Marketing for a business that provides a local service to a given city or region requires some special considerations by you, the marketing professional. Unlike companies that provide global or national services, or services that are not location-dependent, marketers that promote a local business need to focus on A) targeting local customers effectively, and B) not wasting marketing budget on advertising to customers who are outside the service region.

Targeting local customers means knowing where your market is, where they shop, what they read, and what their network looks like. For example, if you market a local car service that has a high-end component that is responsible for a significant portion of your margin, it is important that you target the people in your area that are looking for such services: corporate executive, corporate executive assistants, party planners, wedding planners, high-level sales peoples, high-end tourist agencies etc. This is one example, but you should think about all your marketing decisions in the local service situation in terms of targeting your specific local market while saving money and maximizing ROI by staying local and specific.

Top Tips for Effective Local Marketing:

• Define your market very specifically. If marketing a car service, as in our previous example, the definition might look something like “Boston-based management level professionals that travel for business.” Try to come up with a definition that is very specific but complete. If you market has several tiers to it—for example the management level professional and teenagers that rent limos for the prom—you may need to consider several different market definitions.
• If you are in the situation where your market has several specific tiers to it (i.e. business professionals AND occasional limousine renters), make sure you divide you plan and execute different marketing campaigns that correspond to each tier, and do not try to cover the entire gamut with one campaign. In a local market, specificity is key to efficient and effective use of marketing budget.
• When advertising locally, print advertising is an effective way to target your specific audience. For example, a local publication for wedding planners, like a wedding planner association news letter, is a highly targeted effective way to reach a specific audience.
• Local internet marketing is also a highly cost-effective and targeted tool for reaching a local audience. Include internet marketing efforts that target location-specific keywords (name of your city, region, etc.). Include your business in online location-specific business directories (Google Places, Yahoo Local, Citysearch, Yelp, etc.)
• Attend local conferences, tradeshows, and events. Following our car service example, a local wedding planning conference or business networking conference is a great place to advertise your services, and local conferences are typically a lot less expensive than more general, larger conferences. Focus on conferences that are specific to your customers, NOT conferences and tradeshows that are specific to your industry and more likely to be attended by your competition.



• Possibly the most important thing you can do is ask for local referrals from your satisfied customers. Trust and communication exist among a local social or professional network, and leveraging this by asking your satisfied customers to tell other about you, “like” you on Facebook, etc. yields huge results.

Dana Martin