Hyperlocal marketing involves reaching your potential customers based on their location and supporting their immediate needs. It merges the importance of local search and your mobile presence. Your proximity to the searcher becomes very important.
More and more people are searching online before making a purchase, that includes shoppers that end up buying in-store. Just this week I did a search online before heading to a store to buy a replacement popcorn popper! According to retailers, 63% of shoppers start their shopping purchase online regardless of how the shopping occasion actually takes place.
Think of the last time you were somewhere unfamiliar to you and you needed to find a restaurant for dinner. Did you pull out your mobile phone and search for restaurants close to you? This is a prime example of hyperlocal marketing. You were looking for a restaurant close to your current location that you can get to easily.
Local Search, Website Content, and Mobile – The 3 Keys to Hyperlocal
Complete local search profiles tend to show up as top search results. Local search has many components to it, read my blog Gaining Citations in Local Search Marketing for more details. In the meantime, if you don’t have a claimed and complete Google directory listing, start there.
Your website content is also very important. Make sure your web content includes your location and keep the interests of the area in mind. If there are landmarks or common destinations that people visit, find a way to reference that.
This is one more reason your mobile presence becomes very important. People want to see where they are going, maybe look for parking options, what food you offer, if it is kid-friendly, and the questions go on and on. Your mobile existence needs to be easy to navigate. Plus, make sure you have call-to-actions that will help draw interested customers to your location, such as click-to call-buttons, directions, order now, in-store pickup, etc.
Ready for the next level?
Consider structured data markup (schema) to help guide search engines like Google through the content on your website. Using schema, you define specific things on your website such as location, phone number, hours, etc. which makes it easier for the search engine to find things thus, making search queries far more effective.
Being aware of marketing trends is half the battle sometimes. Start thinking about hyperlocal marketing. What steps can you complete to reach potential customers searching for your product or service near your location? What does your Google directory listing look like? How does your website look on mobile? Do you talk about the local area and attractions in your web content? If any of those pieces could use some work, start making improvements.
One step in the right direction is better than none. If you need help. Just ask!
