How to Make Local Business Marketing Work for Your Practice

11/06/19 | by Terrnekia Collier | Marketing

In order to survive in a world full of large corporations dominating the industry, local businesses must be able to understand and adopt new and emerging local business marketing techniques to stay afloat.
When it comes to local marketing strategies, there isn’t one specific technique that will make you the number one practice in your area. It’s about discovering the interests of your clients or patients, personalizing your marketing efforts to fit those interests, implementing retention tactics to keep them coming back to your office, and including every step in your marketing plan that has been perfectly formulated for your business.

6 Local Business Marketing Strategies For Your Practice

SERP
If you aren’t sure where to start to increase your client base and rival other businesses in your area, we’re here to help. We’ve handpicked the top 6 ways you can make local marketing work to promote your business!

1. Set Up Your Google My Business Listing

Setting up your Google My Business page is one of the most significant steps you can complete for your local practice. When potential patients or clients are looking for the services you offer, most will go directly to Google and search for what they need.

For example, if someone was recently in an auto accident and experiencing pain and they wanted to see a chiropractor, they may search for “personal injury chiropractor near me.” The businesses that come up in the directory listings, especially the top-ranking practice, will be the one to attract the most web traffic and consequently generate the highest amount of new patients or clients.

If your practice is registered on the Google My Business Listings, prospects can view your online rating, business reviews, location, phone number, daily hours, and website. Do you know what the best thing about being found on Google is besides the new business you’ll receive? The process to claim your Google Business Listing is so simple!

If you already have a Google account, just log in and enter the address of your business. Then you choose a business category, enter your phone number, and website URL.

After you enter all the proper information, Google will send you a postcard in the mail so you can verify that you are who you say you are. This may seem a bit unusual but Google does this so that no one with a fake email address will be able to claim your business.

Once you have your business’s Google page set up, potential clients will have a much easier time finding your practice!

2. Get Involved With The Community

In order for people to frequent your business, they have to know you exist, right? What better way to put yourself out there than getting involved in your local community!
You can attend town meetings, hold special events, make donations, sponsor a charity, or even coach a local team. Attending networking events in your area is also a great way to meet other business owners and create partnerships. Any way that you can get your face out there and build relationships with community members will be useful in promoting your practice.

The people in your local area can be lifelong patients and clients, while also helping to bring others into your business as well.

3. Start Blogging

Blogging
Creating a blog for your website is a great way to drive organic traffic to your website. Producing content that is interesting or educational for your readers, will convince them to come back to your website in order to learn more.

In order to start a blog, you can sign up using one of the many free website tools that are available and choose a template that aligns with the look and feel of your business’s brand.

Providing useful information for your website visitors will show that you’re an authoritative and knowledgeable figure in your industry, and that makes them more likely to become patients or clients.

If you’re not sure where to start with blogging, use these tips:

Write a compelling title
Have a clear introduction
Stay up-to-date on industry topics and create content about those
Use an easy-to-read format
Include other media forms in your blog (graphics, videos, podcasts, and more)
Use headings
Have a call-to-action (CTA) at the end of the post

You can get visitors to subscribe to your blog so they’ll always receive the newest content you post. The more interested they become in your content, the more interested they’ll be in your products and services, and potentially become a new client.

*Bonus Tip: Consistency is key! Start off by posting once and week and then work up to publishing different pieces of new content multiple times a week.

4. Be Active On Social Media

Social media is a quick and effective way to build a more personal relationship with your clients. Find out which social media platform your targeted demographic spends most of their time on and work on building an online presence there. Are they most active on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, or Youtube?
That means that almost all social users have utilized it to reach out to brands or businesses to answer questions or help them solve a problem.

These users are looking for quick responses and information that they want you to provide for them. Don’t ignore the power social media has as a resourceful channel that can connect you to your client base and generate more business.

5. Use Geo-Targeted Pay Per Click Advertising

When running pay-per-click advertisements (PPC) it’s important to restrict your ads to the local market. Running targeted advertisements can attract those in your local area when you select a specific area to run your online ad.

PPC involves bidding on keywords that are relevant to your business so when people in your targeted area do a search query in their browser, your ad has the opportunity to show up in the search results.
PPC
You don’t want to waste clicks on someone who is not actually interested in your products or services so once you identify your audience, you can target those users.

Setting a budget is crucial when running ppc ads because you have to pay every time someone clicks on your ad. So you should be discussing the maximum amount you want to spend on these advertisements with your staff before beginning your ppc campaign.

*Bonus Tip: Other ways that you can also advertise your practice in addition to PPC include running an ad in the local newspaper or getting on local television.

6. Offer Incentives

People love receiving things for free or at a discounted price. They always have and they always will, which is why offering incentives to current patients or clients is a great way to attract new business. You could set up a rewards or points program at your practice and whenever clients refer someone to you, they receive a discount or a gift.

For example, if someone has been coming to your optometry office for years, and continues to accrue points, when they receive a certain amount you could send them a gift. Or if they refer someone to your office for a comprehensive eye exam, they could receive a 30 percent discount on their next pair of glasses.

This encourages them to bring their friends, family, and colleagues to your office. Word-of-mouth is still an excellent way to gain new business because freebies are irresistible!

Local Business Marketing

You don’t want to fall behind your competition and that’s why it’s important to adapt to the most cost-effective and efficient marketing techniques for your business.

If your current marketing strategy isn’t generating the leads you want it to, it may be time to rethink it. Assess what your competitors are doing, identify your demographic, tailor your marketing strategy to fit their needs and yours, and utilize our tips. Good luck!

13 Optometry Marketing Ideas That Will Grow Your Practice

Let Us Help You Gain And Retain More Ideal Patients

SCHEDULE CONSULTATION COMPARE PLANS