Every small business has to start somewhere. Small local businesses have a special consideration when searching for clients. Local clients know the area and they can refer your business to their friends. Most local businesses don’t have the clientele base of a large company. Local businesses need to find a way to stand out from the crowd. Here in Orlando, we are lucky to be living in such a large city with a diverse population.
Adding just a few of the tips outlined in this article could make a significant difference in the amount of clients your business is attracting.
Key Takeaways:
- Market Research
- Use Demographics
- Local Orlando Business Directories
- Advertise In The Mail
- Use Orlando Billboards / Posters
- Encourage Locals
- Local Facebook and IG ads
- Google Ads
- Use A Landing Page
- Collaborate With Others
- Create A Google Business Profile
- Volunteer your services
- Get A Professionally Built Website.
- Create A Business Blog
- Share Your Content
- Optimize Local Listings
- Collect Customer Reviews
- Monitor Customer Reviews
- Build an email campaign
- Attend Local Orlando Networking Events
- Create A Customized Orlando Marketing Plan
- Use Local Orlando SEO
- Hire A Marketing Firm Like Cindtoro (Shameless plug)
1. Do Market Research
In order to create a successful marketing plan, extensive research is required. By understanding the needs of the target market, a business can create a successful marketing strategy that achieves the results they’re looking for.
Market research can also help businesses to identify their competition and understand their own weaknesses. In addition, market research can give insights into valuable customer insights and behavior to improve user experience. With this crucial information, businesses can improve their marketing strategy to be as effective as possible.
2. Use Demographics
Market research can also help determine key demographics. Understanding key demographics means understanding your target audience. For small businesses in Orlando, this is especially important. Orlando is a large city with a diverse population. Different ages, careers, income levels, and hobbies. For example, a theme park like Disney has a target audience of children and adults of all ages. Knowing this information can help a business tailor their marketing message accurately.
3. Local Online Business Directories
Local advertising for small businesses is usually free. Online business directories, like Yelp, LinkedIn, Google My Business, and Better Business Bureau are all great options. Posting your listing in some of these directories can earn extra visibility and qualified traffic. This can also improve a business’ search engine ranking.
4. Advertise Your Business In Mail
Although most people don’t read the local newspaper as often as they used to, the traditional way is still effective. Advertisements are printed and given out in mailboxes, and although there may be a cost, printed advertisements can reach a wide range of people.
Printed advertisements with your business information can also lead to people going to your website and learning more about your business.
This is still an effective way to promote your business to Orlando locals, but the downfall is that you’ll need to print out and send a high volume of mail to see a response. If you start to see results, this can help you get new customers. In addition, it will spread the word around to the local community and your clientele can grow that way.
5. Billboard ads and posters
Similar to newspaper ads, billboards and poster ads are still a popular way to spread the word about a new business in town. Visible display advertising adds credibility to your business and builds trust with clients. As your business grows, this can be a worthwhile investment. However, this is an expensive method of advertising for a small business and it can be difficult to track.
6. Encourage Locals To Advocate For Your Business
Social media is a powerful tool for business owners, especially for local businesses that rely heavily on word of mouth and their reputation. Asking customers to leave a review after using your services can be a significant boost for your search engine rankings and visibility.
Most people use Google to find information about businesses they haven’t heard of before, and positive Google reviews can mean more clients. In addition, encouraging your friends and family to tell their friends and family about your business is a simple way to spread the word.
7. Local Facebook And Instagram Ads
Speaking of social media, Facebook and Instagram can be powerful tools for business advertising. With more than 4.8 billion social media users worldwide, social media is a familiar and profitable form of digital marketing. Facebook and Instagram advertisements are cost-effective since their ads are shown to only the most relevant audience for your business. Analytics are given real-time so you know what posts are gaining the most attention. Creating an active social media account allows existing and future clients to build brand loyalty, create a community, and become familiar with locals.
8. Locally Targeted Google Ads
Did you know that Google has over 80% of the desktop search market share worldwide and over 95% of mobile search market share worldwide? Undoubtedly, Google is the most popular search engine. In addition, Google also has built-in ad building features and detailed performance metrics to customize digital advertising.
Google Ads show up at the very top of any search engine results pages, above all organic and local listings. Google Ads can be complex, and mastering it can require trial and error, but it is worth the investment. By using Google to your advantage and targeting Orlando and Florida residents, clients will find your business easier and faster.
9. Create A Location Landing Page
A Location landing page helps a business rank in organic search results. They help consumers find the business location closest to them, and they inform search engines about the details of that location. Informative and engaging pages like including a phone number and email address also make a website more visible in organic results. This will improve the customer experience, and allows an opportunity to include local keywords.
10. Collaborate With Others
Co-marketing is a partnership between two businesses in which they promote each other’s products or services. Examples include joint webinars, co-branded content, and cross-promotions. It is cost-effective, helps expand your business exposure, and can build long-lasting partnerships with other businesses in a similar industry. In addition, local blogs and newspapers need fresh content. It’s worth a shot to reach out to your local news sources and see if your business can contribute to an article about local businesses in Orlando, Florida.
11. Create A Google Business Profile
A Google My Business Page should be one of the first steps when starting to market your Orlando small business. This is what allows your business to appear in the local section of Google search results, Google Maps result, and the right-side Knowledge panel in search results. Creating a Google Business Page is the first step to establishing credibility, a great marketing plan, and the start of Google Ads. This way, you can post attractive content directly in front of your target audience when they’re searching for services related to you.
12. Volunteering your services
Volunteering your services when you’re just beginning your business is a great way to build client loyalty and gain business exposure. An example of this is offering promotional deals such as one-month free for future clients to “try” out your business. They can see if they like it, and if they had a great experience, they may turn into permanent clients. In addition, offering referral discounts if existing clients are willing to reach out to their friends and family about the experience can mean more clients for your business to grow off of.
13. Get A Professional Website
Hire a professional Orlando web designer and get a professional website. When starting an Orlando small business, this is one area not to skimp out on. A website designed with user experience in mind can attract
more people to your site and build your credibility as an up and coming Orlando Small Business. A professional website has the benefit of telling the story of your business, what you have to offer, and it provides contact information. A professional website reflects your brand’s personality and what makes your Orlando small business stand out from the rest. It is also essential for measuring and improving your other marketing strategies.
In addition, hiring a digital marketing specialist sometimes has website development and website improvement included with the fee of using their marketing services. Finding a one-stop shop like this is a great way to have a professional website completed in half the time with half the price.
14. Create A Business Blog
Create a business blog. Blogs can include tips and tricks of service you provide, help clients learn more about you and your business, and relevant information about the city you live in. Blogs show your expertise, build credibility, approachability to clients, and demonstrate a genuine interest to help your clients. It is the perfect promotional tool to collect local Orlando leads. In addition, your blog posts can get noticed by other credible websites that will link back to your site. The more traffic directed to your site, the greater likelihood of leads turning into clients.
15. Share Your Content
Sharing your content to business social media platforms is one of the best ways to gain exposure for your business. Also, sharing your content to your personal social media accounts and encouraging friends and family to do so as well can grow your exposure quickly.
Friends of friends will hear about your business and may be inclined to share on their social networks. In addition, creating blog content as mentioned above is another way to share content that is relevant to your target audience. Sharing content can also mean creating a YouTube account with short videos highlighting key points or helpful information, which is just another avenue to get a ROI.
16. Optimize Your Listings
Once you have your Google Business Profile, optimizing your listings is something that you or an SEO specialist is able to do for you. Optimizing your listings means filling out every field in your profiles, adding photos, collecting reviews, and ensuring that the information in all of your listings is consistent with the information on your website. This can improve the quality and trust of your advertisements and increase the likelihood that your business will rank above competitors in search results.
17. Get Online Customer Reviews
Reach out to previous or current customers to leave a review on Google and on your site. Positive reviews increase your star rating on Google and allow for new customers to see how legitimate your business is. Negative reviews, if they are appropriately resolved, can show customers that you care about your business and your client satisfaction.
Another important tip is to ask current clients to be willing to give a testimonial for you to post on your site. Testimonials increase client satisfaction, hold businesses accountable, show future clients you are legitimate, and keep customers loyal. Learn more about creating an Orlando review marketing strategy
18. Monitor and Respond To Comments And Reviews
A legitimate business monitors and responds to customer comments and reviews. Whether they are posting reviews on your site, The Better Business Bureau, Google, or social media, it’s important to respond appropriately to all reviews. This shows you care about your clients and are determined for them to have a positive experience with your Orlando Small Business. If it is negative, you can reach out to them and figure out how to resolve their issue with a refund or discount on future services.
19. Begin An Email Campaign
Beginning an email marketing campaign is also a great way to utilize the power of digital marketing. People like to stay informed, and they are constantly checking their email. Most people sign up for email alerts to keep up with their favorite businesses. As soon as people click on the site, a pop-up can appear encouraging people to sign up for emails. Examples of email content can include tips for services you provide, benefits of signing up for your business, and fun facts about some employees.
20. Attend Local Orlando Networking Events
Attending local networking events is a great way to increase your presence and business exposure in your local Orlando community. If you provide services to other small Orlando businesses, local networking can be extremely rewarding for all parties involved. Attending local events is another option to network with local Orlando businesses.
For example, local libraries have free classes and Lake Eola also has free events for locals to attend as well. As you attend local community events, you can find an avenue to network your business. Joining local online communities is a good way to network your business. Local neighborhood communities on Facebook and LinkedIn can also be a good way to network.
21. Create A Orlando Marketing Plan
A Orlando marketing plan is arguably the most important part of a successful business. With a successful marketing plan comes consistent and constant leads, enough clients to keep the business running, and a significant ROI. Successful marketing plans are unique and may require some trial and error. One marketing plan that works for one
business may not also work for you. Marketing plans can include several things as mentioned above, such as Google Ads, Facebook Ads, blog creation, networking, email campaigns, and more.
22. Implement local Orlando SEO
Running and promoting a business is difficult to do, even with a great set of employees. Sometimes, hiring an Orlando SEO specialist can be the best choice for your business. SEO, or search engine optimization, is a set of practices that help increase traffic to your website and increase your ranking on search engines like Google. SEO can be time-consuming and complex. SEO practices include keyword research, blog creation, website improvement, optimization of images and titles, and Google ads.
If you would like to discuss the potential of letting an SEO specialist join your team and improve your business rankings, call and schedule a consultation with your local Orlando SEO specialist. Cindtoro is here to help you!
Work With Cindtoro
Own or operate a business in Orlando Florida? Our marketing company was established in 2019. Cindtoro is located in Orlando Florida. Our company has been providing high quality marketing services to all types of businesses regardless of the industry. Interested in the services we offer? Work with our Orlando digital marketing agency today