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12 Responses to “47 Free and Effective Ways to Promote a Local Business”

  1. Jim Fowler Avatar

    One of the best ways to promote local business is to take advanatage of the business listings including Yelp, Google My Business, Bing, Yahoo, etc. I love how you present your ideas in making people aware of one’s business for free into tactics from direct marketing, social media marketing, content marketing and the like. Very helpful indeed!

    1. Colin Finkle Avatar

      Hi Jim. I am glad to hear that. I want to help out local businesses because I am worried that mom-and-pop-shops are at a big disadvantage to large brands because big companies have the resources to be so much more sophisticated with online advertising.

  2. Ken Avatar

    Thanks, Colin !!

    I think for 2019, there are two most effective ways to promote local businesses: utilizing local influencers and local SEO to rank higher on Google Maps results.

    This is based on the fact that nowadays there are two main ways people can find local businesses: recommended by influencers (especially local influencers) or when they searched for specific local businesses on Google (including “near me” searches). While these two are not brand new marketing channels, there are many local businesses that haven’t tapped their maximum potential.

    A huge aspect of local SEO (for Google Maps ranking) is about getting more positive reviews, not only the reviews will give you a boost in ranking (which in turn, will translate to traffic), but the reviews themselves will help a lot in encouraging more conversions.

    1. Colin Finkle Avatar

      Hi Ken,

      I completely agree! I should probably amend the article to stress the power of local influencers.

      It’s funny how many people want to be these global, “Kim Kardashian” style of influencer. But there is a real opportunity to be a tastemaker in your local area and then branch out from there.

      The only challenge for small local businesses is identifying effective influencers and negotiating with them in a way where they don’t get taken advantage of. Maybe there is another piece to be researched there.

      I would love your input on that one.

  3. Jeff Avatar

    Often overlooked, but an excellent fit with many of “these ways to promote” are custom promotional stickers. A properly designed sticker can strengthen relationships, increase word of mouth, and garner thousands of impressions at almost no cost.

    Put that coupon on the back of a sticker. Make sure your street team has stickers to hand out. Sponsor a sticker for that local cause or event (it will get way more mileage at a lower cost than a t-shirt). Lawn signs? Vinyl stickers can go more places and get more impressions. Save money by branding those bags, cups, folders, packaging, etc. with inexpensive labels.

    Brand beyond your own fleet and vehicle with mini-billboard stickers. Make a special “insider” badge/sticker for family, friends, best customers – “hey, how do I get one of those?” Temporary signage? Bumper stickers with removable adhesive are cleaner and more professional.

    Build buzz and interactions on social media while getting design ideas for stickers and votes/comments on best ideas. Fantastic ideas above, but let’s not forget one of the original social media and guerrilla marketing tools!

    1. Colin Finkle Avatar

      Hey Jeff,

      Good suggestion. I am looking at refreshing this article and adding in some more ideas. I will definitely add promotional stickers.

      What I love about promotional stickers is the guerilla nature of them and the implicit endorsement of people who display them. Now that we can promote without leaving our computer, it is easy to get to clinical or theoretical with it. There is nothing more real than a guerilla sticker. The endorsement effect of people who stick them on their laptops or luggage is also very powerful.

    1. Colin Finkle Avatar

      Thanks Fredro! I am glad you got something from it.

  4. sreelatha Avatar

    Nowadays big company products or services easily got clicks and impressions and they are reaching a large audience within less san of time. But small companies or startups products or services suffer more in the market. like heavy competition in marketing, we cant reach a large audience, we cant get clicks and impressions and most of the people ignore that ads also. How to overcome these types of problems in the market?

  5. Colin Finkle Avatar

    Thanks Ben! I am glad it was helpful. Let me know how your promotion efforts go!

  6. Mark Avatar

    I completely agree! I should probably amend the article to stress the power of local influencers.

    1. Colin Finkle Avatar

      Thanks for the great idea!

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