Must-Have Content Marketing Strategies for Local Businesses

As a local small business owner, the net you need to cast for customers is fairly small compared to other business. That doesn't mean it's easy, but we've got some great local content marketing strategies in this article to help you.

Did you know that five exabytes of content are created daily? That's one billion gigabytes of content! Damn, that's a lot of content.

Local customers are looking for information, and if you choose to use local content marketing it can help them find your business instead of your competitors.

#LocalContentMarketing can help local consumers find your business over competitors and increase your profits!

Take a look at these stats about consumers' local search behavior (infographic from Google):

What's the takeaway?

Local searches have very high intent, which means these customers are looking and ready to buy!

Implementing local content marketing into your marketing plan can and will help your business get found more frequently with high intent customers. 

Let's jump into it...

How is Local Content Marketing Different?

Local content marketing isn't all that much different than content marketing used to reach a broader audience. 

The real key difference is local content marketing is heavily focused on specific topics that are particularly relevant to an audience in a specific area. 

You must know who your local audience is and what's important to them in order to create local content that engages your local audience. 

It's also important to create content that is relevant to the products or services you provide. For example, a tree trimming service in Denver might create a blog post on "How to prepare your trees for winter in Denver."

What type of content can you create for your local audience? Let's take a look...

Types of Local Content Marketing

What type of content should you create for your local marketing? The answer is pretty simple to me...

Your content should be in formats your audience responds to. It should also be in formats that either you like to create or you can have someone else create.

Content marketing is a long-term strategy and one you must be committed to. Here are some of the types of local content marketing you might want to consider.

1. Reviews

Customer reviews on sites like Yelp and Google are content that builds trust. Now, this is not content you can generate yourself.

But, what you can do is implement a plan for getting more customer reviews consistently.

We've written a lot about online customer reviews because it's a HUGE opportunity for many local small businesses. These articles will give you a little more info if you are interested:

• How to Boost Your Local SEO Using Online Reviews
• Immediately Boost Your Business Using These Review Sites

2. Blogs

Having a blog on your website and posting consistent articles will boost search engine rankings, drive web traffic, converts leads, and develop and strengthen relationships with your local customers.

Blogs encourage local customers to come back to your website for the valuable content they get out of it.

If you are interested in getting into blogging you'll love to learn about The Awesome Marketing Benefits of Blogging to Grow Your Small Business & How To Get Started.

3. Video

Video content marketing can be incredibly effective. Some people are terrified of being on camera, but if you aren't one of those people then video is definitely something to consider.

Video is incredibly engaging and it's much easier to create and edit than it used to be. You can create a pretty nice video with an iPhone and some basic editing.

4. Podcasting

Podcasting is a great alternative to videos. Most podcasts are in an audio format which is easier to produce. It's a modern version of a radio show that is very informative and super engaging.

Local listeners subscribe to podcasts to receive digital files once they are available and can consume them when and where ever they choose.

5. Infographics

Infographics take words and images, then mix them together into a very appealing and engaging image. 

They are a great way to share information that is easily consumed and people love to share them!

Check out this guide to Denver, a locally focused infographic as a great example. 

6. Images & Photos

If the products or services you offer are very visual, then using images can be a great way to create local content.

Who doesn't like to look at pictures?

We've highlighted some types of content marketing for you here, but if you'd like a more in-depth look then check out this article on the types of content marketing.

Local Content Marketing Topic Ideas

I'm not a particularly creative person. Are you?

If you're in the same boat, don't fret.

There is no shortage of ways to generate topic ideas for your local content marketing. Here are some ideas to get you started...

1. How-to Content

This type of local content provides specific advice or tips and tricks for local consumers. How-to content must have step-by-step instructions on how to solve a very specific problem.

For example:

What type of how to content can you create for your local business that will help build trust with potential customers?

Check out this article about How to Use How-To Content to Create and Retain Loyal Customers to create effective How-to content.

2. FAQs

Local consumers need answers to their questions and creating FAQs can help answer all their questions. FAQs make our lives easier by answering the most common questions people have on a specific topic. 

For example, if I owned a landscaping company in Denver I might create an FAQ about "The Top 10 Questions on Landscape Care in Denver".

Here are a few online resources that can help you create awesome FAQs:

• FAQ Page Best Practices (w/ Ideas & Examples)
• Write an Amazing FAQ Page! The Right Q/As Help Sales & SEO
• 5 Rules for Designing the Perfect FAQ Page

3. Newsletters

Newsletters are not only very engaging but also very informative. Most businesses publish them on a weekly, monthly, or yearly basis. 

Local consumers gravitate back to this kind of local content because they want to be in-the-loop about what's new with a business or what's happening in their community.

You can publish a newsletter on your website, direct mail, or email. You can also use your newsletter as a tool to request email signups to build an email list.

4. Events

Every city or town has upcoming events. Creating useful content to help locals get information on all the local events can be a great way to build trust and brand awareness for your business.

For example, a local daycare and preschool might publish content monthly about upcoming local events that parents with kids may want to know about.

5. Points of Interest

Every place has points of interest that people need to know about and might like to visit. Create content focused on points of interest in your area and find ways to tie it into your business.

For example, a local outdoor clothing company might create blog posts about the best hikes in the area.

6. Local Pain Points

What pain points does your local audience experience as a result of living in your area? 

How can you write about these and draw parallels to your business?

For example, a real estate agent focusing on a specific neighborhood might create content around the neighborhood's biggest pain points and how to deal with them.

7. Local Pride

Are there particular things people in your area take a ton of pride in? Identify those things and figure out how you can create content for your business around them.

That's it! I hope you've picked up some good local content marketing strategies you can start using in your business today.

The most important thing you can do is get started today. Take the next step in beginning to create locally focused content that will help your business get found.

What do you think about these local content marketing tips? Were they helpful? Please let us know...

It would also be a great honor if you feel this article is worth SHARING.

Header image courtesy of Pexels.

About the Author

Tim Fitzpatrick is the President of Rialto Mobile Marketing. At Rialto Mobile Marketing we create marketing systems to help small businesses achieve simple, sustainable growth. We help small businesses differentiate themselves from the competition, work with more ideal clients, command a premium for their products and services, and make marketing easier with consistent, repeatable results.