My good friend Darren Shaw asked our local SEO mastermind for some additional tips for his upcoming presentation at MozCon. I emailed him few, then thought… what the heck I should blog these great tips!
Here are 5 amazing local marketing strategies any small business can implement today (or in a relatively short period of time):
Tip 1: Get your friends, family and employees to vote up “positive” reviews in Google+ Local because reviews are sorted by “most useful” and the review ranking algorithm is basically based on those reviews that got voted on the most. Try to do it from unique IP’s.
Tip 2: Create a “submit a review page” on your site like the one we did for our client here: http://heatherbarranco.com/submit-review/
Tip 3: Reward your customers for check-ins on: Google+, Facebook, & Foursquare – put visible signage on business walls, napkins, washrooms, etc
Tip 4: Blog about local events and be sure to let those people who are holding the events know you have blogged about it. Often it results in some easy backlinks, citations, social mentions and hell it will deepen your local network.
Tip 5: Give away digital coupons to other local businesses to put on their websites. It’s a sneaky way to get a backlink too! 
Don’t ask local businesses for backlinks, send them an email offering them a discount or digital coupon they can easily add to their site for their customers. People love to give their clients, customers added value and discounts from other local businesses. Be sure to make it as easy as possible for them to do.
I could go on forever with more stealth local marketing tips, but only so much time in the day.
Do you have some awesome local marketing tips…? Share below in the comment section!
Read blogs like:
http://www.smallbusinessonlinecoach.com/blog (check)
http://blumenthals.com/blog
http://marketing-blog.catalystemarketing.com
: )
My Tip: Think about placing your phone number near the front of your html metadescription. Sometimes that’s all people need to see to prompt them to call you directly from the SERPs. It also becomes a click-to-call number on smartphones, which makes it extremely easy for people to initiate calls to your business.
lol – thanks Adam.
yeah awesome tip Mary!
If you have the opportunity, know-how and interest to integrate Facebook commenting into your blog posts, you have the potential to have visitors to your site spread the word for you. If readers comment through their Facebook account, then that reader’s Facebook network may be exposed to your website (depending on the reader’s settings). This is passive marketing, and social proof!
Happy Customer about to leave? Get them while they are hot! Have a couple of ipads/laptops at the counter and get their review on the spot and to grow your possible email address to build your Customer list bigger. Careful on identifying reviews as certain places like Yelp frown upon that.
My tip: try to remember the common questions that customers have when you meet them in person. Write a frequently asked questions (FAQ) page on your website with detailed answers.
Chances are that if people are asking you in person, more people have the same questions online! Putting this info online is a valuable online resource.
A lot of great tips! The first thing I would do is to make sure all of my social media is connected to each other. Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and to any blogs I have. Keep all your followers and friends informed on all the platforms and encourage them to make comments and share your posts.