For most small businesses, all marketing is local marketing — as it should be. But even if your company is regional or national in scope, it's a good idea to "go local" to select, targeted communities.

The keys to effective community marketing can be summed up with three guidelines:

1. Get local: target your marketing efforts down to the neighborhood level

2. Get involved: participate in the community to generate visibility and good will

3. Get personal: as much as possible, market on a one-to-one, face-to-face basis

Here are some tips and techniques to get you started:

Use local city-specific Web sites and local portals

City and town Web sites, as well as local versions of major portals, are growing in number and popularity. Maintain a presence on local sites by providing content — or by advertising. In addition to local versions of AOL's Cityguide, community-oriented Web sites like Yelp.com and Judysbook.com (which has the added advantage of covering suburbs and small towns in addition to major cities) are becoming more common.

Use local search engines and directories

Make sure you're listed with local search engines and city-specific directories. Local.com and CitySearch are two such search engines. A newer, but more "hyper-local" site is Backfence.com.

Set your Google ad to appear locally

If you operate a local business and advertise on Google, you can target local customers only.
Google lets you set ads to appear only to people in a particular city, state or region. In the AdWords section, click on "For local businesses" under "How it works."

Get involved in your community

Volunteer, serve on local boards, participate in your local Chamber of Commerce and work for local charities as a way to grow your grassroots marketing efforts. You may find that your neighbors become your customers. For volunteer opportunities, visit idealist.org, The United Way, or Rotary International.

Support community events

Take your community involvement one step further by supporting community events. Sponsor a Little League team, participate in parades, town days or other local events. Small business associations such as SCORE offer tips for establishing a strong presence in your local community. Suggestions include starting a local newsletter or creating a local advisory board made up of customers. John Jantsch's "Duct Tape Marketing" blog's "In your own backyard" section is insightful as well.

Make the most of local media and publicity opportunities

Generate awareness for your business locally by writing op-eds in the local newspaper, getting booked on local radio talk shows, and advertising in the good, old-fashioned Yellow Pages. Online community Craigslist continues to be a great local resource. For help getting booked on radio talk shows and otherwise generating local publicity, seek out the services of a good local public relations consultant by searching the directory of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA).

Other local marketing options to keep in mind…

• Explore cause-related marketing opportunities to generate good will for your company.

• Consider taping a TV show on your local public access station — it's usually free.

• Give your Web site or blog a local focus or start a local blog.

• Develop a customer advisory board to get input from local customers.

• Create alliances with non-competing businesses — you promote me, I'll promote you.

Lou Bortone is an award-winning writer and video producer with over 20 years experience in marketing, branding and promotion. As an online video expert, Lou helps entrepreneurs create video for the web at www.TheOnlineVideoGuy.com. In addition, Lou works as a freelance writer and professional ghostwriter, with a ghostwriting site at www.GhostwriteForYou.com and a blog at www.GhostwriteGuru.com.

• 1 Comments

  

Comments

Hi,
Thinking about trying out one of these on-line marketing sites to do business? In comparison to the off- line marketing the theme of on-line marketing service is comprised of maximizing the number of highly targeted visitors to visit exclusively your site in a most effective way. Driving traffic and arousing awareness is the motto of the on-line marketing service.

 Posted by: onlinemarketing at March 25, 2008 8:34 PM

 Add your own comments

Name:

Email Address:

URL:
Remember Me? YesNo

Comments: (you may use HTML tags for style)

What next?

 Digg it

 Save This Page

 Subscribe to GetEntrepreneurial.com

 Leave a comment

Next Article: The Entrepreneur's Guide to Avoiding an IRS Audit »

Previous Article: 3 Simple and Low Cost Marketing Ideas to Create Visibility »

Lou Bortone is a GE Network Expert. View Lou Bortone's profile or read more articles from Lou Bortone. Learn more about the GE Experts Network.

Have an expert opinion on issues entrepreneurs and small business owners face everyday? Join the GetEntrepreneurial.com Experts Network and share your expertise with the community!

The new GE Experts Network is inviting seasoned entrepreneurs and small business owners to come on board and contribute small business advice to our community of aspiring entrepreneurs. If you have an effective way of generating sales or you know how to use social networking to connect with your customers, join us in providing wider entrepreneurial content that would benefit small business owners worldwide.

Click Here to Learn More >>

Related Articles

 Glasses Without Screws, Soldering or Welding » thestar online: Ralph Anderl is the founding member and managing director of German company Ic! Berlin Brillen Gmbh, known for its patented...

 Open Kitchen Night » Springwise: If the underground restaurant known as Charlie's Burgers departs from the norm in part through its secrecy and its constantly changing...

 It Pays to Save The Earth » Iconoculture: Earthaid.net gives consumers a one-stop spot online to see how much juice their homes are using. The new service helps consumers...

 DTXTR Translator » Sending text messages on mobile phones is becoming as commonplace as calling your best friend, and it’s all the rage among teens...

Need more brand new promising business ideas and innovations around the world you wish you'd thought of? Visit CoolBusinessIdeas.com now!

Ever wanted to be the CEO of your very own Starbucks or Amazon.com? Fire your boss and be your own boss? Now you can, with BIZNESS! - the free biweekly business newsletter about new business ideas, opportunities and innovations from around the world. More than just new business trends, BIZNESS! helps the aspiring entrepreneur (you!) with small business advice, business tips, and entrepreneur resources and opportunities.

   Subscribe for free now!    

---