or questions from customers, but it’s a step you can’t skip if you want to build your online reputation.
Michael Rand of rand&rand recommends the following:
Update your online channels regularly, even if no one is paying attention. It might take some time before you get any clicks or impressions, but people will be expecting to see regularly updated content. If your pages are blank, people will assume you are either inactive or no longer in business.
Updates could come in the form of inspiring or informational posts, new photos, examples of recent work, client testimonials, new products or services, and more.
4. Collect email addresses to have direct access to your customers
It may be hard to think about future digital marketing campaigns when you barely have an online presence, but don’t overlook the importance of capturing each of your clients’ or customers’ email addresses from day one.
Use a free or low-cost customer relationship management platform, or manually enter contact information into a spreadsheet. You’ll have reason to email your customers, whether with a newsletter, business updates, or special offers or promotions. Periodic emails are a great way to check in with clients and remind them of your business – and don’t forget that your emails can be forwarded onto others, helping even more people discover your business.
5. Get to know your community
Digital marketing is critical for establishing your business presence online, but there’s no substitute for getting out into the community and meeting your future clients and customers. Plus, it’s easier to build trust during one-to-one interactions.
Some ideas:
- Attend relevant meetups and networking events – and bring business cards.
- Teach a free class at the local library that gives a sneak peek into the services you provide.
- Get involved with your local Chamber of Commerce. Marsha Kelly, President & Marketing Consultant at Best4Businesses.com, attends her local organization’s meetings to help and volunteer her time and talent. For her, it’s a great way to demonstrate her skills and build relationships.
- Partner with and support local businesses to create a reciprocal referral stream – they refer to you, and you refer to them.
6. Offer an introductory discount to your community with Local Deals
With your local online presence established on Nextdoor with a Business Page, the time is ripe to run a Local Deal that will draw in clients and customers. Consider, for example, an introductory discount for clients’ first service, a free consultation, or a buy-two-get-one free deal. Since you can choose which neighborhoods to target with your Local Deal, you can choose to reach just the neighbors closest to you, or you can cast a wide net and reach the entire community.
Kick start your local business advertising plan today by creating a free Nextdoor Business Page that will raise your profile within your local community.
