Promoting your business to local customers is one of the most important ways of improving your bottom line and growing your business. Unfortunately, if you’re a new business owner or a small business owner, you may not have a marketing expert on your staff. It may fall on you to handle marketing, but you might not know how to promote your business locally. There are many different marketing options, but it’s essential to understand how they work and when to use them. The investment and your return on that investment is also an important piece of the puzzle. If you’re looking to promote your company locally, here are a few places to start that will give you the best return.
Step One of How to Promote Your Business is to Know Who Your Audience Is
The first step to promoting your business locally is to determine where you need to focus your marketing data. This means doing some research. Which neighborhoods are popular with families? If your offer products aimed at families, children, or parents, those neighborhoods are the ones you’ll want to send direct mailers to. If your products and services are aimed more at seniors, marketing to families, especially if they’re young families, likely won’t result in a good return.
You also want to look at foot traffic and vehicle traffic factors. If you’re thinking about renting a billboard, you’ll want to make sure that your target audience has a reason to visit the area where your billboard is located. If you’re targeting professionals, putting a billboard downtown or in the business district will get more attention than putting it near the city’s industrial area.
There are many demographics that you may want to sort through. Age, marital status, family size, income, job, interests, etc. By gathering this data and analyzing it, you can determine where your potential audience is and how you can best market to them.
Know How Your Clients Consume Ads
Some business owners make the mistake of assuming everyone is online now. Even those who don’t often assume that online advertising is now the best way of reaching their target audience. However, that’s not always the case. Traditional marketing still works, and in some cases, it’s more effective than emails or social media ads. Using direct mailers, flyers, and business banners can promote your business just as well, if not better, than online ads.
Email and social media ads certainly have their place in your overall marketing campaign if you’re marketing to a younger generation. However, you also want to remember that many people delete emails without reading them. They may also scroll past online ads, especially those for products or services they don’t immediately need. While it’s true that they may also throw away a postcard, they are more likely to skim the information first.
One way of learning how your target audience consumes ads is simply by asking. You can have your employees ask how they heard about your business when they check out or during their visit. By analyzing this information, you’ll be able to see if parts of your marketing campaign aren’t a good investment or if there’s an area of marketing that you haven’t adequately addressed.
Don’t Discount Foot Traffic
You don’t have to reach out to potential customers online or through the mail. Foot traffic, especially if you’re located in a central part of a business district, can be very helpful. However, you want to be sure you capitalize on this traffic. You need to have a business banner or other signage up front that clearly communicates who you are and what your business does. If you have a permanent sign on the building, you may not need to include a basic banner with the company name and logo.
Instead, you can focus on custom banners that advertise specials, new products, or other events. These banners can help attract customers by promoting a sale or by showcasing something new. Those banners may rotate out of your front windows after a set time or during specific seasons. However, permanent banners that outline some of your products or list what services you offer can also help, especially if you focus on a specific niche or if your company name isn’t industry specific.
Just because someone is walking past your store intend on a different destination doesn’t mean they’re not going to notice new, colorful banners hanging in the windows. You may be surprised how many people know your business’s name and what you offer without ever having stepped foot inside the door. However, when someone asks for a recommendation or when they’re in need of what you provide, they will know exactly where to go.
Put Custom Signs Outside Your Business
You may have space to place custom signs outside your business, too. If you have a fence surrounding the front of your business, you can hang custom banners along it. You could also hang custom signs in Santa Rosa from light poles or trees. Take advantage of any opportunity to hang a few banners or put up signs near your business. Just make sure you’re obeying all local rules about signage.
In some cases, you may be allowed to place signs at the end of your building or section. This can be an excellent way to pull traffic down to your business, especially if you’re towards the end of a strip mall away from the main street. Again, make sure it’s legal for you to do so.
Advertise at Local Events
Local events are a great way of getting your business’s name out there. Some of these events are aimed at specific industries or audiences. You’ll want to find the event or local venue that targets your specific audience. For example, there may be a local bridal show that sells space in their program book or will let you place flyers in their gift bags for a fee. If you sell anything related to weddings, this may be an excellent opportunity to reach that market. Local schools may sell advertising in their yearbooks, for their sports games, and for other activities. Look for opportunities such as this that give you the chance to reach your target audience.
Sponsoring Events is Also a Great Way to Promote Your Business Locally
Similarly, you can sponsor local events. A sponsorship typically costs more than simply buying an ad, but sponsors are also usually featured more. For example, you could buy an ad in a local theater company’s program, but that ad would be mixed in with other ads and information about the theater and the show. If you sponsor the current season of shows, your business logo may be placed on the front cover, and you may get mentioned by the announcer before the show starts.
If you sponsor a little league team, your logo may be placed on custom signs around the field. Sponsoring a charity event may result in your business name and logo printed on a photo backdrop. All of these are great ways of giving back to your community while also getting your name out there.
What Should Your Local Ads Say?
Now that you have an idea of who to market to and where to place your ads, you need to begin designing them. Coming up with business banner ideas or concepts for print ads isn’t always easy. This is where having a marketing expert on your team is invaluable. They understand the principles of marketing and how to create ads that draw the eye and convey exactly the right message.
If you’re designing your ads, you want to make certain they’re relevant to your audience. They should convey a specific message and include your business name, logo, location, website, and other contact information as needed. Signage used in your store may not need all of this, but banners used at events will. The key to learning how to promote your business is to think through what each marketing tool is, how it will be used, and who it’s aimed at. Signs in your store are primarily designed to direct customers to products, so they won’t need your location or phone number.
TNT Signs is Here to Help with Printing
Need to find a printing partner for your banners, signs, and other marketing items? Instead of searching for “custom banners near me,” visit TNT Signs. Our team has years of experience creating amazing banners, signs, car wraps, displays, and other items for a variety of industries. We can assist you in creating the perfect marketing tools to boost your profit margins and grow your customer base.
We use high-quality materials and ink in every project we do. These materials will withstand the rain, high winds, ice, direct sunlight, and other types of weather, allowing you to reuse your signs and banners for years. If you’re ready to learn more about printing marketing materials or would like a quote, contact TNT Signs today.
