Need  for  Local Online Marketing
There are small businesses that are limited to one area and are not national or multi international companies, but are local companies. The customers often live in the same area where these companies sell their products or services. It’s a waste of time, effort and money if these local businesses try to emulate the international or national level companies and plan their online marketing strategies accordingly. Since their customers are concentrated in a specific area, it’s better to formulate an online marketing strategy and a process that only targets local customers.

Local Online Marketing – Tips

Google Places, Yahoo and Bing Local Listings:
Submitting your web site business listing in Google places, Yahoo! and Bing Local Listings allows you to reach the local customers.  As the Google is displaying Local Business results for the local keywords in the search, your web site can gain local visibility and also reach the targeted local customers looking for businesses offering products and services locally in their area or neighbourhood.

Geo- Targeted PPC :
If the company plans to use pay per click (PPC) advertising to promote, it’s better to use geographical location targeting option to target only those places where majority of customers reside. In Google Adwords, this option offers several ways to specify the location targeting, including countries, territories, regions, and cities. Also, in the PPC ad copy’s title, one can mention the location to catch the attention of the local customers.

E-mail Marketing :
Local online marketing strategy should include email marketing as it’s not only highly targeted but also will reach only the interested customers. Ethical email marketers only send emails to those people who have willingly opted to receive promotional emails. Email marketing helps in informing about sales incentives, new products, season offers and more, that too in real time. Emails help in reaching the local customers on time.

Local Directories and SMO :
Local marketers should post correct profile data on online directories; YellowPages.com; on local search engines; city searches; and more. When doing local search engine optimization (SEO), it’s a good idea to write relevant page title and also the content across web pages should contain local search phrases. After a thorough research local content must be written, and not general in tone.  Video and social networks such as Facebook and Twitter are now fast emerging as important tools to reach local customer base.